In this science lab, students investigate Newton's Laws of Motion. Students will make and fly water bottle rockets, as well as measure the height of each rocket's flight.

This lab activity is an exploration of Newton's Three Laws, forces and energy. Students will design, build, launch and analyze rocket data.

This activity is a classroom activity where kindergarten students mix the primary colors together to create the secondary colors using pipettes and well trays.

Students learn about the importance of dams by watching a video that presents historical and current information on dams, as well as descriptions of global water resources and the hydrologic cycle. Students also learn about different types of dams, all designed to resist the forces on dams. (If the free, 15-minute "Water and Dams in Today's World" video cannot be obtained in time, the lesson can still be taught. See the Additional Multimedia Support section for how to obtain the DVD or VHS videotape, or a PowerPoint presentation with similar content [also attached].)

Make waves with a dripping faucet, audio speaker, or laser! Add a second source or a pair of slits to create an interference pattern.

Watch a string vibrate in slow motion. Wiggle the end of the string and make waves, or adjust the frequency and amplitude of an oscillator. Adjust the damping and tension. The end can be fixed, loose, or open.

Watch a string vibrate in slow motion. Wiggle the end of the string and make waves, or adjust the frequency and amplitude of an oscillator. Adjust the damping and tension. The end can be fixed, loose, or open.

In this interactive, online module, students learn about satellite orbits (geostationary and polar), remote-sensing satellite instruments (radiometers and sounders), satellite images, and the math and physics behind satellite technology. The module is part of an online course for grades 7-12 in satellite meteorology, which includes 10 interactive modules. The site also includes lesson plans developed by teachers and links to related resources. Each module is designed to serve as a stand-alone lesson, however, a sequential approach is recommended. Designed to challenge students through the end of 12th grade, middle school teachers and students may choose to skim or skip a few sections.

In this month-long interdisciplinary project students collect weather data, determine the best visual representation for displaying it, and discuss the patterns and implications of their findings. This resource includes extension and assessment suggestions and guiding questions.

This is an activity about light. Learners will make their own spectroscopes from easily obtainable materials and use prisms to observe different types of white light sources to see the colors that form the visible light spectrum. This is Activity 2 of the Sun As a Star afterschool curriculum.

This activity is a field investigation where the students observe shadows and reflections to learn about the sun.

Students use modeling clay, a material that is denser than water and thus ordinarily sinks in water, to discover the principle of buoyancy. They begin by designing and building boats out of clay that will float in water, and then refine their designs so that their boats will carry as great a load (metal washers) as possible. Building a clay boat to hold as much weight as possible is an engineering design problem. Next, they compare amount of water displaced by a lump of clay that sinks to the amount of water displaced by the same lump of clay when it is shaped so as to float. Determining the masses of the displaced water allows them to arrive at Archimedes' principle, whereby the mass of the displaced water equals the mass of the floating clay boat.

SSAC Physical Volcanology module. Students build a spreadsheet to estimate the volume of volcanic deposits using map, thickness and high-water mark data from the 2005 Panabaj debris flow (Guatemala).

SSAC Physical Volcanology module. Students build a spreadsheet to calculate the volume a tephra deposit using an exponential-thinning model.

This activity is a field investigation where students design an experiment to determine the coefficient of friction for two contacting surfaces.

In this unit of five lessons from NCTM's Illuminations, students explore the numbers of letters in their names and create bar graphs, pictographs, circle graphs, and glyphs. They also find the range, compute measures of center, and create box-and-whisker plots. Individual lessons link to related tools where appropriate, and include questions for students, assessment options, teacher reflection questions, and sometimes extensions.

In this activity students trace the sources of their electricity, heating and cooling, and other components of their energy use though the use of their family's utility bills and information from utility and government websites.

In this learning activity, students analyze various sources of information to determine the best location for a new wind farm.