Energy Concepts

A video workshop for K-6 science teachers; 8 one-hour video programs, workshop guide, and Web site. Click on each Workshop (1-8) for video and support materials. Understanding the concept of energy is crucial to the comprehension of many ideas in physical science, Earth and space science, and life science. The video programs, print guide, and Web site of this workshop for elementary school teachers provide a solid foundation, enabling you to distinguish between the way "energy" is commonly understood and its meaning in science. Examine energy's role in motion, machines, food, the human body, and the universe as a whole. Learn how energy can be converted from one form to another and transferred over space and time. And explore the notion of "conservation of energy" — the idea that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Return to the classroom with a new focus on the important concept of energy.

Material Type: Full Course, Lesson Plan

Authors: © Annenberg Foundation 2017. All rights reserved., Produced by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. 2002.

Coral Bleaching

When corals are stressed, they expel their colorful—and life-sustaining—algae. Dive into a coral polyp to see both how and why.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Visualization by Academy Visualization; Studio Story by Stephanie Stone

Middle School Chemistry

This site contains 6 lessons: Chapter 1: Matter—Solids, Liquids, and Gases, Chapter 2: Changes of State, Chapter 3: Density, Chapter 4: The Periodic Table & Bonding, Chapter 5: The Water Molecule and Dissolving, Chapter 6: Chemical Change. Each lesson has chapter reading, videos, teacher lesson pages, student activity sheets, activity answer sheets, explore activities, downloadable lessons. Everything you need for each of these topics. Each chapter has multiple lessons breaking down the content.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Full Course, Learning Task

Crash Testing & Highway Safety - Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

Why do some crashes produce only minor injuries? How can a single crash of a car into a wall involve three separate collisions? Award-winning science teacher Griff Jones returns to the Institute's Vehicle Research Center to answer these questions and to examine the laws of nature that determine what happens to the human body in a crash. Jones reviews levels of organization in the body and explains how body cavities house and protect major internal organs. Through creative experiments, he explores how the third collision can cause injuries to organs, demonstrates how shockwaves can damage tissue and describes what happens at the cellular level. Great 24 minute video with 37 page Teachers guide with a video worksheet and extension activities https://education.ufl.edu/gjones/files/2012/09/teachers_guideBioPhysics.pdf

Material Type: Homework/Assignment

Authors: ©1996-2018, 501(c)(3) organizations, Highway Loss Data Institute, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

Rockets Educator Guide

Few classroom topics generate as much excitement as rockets. The scientific, technological, engineering and mathematical foundations of rocketry provide exciting classroom opportunities for authentic hands-on, minds-on experimentation. The activities and lesson plans contained in this educator guide emphasize hands-on science, prediction, data collection and interpretation, teamwork, and problem solving. The guide also contains background information about the history of rockets and basic rocket science. The rocket activities in this guide support national curriculum standards for science, mathematics and technology.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: 2018 NASA Official: Brian Dunbar, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Page Last Updated: Aug. 23

Next-Generation Molecular Workbench

Molecular Workbench (MW) is powerful, award-winning software that provides visual, interactive computational experiments for teaching and learning science. These simulations are HTML5 and work well on non-java based platforms.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Simulation

Authors: MIT or Apache 2.0 licenses., This project is © Copyright 2017 by The Concord Consortium and is distributed under the Simplified BSD

Molecular Workbench

Molecular Workbench is a FREE and OPEN SOURCE, downloadable software utilizing Visual, Interactive Simulations for Teaching & Learning Science. A typical MW module is a comprehensive learning package consisting of a series of scaffolded pages that contain text, simulations, tools, controls, graphs, navigation links, and embedded assessments. The user interfaces of simulations in MW can be customized for students of different levels (grades 6-16). This unique feature enables it to support a wide range of instructional strategies such as inquiry-based, discovery-based, and problem-based learning. (For Windows, OSX. Must have Java)

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Assessment, Interactive, Module, Reading, Simulation

Author: © Copyright 2004-2013 The Concord Consortium. The development of this program is funded by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions

The cell: Animal cell and plant cell comparison

The smallest unit of life is the cell. Cells are tiny factories that work with incredible precision. All living organisms consist of one or more cells. Regardless of their shape and form, which vary greatly, in each cell we can distinguish common organelles. The two most important cell categories are animal and plant cells. In this lesson, we will talk about the similarities and differences of the organelles found in animal and plant cells as well as their functions.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Assessment, Unit of Study

Author: ISKME.

