Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the first of four Science Objects in the Cell Structure and Function SciPack. It explores the difference between living and non-living things as it looks at the many different types of cells. All self-replicating life forms are composed of cells,-from single-celled bacteria to elephants, with their trillions of cells. Although a few giant cells, such as hens' eggs, can be seen with the naked eye, most cells are microscopic. Multi-celled organisms are composed of many tiny microscopic cells, as opposed to fewer larger cells. Surface area to volume ratio makes efficient food absorption and waste removal possible in cells.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the second of five Science Objects in the Universe SciPack. It provides an understanding of how our Sun compares to other stars in the universe. Analyzing the light from other stars and comparing it with light from our Sun has allowed us to determine that our Sun is a medium-size star. The Sun appears brighter than the other stars because it is many, many times closer to us. It takes about 8 minutes for light to travel from the Sun to Earth, but more than four years for light to travel from the Sun out to the next nearest star.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the last of four Science Objects in the Force and Motion SciPack. It provides a conceptual and real-world understanding of Newton’s Third Law of Motion, addressing common misconceptions associated with this law. Whenever one object exerts a force on another, an equal amount of force is exerted back on it. These equal and opposite forces are exerted simultaneously on the objects involved.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the second of four Science Objects in the Force and Motion SciPack. It provides a conceptual and real-world understanding of Newton’s First Law of Motion. All objects will maintain a constant speed and direction of motion unless an unbalanced outside force acts on it. When an unbalanced force acts on an object, its speed or direction (or both) will change. The tendency of objects to maintain a constant speed and direction of motion (velocity) in the absence of an unbalanced force is known as intertia. Even in the most familiar, every day situations, frictional forces can complicate the analysis of motion, although the basic principles still apply.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the second of four Science Objects in the Energy SciPack. It provides a conceptual and real-world understanding of how energy is transferred, from object to object and from one form of energy to another. Although the various forms of energy appear different, each can be measured in a closed system. This makes it possible to keep track of how much of one form of energy is converted into another form. Most of what goes on in the universe—from exploding stars and biological growth to the operation of machines and the motion of people—involves some form of energy being transformed into another form. The law of conservation of energy states that whenever the amount of energy in one place (or form) decreases, the amount of energy in other places (or forms) increases by the same amount.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the first of four Science Objects in the Force and Motion SciPack. It provides an understanding of how changes in position and motion can affect the way objects move, focusing on constant motion (where the direction and speed remain the same) and acceleration (a change in motion due to a change in an object’s direction or speed). The position of an object must be described relative to some other object while the motion of an object can be described by its direction and speed. Velocity is a measure of both an object’s speed and its direction (and can be described by vectors).
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the first of five Science Objects in the Plate Tectonics SciPack. It explores the characteristics of the various layers of the Earth, using the way waves travel through the different layers to illustrate the differences in each layer. The interior of the earth is hot, under high pressure from gravitational pull, and more dense than its rocky outer crust. The earth is layered with a relatively thin crust; hot, deformable mantle; liquid outer core; and solid, metallic, and dense inner core.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the third of five Science Objects in the Plate Tectonic SciPack. It identifies the events that may occur and landscapes that form as a result of different plate interactions. The areas along plate margins are active. Plates pushing against one another can cause earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain formation, and very deep ocean trenches. Plates pulling apart from one another can cause smaller earthquakes, magma rising to the surface, volcanoes, and oceanic valleys and mountains from sea-floor spreading. Plates sliding past one another can cause earthquakes and rock deformation.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the third of four Science Objects in the Ocean’s Effect on Weather and Climate SciPack. It explores ocean circulation patterns and the effect oceans have on climate. Water in the oceans hold a lot of thermal energy (more than an equal amount of land). Throughout the ocean there is a global, interconnected circulation system that transfers this thermal energy across Earth. The shape of ocean basins and adjacent land masses influence the path of circulation. As ocean currents transfer thermal energy to various locations, the temperature of the atmosphere above the ocean is affected. For example, the condensation of water that has been evaporated from warm seas provides the energy for hurricanes and cyclones. When the pattern of thermal energy released into the atmosphere changes, global weather patterns are affected. An example of a large-scale change like this is the El Niño Southern Oscillation, which changes the pattern of thermal energy released into the atmosphere in the Pacific.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the third of four Science Objects in the Energy SciPack. It provides a conceptual and real-world understanding of the relationship between thermal energy, heat, and temperature. The thermal energy of a material consists of the disordered motion of its atoms or molecules. Thermal energy can be transferred through materials or from one material to another by conduction (the collisions of atoms), or across space by radiation. If the material is fluid, convection currents aid the transfer of thermal energy (convection). When thermal energy is transferred it is called heat. Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of atoms and molecules in a material.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the third of four Science Objects in the Force and Motion SciPack. It provides a conceptual and real-world understanding of Newton’s Second Law of Motion. An object’s change in motion is proportional to the net force applied to the object and inversely proportional to the mass of the object (being the measure of its inertia). The magnitude of the change in motion can be calculated using the relationship F = ma, which is independent of the nature of the force acting on the object.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the first of four Science Objects in the Energy SciPack. It provides a conceptual and real-world understanding of the different types of energy. Energy can appear in many different forms, however all forms of energy can be broadly classified as one or a combination of two kinds: kinetic energy, which is the energy of motion; and potential energy, which depends on the relative position or shape of an object. Other kinds of energy include gravitational energy (the separation of mutually attracting masses), thermal energy (the disorderly motion of atoms or molecules), and chemical energy (the arrangement of atoms).
