These files contain a set of three Excel files to balance mineral …
These files contain a set of three Excel files to balance mineral reactions, to explore variation of thermodynamic properties as a function of P, T and composition and to explore stability of different mineral reactions using the popular thermodynamic databases of Berman and Holland and Powell. A set of instructions as well as some suggested exercises are included as Word files. This allows students with little knowledge of thermodynamics to explore stability quantitatively (e.g. to see what metastable and stable mean); students learning thermodynamics can see the workings of the databases from the "inside" and explore various properties including thermodynamic mixing behavior and non-ideality using simple models. The material can be used to accompany students from fairly introductory courses to advanced thermodynamics courses.
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Students will be presented with a problem; that is to determine the …
Students will be presented with a problem; that is to determine the general characteristics (stratigraphy, water table depth) of a heterogeneous deposit (glacial till south of the MSU campus or proglacial sediments south of Ludington, MI) using electrical resistivity methods. The project consists of three separate activities: 1) use laboratory experiments to measure the relationship between soil water content and electrical resistivity for different soil samples obtained from the sites (2-3 samples per group), 2) use simple modeling software to calculate the resistivity response for simple geological models, based on information from well logs and the results of the laboratory measurements, and 3) design (min-max a-spacing and stepsize, based on the forward modeling results), execute, and analyze a field sounding experiment. Results will be summarized in a report and presented in class. Uses geophysics to solve problems in other fields
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This is a set of five exercises that teach the basic skills …
This is a set of five exercises that teach the basic skills of using Perplex and the possible types of understanding one can gain from the use of internally-consistent thermodynamic databases. The exercises culminate in the creation of a pseudosection for a particular rock.
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This is an interactive powerpoint lecture on the science of electricity followed …
This is an interactive powerpoint lecture on the science of electricity followed by a laboratory investigation where students dissect a disposable camera.
The purpose of this exercise is to learn how to think about …
The purpose of this exercise is to learn how to think about gravity, learn about scientific methodology, and transition from the Aristotelian to Newtonian to Einsteinian understanding of gravity.
The purpose of this exercise is to learn how to think about …
The purpose of this exercise is to learn how to think about gravity, learn about scientific methodology, and transition from the Aristotelian to the Newtonian understanding of gravity.
This teaching unit was created to provide any classroom teacher with all …
This teaching unit was created to provide any classroom teacher with all the tools necessary to help her students learn and apply engineering and design skills and computer science concepts in the context of a Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) style investigation.
Students learn in the context of a story line that winds throughout each of the five workshops in the unit. Each workshop introduces a new phase of their ongoing “Mission to Mars.” Every workshop begins with a video that provides students an overview of the problem or situation encountered by the Mars Explorers (represented in the online modules by two Lego™ mini-figures and called Max and Mia to match the WeDo software). The curriculum then walks the students through a series of online learning modules that help them learn about a piece of technology or a new concept they’ll need to build a model from Lego WeDo™ kits and how they can solve real life problems using engineering practices.
This activity is a laboratory investigation where students observe images produced by …
This activity is a laboratory investigation where students observe images produced by concave and convex lenses, and how light travels through the lenses.
Concepts underlying the first of the Essential Principles of the Climate Sciences …
Concepts underlying the first of the Essential Principles of the Climate Sciences are aligned with topics typically taught in the elementary grades. This article identifies lessons that will help elementary students develop an understanding of how Sun's light warms Earth and how variations in daylight hours are associated with seasonal change. This article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle.
With the assistance of a few teacher demonstrations (online animation, using a …
With the assistance of a few teacher demonstrations (online animation, using a radiometer and rubbing hands), students review the concept of heat transfer through convection, conduction and radiation. Then they apply an understanding of these ideas as they use wireless temperature probes to investigate the heating capacity of different materials sand and water under heat lamps (or outside in full sunshine). The experiment models how radiant energy drives convection within the atmosphere and oceans, thus producing winds and weather conditions, while giving students the hands-on opportunity to understand the value of remote-sensing capabilities designed by engineers. Students collect and record temperature data on how fast sand and water heat and cool. Then they create multi-line graphs to display and compare their data, and discuss the need for efficient and reliable engineer-designed tools like wireless sensors in real-world applications.
