SSAC Physical Volcanology module. Students build spreadsheets to estimate melt density at high temperatures and pressures from the thermodynamic properties of silicates.
This short video from Climate Central explains the technology used to monitor changes in Arctic sea ice. Long-term tracking (since the late 1970's) shows Arctic sea ice has been on a steady decline and this could have significant implications for global temperatures.
This is an activity about how light travels. Learners will perform two experiments. The first explores blocking light to create shadows. The second asks learners to use mirrors to figure out that light travels in a straight line. This is Activity 4 of the Sun As a Star afterschool curriculum. This activity requires use of a room that can be darkened.
Students investigate how sea levels might rise when ice sheets and ice caps melt. By constructing a pair of models, students can observe the effects of ice melt in two different situations.
Examination of Second of Thermodynamics (endo/exothermic and entropy) using a thought story, rubber band inquiry, discrepant event and lecture.
SSAC Physical Volcanology module. Students build a spreadsheet to examine and apply the Mogi model for horizontal and vertical surface displacement vs. depth and pressure conditions in the magma chamber.
To learn how friction affects motion, students explore how different textures provide varying amounts of friction to objects moving across them. They build a tool to measure the amount of friction between a note card and various surfaces by measuring the distance that a rubber band stretches. They experiment with a range of materials to determine which provides the least/most friction.
While learning about volcanoes, magma and lava flows, students learn about the properties of liquid movement, coming to understand viscosity and other factors that increase and decrease liquid flow. They also learn about lava composition and its risk to human settlements.
Students practice their multiplication skills using robots with wheels built from LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT kits. They brainstorm distance travelled by the robots without physically measuring distance and then apply their math skills to correctly calculate the distance and compare their guesses with physical measurements. Through this activity, students estimate parameters other than by physically measuring them, practice multiplication, develop measuring skills, and use their creativity to come up with successful solutions.
This video succinctly explains the mechanism of the natural greenhouse effect and the cause of global climate change (anthropogenic global warming). It is short, basic, and to the point. It's also available in 12 languages!
Students determine the coefficient of restitution (or the elasticity) for super balls. Working in pairs, they drop balls from a meter height and determine how high they bounce. They measure, record and repeat the process to gather data to calculate average bounce heights and coefficients of elasticity. Then they extrapolate to determine the height the ball would bounce if dropped from much higher heights.
Students learn about the nature of thermal energy, temperature and how materials store thermal energy. They discuss the difference between conduction, convection and radiation of thermal energy, and complete activities in which they investigate the difference between temperature, thermal energy and the heat capacity of different materials. Students also learn how some engineering requires an understanding of thermal energy.
This Flash animation describes how hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) combine the benefits of gasoline engines and electric motors and can be configured to obtain different objectives, such as improved fuel economy, increased power, or additional auxiliary power for electronic devices and power tools.
In this video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science, observe demonstrations of the fundamental idea that light travels in straight lines.
In this lesson and its associated activity, students conduct a simple test to determine how many drops of each of three liquids can be placed on a penny before spilling over. The three liquids are water, rubbing alcohol, and vegetable oil; because of their different surface tensions, more water can be piled on top of a penny than either of the other two liquids. However, this is not the main point of the activity. Instead, students are asked to come up with an explanation for their observations about the different amounts of liquids a penny can hold. In other words, they are asked to make hypotheses that explain their observations, and because middle school students are not likely to have prior knowledge of the property of surface tension, their hypotheses are not likely to include this idea. Then they are asked to come up with ways to test their hypotheses, although they do not need to actually test their hypotheses. The important points for students to realize are that 1) the tests they devise must fit their hypotheses, and 2) the hypotheses they come up with must be testable in order to be useful.
This activity leads students through a sequence of learning steps that highlight the embedded energy necessary to produce various types of food. Students start by thinking through the components of a basic meal and are later asked to review the necessary energy to produce different types of protein.
You are an employee of Green Valley Dairy and your job is to determine the mass of the company’s corn silage pile. Your boss knows that this pile is the limiting factor as to whether or not he can add animals to the herd. He is contemplating adding 500 head of cattle and needs to make sure there is enough feed in storage before they make the expansion...don’t mess up your measurements and calculations, as this is pivotal information.
Students relate thermal energy to heat capacity by comparing the heat capacities of different materials and graphing the change in temperature over time for a specific material. Students learn why heat capacity is an important property of thermal energy that engineers use in many applications.
In this activity, students use Google Earth and team up with fictional students in Chersky, Russia to investigate possible causes of thawing permafrost in Siberia and other Arctic regions. Students explore the nature of permafrost and what the effects of thawing permafrost mean both locally and globally. Next, students use a spreadsheet to explore soil temperature data from permafrost boreholes and surface air temperature datasets from in and around the Chersky region for a 50-year time span.
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module. Students build a spreadshet to calculate grams solute to add to liters solvent to produce solution of desired concentration (mol/L).