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the first of four Science Objects in the Coral Reef Ecosystems SciPack. It explores the unique and diverse ecosystem of the coral reef. Coral reefs are very complex systems that create one of the largest structures on Earth of biological origins. Thousands of coral species exist in oceans worldwide. Reef-building corals remain on the same spot of the sea floor through their entire lives and have developed reproductive, feeding, and social behaviors suited to their situation. As they grow, reefs provide structural habitats for hundreds to thousands of different organisms.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the first of four Science Objects in the Chemical Reactions SciPack. It explains that chemical reactions occur all around us, for example in health care, cooking, cosmetics, and automobiles. An enormous variety of biological, chemical, and physical phenomena can be explained by changes in the arrangement and motion of atoms and molecules. An atom's electron configuration, particularly the outermost electrons, determines how the atom can interact with other atoms. Atoms form bonds to other atoms by transferring or sharing electrons. Carbon atoms can bond to one another in chains, rings, and branching networks to form a variety of structures, and complex chemical reactions involving these molecules take place constantly in every cell in living objects.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the third of four Science Objects in the Chemical Reactions SciPack. It demonstrates how chemical reactions can take place in time periods ranging from the few femto-seconds (10-15 seconds) required for an atom to move a fraction of a chemical bond distance to geologic time scales of billions of years. The rate of reactions among atoms and molecules depends on how often they encounter one another, which is affected by the concentration, pressure (for gases), and temperature of the reacting substances. The configuration of atoms in a molecule determines the molecule's properties. Shapes are particularly important in determining how large molecules interact with others. Some atoms and molecules called catalysts are highly effective in accelerating chemical reactions. Chemical reactions in living systems are catalyzed by protein molecules called enzymes.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the third of four Science Objects in the Rocks SciPack. It explores the variables that contribute to rock transformation and the continuous processes of rock formation that constitute the rock cycle. The rock cycle provides an example of the transfer of energy and mass in the Earth system. Earth is a closed system containing essentially a fixed amount of each element. Movement of matter is driven by the Earth’s internal and external sources of energy, and is often accompanied by changes in the physical and chemical properties of the matter. Minerals are made, dissolved, and remade—on the Earth's surface, in the oceans, and in the hot, high-pressure layers beneath the crust. The total amount of material stays the same as its forms change.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the fourth of five Science Objects in the Plate Tectonic SciPack. It identifies the events that may occur and landscapes that form as a result of different plate interactions. The areas along plate margins are active. Plates pushing against one another can cause earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain formation, and very deep ocean trenches. Plates pulling apart from one another can cause smaller earthquakes, magma rising to the surface, volcanoes, and oceanic valleys and mountains from sea-floor spreading. Plates sliding past one another can cause earthquakes and rock deformation.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the second of four Science Objects in the Nature of Light SciPack. It provides conceptual and real world understanding of the idea that waves (including sound and seismic waves, waves on water, and light waves) have energy and can transfer energy when they interact with matter. Wave behavior can be described in terms of how fast the disturbance propagates, and of the distance between successive crests or troughs of the wave (the wavelength). Accelerating electric charges produce electromagnetic waves which can be organized into a spectrum of varying wavelengths (and frequencies): radio waves, microwaves, radiant heat or infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, x-rays, and gamma rays. These wavelengths vary from radio waves (the longest) to gamma rays (the shortest). Human eyes only respond to a narrow range of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation—what we call visible light. In empty space, electromagnetic waves of all wavelengths move at the same speed—the "speed of light."
