Ocean Explorer: 2002 Explorations
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Ocean Explorer Web site (last mentioned in the March 8, 2002 -NSDL Scout Report for the Life Sciences_ ) has begun several of this seasons explorations. Six new voyages have been, or soon will be undertaken and the Web pages include daily updates, photos, and videos of the research efforts. Studies include biological monitoring of marine sanctuaries, hydrothermal vents, geological studies, and recovery of a sunken Civil War ship. An in
Animation Magazine
This online magazine is all about animation and features regular articles, reviews of films and books, and profiles about people in the industry and tutorials. Articles in the current issue address topics such as "the impact of new technology on performance and the future roles of technology, new and old" and international perspectives on Bridging the Cultural Divide in Digital Entertainment. The tutorials cover topics such as how to make 3-D characters come to life and making molds. The Special
Lubricants
The first Web site related to lubrication is presented by SynLube.com and its relevant page is entitled Basics: What You Need to Know About Lubrication (1). Visitors can learn why lubrication is so important to mechanical devices, why oil needs to be changed in your car, what synthetic oils can do, and more. Although the site is for a manufacturer of synthetic oil, there is a good amount of interesting physical science information. The second site provides an educational resource activity by The
I Don’t Believe My Eyes!
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, Less
Solar System!
An introduction to our solar system: the planets, our Sun and our Moon. Students begin by learning the history and engineering of space travel. They make simple rockets to acquire a basic understanding Newton’s third law of motion. They explore energy transfer concepts and use renewable solar energy for cooking. They see how engineers design tools, equipment and spacecraft to go where it is too far and too dangerous for humans. They explore the Earth’s water cycle, and gravity as applied to
Building Tetrahedral Kites
Working in teams of four, students build tetrahedral kites following specific instructions and using specific materials. They use the basic processes of manufacturing systems – cutting, shaping, forming, conditioning, assembling, joining, finishing, and quality control – to manufacture complete tetrahedral kites within a given time frame. Project evaluation takes into account team efficiency and the quality of the finished product.
Pointing at Maximum Power for PV
Student teams measure voltage and current in order to determine the power output of a photovoltaic (PV) panel. They vary the resistance in a simple circuit connected to the panel to demonstrate the effects on voltage, current, and power output. After collecting data, they calculate power for each resistance setting, creating a graph of current vs. voltage, and indentifying the maximum power point.
The Visual Spectrum
In this activity, students make simple spectroscopes (prisms) to look at different light sources. The spectroscopes allow students to see differing spectral distributions of different light sources.
Possible Locations
Students will use their knowledge of scales and areas to cut out rectangular paper pieces to represent caverns to scale with the maps. These paper cutouts can then be placed on the maps to help students decide where the best locations.
Issues Awareness
In this activity, students will conduct a survey to identify the environmental issues (in their community, their country and the world) for which people are concerned. They will tally and graph the results. Also, students will discuss how surveys are important when engineers make decisions about environmental issues.
Oceans, climate and weather
What is the difference between weather and climate? What do the oceans have to do with them? Weather is the day-to-day state of the atmosphere and its short-term (minutes to weeks) variation. Climate is typically described by the regional patterns of seasonal temperature and precipitation over 30 years. The averages of annual temperature, rainfall, cloud cover, and depth of frost penetration are all typical climate-related statistics. The oceans influence the worlds climate by storing solar ener
Hurricanes
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, co
Taking the Boat to Manaus
In this activity, the students will apply the concepts they learned regarding mass, volume and density in the previous activities to design a boat.
Biological Diversity Animals III
This online textbook describes with pictures and text the evolutionary history of a variety of animal groups.
Downhill Science: Alpine Skiing
The following resource is from Lessonopoly, which has created student activities and lesson plans to support the video series, Science of the Olympic Winter Games, created by NBC Learn and the National Science Foundation. Featuring exclusive footage from NBC Sports and contributions from Olympic athletes and NSF scientists, the series will help teach your students valuable scientific concepts. In this activity, students will explore the physics of alpine skiing by simulating a downhill run and r
Hurricanes 2: Tracking Hurricanes
The purpose of this lesson is to examine the role of technology in identifying and tracking hurricanes. It is the second in a two-part series on the science of hurricanes and the kinds of technology being used to identify and track them. Students broaden their study by exploring how technology and science are used today to identify, measure, and track powerful tropical storms to better warn and secure people from a hurricane's often-devastating impact.
Exploring Green Jobs
In this lesson, students complete a Myers-Briggs Type Inventory of their personality type as an introductory step to understanding what green jobs might suit their personal styles. From the information on this online tool, they look at different Green Jobs to explore possible careers.
Defining Dissolving
n this introductory activity students see that sugar and food coloring dissolve in water but neither dissolves in oil. Based on their observations, students can conclude that both solids and liquids can dissolve, but they don't necessarily dissolve in all liquids. Through this activity, students will refine their definition of dissolve. There is a downloadable activity sheet that will be very helpful to educators, and will help students stay on track. An assessment sheet is also available on the
Willpower: Self-Control, Decision Fatigue, and Energy Depletion [Audio]
Speaker(s): Dr Roy F Baumeister | A new understanding of how people control themselves has emerged from the past decade of research studies. Self-control depends on a limited energy supply, and each person's willpower fluctuates during the day as various events deplete and then replenish it. Decision making and creative initiative also deplete the same willpower supply, while eating and sleeping can restore it. Some circumstances propel people to perform well despite depleted willpower, includin
The Soviet Union's Collapse: causes and consequences [Audio]
Speaker(s): Rodric Braithwaite, Andrei Grachev, Professor Margot Light | What were the origins of the collapse of the USSR? What did 1991 look and feel like from the inside? What is the legacy of 1991 for the former USSR itself? This expert panel will reflect on how history unfolded. Rodric Braithwaite was British Ambassador to Moscow from 1988 to 1992. Andrei Grachev served on the International Relations Department of the CPSU and was confidant and official spokesman for Mikhail Gorbachev. Marg
