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Emphasizing the synergies between science and engineering, these video clips highlight the research of professional ocean scientists and engineers in various disciplines. The clips are accompanied by additional relevant content including images,... (View More) data visualizations, graphs, animations, and other information. Content has been organized into more than a dozen thematic areas such as Solving Old Problems with New Technology and Small Scale Observations and Large Scale Ideas. All content has been aligned with science and engineering practices from the Next Generation Science Standards, including "asking questions and solving problems" and "planning and carrying out investigations," providing applicable resources for teachers who want to provide role models of effective practice for their students. (View Less)
This is an activity about color. Participants will use scientific practices to investigate answers to questions involving the color of the sky, sunsets, the Sun, and oceans. This activity requires use of a clear acrylic or glass container to hold... (View More) water, a strong flashlight, batteries for the flashlight, and powdered creamer or milk. (View Less)
In this lesson students investigate the effects of black carbon on arctic warming and are introduced to a mechanism of arctic warming that is not directly dependent on greenhouse gases in the atmosphere: black carbon deposition on Arctic snow and... (View More) ice. It can also be used to introduce the concept of albedo. Prerequisite knowledge: students understand the concepts of absorption and reflection of light energy. This lesson is designed to be used with either an Earth/environmental science or chemistry curriculum. It may also be used as an enrichment activity in physics or physical science during a unit on energy. Includes suggested modifications for students with special needs and low technology option. Requires advance preparation, including freezing ice samples overnight. (View Less)
This resource is designed to enable presenters (scientists, engineers, etc.) to easily present to an elementary and/or middle school audience and feel confident that the information they are presenting is developmentally appropriate and supports the... (View More) Next Generation Science Standards. A PowerPoint Presentation includes talking points and suggestions, a “Best Practices” document to offer helpful suggestion before, during, and after the presentation, and a list of additional resources that may be accessed by the speaker and/or the educator. This presentation is designed to take 30 to 45 minutes. (View Less)
In this lesson, students will learn about the water cycle and how energy from the sun and the force of gravity drive this cycle. The emphasis in this lesson will be on having students understand the processes that take place in moving water through... (View More) Earth’s system. (View Less)
This lesson includes a demonstration to show why the sky is blue and why sunsets and sunrises are orange. Learners will use scientific practices to investigate answers to questions involving the color of the sky, sunsets, the Sun, and oceans.... (View More) Requires a clear acrylic or glass container to hold water, a strong flashlight, and powdered creamer or milk. (View Less)
This is a collection of outreach resources about the Sun that are meant to be used in informal education settings. This toolkit was originally designed for NASA Night Sky Network member clubs and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific's Astronomy... (View More) from the Ground Up network of museum and science center educators. The toolkit includes background information about the Sun, magnetic fields of the Earth and Sun, and space weather, activity suggestions, and detailed activity scripts. The themes of this toolkit address both the constant nature of the Sun as a reliable source of energy and the dynamic nature of the Sun due to its changing magnetic fields. The activities and related materials in this collection include The Sun in a Different Light - Observing the Sun, Explore the Sun cards, Magnetic Connection, the Space Weather PowerPoint, Protection from Ultraviolet, and Where Does the Energy Come From cards. These activities can be done separately or as a group as part of an informal education event. Institutions that are not part of the Night Sky Network will need to acquire the various materials required for each activity. (View Less)
In this demonstration activity, students make structural models of gas molecules using pipe cleaners and polystyrene balls and test their molecules for their resonant frequency. Students shake the models, count vibrations, and compare the resonance... (View More) frequencies of different gases. Students learn that photons of infrared energy vibrate at the right frequency to transfer their energy to carbon dioxide and methane, which in turn causes those molecules to vibrate, which is experienced in the real world as heat. The teacher's guide includes illustrative videos for this resource. This activity is supported by a textbook chapter, What's So Special about CO²?, part of the unit, Climate Change, in Global Systems Science (GSS), an interdisciplinary course for high school students that emphasizes how scientists from a wide variety of fields work together to understand significant problems of global impact. (View Less)
This model demonstrates convection currents and uses water, food coloring, a cup of very hot water and a votive candle as heat sources. Movie clips of demonstration setup and convection in action are provided. This activity is supported by a... (View More) textbook chapter, What Heats the Earth's Interior?, part of the unit, Energy Flow, in Global Systems Science (GSS), an interdisciplinary course for high school students that emphasizes how scientists from a wide variety of fields work together to understand significant problems of global impact. (View Less)
This is an activity about magnetism. In this activity, polystyrene spheres and several strong neodymium magnets are used to represent the Sun and Earth and their distinct magnetic fields. Participants construct and use a field detector to predict... (View More) where the magnetic fields are on the Sun and Earth, and use field bits, which is the term used in the lesson plan, made from the closed staples to form loops and trace the invisible magnetic fields of the Sun and Earth. The activity is designed to be used in an informal public outreach setting, for example as a stand-alone station in a family science day event. It can also be modified for use as a simple classroom demonstration. There are background information sheets provided that can be printed to go along with the activity station. This activity requires two polystyrene spheres, 8 neodymium magnets, epoxy adhesive, wire clippers, needle nose pliers, and acrylic paints, along with other easily obtained materials. (View Less)