Students experiment with a new material—aerogel. Aerogel is a synthetic (human-made) porous ultra-light (low-density) material, in which the liquid component of a gel is replaced with a gas. In this activity, student pairs use aerogel to simulate the environmental engineering application of cleaning up oil spills. In a simple and fun way, this activity incorporates density calculations, the material effects of surface area, and hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties.

As a historic unit of the National Park Service, the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The site also is within the boundaries of the Logan Circle Historic District. This lesson is based on the Historic Resources Study for Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site, as well as other materials on Bethune and the National Council of Negro Women. The lesson was written by Brenda K. Olio, former Teaching with Historic Places historian, and edited by staff of the Teaching with Historic Places program and Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site.

Course: ED 100- INTRO TO EDUCATION (WEEK 6)

Following a 4 part film series “The Story of American Public Education” https://films.com/id/1538/School_The_Story_of_American_Public_Education.htm, students will have been considering issues of equity and access in the US school system up through the 1990s when the the age of accountability is introduced. This lays the groundwork for the next chapter: NCLB, ESSA and the Common Core.

ED 100 Introduction to Education for Paraeducators

Explores the roles of a variety of personnel in schools. Includes personal responses to school situations, students, other personnel and the roles of schools in American Society. Examines ethical, legal, and administrative implications for educators. Recommended as an initial course for those contemplating a career in education. Course is designed to ease the transition of students to college-level study. Audit available.

Do you need proof that driving is a dangerous activity? More Americans have died in car crashes over the past 100 years than in all the wars the U.S. has ever fought combined. More than 40,000 Americans die each year on the nation's highways, most as the result of high-speed collisions. In this video segment adapted from NOVA, learn how engineers developed the air bag, an important automobile-safety device now found in most cars.
Recommended for: Grades 3-12

By watching and performing several simple experiments, students develop an understanding of the properties of air: it has mass, it takes up space, it can move, it exerts pressure, it can do work.

Air pressure is pushing on us all the time although we do not usually notice it. In this activity, students learn about the units of pressure and get a sense of just how much air pressure is pushing on them.

This is an inquiry activity that relies of pervious understanding of balancing and weighing to introduce a properties of air.

In this Interactive Lecture Demonstration, students will predict the main issues that might be included in short French language videos treating topics such as endangered species, organic farming, the effect of aerosols on the environment, pollution and sustainable development. They will then view short videos on the topics and reflect on how their prior assumptions meshed with reality.

The problem statement describes a changing algae population as reported by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. In part (a), students are expected to build an exponential function modeling algae concentration from the description given of the relationship between concentrations in cells/ml and days of rapid growth (F-LE.2).

In this game activity students practice comparing shapes and naming something that is alike or different about them.

"Babies and young children are like the R&D division of the human species," says psychologist Alison Gopnik. Her research explores the sophisticated intelligence-gathering and decision-making that babies are really doing when they play.

In this informational text, elementary school readers learn about the difference between weather and climate and about components of the climate system. The text can be used to practice visualizing and other comprehension strategies. Available in K-2 and 3-5 grade bands and as an illustrated book as well as a text document, the story appears in the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle.

This article provides an overview of icebergs' formation and characteristics and the hazards associated with icebergs.

Commercial fishing nets often trap "unprofitable" animals in the process of catching target species. In this activity, students experience the difficulty that fishermen experience while trying to isolate a target species when a variety of sea animals are found in the area of interest. Then the class discusses the large magnitude of this problem. Students practice data acquisition and analysis skills by collecting data and processing it to deduce trends on target species distribution. They conclude by discussing how bycatch impacts their lives and whether or not it is an important environmental issue that needs attention. As an extension, students use their creativity and innovative skills to design nets or other methods, theoretically and/or through hands-on prototyping, that fisherman could use to help avoid bycatch.

Bycatch, the unintended capture of animals in commercial fishing gear, is a hot topic in marine conservation today. The surprisingly high level of bycatch about 25% of the entire global catch is responsible for the decline of hundreds of thousands of dolphins, whales, porpoises, seabirds and sea turtles each year. Through this curricular unit, students analyze the significance of bycatch in the global ecosystem and propose solutions to help reduce bycatch. They become familiar with current attempts to reduce the fishing mortality of these animals. Through the associated activities, the challenges faced today are reinforced and students are stimulated to brainstorm about possible engineering designs or policy changes that could reduce the magnitude of bycatch.

This study used an organizational socialization lens to examine factors influencing participants’ choice to pursue the principalship and an alternate administration certification program. Through an analysis of participants’ interviews, factors emerged from the codes that were compared with dimensions of a socialization framework. A key finding from this study is the intersection of socializing factors that influenced participants’ decisions to pursue the principalship and their decision to pursue an alternative preparation programs. This intersection impacted how these aspiring and current principals came to participate in the alternate preparation program.

Aerogel, commonly called "frozen smoke," is a super-material with some amazing properties. In this lesson and its associated activity, students learn about this silicon-based solid with a sponge-like structure. Students also learn about density and how aerogel is 99.8% air by volume, making it the lightest solid known to humans! Further, students learn about basic heat transfer and how aerogel is a great thermal insulator, having 39 times more insulation than the best fiberglass insulation. Students also learn about the wide array of aerogel applications.

This article highlights resources related to water from the American Museum of Natural History and at-home activities on ice and water.