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the second of four Science Objects in the Solar System SciPack. It explores the similarities and differences in the planets that make up our solar system. Each planet moves around the Sun in the same direction in a nearly circular orbit, though each planet has its own unique orbital period and speed. The planets vary in size, surface and atmospheric composition, and surface features. In orbit around the planets, we find a great variety of moons, flat rings of rock and ice debris, and/or artificial satellites. Features of many of the planets and their moons show evidence of formation and evolutionary processes similar to those that occur on Earth. These processes include earthquakes, lava flows, erosion, and changes in the atmosphere.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the second of four Science Objects in the Cell Structure and Function SciPack. It explores cells at the molecular level. It is at the molecular level that many of the basic functions of organisms are carried out such as, protein synthesis, extraction of energy from food, and replication. All cells have similar types of complex molecules that are involved in these basic activities of life. These macromolecules include proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and nucleic acids, which interact in a soup, about 2/3 water, surrounded by a membrane that controls what can enter and leave the cell. Proteins act in several ways including enzymes that are responsible for catalyzing chemical actions, receptor molecules in the cell membrane, hormones that travel distances to communicate regulatory processes and structurally as the physical fibers of the cell. The cell’s energy comes from food in the form of sugars or from stored fats (lipids). Lipids are also a critical component in the structure of the cell membrane. The cell membrane in association with carbohydrates and proteins, regulate the flow of water, ions, and other molecules into and out of the cells. Nucleic acids contain instructions for genes that determine structural and chemical processes through protein synthesis.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the second of four Science Objects in the Chemical Reactions SciPack. It provides an understanding of the idea that a large number of important reactions involve the transfer of either electrons (oxidation/reduction reactions) or hydrogen ions (acid/base reactions) between reacting ions, molecules, or atoms. In other reactions, chemical bonds are broken by heat or light to form very reactive radicals with electrons ready to form new bonds. Reactions involving these radicals control many processes such as the presence of ozone and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, burning and processing of fossil fuels, the formation of polymers, and explosions.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the final of four Science Objects in the Nature of Light SciPack. It provides an understanding of how sometimes the nature and behavior of electromagnetic radiation such as light can be best described using a wave model, but at other times it can be best described by using a particle model. Particles of light called photons contain discrete amounts of energy. The energy that a photon carries is directly proportional to its frequency. The energy of a photon is inversely proportional to the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation. Each kind of atom or molecule can only gain or lose energy only in discrete amounts so they can absorb and emit light only at frequencies and wavelengths corresponding to these amounts. These combinations of wavelengths or spectra can be used to identify the substance.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the third of four Science Objects in the Earth, Sun, and Moon SciPack. It provides an understanding of the moon’s orbit around Earth and the phases of the moon as experienced from Earth’s surface. The Moon orbits Earth approximately once per month, causing the pattern of moon phases. Although half of the Moon’s surface is always illuminated by the Sun and half is always shaded, the portion of the illuminated surface that we see changes as the Moon orbits Earth.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the second of four Science Objects in the Earth, Sun, and Moon SciPack. It provides an understanding of how we know that Earth moves in a nearly circular orbit around the Sun once per year, so that we see different constellations at different times of the year. Earth rotates on its axis once per day, making it appear as though the Sun, the Moon, and the stars revolve around Earth each day. Evidence however, demonstrates that it is in fact, Earth that rotates on its axis as it orbits the Sun, just as other planets in our solar system.
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Science Objects are two hour on-line interactive inquiry-based content modules that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. This Science Object is the fourth of four Science Objects in the Rocks SciPack. It investigates how geologists have used rocks to help determine the approximate age of the Earth and provide a timeline of how the Earth’s surface and environments have changed over time. Scientists have tools to estimate the ages of rock and the overall time scale of the rock cycle. Some processes happen quickly and some happen slowly, but the oldest rocks indicate that the rock cycle has been recycling Earth’s material continuously for roughly 4 billion years. The same processes have been at work throughout Earth’s history, and therefore scientists can use the present to interpret the past. Observations of rock (textures, minerals, and fossils found within it) provides evidence of the environment and processes through which it formed, including the pressures, temperatures, and forces that created it.
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