Physical Science Power Standards, Skills and Content by Quarter

Physical Science Power Standards with Skills and Content by Quarter

Material Type: Curriculum Map

Author: Theresa Paulsen

Chemical Bonding Simulations

Students interact with simulations to investigate ionic and covalent bonding.

Material Type: Homework/Assignment

Author: Theresa Paulsen

Chemical Engineering: Gluep Manufacturing

Students use the engineering design process to prepare a sample of gluep that can best meet their goal.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Theresa Paulsen

The Paper Helicopter Experiment

The paper helicopter experiment lab provides efficient and fun way of learning material relevant to the course. By completing the project you will become familiar with the fundamental concepts of experimental planning and gain knowledge of the theory behind two-level fractional factorial designs. The project is designed to imitate industrial needs and requires generating real data. In order to do that you may consider using printable paper helicopter templates provided by this website. At our paper helicopter factory you may customize the helicopter design to suit your needs by setting values of factor levels and other parameters. Once done, simply fill in the design matrix and print out the PDF with the paper helicopter patterns.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Project Guide for Basic Electronics #1

Included in this resource are several project guides for the first unit (Basic Components and Circuits) of the Snap-Circuits Basic Electronics Kits manual. These are to be used in conjunction with the provided manual as a guide for students to engage in inquiry-based project learning. There are also project guides for use with PhET online simulations on basic circuits. (Students should have access to multimeters for these activities)

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Assessment, Unit of Study

Author: Troy Puisto

Christmas Bird Count

A pdf file that contains slides with visuals to be shown. It explains the CBC from its beginning to end with an example of Data taken from our local bird count. Students will be instructed to build a data table and graph representing data. Then draw conclusions.

Material Type: Data Set, Lecture Notes

Author: Daniel Rye

Newton's First Law introduction inquiry

Students will participate in and observe a discrepant event to become familiar with the ideas behind Newton's First Law.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: Mike Schlangen

Project Guide for Basic Electronics #2

Included in this resource are several project guides for the second unit (Motors and Electricity) of the Snap-Circuits Basic Electronics Kits manual. These are to be used in conjunction with the provided manual as a guide for students to engage in inquiry-based project learning. There are also project guides for use with PhET online simulations on basic circuits. (Students should have access to multimeters for these activities)

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Assessment, Simulation

Author: Troy Puisto

Bacteria Lab

Students will investigate how much bacteria surrounds them in their daily lives, even though they cannot see it with the naked eye.  Students will conduct an experiment to obtain samples from a classroom surface of their choice, both before the surface is cleaned and afterwards.  Students will incubate the petri dishes under a heat lamp for a week, and then compare the pre-washed sample with the post-washed sample.  Students will try to identify the type of bacteria by using internet or paper bacterial guides, and to find out if their bacteria is helpful, harmful, or benign.  Also, students will be reminded of the importance of frequent hand washing, as well as how infections are spread when proper hygiene is not used.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: Nancy Marita

Density Lab using Tootsie Rolls and Playdough

Middle School Students love these two things together--squeezing things that are squishy, and eating candy!This is a lab using Playdough and Tootsie Rolls, in which students will measure the volume, mass, and the density of both substances.  Students should gain a deeper meaning of what the physical property of density is after completing this lab.  They should be able to explain WHY one substance is more dense or less dense than another.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: Nancy Marita

Should Humans Harness Genetic Science and Engineering for Our Benefit?

This is an interdisciplinary research project module with a 6-8 scope including NGSS (MS-LS4-5) and Common Core ELA standards (RST.6-8.1 and WHST.6-8.8) where learners explore Genetic Engineering and Gene Therapy uses and establish an evidence-based position to argue the question "Should humans harness genetic science and engineering for our benefit?"Expected sequence and timeframe for this module is approximately fifteen 60-minute periods in both science and ELA classrooms, which includes research time (with technology), composition of argumentative essays and Google Slides presentations.  Modifications for learners with exceptionalities are not included, but are readily accommodated through modifications to quantity of supports, DOK in delivery, and interpretation of the grading rubric(s). Resources include a Google Drive link that is able to be viewed by anyone with the link.  Please download the files or make a copy to your own Google Drive.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Authors: Dan Widiker, Katie Young

Solid liquid gas particles assessment

Students will diagram and identify a change of state. Students will describe the energy, spacing and speed of the particles before and after this change. Based on a student activity where students danced around the room acting as particles, students will identify an incorrect action during the dance. They will explain why the action did not fit the particle model and how it could be corrected. See below for an idea this is based on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWQCUQ_UZiA

Material Type: Formative Assessment, Interim/Summative Assessment

Author: Mike Schlangen