This activity is a classroom lab making coolers to investigate which type of material is the best insulator.

This activity is a lab investigation/teacher directed inquiry, in which a student discovers the pathway of an electric current from a battery source, through a light bulb's inner structure, and then back to the battery source to complete a simple circuit.

This hands on lab helps explain why the color of our sky/upper atmosphere appears blue in color. Students will be able to simulate how light from the sun is scattered by our atmosphere to create blue light.

This is a discrepant event that can be used to help students understand applications of the momentum-impulse theorem. Students are first asked to predict and hypothesize what will happen when an egg is thrown into a sheet. After sharing predictions and hypotheses, a volunteer student will throw the egg into the sheet. Other students make observations and craft explanations of what happened to explain why the egg does not break when it hits the sheet but does break if thrown at a wall. Students will then be asked a series of guiding questions to help them challenge misconceptions and sharpen their understanding of momentum and impulse.

Video introduces wind energy research at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and provides an overview of the NREL Wind Technology Center near Boulder, Colorado.

In this activity, students use Google Earth to investigate ideal features of wind farms.

This is a utility-scale, land-based map of the mean annual wind speed 80 meters above the ground. This map can be used to evaluate the potential for wind energy in the US. State maps and more information are linked from the main map.

This activity introduces wind energy concepts through a reading passage and by answering assessment questions. The main section of the activity involves constructing and testing a windmill to observe how design and position affect the electrical energy produced.

Students go through the design process and the scientific process to test the effect of blade design on power output. There is an optional extension to use the data to create an optimal set of wind turbine blades.

Students gain a basic understanding of electrical circuits. They build wire circuits and pass paperclips through the mazes, trying not to touch the wires. Touching a wire with a paperclip causes the circuit to close, which activates an indicator.

This video illustrates the advantages of woody biomass as a renewable, carbon-neutral energy source. Woody biomass is underutilized and often overlooked as a renewable fuel, and it can be harvested sustainably and burned cleanly.

This activity is where students build and use an oscilliscope exploring with sound and sound waves.

This series of questions before instruction, in-class peer instruction, and post-instruction allow students to iterate and improve their understanding of work incrementally.

This activity involves students in recording their energy usage of particular appliances and devices over a certain period of time. They then take the time and device and determine the kilowatts of electricity used via an internet website. They then can take this value and calculate the amount of fuel that would have to be burned to generate this same amount of electricity. This activity is done for multiple appliances and situations and it is investigated how much fuel/coal is needed to kepp the light on all day every day, or the computer that is never in sleep mode.

Students investigate how much greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide and methane) their family releases into the atmosphere each year and relate it to climate change. To address this, students use the Environmental Protection Agency Personal Emissions Calculator to estimate their family's greenhouse gas emissions and to think about how their family could reduce those emissions.

Students investigate passive solar building design with a focus on heating. Insulation, window placement, thermal mass, surface colors, and site orientation are addressed in the background materials and design preparation. Students test their projects for thermal gains and losses during a simulated day and night then compare designs with other teams for suggestions for improvements.

Laboratory activity on springs and simple harmonic motion that encourages creative development of experiments and clear presentation of quantitative results in the form of a memo.

This site provides online simulations, learning modules, and interactive tools for learning about nanotechnology -- the design and production of structures, devices, and systems one atom or one molecule at a time. Analyze the electronic properties of different nano materials and the optical properties of nanoparticles. Explore molecular conduction, nanofluids, and nanowires. Create simulations of nanoelectronic and nanoelectromechanical systems. Registration required.

Test the pH of things like coffee, spit, and soap to determine whether each is acidic, basic, or neutral. Visualize the relative number of hydroxide ions and hydronium ions in solution. Switch between logarithmic and linear scales. Investigate whether changing the volume or diluting with water affects the pH. Or you can design your own liquid!