This video lesson highlights how science can be learned from daily life …
This video lesson highlights how science can be learned from daily life experiences. It emphasizes the ways in which simple laws of physics can be understood from personal observations and experiences, and in fact it demonstrates that we use these laws as if they were built into our instincts. The video also introduces Newton's laws of motion. The title, Gravity at Work, comes from a fascinating example of two laborers working at a construction site in Pakistan. In this lesson, Newtonian equations of motion are used to determine the velocities and height achieved by the projectile in a very simple and basic manner.
12 cards (6 true and 6 false) about gravity. Students sort into …
12 cards (6 true and 6 false) about gravity. Students sort into true and false piles . Can be used to find what students already know or to assess learning. Some cards will need changing depending on the misconceptions you have uncovered in the class.
In this activity about chemistry and electricity, learners form a battery by …
In this activity about chemistry and electricity, learners form a battery by placing their hands onto plates of different metals. Learners detect the current by reading a DC microammeter attached to the metal plates. Learners experiment with different metals to find out what combination produces the most current as well as testing what happens when they press harder on the plates or wet their hands. Learners also investigate what happens when they wire the plates to a voltmeter.
A series of problems for students to solve using their knowledge of …
A series of problems for students to solve using their knowledge of magnetism and electromagnetism. Questions start off easy (separating steel/aluminum cans) and get harder.
Background for and techniques of visual observation, electronic imaging, and spectroscopy of …
Background for and techniques of visual observation, electronic imaging, and spectroscopy of the Moon, planets, satellites, stars, and brighter deep-space objects. Weekly outdoor observing sessions using 8-inch diameter telescopes when weather permits. Indoor sessions introduce needed skills. Introduction to contemporary observational astronomy including astronomical computing, image and data processing, and how astronomers work. Student must maintain a careful and complete written log which is graded. In this seminar we explore the background and techniques of visual observation and imaging of the Moon, planets, and brighter deep-space objects using 8-inch telescopes. (Some sample images appear in our "photo album".) Telescope work begins with visual observing, then we advance to CCD (charge-coupled device) cameras. Each class observing session meets one evening a week. Whenever weather conditions permit us to observe outdoors we do so! In cloudy weather we'll try some astronomical computing and image processing indoors instead. Either way, virtually all the work for the seminar is done during the evening sessions, so students must attend section every week in order to pass. Past experience has been that if you're really enthusiastic about hands-on out-under-the-sky astronomy, enough to be willing to deal with dressing warmly, tinkering with equipment, and committing one evening a week, 12.409 is great fun! One student wrote, "Unlike most seminars, you will earn your units and, unlike most other MIT courses, you will look forward to doing it!" But we'll be direct: 12.409 is not for everyone, and in past years many whose interest was merely casual found themselves unwilling to devote one entire evening every week to the class. If your interest is only casual then consider whether a more typical astronomy survey subject might be a better choice, since it'll have more outside preparation time that you can rearrange at your discretion and less in-class time that you can't.
Students explore heat transfer and energy efficiency using the context of energy …
Students explore heat transfer and energy efficiency using the context of energy efficient houses. They gain a solid understanding of the three types of heat transfer: radiation, convection and conduction, which are explained in detail and related to the real world. They learn about the many ways solar energy is used as a renewable energy source to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses and operating costs. Students also explore ways in which a device can capitalize on the methods of heat transfer to produce a beneficial result. They are given the tools to calculate the heat transferred between a system and its surroundings.
Objective SWBAT explain a model of heating to describe the uneven heating …
Objective SWBAT explain a model of heating to describe the uneven heating of Earth's surface as well as how Earth's atmosphere effects incoming solar radiation.
Big Idea This lesson explores heat transfer by radiation, uneven heating of Earth's surface and importance of Earth's atmosphere all in one go.
Students gain a basic understanding of the engineering components behind telecommunications, in …
Students gain a basic understanding of the engineering components behind telecommunications, in particular, the way telephone communication works to link one phone to another for conventional landline and cellular telephones. During this entire-class activity, students simulate how phone calls are connected by acting out a variety of searches for both local and long-distance calls. Students end up with a good understanding of how phone calls are transmitted from callers to recipients.
A main concern of shoe engineers is creating shoes that provide the …
A main concern of shoe engineers is creating shoes that provide the right amount of arch support to prevent (or fix) common gait misalignments that lead to injury. During this activity, students look at their own footprints and determine whether they have either of the two most prominent gait misalignments: overpronation (collapsing arches) or supination (high arches). Knowing the shape of a person's foot, and their natural arch movement is necessary to design shoes to fix these gain alignments.
