People like to avoid large temperature swings in buildings because it's more comfortable. The heat capacity of the building is useful in reducing swings, especially in solar houses where the incoming energy varies with the amount of sunshine. This model allows you to explore the effect of heat capacity on temperature swings.

In this activity the temperature of a reaction is monitored for different concentrations of reactants.

Modify an existing molecule and observe how different atoms affect the electron distribution within the model.

Repeated motion is present everywhere in nature. Learn how to 'make waves' with your own movements using a motion detector to plot your position as a function of time, and try to duplicate wave patterns presented in the activity. Investigate the concept of distance versus time graphs and see how your own movement can be represented on a graph.

When heat energy is transferred from a warm to a cold object, one cools down and the other warms up, but the total energy remains the same. This model allows you to watch this process and explore how to determine the final temperature.

Meiosis is the process by which gametes (eggs and sperm) are made. Gametes have only one set of chromosomes. Therefore, meiosis involves a reduction in the amount of genetic material. Each gamete has only half the chromosomes of the original germ cell. Explore meiosis with a computer model of dragons. Run meiosis, inspect the chromosomes, then choose gametes to fertilize. Predict the results of the dragon offspring and try to make a dragon without legs. Learn why all siblings do not look alike.

Monitor the temperature of a melting ice cube and use temperature probes to electronically plot the data on graphs. Investigate what temperature the ice is as it melts in addition to monitoring the temperature of liquid the ice is submerged in.

Explore what happens when a force is exerted on a metallic material. There are many different types of materials. Each material has a particular molecular structure, which is responsible for the material's mechanical properties. The molecular structure of each material affects how it responds to an applied force at the macroscopic level.

Explore how mixing two different liquids together can result in less total volume by investigating at the molecular 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.

Explore how an mRNA copy is made of DNA. Protein complexes separate the DNA helix to allow complementary mRNA nucleotides to bind to the DNA sequence. The pairing of nucleotides is very specific.

Explore how a protein is made from an mRNA sequence. In translation, the mRNA leaves the nucleus and attaches to a ribosome. Transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules bring amino acids to the ribosome. The tRNA pairs up with the mRNA nucleotide sequence in a specific complementary manner, ensuring the correct amino acid sequence in the protein.

This initial module from the GENIQUEST project introduces the dragons and the inheritance of their traits, then delves into meiosis and its relationship to inherited traits. Students examine the effects of choosing different gametes on dragon offspring, and learn about genetic recombination by creating recombination events to generate specific offspring from two given parent dragons. Students learn about inbred strains and breed an inbred strain of dragons themselves.

Learn to identify different molecular shapes, to understand the interactions that create these shapes, and how to predict a molecule's shape given certain information about it. Explore these concepts using three-dimensional computer models and answer a series of questions to reinforce your understanding.

In this activity, students interact with 12 models to observe emergent phenomena as molecules assemble themselves. Investigate the factors that are important to self-assembly, including shape and polarity. Try to assemble a monolayer by "pushing" the molecules to the substrate (it's not easy!). Rotate complex molecules to view their structure. Finally, create your own nanostructures by selecting molecules, adding charges to them, and observing the results of self-assembly.

Add various unknown molecules to oil and water, and observe how the molecules sort themselves in response to interactions with the surrounding environment.

Explore the structure of a gas at the molecular level. Molecules are always in motion. Molecules in a gas move quickly. All molecules are attracted to each other. Molecules can be weakly or strongly attracted to each other. The way that large molecules interact in physical, chemical and biological applications is a direct consequence of the many tiny attractions of the smaller parts.

Explore the structure of a liquid at the molecular level. Molecules are always in motion. Molecules in a liquid move moderately. All molecules are attracted to each other. Molecules can be weakly or strongly attracted to each other. The way that large molecules interact in physical, chemical and biological applications is a direct consequence of the many tiny attractions of the smaller parts.