Discrepant event used to introduce hydraulics and Pascal's Principle
In this activity, learners explore the size and scale of the universe by shrinking cosmic scale in 4 steps, zooming out from the realm of the Earth and Moon to the realm of the galaxies. This informational brochure was designed as a follow-up take-home activity for teen and adult audiences. It can follow informal education activities where participants have experienced related space science programming. This activity allows participants to explore ideas of size and scale in the universe at their own pace.
Students use a simple set up consisting of a coil of wire and a magnet to visualize induced EMF. First, students move a coil of wire near a magnet and observe the voltage that results. They then experiment with moving the wire, magnet, and a second, current carrying coil. Students connect the coil to a circuit and the current from the induced EMF charges a conductor.
This activity allows students to deduce part of Newton's Law of Inertia that states an object in motion will stay in a straight line motion unless an outside force acts on it.
This is a guided inquiry discussion to introduce machines and to identify types of simple machines
In this hands-on inquiry activity, students will design and construct an apparatus that will permit an egg to survive a nine foot fall. Students are given limited materials, so they must critically think about the design and improvise strategies during the building of the apparatus
Student teams design, build and test small-sized gliders to maximize flight distance and an aerodynamic ratio, applying their knowledge of fluid dynamics to its role in flight. Students experience the entire engineering design process, from brainstorming to CAD (or by hand) drafting, including researching (physics of aerodynamics and glider components that take advantage of that science), creating materials lists, constructing, testing and evaluating—all within constraints (works with a launcher, budget limitation, maximizing flight distance to mass ratio), and concluding with a summary final report. Numerous handouts and rubrics are provided.
Students use the engineering design process to design and build magnetic-field detectors, and use them to find hidden magnets. Parallels are drawn to real-world NASA missions and how NASA scientists use magnetic field data from planets and moons. The website has video clips, teaching suggestions, a student handout, and a link to the pdf of the Teachers Guide for Mission: Solar System. The Inspector Detector challenge is a series of activities that form a unit in the Mission: Solar System collection. * NOTE: The Teachers Guide does not contain the lesson plan. You will need to click on the Student Handout heading of the website to download the Inspector Detector Challenge Leaders Notes.
This is a set of interactive lecture demonstration questions designed to probe student understanding of single-slit diffraction.
This activity seeks to have students model the process of science by recording quantitative and qualitative attributes of reactants and products in three separate experiments with the purpose of examining the relationship between the original reactant(s) to the final product(s). Students record the mass and volume of reactants and products and independently calculate mathematical relationships between the reactant(s) and product(s). They also record their observations of any physical changes that occur.
This is an activity about keeping astronauts safe from debris in space. Learners will investigate the relationship between mass, speed, velocity, and kinetic energy in order to select the best material to be used on a space suit. They will apply an engineering design test procedure to determine impact strength of various materials. This is engineering activity 2 of 2 found in the ISS L.A.B.S. Educator Resource Guide.
This is an activity about using solar arrays to provide power to the space station. Learners will solve a scenario-based problem by calculating surface areas and determining the amount of power or electricity the solar arrays can create. This is mathematics activity 1 of 2 found in the ISS L.A.B.S. Educator Resource Guide.
This is an activity about orbital mechanics. Learners will investigate how lateral velocity affects the orbit of a spacecraft such as the ISS. Mathematical extensions are provided. This is science activity 1 of 2 found in the ISS L.A.B.S. Educator Resource Guide.
This is a lesson about crystal growth. Leaners will grow a sugar crystal and learn how this relates to growing protein crystals in space. The lack of gravity allows scientists on the space station to grow big, almost perfect crystals, which are used to help design new medicines. This is science activity 2 of 2 found in the ISS L.A.B.S. Educator Resource Guide.
This is a lesson about the technology as it relates to heat transfer (conduction and convection)on the International Space Station. Learners will investigate how to build a space suit that keeps astronauts cool. This is technology activity 1 of 2 found in the ISS L.A.B.S. Educator Resource Guide.
The purpose of this exercise is to give students the experience of utilizing the two component solid solution phase diagram of albite-anorthite and applying this diagram to the interpretation and petrogenesis of chemically zoned plagioclase.
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Students in groups of two are giving access to the Smith and Sandwell topography/bathymetry data and USGS data on earthquakes/volcanoes locations through Google Earth. They are then asked to create a cross-section of topography/bathymetry and earthquake focal depths perpendicular to the plate boundary using OneNote. They then interpret the type of plate boundary. This activity gives students practice in interpreting data, analyzing uncertainty and error in data, and peer teaching. Uses online and/or real-time data, has minimal/no quantitative component.
This activity is a variation on an original activity, Discovering Plate Boundaries developed by Dale Sawyer at Rice University.
(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 short problem set works well as a group activity that can be completed in class.
The purpose of the exercise is for students to begin to think about T-X phase diagrams and how they are interpreted.
Along the way, students learn that text book authors sometimes make mistakes. The figure in the handout is from Winter's Petrology. But, Winter goofed and left some reactions off of the phase diagram.
(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.)
In this assignment the students need to calculate the interseismic slip-rate across the San Andreas Fault using three methods: nearest stations, average, and locked-fault model. The solution for the first method is straightforwards. The solution using the second method requires basic knowledge in statistics. The solution using the third and more realistic method requires basic programming and plotting skills. Comparison between calculated models and observations yields model improvement and better estimates of the intersesimic rates. Based on the slip-rate calculations and additional seismic observations, the student sould estimate the surface rupture, rupture length, and moment magnitude of the next large earthquake in central California.
(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.)
After watching a 1940 film clip of the "Galloping Gertie" bridge collapse and a teacher demo with a simple pendulum, student groups discuss and then research the idea of motion that repeats itself specifically the concepts of periodic and harmonic motion. They become aware of where and how these types of motion occur and affect them in everyday applications, both natural (seasons, tides, waves) and engineered (swings, clocks, mechanical systems). They learn the basic properties of this type of motion (period, amplitude, frequency) and how the rearrangement of the simple pendulum equation can be used to solve for gravitational acceleration, pendulum length and gravity. At lesson end, students are ready to conduct the associated activity during which they conduct experiments that utilize swinging Android® devices as pendulums.