Students investigate how old the universe is and when important events took …
Students investigate how old the universe is and when important events took place in the universe and on Earth. They draw the universe timeline from the beginning until today on the scale of a year.
The unit “mole” is used in chemistry as a counting unit for …
The unit “mole” is used in chemistry as a counting unit for measuring the amount of something. One mole of something has 6.02×1023 units of that thing. The magnitude of the number 6.02×1023 is challenging to imagine. The goal of this lesson is for students to understand just how many particles Avogadro's Number truly represents, or, how big is a mole. This lesson is meant for students currently enrolled in a first or second year chemistry course. This lesson is designed to be completed within one approximately 1 hour class; however, completion of optional activities 4 and 5 may require a longer class period or part of a second class period. This lesson requires only pencil and paper, as the activities suggested in this video place an emphasis on helping students develop their “back of the envelope” estimation skills. In fact, calculators and other measuring devices are explicitly discouraged. However, students may require additional supplies (poster board, colored pencils, markers, crayons, etc.) for the final optional/assessment activity, which involves creating a poster to demonstrate the size of a mole of their favorite macroscopic object.
The unit “mole” is used in chemistry as a counting unit for …
The unit “mole” is used in chemistry as a counting unit for measuring the amount of something. One mole of something has 6.02×1023 units of that thing. The magnitude of the number 6.02×1023 is challenging to imagine. The goal of this lesson is for students to understand just how many particles Avogadro's Number truly represents, or, how big is a mole. This lesson is meant for students currently enrolled in a first or second year chemistry course. This lesson is designed to be completed within one approximately 1 hour class; however, completion of optional activities 4 and 5 may require a longer class period or part of a second class period. This lesson requires only pencil and paper, as the activities suggested in this video place an emphasis on helping students develop their “back of the envelope” estimation skills. In fact, calculators and other measuring devices are explicitly discouraged. However, students may require additional supplies (poster board, colored pencils, markers, crayons, etc.) for the final optional/assessment activity, which involves creating a poster to demonstrate the size of a mole of their favorite macroscopic object.
This lesson plan helps students understand the factors that affect water quality …
This lesson plan helps students understand the factors that affect water quality and the conditions that allow for different animals and plants to survive. Students will look at the effects of water quality on various water-related activities and describe water as an environmental, economic and social resource. The students will also learn how engineers use water quality information to make decisions about stream modifications.
This video is the second lesson in the How Cold Is Cold? …
This video is the second lesson in the How Cold Is Cold? BLOSSOMS series and examines the properties of materials under low temperature conditions. The video consists of a series of fascinating demonstrations with liquid nitrogen, which boils at 77K (-196 C -321 F). These demonstrations include the following: What goes up, may not come down; Is that supposed to be cold? - thermal insulation; Some properties of liquid nitrogen; Making ice cream - the slow way and the fast way; Try not to explode: expansion of liquid nitrogen and the ideal gas law; Making the air cold: phase changes and the affect on volume; No frozen fingers: the changes in mechanical properties; Resistivity at 77K; The magic magnet: the Meissner Effect; Cautions in using liquid nitrogen
This video is the second lesson in the How Cold Is Cold? …
This video is the second lesson in the How Cold Is Cold? BLOSSOMS series and examines the properties of materials under low temperature conditions. The video consists of a series of fascinating demonstrations with liquid nitrogen, which boils at 77K (-196 C -321 F). These demonstrations include the following: What goes up, may not come down; Is that supposed to be cold? - thermal insulation; Some properties of liquid nitrogen; Making ice cream - the slow way and the fast way; Try not to explode: expansion of liquid nitrogen and the ideal gas law; Making the air cold: phase changes and the affect on volume; No frozen fingers: the changes in mechanical properties; Resistivity at 77K; The magic magnet: the Meissner Effect; Cautions in using liquid nitrogen
This video lesson is part of a two-part series and introduces the …
This video lesson is part of a two-part series and introduces the concept of temperature. Temperature can be a challenging concept to convey since our perception is tied to words that are relative to our own experience, which varies quite a lot. A short activity to be performed in the classroom shows the need for a temperature scale since qualitative descriptions are not adequate. Temperatures that vary from the hottest to coldest recorded temperatures on earth are shown in advance of introducing the boiling temperatures of a number of cryogenic liquids.
This video lesson is part of a two-part series and introduces the …
This video lesson is part of a two-part series and introduces the concept of temperature. Temperature can be a challenging concept to convey since our perception is tied to words that are relative to our own experience, which varies quite a lot. A short activity to be performed in the classroom shows the need for a temperature scale since qualitative descriptions are not adequate. Temperatures that vary from the hottest to coldest recorded temperatures on earth are shown in advance of introducing the boiling temperatures of a number of cryogenic liquids.
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