The MC1R gene, in part, controls deer mouse fur. Two alleles, RD and RL, in different combinations lead to light, medium, or dark brown fur. Students learn how to calculate relative allele frequencies, and then investigate how these frequencies may change over time as the environment in which the deer mice live changes. The activity is divided into four steps, which guide students to a deeper understanding of how evolution is measured.

Measure relative humidity in the air using a simple device made of a temperature sensor, a plastic bottle, and some clay. Electronically plot the data you collect on graphs to analyze and learn from it. Experiment with different materials and different room temperatures in order to explore what affects humidity.

Watershed Awareness using Technology and Environmental Research for Sustainability (WATERS)

The WATERS project is developing and researching a student-centered, place-based, and accessible curriculum for teaching watershed concepts and water career awareness for students in the middle grades. This 10-lesson unit includes online, classroom, and field activities. Students use a professional-grade online GIS modeling resource, simulations, sensors, and other interactive resources to collect environmental data and analyze their local watershed issues. The WATERS project is paving a path to increased access to research-based, open access curricula that hold the potential to significantly increase awareness of and engagement with watershed concepts and career pathways in learners nationwide.

This material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. The software is licensed under Simplified BSD, MIT or Apache 2.0 licenses. Please provide attribution to the Concord Consortium and the URL https://concord.org.

Watershed Awareness using Technology and Environmental Research for Sustainability (WATERS)

The WATERS project is developing and researching a student-centered, place-based, and accessible curriculum for teaching watershed concepts and water career awareness for students in the middle grades. This 10-lesson unit includes online, classroom, and field activities. Students use a professional-grade online GIS modeling resource, simulations, sensors, and other interactive resources to collect environmental data and analyze their local watershed issues. The WATERS project is paving a path to increased access to research-based, open access curricula that hold the potential to significantly increase awareness of and engagement with watershed concepts and career pathways in learners nationwide.

This material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. The software is licensed under Simplified BSD, MIT or Apache 2.0 licenses. Please provide attribution to the Concord Consortium and the URL https://concord.org.

Use a virtual scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to observe electron behavior in an atomic-scale world. Walk through the principles of this technology step-by-step. First learn how the STM works. Then try it yourself! Use a virtual STM to manipulate individual atoms by scanning for, picking up, and moving electrons. Finally, explore the advantages and disadvantages of the two modes of an STM: the constant-height mode and the constant-current mode.

Explore different types of attractions between molecules. While all molecules are attracted to each other, some attractions are stronger than others. Non-polar molecules are attracted through a London dispersion attraction; polar molecules are attracted through both the London dispersion force and the stronger dipole-dipole attraction. The dipole-dipole attraction is often thought of as 'opposite charges attract; like charges repel.' The force of attractions between molecules has consequences for their interactions in physical, chemical and biological applications.

Explore your own straight-line motion using a motion sensor to generate distance versus time graphs of your own motion. Learn how changes in speed and direction affect the graph, and gain an understanding of how motion can be represented on a graph.

Explore the pattern of earthquakes on Earth, including magnitude, depth, location, and frequency.

Semiconductors are the materials that make modern electronics work. Learn about the basic properties of intrinsic and extrinsic or 'doped' semiconductors with several visualizations. Turn a silicon crystal into an insulator or a conductor, create a depletion region between semiconductors, and explore probability waves of an electron in this interactive activity.

Investigate what makes something soluble by exploring the effects of intermolecular attractions and what properties are necessary in a solution to overcome them. Interactive models simulate the process of dissolution, allowing you to experiment with how external factors, such as heat, can affect a substance's solubility.

Two linear equations, with two variables, are presented and students use graphs to solve the system of equations. Students graph the lines and solve the problem using the graphs.

What happens when an excited atom emits a photon? What can we deduce about that atom based on the photons it can emit? A series of interactive models allows you to examine how the energy levels the electrons of an atom occupy affect the types of photons that can be emitted. Use a digital spectrometer to record which wavelengths certain atoms will emit, and then use this knowledge to compare and identify types of atoms. Students will be abe to:

Explore the factors that affect a spring's motion. A spring is a resilient device that can be pressed or pulled but return to its original shape when released. Springs are commonly helical coiled metal devices. When a spring is compressed or stretched and then released, it will vibrate at a particular frequency. This frequency is called the period of the spring. Experiment by changing the spring constant (a measure of the elasticity of the coils), the mass of the weight at the end of the spring, the initial extension or compression of the spring or the friction (or damping force) exerted on the spring. Which of these factors affect the period of the spring?

Explore the movement of gases, liquids and solids at a molecular level, and investigate how temperature and intermolecular attractions affect phase changes.

Stebbins is a game about evolution. Students collect data as predators "eating" colored circles on a colored background, being careful to avoid the poisonous ones. Data analysis reveals how the population changes color over time, and can be used to illuminate a common misconception that individuals change in response to predation. Stebbins is modeled on a non-digital game-like simulation of natural selection created by evolutionary biologist G. Ledyard Stebbins.

Stebbins is a game about evolution. Students collect data as predators “eating” colored circles on a colored background, being careful to avoid the poisonous ones. Data analysis reveals how the population changes color over time, and can be used to illuminate a common misconception that individuals change in response to predation. Stebbins is modeled on a non-digital game-like simulation of natural selection created by evolutionary biologist G. Ledyard Stebbins.

In Stella, students act as astronomers, studying stars in a "patch" of sky in our own galaxy. Using simulated data from spectroscopy and other real-world instrumentation, students learn to determine star positions, radial velocity, proper motion, and ultimately, degree of parallax. As students establish their expertise in each area, they earn "badges" that allow them greater and easier access to the data.

In Stella, students act as astronomers, studying stars in a “patch” of sky in our own galaxy. Using simulated data from spectroscopy and other real-world instrumentation, students learn to determine star positions, radial velocity, proper motion, and ultimately, degree of parallax. As students establish their expertise in each area, they earn “badges” that allow them greater and easier access to the data. The Teacher Guide includes background on stellar spectroscopy (the brightness of a star), photometry (the breakdown of light from a star), and astrometry (measuring the positions of stars).

Explore the interactions between a charged balloon and a neutral wall at the atomic-level.

Watershed Awareness using Technology and Environmental Research for Sustainability (WATERS)

The WATERS project is developing and researching a student-centered, place-based, and accessible curriculum for teaching watershed concepts and water career awareness for students in the middle grades. This 10-lesson unit includes online, classroom, and field activities. Students use a professional-grade online GIS modeling resource, simulations, sensors, and other interactive resources to collect environmental data and analyze their local watershed issues. The WATERS project is paving a path to increased access to research-based, open access curricula that hold the potential to significantly increase awareness of and engagement with watershed concepts and career pathways in learners nationwide.

This material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. The software is licensed under Simplified BSD, MIT or Apache 2.0 licenses. Please provide attribution to the Concord Consortium and the URL https://concord.org.