Students will use the short, informational text provided to guide them in examining the animal and insect habitats in their outdoor classroom. They will then be able to use their experience to summarize the information from the text.
Students learn about weight by building a spring scale and observing how it responds to objects with different masses.
Students will experiment with different areas of the garden that absorb heat from the sun the best.
Students will experiment with different areas of the garden that absorb heat from the sun the best.
Students will explore the outdoor classroom for natural examples of heat transfer through conduction, convection, and radiation.
Students will take temperature readings and collect anecdotal evidence to determine how different materials absorb the sun's heat.
Students learn the purpose of a fever in the body's immune system and how it protects the body against germs. The students continue to explore temperature by creating a model thermometer and completing a temperature conversion worksheet. They come to see how engineers are involved in designing helpful medical instruments such as thermometers.
Students gain first-hand experience on how friction affects motion. They build a hovercraft using air from a balloon to levitate a craft made from a compact disc (CD), learning that a bed of air under an object significantly reduces the friction as it slides over a surface.
Building on the programming basics learned so far in the unit, students next learn how to program using sensors rather than by specifying exact durations. They start with an examination of algorithms and move to an understanding of conditional commands (until, then), which require the use of wait blocks. Working with the LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT robots and software, they learn about wait blocks and how to use them in conjunction with move blocks set with unlimited duration. To help with comprehension and prepare them for the associated activity programming challenges, volunteer students act out a maze demo and student groups conclude by programming LEGO robots to navigate a simple maze using wait block programming. A PowerPoint® presentation, a worksheet and pre/post quizzes are provided.
Students measure and analyze forces that act on vehicles pulling heavy objects while moving at a constant speed on a frictional surface. They study how the cars interact with their environments through forces, and discover which parameters in the design of the cars and environments could be altered to improve vehicles' pulling power. This LEGO® MINDSTORMS® based activity is geared towards, but not limited to, physics students.
This resource outlines how to set up and use the LTI tools available with OER Commons.
Students will explore trees in their outdoor classroom, learn about the important functions that trees serve and devise ways to conserve trees by changing human behaviors: recycling, etc.
Final video in a series from 23andMe and Khan Academy that introduces human prehistory, this video describes how when people started crossing oceans, genetic and cultural differences between people from different continents began fading.
Second in a series of videos from Khan Academy and 23andMe, this video introduces human prehistory, this video describes how our human ancestors spread throughout Africa and then into other regions such as Australia and Europe. How did they reach Australia so early on? What happened when our ancestors encountered Neanderthals?
Third in a series of videos from Khan Academy and 23andMe that introduces human prehistory, this video describes how early humans continued to defy the odds and populated the Americas during the last ice age.
Fourth in a series of videos from Khan Academy and 23andMe that introduces human prehistory, this video describes how agriculture changed human societies and genetics throughout the world.
This award-winning video collaboration from Khan Academy and 23andMe introduces human prehistory starting over 200,000 years ago. Who were our first human ancestors? Where did they live?
Students are provided with a rigorous background in human "sensors" (including information on the main five senses, sensor anatomies, and nervous system process) and their engineering equivalents, setting the stage for three associated activities involving sound sensors on LEGO® robots. As they learn how robots receive input from sensors, transmit signals and make decisions about how to move, students reinforce their understanding of the human body's sensory process.
In this activity, students will simulate the equal and unequal distribution of our renewable resources. Also, they will consider the impact of our increasing population upon these resources and how engineers develop technologies to create resources.
Students apply the design process to the problem of hiding a message in a digital image using steganographic methods, a PictureEdit Java class, and API (provided as an attachment). They identify the problems and limitations associated with this task, brainstorm solutions, select a solution, and implement it. Once their messages are hidden, classmates attempt to decipher them. Based on the outcome of the testing phase, students refine and improve their solutions.