In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina talks about what properties are and how we can measure them to tell us more about an object.
In this activity, learners will use a hurricane tracking map, satellite images and weather maps to track a hurricane and predict its path. They will consider the meaning and appropriate use of a hurricane watch and a hurricane warning and how these impact public action. They will discuss the hurricane's path and their predictions in a simulated debriefing session and television appearance. Links to maps, data and images are provided. This activity is part of the Event-Based Science (EBS): Remote Sensing Activities.
This resource is a 4 x 6" lenticular card on NASA's HS3 (Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel) aircraft mission, which will overfly tropical storms and hurricanes using NASA's Global Hawk Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the Northern Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico. These flights will improve our understanding of the processes that lead to the development of intense hurricanes. The mission will take place for one-month periods during the 2012, 2013, and 2014 Atlantic Basin hurricane seasons.
Students learn what causes hurricanes and what engineers do to help protect people from destruction caused by hurricane winds and rain. Research and data collection vessels allow for scientists and engineers to model and predict weather patterns and provide forecasts and storm warnings to the public. Engineers are also involved in the design and building of flood-prevention systems, such as levees and floodwalls. During the 2005 hurricane season, levees failed in the greater New Orleans area, contributing to the vast flooding and destruction of the historic city. In the associated activity, students learn how levees work, and they build their own levees and put them to the test!
This website, provided by NASA's Earth Observatory, describes the science behind hurricanes. Sections include hurricane formation and decay, hurricane anatomy, information regarding storm surges, hurricane climatology, a description of the Saffir-Simpson scale and NASA study missions. Users will also find a list of references regarding hurricanes and hurricane science.
Through four lessons and four hands-on associated activities, this unit provides a way to teach the overarching concept of energy as it relates to both kinetic and potential energy. Within these topics, students are exposed to gravitational potential, spring potential, the Carnot engine, temperature scales and simple magnets. During the module, students apply these scientific concepts to solve the following engineering challenge: "The rising price of gasoline has many effects on the US economy and the environment. You have been contracted by an engineering firm to help design a physical energy storage system for a new hybrid vehicle for Nissan. How would you go about solving this problem? What information would you consider to be important to know? You will create a small prototype of your design idea and make a sales pitch to Nissan at the end of the unit." This module is built around the Legacy Cycle, a format that incorporates findings from educational research on how people best learn. This module is written for a first-year algebra-based physics class, though it could easily be modified for conceptual physics.
This lab exercise exposes students to a potentially new alternative energy source hydrogen gas. Student teams are given a hydrogen generator and an oxygen generator. They balance the chemical equation for the combustion of hydrogen gas in the presence of oxygen. Then they analyze what the equation really means. Two hypotheses are given, based on what one might predict upon analyzing the chemical equation. Once students have thought about the process, they are walked through the experiment and shown how to collect the gas in different ratios. By trial and error, students determine the ideal combustion ratio. For both volume of explosion and kick generated by explosion, they qualitatively record results on a 0-4 scale. Then, students evaluate their collected results to see if the hypotheses were correct and how their results match the theoretical equation. Students learn that while hydrogen will most commonly be used for fuel cells (no combustion situation), it has been used in rocket engines (for which a tremendous combustion occurs).
Hank introduces us to biogeochemical cycles by describing his two favorites: carbon and water. The hydrologic cycle describes how water moves on, above, and below the surface of the Earth, driven by energy supplied by the sun and wind. The carbon cycle does the same... for carbon!
Students capture and examine air particles to gain an appreciation of how much dust, pollen and other particulate matter is present in the air around them. Students place "pollution detectors" at various locations to determine which places have a lot of particles in the air and which places do not have as many. Quantifying and describing these particles is a first step towards engineering methods of removing contaminants from the air.
Students develop an understanding of air pressure by using candy or cookie wafers to model how it changes with altitude, by comparing its magnitude to gravitational force per unit area, and by observing its magnitude with an aluminum can crushing experiment.
Students learn about pressure, employing it to crush cans and model the atmosphere.
Students develop their understanding of the effects of invisible air pollutants with a rubber band air test, a bean plant experiment and by exploring engineering roles related to air pollution. In an associated literacy activity, students develop visual literacy and write photograph captions. They learn how images are manipulated for a powerful effect and how a photograph can make the invisible (such as pollutants) visible. Note: You may want to set up the activities for Air Pollution unit, Lessons 2 and 3, simultaneously as they require extended data collection time and can share collection sites.
IDÉLLO is a Canadian French language platform with over 13,000 Prekindergarten to Grade 12 educational resources, including streaming videos, games, websites, applications and teaching tools. The resources are designed to meet the needs of teachers, educators, students and parents and are curated by experts.
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.
This NASA site hosts a composite image of the southern lights Aurora over the South Pole. A link enables visitors to view a video of this aurora. The image of the Aurora is overlaid on a NASA ‰ÛÏBlue Marble‰Û� image also captured by satellite. Text describes the distortion of Earth‰Ûªs magnetic field by the stream of protons and electrons from the sun.
Coloring sheets provited by NASA.
This informational text explores how glaciers have eroded and shaped Earth's landscape. The text is at a reading level appropriate for Kindergarten through first grades. It is a full-color pdf file that can be printed, cut, and folded to form a 2 1/8" by 2 3/4" book. It contains color photographs and illustrations.
This informational text explores how glaciers have eroded and shaped Earth's landscape. The text is at a reading level appropriate for Kindergarten through first grades. It is a pdf file that includes only the text and a glossary.
In this activity, learners draw conclusions about where on a planetary body scientists might look for ice and why. They use a clay ball, ice cubes, and a heat lamp to model the permanently-shadowed polar regions of planets and moons that may harbor ice. They learn that our Moon, and even Mercury, may have areas with ice. This activity is part of Explore! To the Moon and Beyond! - a resource developed specifically for use in libraries.
This is a set of two improv-style activites that encourage participants to participate in learning about living and nonliving things. Learners will get to know each other through an icebreaker activity and state their ideas and previous experience with living versus nonliving things. This will help prepare them to explore how scientists define and look for life in worlds beyond our own. It also includes specific tips for effectively engaging girls in STEM. This is the icebreaker activity in Explore: Life on Mars? that was developed specifically for use in libraries.