This lesson introduces students to three of the six simple machines used …
This lesson introduces students to three of the six simple machines used by many engineers: the lever, the pulley, and the wheel-and-axle. In general, engineers use the lever to magnify the force applied to an object, the pulley to lift heavy loads over a vertical path, and the wheel-and-axle to magnify the torque applied to an object. The mechanical advantage of these machines helps determine their ability to make work easier or make work faster.
The Maryland Science Center is working with formal education providers in local …
The Maryland Science Center is working with formal education providers in local underserved schools around a combined project including an interactive exhibit, a Davis Planetarium program and associated Educator Workshops, and will provide outreach to the informal science education community to explore the subject of Astrobiology. Topics covered in both the exhibit and the Davis Planetarium program will include Earthly extremophiles (organisms that survive in extreme conditions), potential other life in the Solar System, locations on nearby worlds where life may exist, the search for exoplanets, the techniques used to discover them, and the NASA missions engaged in the hunt. With an engaging, interactive approach, the exhibit will detail the challenges, questions and techniques of the search for exoplanets, especially Earth-like worlds. The exhibit will help visitors understand the scale of both the Milky Way galaxy and the Universe, and by doing so comprehend the difficulty in searching for other worlds, especially smaller Earth-like worlds.
Students teams each assemble a wing component of a lifter with the …
Students teams each assemble a wing component of a lifter with the goal to test the lifter wing and measure the force exerted when high voltage is applied to it. After an introduction to torque and its use to measure force, students calculate the change in the torque when a high voltage is applied to the wing portion of the lifter using a fulcrum. Once a group has assembled its wing portion, the teacher tests it with a high-voltage power supply, marking the change in the balance so that students can calculate the force. Then groups adjust the gap between the electrodes and re-measure the force. Groups each repeat this process three times, which allows students to estimate the magnitude of the force as a function of the gap between the electrodes.
Using three images from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, students …
Using three images from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, students measure and analyze infrared light from objects to identify Brown Dwarfs and Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs). The lesson includes a teacher’s guide, student worksheet and PowerPoint presentation (which contains the three images to be analyzed).
Students complete this Beer's Law activity in class. Students examine the attenuation …
Students complete this Beer's Law activity in class. Students examine the attenuation of various thicknesses of transparencies. From this activity, students will understand that different substances absorb light differently. This can then be transferred to X-rays to explain that different substances absorb X-rays differently, hence the need for dual-energy analysis. In looking at Beer's Law, students use the properties associated with natural logarithms. After the activity, students complete a series of questions regarding what they observed.
Did you know that when you look at a star, your eyes …
Did you know that when you look at a star, your eyes are capturing light that traveled all the way from the star to your eye? Learn more about how light carries information from distant objects. This Moveable Museum article, available as a nine-page printable PDF file, offers a kid-friendly look at how information about distant objects comes to us in the form of light. It includes suggested resources for further research.
Students learn about the basic properties of light and how light interacts …
Students learn about the basic properties of light and how light interacts with objects. They are introduced to the additive and subtractive color systems, and the phenomena of refraction. Students further explore the differences between the additive and subtractive color systems via predictions, observations and analysis during three demonstrations. These topics help students gain a better understanding of how light is connected to color, bringing them closer to answering an overarching engineering challenge question.
This activity is an experiment where students learn about angles of reflection …
This activity is an experiment where students learn about angles of reflection and use that knowledge to reflect a light beam around obstacles to a target across the classroom.
In this lesson, students will investigate objects' appearance in varying levels of …
In this lesson, students will investigate objects' appearance in varying levels of light to help them construct an explanation that objects can only be seen when light is available to illuminate them. Students will discuss why objects look different in a dark room and graph their preferences for sleeping with a light on or off. Then, they will investigate how an object's appearance changes in different lighting conditions in small group centers. Finally, they will model the moon's path around the sun to see how light from the sun causes the moon's appearance to change as it orbits Earth. At the conclusion of the lesson, students will use their experiences as evidence to explain that light is essential for sight. This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.
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