These sheets are designed to give students a framework for making observations of minerals in hand specimen and (for selected minerals) in thin section. I place most of the emphasis on the distinguishing properties, rather than requiring an exhaustive list. Students use hand specimen observation, thin section observation (for selected minerals) and references to complete the forms.

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This is an online exhibit about color perception. Learners set a random background color and then try to mix red, blue, and green light to match. Although this is a perception activity, it also demonstrates the difference between mixing colors of light and mixing pigments. Why when mixing pigments does the color darken? How does this differ from mixing colored light? Find out here!

This resource contains demonstrations used to illustrate the theory and applications of lasers and optics. A detailed listing of the topics can be found below.
Lasers today are being used in an ever-increasing number of applications. In fact, there is hardly a field that has not been touched by the laser. Lasers are playing key roles in the home, office, hospital, factory, outdoors, and theater, as well as in the laboratory.
To learn about lasers and related optics, one usually takes a course or two, or acquires the necessary information from books and journal articles. To make this learning more vivid and more exciting, and, one hopes, more understandable, one needs to see some of the basic phenomena involved. To fill this need, Professor Ezekiel has videotaped 48 demonstrations that illustrate most of the fundamental phenomena relating to lasers and physical optics.
By using split-screen inserts and a wide range of video-recording capabilities, it is possible to show real-time effects in lasers and optics with the simultaneous manipulation of the components that cause these effects. In this way, one can see effects in close up that would be difficult, if not impossible, to display in front of an audience or in the classroom.
These video demonstrations are designed for:

The individual student of lasers and optics who wants to observe the various phenomena covered in theoretical treatments in courses, books, and technical papers.
The Instructor in lasers and optics in a company, university, college, or high school who wants to illustrate, in class, many of the fundamental phenomena in optics and lasers.

These videos were produced by the MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Study.

In this activity, learners use a chemical reaction to visualize where moisture forms on the body. Learners use the Minor's iodine-starch test, a diagnostic test that doctors use to detect hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating), to identify where moisture is forming. Learners also use this method to test the effectiveness of different antiperspirants.

Lesson OverviewThis is a close reading lesson of “Little Things Are Big” by Jesús Colón . This text was featured in a newspaper column written in the 1950s.  The essay is an introduction to the concepts of conflict in literature.Lesson FocusHow do the perceptions we have of ourselves and of others create conflicts?Student OutcomesStudents will be able to determine how the conflict in “Little Things Are Big” was influenced by outward (physical) identifiers as well as infer how the conflict may have been different if the main character would have made a different choice.  Image source: "Menschen, Offentliche..." by Tim Savage on Pexels.com.

This is a lesson designed for overhand and catching skills. Students can self assess their progress or teacher can assess skill cues during the activity No More.

Students think about the nature of classification systems and about properties that are most useful for classifying minerals as they derive their own hierarchical scheme, or key, for identifying and naming mineral species. When finished, they read Mineralogy: A Historical Review by Robert M. Hazen and revise their classification scheme. Finally, groups trade their systematic plans and identify unknown mineral samples with them, comenting on the usefullness of the various methods.

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This is a semester-long jigsaw project in which students work in teams to explore the effects of energy resource development on local water resources, economics, and society. Students are presented with a contemporary energy resource development issue being debated in their community. They research the water, geological, economic, and social impact of the project, and then either defend or support the development proposal.

In this activity, learners work in groups to determine the mass and volume of four samples: glass marbles, steel washers or nuts, pieces of pine wood, and pieces of PVC pipe. Learners then plot the data points on a large class graph of mass vs. volume to discover that data points for a particular material form a straight line, the slope of which gives the density of the material.

In this course we will look at ways to change the narrative on school libraries from questioning the need for them or how to renovate the industrial era models of a single, shared resource environment to a learner-centered model.  We will work on how to move beyond traditional concepts, personal biases and even past current Learning Commons and Maker Spaces to creating learning environments where resources are ubiquitously accessible to students in virtual and physical formats.    We will look at the enormous complexity of this model in a K-12 school and why not exploring unique, alternative concepts may be hastening the elimination of school librarians.

