STUDENT ACTIVITY -- 4th -- TXThis is a distance-learning lesson students can complete at home.The student will explore their outdoor space for different forms of energy including mechanical, electrical, light, thermal and sound energy.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.

This video lesson is an example of ''teaching for understanding'' in lieu of providing students with formulas for determining the height of a dropped (or projected) object at any time during its fall. The concept presented here of creating a chart to organize and analyze data collected in a simple experiment is broadly useful. During the classroom breaks in this video, students will enjoy timing objects in free fall and balls rolling down ramps as a way of learning how to carefully conduct experiments and analyze the results. The beauty of this lesson is the simplicity of using only the time it takes for an object dropped from a measured height to strike the ground. There are no math prerequisites for this lesson and no needed supplies, other than a blackboard and chalk. It can be completed in one 50-60-minute classroom period.

In this interactive activity adapted from the University of Utah's ASPIRE Lab, investigate frequency in terms of trampoline jumps, pendulum swings, and electromagnetic waves.

This activity was designed for blind learners, but all types of learners can use it to identify increases in friction.

In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, hydrogen fuel cell cars promise pollution-free driving, but will we see them anytime soon?

In this video segment adapted from FETCH!, contestants are challenged to use materials from a garbage dump to build a boat that floats, can be steered, and is propelled by something other than oars.

Just after World War II, nuclear scientists turned their attention from fission to fusion. This video segment adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE looks at the beginnings of thermonuclear power generation.

The GLOBE Cave Protocol Field Guide utilizes existing GLOBE protocols to explore an extreme environment. Caves provide an opportunity to utilize GLOBE protocols to investigate underground environments and compare them to surface environments. Outside the cave, students record elevation, MUC, latitude and longitude, air temperature, relative humidity and air pressure. Inside the cave, students record air temperature, relative humidity and air pressure as well as observe and describe cave features in each room. Students also note evidence of biological activity and human impact. If water is present inside the cave, students record water temperature and pH. Follow up questions are included in the Field Guide.

This video lesson has the goal of introducing students to galaxies as large collections of gravitationally bound stars. It explores the amount of matter needed for a star to remain bound and then brings in the idea of Dark Matter, a new kind of matter that does not interact with light. It is best if students have had some high school level mechanics, ideally Newton's laws, orbital motion and centripetal force. The teacher guide segment has a derivation of centripetal acceleration. This lesson should be mostly accessible to students with no physics background. The video portion of this lesson runs about 30 minutes, and the questions and demonstrations will give a total activity time of about an hour if the materials are all at hand and the students work quickly. However, 1 1/2 hours is a more comfortable amount of time. There are several demonstrations that can be carried out using string, ten or so balls of a few inches in diameter, a stopwatch or clock with a sweep second hand and some tape. The demonstrations are best done outside, but can also be carried out in a gymnasium or other large room. If the materials or space are not available, there are videos of the demonstrations in the module and these may be used.

This video segment adapted from NOVA shows how Galileo, using his newly developed refracting telescope, observed four of Jupiter's moons, the first astronomical bodies to be discovered since ancient times.

Einstein called Galileo the "father of modern physics." This media-rich essay from the NOVA Web site looks at Galileo's quest to understand the mathematics of motion.

In the early 1600s, most people believed that the Sun revolved around a stationary Earth. This video segment adapted from NOVA tells how Galileo proved that the Sun, not Earth, is at the center of our universe.

This video segment adapted from NOVA shows how Galileo used his telescope to carefully observe and study sunspots.

Scientists don't always get it right. This video segment adapted from NOVA looks at Galileo's failed theory for the motion of the tides.

This video from NASA describes the GLAST satellite, which is equipped with a gamma-ray telescope, and shares some background about the kinds of extreme universal phenomena indicated by the presence of gamma rays.

This video segment from Swift: Eyes through Time introduces and explains theories of the origin of gamma-ray bursts.

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

In this dynamic data science game, students try to track down a speck of extremely dangerous radioactive material (the "source"), which has been lost somewhere in the middle of their lab. A special device measures the strength of the radiation and, if it’s positioned correctly over the speck, can be used to collect it for safe disposal. But it's a tiny speck, so they have to give quite precise coordinates. They take measurements to figure out the speck’s location, but must beware: as they take measurements, they're also accumulating radiation exposure. If they get too much, they’ll lose the game and will have to start over. Can they find the source before it’s too late? Using mathematical models, students generate useful strategies for winning the game with data.

The overall goal of the authors with General Chemistry: Principles, Patterns, and Applications was to produce a text that introduces the students to the relevance and excitement of chemistry.Although much of first-year chemistry is taught as a service course, Bruce and Patricia feel there is no reason that the intrinsic excitement and potential of chemistry cannot be the focal point of the text and the course. So, they emphasize the positive aspects of chemistry and its relationship to studentsŐ lives, which requires bringing in applications early and often. In addition, the authors feel that many first year chemistry students have an enthusiasm for biologically and medically relevant topics, so they use an integrated approach in their text that includes explicit discussions of biological and environmental applications of chemistry.

Learn how scientists regulate a nuclear reactor in this animation-enhanced essay from the FRONTLINE Web site.