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Science 102: A Faucet Phenomenon

Journal Article

Science 102: A Faucet Phenomenon

This column shares exercises to challenge content knowledge. This issue presents a new challenge and answers the Tricky Numbers challenge from last month....

Elementary High School Middle School Physical Science Inquiry Phenomena Labs

Lab 1: Moon Phases

Book Chapter

Lab 1: Moon Phases

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core ideas of (a) The Universe and Its Stars and (b) Earth and the Solar System as they develop a model that explains the underlying cause of the lunar cycle. Included are the Tea...

Lab 2: Seasons

Book Chapter

Lab 2: Seasons

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core ideas of (a) The Universe and Its Stars and (b) Earth and the Solar System as they develop a model that explains seasonal average temperature change. Included are the Teacher...

Lab 3: Gravity and Orbits

Book Chapter

Lab 3: Gravity and Orbits

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core ideas of (a) The Universe and Its Stars and (b) Earth and the Solar System as they explore the role that gravity plays in the motion of objects within the solar system. Inclu...

Lab 4: Habitable Worlds

Book Chapter

Lab 4: Habitable Worlds

In this lab investigation, students apply the disciplinary core idea of The Universe and Its Stars to identify exoplanets that may support life. Included are the Teacher Notes, Lab Handout, and Checkout Questions for the lab, in addition to the book�...

Lab 5: Geologic Time and the Fossil Record

Book Chapter

Lab 5: Geologic Time and the Fossil Record

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core idea of The History of Planet Earth as they identify major extinction and diversification events that happened during the last 650 million years of Earth’s history. Include...

Lab 6: Plate Interactions

Book Chapter

Lab 6: Plate Interactions

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core idea of Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions as they explore plate tectonics and the geologic activity that occurs near different types of plate boundaries. In...

Lab 7: Formation of Geologic Features

Book Chapter

Lab 7: Formation of Geologic Features

In this lab investigation, students apply the disciplinary core ideas of (a) The History of Planet Earth and (b) Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions as they develop a conceptual model that explains how the Hawaiian archipelago formed ...

Lab 8: Surface Erosion by Wind

Book Chapter

Lab 8: Surface Erosion by Wind

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core idea of Earth Materials and Systems as they develop a conceptual model that can be used to explain why wind speed, wind duration, and soil moisture affect the amount of soil ...

Lab 9: Surface Erosion by Wind

Book Chapter

Lab 9: Surface Erosion by Wind

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core ideas of (a) Earth Materials and Systems and (b) The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes as they figure out how stream flow volume affects the size and shape of riv...

Lab 10: Deposition of Sediments

Book Chapter

Lab 10: Deposition of Sediments

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core ideas of (a) Earth Materials and Systems and (b) The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes as they explore the factors that affect the settling velocity of sediments ...

Lab 11: Soil Texture and Soil Water Permeability

Book Chapter

Lab 11: Soil Texture and Soil Water Permeability

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core ideas of (a) Earth Materials and Systems and (b) The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes as they determine how soil texture affects soil water permeability. Include...

Lab 12: Cycling of Water on Earth

Book Chapter

Lab 12: Cycling of Water on Earth

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core idea of Earth Materials and Systems as they determine how temperature and the surface area to volume ratio of water affect the rate of water evaporation. Included are the Tea...

Lab 13: Characteristics of Minerals

Book Chapter

Lab 13: Characteristics of Minerals

In this lab investigation, students apply the disciplinary core idea of Earth Materials and Systems as they identify a set of unknown minerals. Included are the Teacher Notes, Lab Handout, and Checkout Questions for the lab, in addition to the book�...

Lab 14: Distribution of Natural Resources

Book Chapter

Lab 14: Distribution of Natural Resources

In this lab investigation, students apply the disciplinary core ideas of (a) Earth Materials and Systems, (b) Natural Resources, and (c) Human Impacts on Earth Systems as they evaluate competing plans for a new copper mine. Included are the Teacher N...

High School Middle School Astronomy Earth & Space Science Instructional Materials Lesson Plans NGSS Science and Engineering Practices Teaching Strategies Labs

Lab 15: Air Masses and Weather Conditions

Book Chapter

Lab 15: Air Masses and Weather Conditions

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core idea of Weather and Climate as they determine how the motions and complex interactions of air masses result in changes in weather conditions. Included are the Teacher Notes, ...

Lab 16: Surface Materials and Temperature Change

Book Chapter

Lab 16: Surface Materials and Temperature Change

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core ideas of (a) Earth Materials and Systems and (b) Weather and Climate as they determine the relationship between the materials covering an area and the rate at which the tempe...

Lab 17: Factors That Affect Global Temperature

Book Chapter

Lab 17: Factors That Affect Global Temperature

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core idea of Weather and Climate as they determine how the temperature of Earth responds to changes in the amount of cloud cover and the concentration of various greenhouse gases ...

Lab 20: Predicting Hurricane Strength

Book Chapter

Lab 20: Predicting Hurricane Strength

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core idea of Natural Hazards as they develop a conceptual model that can be used to predict changes in wind speed inside a hurricane over time. Included are the Teacher Notes, Lab...

