When will objects float and when will they sink? Learn how buoyancy works with blocks. Arrows show the applied forces, and you can modify the properties of the blocks and the fluid.
When will objects float and when will they sink? Learn how buoyancy works with blocks. Arrows show the applied forces, and you can modify the properties of the blocks and the fluid.
Students conduct a simple experiment to see how the water level changes in a beaker when a lump of clay sinks in the water and when the same lump of clay is shaped into a bowl that floats in the water. They notice that the floating clay displaces more water than the sinking clay does, perhaps a surprising result. Then they determine the mass of water that is displaced when the clay floats in the water. A comparison of this mass to the mass of the clay itself reveals that they are approximately the same.
This activity is a lab where students gather data on buoyant force and height of and object being submerged in two different types of fluids. The slope of the buoyant force and height is proportional to the density of the fluid. Students compare the densities of the fluids calculated with the actual densities.
Students bury various pieces of trash in a plotted area of land outside. After two to three months, they uncover the trash to investigate what types of materials biodegrade in soil.
Turn an old CD into a spectroscope to analyze light—you may be surprised by what you see. Try pointing your CD spectroscope at the fluorescent light in your room, sunlit clouds in the sky, even your friend’s colored shirt to reveal the wavelengths of light that mix together to create the color you see!
This is an assessment activity for the The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) educational kit. Learners will make a poster that explains possible origins of cosmic rays, how they affect people, and what protects us here on Earth. Alternately, they will make a poster describing CRaTER’s goal and how it works.
Students will discover the terminal velocity to mass relationship and use this information to calculate the air resistance constant. They will evaluate the accuracy of their lab using the Monte Carlo method.
This exercise uses a number of Excel spreadsheets to calculate mineral formulae from compositional (microprobe) data. Numerous computational models are presented for most mineral groups (e.g. amphiboles, pyroxenes, micas), and students must critically evaluate which of these models is most applicable. Stoichiometry and charge balance are used to determine ferric/ferrous ratios--which is important for further applications such as geothermobarometry. Students are also asked directed questions about: compositional variation of the rock-forming mineral groups; representative complete, limited, and coupled solid solutions; site occupancy of major elements, as determined by the various computational models used; graphical representation of the calculated mineral formulae; and the composition and significance of certain varieties of these rock-forming minerals are addressed.
(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)
This activity is a project-based inquiry where students design and create a machine to complete a task. Then students will be asked to calculate velocities, kinetic energy and potential energies of various parts of their machine.
This is a very short exercise designed to get students to understand how the Gibbs energy equation is used to calculate the location of a reaction in P-T space. I use it in-class and have students work on it in groups.
Besides calculating the location of one reactions, students also have to think a bit about the significance of volume and entropy with regard to mineral stability.
This exercise is very straightforward EXCEPT that students get the units (bars, Kbar, cc, etc.) confused.
(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)
This activity enables students to calculate the speed of sound in a laboratory setting.
This online game activity allows the learners to calculate their carbon footprint using a French language calculator developed by a Swiss environmental organization. Students will describe their results in French and engage in related expansion activities for the language class.
This activity is a chance for students to apply the diffraction grating equation m*Λ/d = Θ to solve a real life problem: find the wavelength of given source of light. It is also useful for them to apply trigonometry to real life scenarios.
Students apply their knowledge of linear regression and design to solve a real-world challenge to create a better packing solution for shipping cell phones. They use different materials, such as cardboard, fabric, plastic, and rubber bands to create new “composite material” packaging containers. Teams each create four prototypes made of the same materials and constructed in the same way, with the only difference being their weights, so each one is fabricated with a different amount of material. They test the three heavier prototype packages by dropping them from different heights to see how well they protect a piece of glass inside (similar in size to iPhone 6). Then students use linear regression to predict from what height they can drop the fourth/final prototype of known mass without the “phone” breaking. Success is not breaking the glass but not underestimating the height by too much either, which means using math to accurately predict the optimum drop height.
This lab demonstrates Ohm's law as students set up simple circuits each composed of a battery, lamp and resistor. Students calculate the current flowing through the circuits they create by solving linear equations. After solving for the current, I, for each set resistance value, students plot the three points on a Cartesian plane and note the line that is formed. They also see the direct correlation between the amount of current flowing through the lamp and its brightness.
This lesson introduces students to the concept of air pressure. Students will explore how air pressure creates force on an object. They will study the relationship between air pressure and the velocity of moving air.
By using the discrepant event of dropping a burning candle in a jar, students will predict, experiment, and discuss why the candle goes out as soon as it is caught.
Create Candy Heart Oobleck for Valentine's Day. Activity from Weekly STEM in a Bag. Colorado Americorp agents in Araphahoe, Denver, Garfield, Larimer, and Weld Counties. Work supported by the Corporation for National and Community Service under Americorps grant number 18AFHCO0010008. Opinions or points of view expressed in this lesson are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of or a position that is endorsed by the Corporation or the Americorps program. This resource is also available in Spanish in the linked file.
This activity has two purposes: challenge the learner to develop a procedure for investigating a research question and to learn more about factors affecting the dynamics of air in motion. It demonstrates that warm air and cold air differ in weight and this difference affects air's vertical movement in the atmospheric column. Resources provided to students for this challenge include a homemade balance beam made of wood, two paper bags, a desk lamp, paper clips, tape and a thermometer. The resource includes background information, teaching tips and questions to guide student discussion. This is the chapter 8 of Meteorology: An Educator's Resource for Inquiry-Based Learning for Grades 5-9. The guide includes a discussion of learning science, the use of inquiry in the classroom, instructions for making simple weather instruments, and more than 20 weather investigations ranging from teacher-centered to guided and open inquiry investigations.