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Interactive
Concord Consortium

Electrostatics: Maze Game

For Students 6th - 12th
Ready to have an a-MAZE-ing time teaching electrostatics? Introduce physical science superstars to an engaging resource that tests their knowledge of attractive and repulsive forces. Pupils change the charge of a ball to guide it through...
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Interactive
Concord Consortium

Charge Intensity and Electric Force

For Students 6th - 12th
Looking for a quick way to supercharge your electricity and magnetism unit? Assign a very responsive interactive designed to illustrate the relationship between charge, electric field, and the resulting forces. Learners experiment with...
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Lesson Plan
Towson University

Looking Into Lactase: Guided Inquiry

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Milk does a body good ... unless, of course, someone is lactose intolerant. Pupils play the role of pharmaceutical scientists in a guided inquiry lab about lactase. Lab groups collaborate to learn more about lactose intolerance, how...
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Lesson Plan
Towson University

Berries...With a Side of DNA? (High School)

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Is DNA still present after picking fruit or cooking vegetables? Biology scholars extract and collect DNA strands in an impactful lab. Working groups prepare their samples and compare their results to negative and positive standard...
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Lesson Plan
Towson University

Mystery Disease

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How did scientists determine the cause of illness before technology? Science scholars play the role of medical researcher in an engaging guided inquiry activity. Using observations, technical reading, and Punnett squares, learners...
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Interactive
PHET

Masses and Springs

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Have you ever stretched out a Slinkie so much it wouldn't go back to its original shape? Slinkies, like all springs, follow Hooke's Law. A simulation uses springs and masses to demonstrate kinetic, potential, and thermal energy. It...
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Interactive
PHET

John Travoltage

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Did you get to play with electric currents or were you grounded? An electrifying simulation shows how building up a charge of electricity creates a static shock once grounded. Pupils rub John's foot across the carpet and view the buildup...
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Interactive
PHET

Gravity And Orbits

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Have you ever wanted to turn off gravity? This simulation allows learners to do just that in addition to altering other variables. Scholars can move the sun, Earth, moon, and space station to see how distance affects gravitational pull....
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Interactive
PHET

Forces in 1 Dimension

For Teachers 6th - Higher Ed Standards
A realistic simulation uses charts to show forces, position, velocity, and acceleration versus time based on how the simulation is set up. Once those concepts are mastered, scholars use free body diagrams to explain how each graph...
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Interactive
PHET

Faraday's Law

For Teachers 6th - Higher Ed Standards
Could a flux capacitor really work? An engaging simulation encourages scholars to investigate Faraday's law. They experiment with various speeds, magnitude, voltage, and different-sized coils. Hopefully experimenters will be able to...
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Lesson Plan
NASA

Decomposers Get Energy From Dead Things

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
When life gives you mold, make penicillin. Scholars design an inquiry experiment to determine what causes rotting and mold growth. It also covers decomposers and the important role they play for other living things. 
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Unit Plan
Teach Engineering

Solar Water: Heat it Up!

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Young engineers are instructed to design and build their own solar water heaters. Then, they calculate the efficiency and cost and compare them to commercially available models. This is a full unit for pupils to apply their knowledge.
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Unit Plan
University of Rhode Island

Food Safety Smart Curriculum

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
This is a must-have resource with everything you'll need for studying food safety with your pupils. From handwashing scorecards and cleaning kitchen surfaces to navigating the world of microbes and food-borne illnesses,...
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Lesson Plan
ARKive

Biodiversity and Evolution – Darwin’s Finches

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Teens experience natural selection firsthand (or first beak) in an activity that has them act as finches foraging for food. Using different household items  to act as different beak styles, your little finches will collect as much...
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Lesson Plan4:51
TED-Ed

The Colossal Consequences of Supervolcanoes

For Teachers 8th - 11th
The threat posed by super volcanoes is explored in a short video that reviews the destruction caused by Mount Tambora in 1815 and by Peru's Huaynaputina in 1600. Think it can't happen again? The narrator contends that the explosive...
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Lesson Plan4:08
TED-Ed

Tycho Brahe, the Scandalous Astronomer

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Who says scientists are boring geeks? Certainly not the narrator of a short video who dishes up the scandals associated with Tycho Brahe, a Danish scientist and alchemist (now that's two labels you don't often see together) who used...
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Activity
Exploratorium

Moire Patterns

For Teachers 9th - 12th
By overlapping combs and window screening and by looking at a printed set of consecutively larger circles, learners observe Moire patterns, which provide a visual of what happens during wave interference. 
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Activity
Exploratorium

Laser Jello

For Teachers 7th - 10th
The concepts of refraction and reflection gel with your physical science class during this colorful exploration. Shining lasers through Petri-dish-shaped gelatin desserts, they will notice how the light travels and bounces off the sides....
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Activity
Exploratorium

Inverse Square Law

For Teachers 9th - 12th
The inverse square law is revealed when your class participates in this activity. They move a graph paper or perfboard square back and forth in a square of light to see how the intensity changes. You will definitely want to add this...
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Lesson Plan
Exploratorium

Blue Sky

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Use a container full of water as a prism and show that as light is bent, the individual colors from different wavelengths become visible. This explains why the sky appears to be blue midday, and why as the sun nears the horizon, it looks...
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Activity
Exploratorium

Balancing Ball

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Demonstrate lift to the class that is studying aerodynamics. In the stream of air produced by a blow dryer, little physicists place a wad of tissue paper and a spherical figure to compare. Or, if you have a vacuum cleaner and beach ball,...
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Activity
Exploratorium

Balancing Stick

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Have some physical science fun when studying the center of gravity or center of mass. Simply have balancing artists stand a dowel on one finger and keep it from falling over! A lump of clay is added and moved up along the dowel over a...
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Activity
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National Geographic

Energy Sustainability in the Klamath Basin

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
High schoolers research the hydroelectric plant removal project that is underway on the Klamath River. They consider the replacement of hydroelectric dams with geothermal power plants and form an argument based on their viewpoints. Since...
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Worksheet
Texas State Energy Conservation Office

Investigation: Tour de Texas

For Students 6th - 9th
Teams of Texas tourists gather into groups to analyze what they can do with $50 worth of an alternative fuel. They write checks, keep a balance sheet, and map out their sight-seeing route taking into consideration the location of...