This is an introductory project that addresses identifying the Elements of Art and Principles of Composition in immediate surroundings and provides these terms a real-time life application. The project is interactive and exploratory, requiring individual observation of a students' physical world. This project can be modified to include more images, changes in grid template and combined to include both Elements and Principles together; incluiding identifying other terms in art such as mediums. The project can be used in an online formatted course or a face to face environment. Including Art Appreciation, Art Orientation, Two-Dimensional Design and Three-Dimensional Design studio courses. 

Our writing is based on three premises. First, life sciences students are motivated by and respond well to actual data related to real life sciences problems. Second, the ultimate goal of calculus in the life sciences primarily involves modeling living systems with difference and differential equations. Understanding the concepts of derivative and integral are crucial, but the ability to compute a large array of derivatives and integrals is of secondary importance. Third, the depth of calculus for life sciences students should be comparable to that of the traditional physics and engineering calculus course; else life sciences students will be short changed and their faculty will advise them to take the 'best' (engineering) course.

Students are presented with a challenge question that they must answer with scientific and mathematical reasoning. The challenge question is: "You have a large rock on a boat that is floating in a pond. You throw the rock overboard and it sinks to the bottom of the pond. Does the water level in the pond rise, drop or remain the same?" Students observe Archimedes' principle in action in this model recreation of the challenge question when a toy boat is placed in a container of water and a rock is placed on the floating boat. Students use terminology learned in the classroom as well as critical thinking skills to derive equations needed to answer this question.

"Build It Yourself: Satellite!" is an online Flash game hosted on the James Webb Space Telescope website. The goal of the game is to explain the decision-making process of satellite design. The user can choose to build a "small," "medium," or "large" astronomy satellite. The user then selects science goals, wavelength, instruments, and optics. The satellite is then launched on the appropriate rocket (shown via an animation). Finally, the user is shown what their satellite might look like, as well as what kind of data it might collect, via examples from similar real-life satellites. Satellites range from small X-ray missions without optics (like the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer) to large missions with segmented mirrors (like the James Webb Space Telescope).

General Chemistry Syllabus

CH 221: General Chemistry

Course Overview: This chemistry course is designed for students majoring in science. The knowledge
from this course describes and explains atoms, molecules, properties of substances, and physical and
chemical changes. Topics covered include the Metric System, unit conversions, significant figures, basic
quantum mechanics and the structure of the atom, bonding theories and molecular geometry, and
calculations involving the mole.
Course Goals/Learning Objectives:
By the completion of this course, students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate familiarity with basic concepts in chemistry, such as atoms, molecules, matter,
phases, and energy.
2. Report laboratory data and calculation results with the correct number of significant figures and
units. Convert values from one set of units to another.
3. Interconvert between masses, molecular and formula mass, number of moles, and number of
particles. Perform calculations involving moles such as molarity.
4. Use the electron structures of atoms and their positions on the periodic table to explain and predict
properties of atoms, types of bonding, and periodic trends.
5. Write names and formulas of ionic and covalent compounds, and draw their Lewis structures.
6. Identify molecular geometry and predict polarity, hybridization, bond orders, and bond strengths
of molecules using bonding theories.

This is a debate-style learning activity in which student teams learn about energy sources and are then assigned to represent the different energy sources. Working cooperatively, students develop arguments on the pros and cons of their source over the others.

This online set of activities help students learn properties of ocean waves, wind-wave relationships and properties of tsunamis.

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This lesson has activities where students will learn about buoyancy and explore how hot water rises and cold water sinks. As an extension and real-life application, students will see that glacial run-off is occurring at a rapid pace and the cold glacial water could potentially change ocean currents thus influencing global climates.