Carmen
'A contemporary interpretation of the Bizet opera, this late twentieth century story of ill-fated romance set on New York's Lower East Side features Carmen as a rock-and-roll singer and Don Jose as a record producer. The drama is interrupted and examined through a series of audiovisual asides that serve as commentary, with images of fire and ice poetically illuminating the romantic and tragic elements. Carmen is played by New York musician Emily XYZ...." In this piece written, directed, and prod
A Walk Through Time
This sit elooks at the evolution of time keeping, how humans have measured the passage of time throughout history. The site describes and shows depictions of ancient calendars, sun and water clocks, mechanical and quartz clocks, and world time scales and time zones.
Volcanic Clouds and the Atmosphere
The common plastic water bottle makes a useful container for demonstrating properties of gases and liquids. As typical examples, we know that “air” is a gas (made up of nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, ozone, carbon dioxide, and several “trace” gases) and water is a liquid. We should also note that gases and liquids are both “fluids”. That is, they can flow or change shape, rather than having a fixed shape like a solid. So what happens when a water bottle is opened? Usually not much. W
EO Global Warming
Earth Expeditions: Global Warming has been designed to provide students with an interactive multimedia environment where they can learn about the causes and possible effects of the rise in concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for more than a century. How will Earth’s environment be affected if this rise continues over the next century? The multimedia package provides background information about radiation from the Sun and Earth, the Earth’s energy balance, and the greenhouse ef
Lunar Plant Growth Chamber
This site invites students to design chambers for growing plants on the moon. (Plants may be used to supplement meals of astronauts during space exploration.) Teacher guides include lessons on providing light and water for the plants, choosing plant species, exploring the moon, and designing, building, and evaluating plant growth chambers.
Learning to Fly: The Wright Brothers' Adventure
This activity sends students undercover to Dayton and Kitty Hawk to report secretly on the activities of two brothers who are making a big glider in their bicycle shop. Students prepare by researching aviation history and then, posing as news reporters, interview the brothers (and neighbors). Instructions are included for building the Wright brothers' gliders and first plane.
Investigating the Climate System: Energy
This site offers problem-based lessons that focus on questions: Does ground surface influence temperature? How important is water evaporation to the cooling of a surface? If my town grows, will it affect the area's temperature? Why are summer temperatures in the desert southwest so much higher than at the same latitude in the southeast?
Earth Explorers Series
Who Are NASA's Earth Explorers? The elementary school student questioning if El Nino occurs anywhere besides the Pacific Ocean... The researcher investigating connections between Arctic ozone depletion and global climate change... The consumer comparing hydrocarbon versus hydrogen-powered cars... And the business person projecting future needs for harvest, delivery, and storage of crops... All of these people are Earth Explorers -- they are all connected by their curiosity about Earth system pro
21st Century Explorer
This site answers questions that include: Why do we want to travel to Mars? How would your body change in space? Where would a space explorer find water and oxygen? How can we travel faster in space? Student actors (on video) and hands-on activities are featured with each answer. The site is for Grades 3-5 and available in Spanish.
Surface Acoustic Wave/Gas Chromatography System for Trace Vapor Analysis
A cost analysis and progress report to the Federal Government's Department of Energy detailing the use of a surface acoustic/wave gas chromatograph for trace vapor analysis. It contains a brief description of surface acoustic wave (SAW) detectors used with gas chromatography. This site is a good example of the detailed reports chemists and engineers might put together to obtain or continue to get funding.
Bowl 'em over : does he have a chance?
The initial question for this online activity asks students to determine the probability of winning a bowling tournament, given scores for the first five games. Students determine what the score in a sixth game must be in order to win the tournament. They also calculate the probability of bowling that score. Two solutions to this problem are included. The activity is one of 80 mathematical challenges featured on the Figure This! web site, where real-world uses of mathematics are emphasized. In r
Space coupe to the rescue
For this online activity, students raise and lower their Space Coupe to line it up and destroy virus pods using positive or negative numbers. The challenge is to destroy all eight virus pods within a given time. Negative numbers take the Coupe in a downward direction, sometimes below the waterline, while positive numbers take the Coupe in an upward direction, including out of the water and into the air. The distance the ship needs to travel to destroy each pod is counted using a scale on the lef
Can you fill it?
This animated three-round game challenges the student to use visual clues and logic to fill differently shaped containers with water from three pots of graduated sizes. A round involves filling a cylinder, cone, or beaker. The first two rounds can be done in a minimum of nine fillings and the third in six. The student has multiple chances to match the minimum number of fillings for each round. Copyright 2005 Eisenhower National Clearinghouse
When in Rome : does Polygon need a jacket?
This activity asks students to decide if a tourist visiting Rome should wear a jacket if the temperature is 35 degrees Celsius. The activity is part of the FigureThis! collection of challenges that emphasize math in the real world. Students are encouraged to approach the problem by drawing a thermometer and labeling it with the freezing and boiling points of water in both the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales. The solution presents a diagram and the formula for converting Celsius to Fahrenheit. The
Drip drops : how much water do you waste?
In this activity, students are given a situation in which a leaky faucet is dripping at the rate of one drop every two seconds. They are asked to decide if the water lost in one week would fill a drinking glass, a sink, or a bathtub. The activity, part of the Figure This! collection of 80 challenges, notes that mathematics is crucial for environmental and government agencies that must interpret data and report their findings to the public. The Hint states that a teaspoon holds about 20 drops. Th
Fire hydrant : what shape is at the very top of a fire hydrant?
This activity begins an exploration of geometric shapes by asking students why the five-sided (pentagonal) water control valve of a fire hydrant cannot be opened by a common household wrench. The activity, part of the Figure This! collection of 80 math challenges emphasizing math in the real world, explains how geometric shape contributes to the usefulness of many objects. A hint on the page calls students' attention to the shape of a normal household wrench, which has two parallel sides. Relate
Smiles : which is worth more, a smile or a frown?
This activity offers a logic problem in which students are shown an array of smiling, frowning, and neutral faces. Each row and column adds up to a different dollar amount, and students are challenged to determine how much a smile is worth. The activity, from the Figure This! collection of 80 online challenges, notes that working with equations is an important skill in such careers as nursing, chemistry, and engineering. Students are encouraged to begin this challenge by finding rows or columns
Thirteen? Oh, no! : Are you superstitious? Do you avoid the number 13?
This activity asks student to determine if there a Friday the 13th in every year. The activity, from the Figure This! collection of 80 math challenges, also considers superstitions associated with the number 13. It suggests that the student make lists and examine calendars to determine the total number of possible calendar arrangements. The usefulness of reasoning with number patterns and dates is noted. The page features links to a solution hint, the solution, related math questions, and resour
Middle School Portal: Math and Science Pathways (MSP2)
This website is an intermediate on-line textbook on the fundamentals of flight. Initially, this resource examines different kinds of flight. Specifically gliding and true flight are explored. Further topics in the principles of flight will cover aeronautics, the movement of fluids, water and liquids, movement of air, measurements, properties of flight, air moving objects, and forces in flight. This resource also provides fundamentals of flight references. Copyright 2005 International Technology
Middle School Portal: Math and Science Pathways (MSP2)
This activity introduces students to the concept of drag in relationship to a sailboat. Students will design and make a sailboat. The materials needed are clean Styrofoam tray (trays that meats are sold on in the grocery store), wooden skewers (used for shish kabobs), small piece of a clean sheet, scissors, fan, large container of water, and pen. This would be a suitable activity for small groups. Copyright 2005 International Technology Education Association