Lab 21: Forecasting Extreme Weather

Book Chapter

Lab 21: Forecasting Extreme Weather

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core ideas of (a) Weather and Climate and (b) Natural Hazards as they determine when and under what conditions tornadoes tend to form in the Oklahoma City area. Included are the T...

Lab 22: Minimizing Carbon Emissions

Book Chapter

Lab 22: Minimizing Carbon Emissions

In this lab investigation, students are introduced to the disciplinary core ideas of (a) Natural Resources, (b) Human Impacts on Earth Systems, and (c) Global Climate Change as they develop a plan to minimize human impact on climate. Included are the...

Lab 23: Human Use of Natural Resources

Book Chapter

Lab 23: Human Use of Natural Resources

In this lab investigation, students apply the disciplinary core ideas of (a) Natural Resources and (b) Human Impacts on Earth Systems as they develop a plan to ensure that there is enough water available to meet the current and near-future needs of t...

High School Middle School Astronomy Earth & Space Science Instructional Materials Lesson Plans Science and Engineering Practices Labs

Get Me Out of Here

Book Chapter

Get Me Out of Here

This problem addresses students to develop ways to use direction and distance to describe position and motion. Students are members of a fire department rescue team who practice giving each other directions to get out of a smoke-filled room in a burn...

Fastest Beetle

Book Chapter

Fastest Beetle

This problem addresses direction, distance, and speed by having students develop ways to use time and distance to describe speed. Students determine the winner of a race between a beetle that moves fast with intermittent pauses and a beetle that move...

Fastest Human

Book Chapter

Fastest Human

In this problem, direction, distance, and speed are addressed by having students develop ways to use time and distance to describe instantaneous and average speed. This problem can be adjusted for students of different ages and math skills. Students ...

Constantly Moving

Book Chapter

Constantly Moving

This problem addresses direction, distance, and speed by having students develop ways to use speed, time, and distance to describe a motion. Students determine whether self-propelled toy cars are moving at a constant velocity and focus on measuring t...

Good Driver

Book Chapter

Good Driver

This problem addresses direction, distance, speed, and acceleration by having students develop ways to use speed, time, direction, and acceleration to describe a motion. Students use acceleration data from an insurance car monitoring system to recons...

Asteroid Field

Book Chapter

Asteroid Field

In this problem, students explore how forces change the direction of motion of a spaceship moving between asteroids. They simulate the scenarios by using puffs of air delivered through straws to move balls through a maze made up of an “asteroid fie...

Cartoon Cliff Escape

Book Chapter

Cartoon Cliff Escape

In this problem, students compare the end velocities of cartoon characters that jumped up from, jumped down from, or fell from a cliff and landed in a river. Students are asked to design experiments to test the impact velocities of falling objects. T...

Rescue Force

Book Chapter

Rescue Force

This problem focuses on force, acceleration, direction, and mass, and is set in the context of a rescue team. Students figure out how to balance three forces to suspend a person in a particular position. They balance three forces of different strengt...

An Energetic Ride

Book Chapter

An Energetic Ride

In this problem, students work in teams to design a new type of roller coaster ride. Students act as engineers to design a model roller coaster with “cars” (marbles) that are launched using elastic potential energy. The problem specifies that the...

Rube Goldberg Machine

Book Chapter

Rube Goldberg Machine

Rube Goldberg machines are comical machines with many parts. This problem focuses on engineering energy transformations to make a functioning Rube Goldberg machine. The function of the machine, the materials used, and the number or type of energy tra...

Keep It Warm, Keep It Chill

Book Chapter

Keep It Warm, Keep It Chill

During a long trip in the car, a student wonders whether the expensive travel mug used for iced tea keeps drinks hot or cold better than the foam cup holding coffee. In this problem, students explore the insulating ability of several kinds of cups wi...

A Light in the Dark

Book Chapter

A Light in the Dark

In this problem, students investigate how to construct a simple circuit from a battery, flashlight bulb, and items that might be found in someone’s pocket. Teams of students engineer a simple flashlight using a flashlight bulb, two AA batteries, an...

Wiring a Cabin

Book Chapter

Wiring a Cabin

In this problem, students wire the lighting in a miniature house to meet preset specifications. These specifications can be altered to make the problem more or less complex. Students wire circuits with batteries, bulbs, and different numbers of switc...

Cool It

Book Chapter

Cool It

In this problem, students are asked to build a battery-operated, personal fan from household materials. This entails building a small electric motor. It is not expected that students will figure out how to make a motor without guidance. Electric moto...

Journal Article

Enter the Nation’s First Student Chief Science Officers

Students vote for one of their peers to become a STEM advocate in their school. These Chief Science Officers select and promote STEM programming, connect with STEM organizations to bring STEM programming to their communities, or participate in loca...

By Jeremy Babendure, Nagib Balfakih, Susan Farretta, and Becky Hughes

Informal Education

Journal Article

CAISE

The Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education hosts resources for designers, evaluators, and researchers of informal STEM learning experiences and settings....

By Jamie Bell and Ashley Gary

Informal Education

Journal Article

Delving Below the Surface With the Montana Groundwater Academy

The Montana Groundwater Academy is a high school program that integrates classroom and field-based experiences to teach the fundamentals of groundwater science.    ...

By Beth Covitt, Agatha Podrasky, Deb Fassnacht, Rebecca Paquette, and William Woessner

Informal Education

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