Financial institutions are a pillar of civilized society, supporting people in their productive ventures and managing the economic risks they take on. The workings of these institutions are important to comprehend if we are to predict their actions today and their evolution in the coming information age. The course strives to offer understanding of the theory of finance and its relation to the history, strengths and imperfections of such institutions as banking, insurance, securities, futures, and other derivatives markets, and the future of these institutions over the next century.

Students create their own simple compasses using thread, needle and water in a bowl and learn how it works.

STUDENT ACTIVITY - K -- VAThis is a distance-learning lesson students can complete at home.Students will identify 5 senses and use them to make observations of the natural world.This activity was created by Out Teach (out-teach.org), a nonprofit providing outdoor experiential learning to transform Science education for students in under-served communities. .

Students will learn about the ways garden organisms depend on each other in their environment for survival. Animals eat plants and/or other animals for food this will show students how energy is transferred from the sun to living things.

With a continued focus on the Sonoran Desert, students are introduced to the concepts of food chains and food webs through a PowerPoint® presentation. They learn the difference between producers and consumers and study how these organisms function within their communities as participants in various food chains. They further understand ecosystem differences by learning how multiple food chains link together to form intricate and balanced food webs. At lesson end, students construct food webs using endemic desert species.

Students will observe organisms in their ecosystem and describe the flow of energy in food webs

Students will explore the outdoor classroom finding objects and determining how to form different letters using them.

Students will explore the garden for different forms of energy including mechanical, electrical, light, thermal and sound energy.

Students take a closer look at cars and learn about some characteristics that affect their energy efficiency, including rolling resistance and the aerodynamics of shape and size. They come to see how vehicles are one example of a product in which engineers are making changes and improvements to gain greater efficiency and thus require less energy to operate.

Students will use knowledge of aquatic and terrestrial environments to identify fossils and predict environmental changes over time.

Students will explore the components of soil and make a model of sedimentary rock layers and fossil fuels.

STUDENT ACTIVITY -- 5th -- NC/TXThis is a distance-learning lesson students can complete at home. The student will use their knowledge of operations (addition and subtraction) of fractions with unequal denominators to solve real world problems.This activity was created by Out Teach (out-teach.org), a nonprofit providing outdoor experiential learning to transform Science education for students in under-served communities.

Students will be able to describe the shares using the words halves and fourths. They'll be able to describe the whole as two of, or four of the shares.

STUDENT ACTIVITY - 5th - TXStudents will use their knowledge of fractions to divide whole numbers

STUDENT ACTIVITY - 5th - TXStudents will use their knowledge of operations (addition and subtraction) of fractions with unequal denominators to solve real world problems.This activity was created by Out Teach (out-teach.org), a nonprofit providing outdoor experiential learning to transform Science education for students in under-served communities.

Students will go on a scavenger hunt around the garden demonstrating and recording ways that different objects can move.

Students work as engineers and learn to conduct controlled experiments by changing one experimental variable at a time to study its effect on the experiment outcome. Specifically, they conduct experiments to determine the angular velocity for a gear train with varying gear ratios and lengths. Student groups assemble LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT robots with variously sized gears in a gear train and then design programs using the NXT software to cause the motor to rotate all the gears in the gear train. They use the LEGO data logging program and light sensors to set up experiments. They run the program with the motor and the light sensor at the same time and analyze the resulting plot in order to determine the angular velocity using the provided physics-based equations. Finally, students manipulate the gear train with different gears and different lengths in order to analyze all these factors and figure out which manipulation has a higher angular velocity. They use the equations for circumference of a circle and angular velocity; and convert units between radians and degrees.

A gear is a simple machine that is very useful to increase the speed or torque of a wheel. In this activity, students learn about the trade-off between speed and torque when designing gear ratios. The activity setup includes a LEGO(TM) MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT pulley system with two independent gear sets and motors that spin two pulleys. Each pulley has weights attached by string. In a teacher demonstration, the effect of adding increasing amounts of weight to the pulley systems with different gear ratios is observed as the system's ability to lift the weights is tested. Then student teams are challenged to design a gear set that will lift a given load as quickly as possible. They test and refine their designs to find the ideal gear ratio, one that provides enough torque to lift the weight while still achieving the fastest speed possible.

In this video collaboration from Khan Academy and 23andMe, you'll learn about the basics of cells, chromosomes, and the genes contained in your DNA.

In this video collaboration from Khan Academy and 23andMe, you'll learn about the basics of cells, chromosomes, and the genes contained in your DNA.