This is a lesson about planetary atmospheres. Learners will interpret real spectral graphs from missions to determine what some of Earth, Venus, and Mars’ atmosphere is composed of and then mathematically compare the amount of the greenhouse gas, CO2, on the planets Venus, Earth, and Mars in order to determine which has the most. Students brainstorm to figure out what things, along with greenhouse gases, can affect a planet’s temperature. The activity is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System.

Students observe cutouts of birds around the classroom, sketch and describe field markings, and use field guides to make identifications.

Educators Guide for this unit:
http://education.eol.org/lesson_plans/2-5_ScienceSkills_BioblitzSkillbuilderOverview.pdf

Lessons in this unit:
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 1: Meet a Creature
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 2: ID That Bird!
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 3: How Diverse is Biodiversity?
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 4: Modeling Classification
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 5: ID Using a Dichotomous Key

Students build their own two-cell batteries. They also determine which electrolyte solution is best suited for making batteries.

Students review the electrical appliances used at home and estimate the energy used for each. The results can help to show the energy hogs that could benefit from conservation or improved efficiency.

As an introduction to Media Literacy, this lesson covers topics ranging from rhetorical theory, philosophy, and history to illuminate the interconnected complications of media in the modern world. Supplemental resources are woven into the lesson in the form of hyperlink text, images, and embedded videos. The ultimate goal of this lesson resource is to inform grade-aged learners about the subject complexity of media literacy and equip them with the most basic tools to properly understand and engage with social media and media in general. Crash Course, a free supplemental learning company is a commonly referenced external tool within the lesson as their expanding topic verity offers well-researched additive content for digital learning environments.

The lessons in this curriculum unit will help students learn the foundations of coding using the free PBS KIDS ScratchJr app. With PBS KIDS Scratch Jr, students can create their own interactive stories and games featuring their favorite characters from Wild Kratts, Nature Cat, WordGirl and Peg + Cat!. By snapping together colorful programming blocks, students make characters move, jump, dance, and sing. In the process, kids learn to solve problems, design projects, and express themselves creatively. These lessons help students explore coding/programming vocabulary and offer non-device activities around coding/programming concepts.

In Uncommon Scents, students investigate a chemical accident and learn about the health effects of exposure to toxic chemicals. They will discover that many common household products contain toxic chemicals, learn how inhaling these product can severely damage the nervous system and other parts of the body, and find ways to protect themselves from exposure to toxic vapors. This game consists of three consecutive episodes with a continuous storyline. We recommend playing the episodes in order

Bees are incredibly important to the production of almonds! In this 3rd-5th grade lesson, students will learn how almonds go from the farm to the table while distinguishing between facts and opinions about the growing season! This lesson includes background information, vocabulary words, video links, step-by-step procedures, and links to other valuable lessons. 

Students learn how make phylogenetic trees from morphological data using a variety of candy. Techniques and concepts learned include outgroup analysis, making a character matrix, coding characters, parsimony, building phylogenetic trees, monophyly, polytomy, synapomorphy, and why scientists can get wildly different trees with the same taxa.

This course discusses the evolution and role of urban public transportation modes, systems, and services, focusing on bus and rail. It covers various topics, including current practice and new methods for data collection and analysis, performance monitoring, route design, frequency determination, vehicle and crew scheduling, effect of pricing policy and service quality on ridership.

Students and faculty participate in an integrated effort to characterize hydrologic relationships using hydrologic, geologic & geophysical data

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This course covers the following topics: X-ray diffraction: symmetry, space groups, geometry of diffraction, structure factors, phase problem, direct methods, Patterson methods, electron density maps, structure refinement, how to grow good crystals, powder methods, limits of X-ray diffraction methods, and structure data bases.

Students in groups of two will use an EV3 kit, EV3 accessories kit and Microbit. To Create a robotic golf putter. The putter will use a Microbit to read and analyze its acceleration. The robot will be allowed to travel up to 2’ to strike the ball to make a 6-8’ putt.

Students understand that organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. Students understand that the needs of plants and animals are different but interdependent.

Students use engineering design principles to construct and test a fully solar powered model car. Several options exist, though we recommend the "Junior Solar Sprint" (JSS) Car Kits that can be purchased with direction from the federal government. Using the JSS kit from Solar World, students are provided with a photovoltaic panel that produces ~3V at ~3W. An optional accessory kit also from Solar World includes wheels, axles and drive gears. A chassis must be built additionally. Balsa wood provides an excellent option though many others are available. The testing of the solar car culminates in a solar race between classmates.

A variety of fuels are evaluated for the amount of heat they liberate upon burning. This includes a discussion of how different criteria can influence the evaluation of what makes a "good" fuel.

In this video segment from Cyberchase, the CyberSquad tries to reach Ms. Fileshare by using a 3 x 3 matrix to figure out the various ways they can travel to her.

The year is 2050 and your once-idyllic beachfront vacation home is now flooded up to the second story. The crab your family has enjoyed every Christmas for as long as you can remember has now become an endangered species. The oceans have changed. In Earth 540, Oceanography for Educators, we explore the mechanisms that lead to sea level rise and ocean acidification. We strive to understand how natural processes such as ocean currents, the gulf-stream, tides, plate tectonics, and the Coriolis Effect, affect our oceans and ocean basins. We then predict how man-made issues such as climate change and overfishing will affect our beloved waters and our livelihoods. Want to see into the future? Then this course is for you!

(This case study was added to OER Commons as one of a batch of over 700. It has relevant information which may include medical imagery, lab results, and history where relevant. A link to the final diagnosis can be found at the end of the case study for review. The first paragraph of the case study -- typically, but not always the clinical presentation -- is provided below.)

A woman in her 50s reported a 2-year history of brachialgia with a radicular radiation of pain into the right digits I-III for about 5 weeks. Neurological examination revealed hyperactive deep tendon reflexes of the right upper limb and the lower limbs, sustained clonus in the left ankle, gait ataxia, paresis of the right biceps muscle and of the interosseous muscles of the right hand and hypesthesia in the right C6 segment. X-ray examination of the spine showed enlargement of the right-sided C5-6 neural foramen with bone erosion. Spinal MRI disclosed here a club-shaped intra- and extraspinal mass lesion with intradural growth through the enlarged neural foramen (Figure 1A). The mass lesion measured approximately 4.5 x 2 cm with a large intraspinal part of about 1.5 cm in diameter. It caused compression and midline shift of the cervical spinal cord (Figures 1A, 1B). It was isointense in T1-weighted images and showed strong contrast enhancement (Figures 1A, 1B). The mass was hyperintense in T2-weighted images and here, signal intensity of the compressed cervical spinal cord was slightly increased. No additional remarkable anamnestic data and no pathologic dermatological or cardiac findings were reported. A preoperatively diagnosed hyperthyroidism was supposed to be caused by autoimmune thyroiditis and responded to thyreostatic drug therapy. No additional signs of endocrinological dysfunction were recorded.

Genome Properties allows you to infer the presence of pathways and systems within a species, based on the occurrence of a set of underlying molecular markers.

By the end of the course you will be able to:
Describe the data contained in Genome Properties
Demonstrate various ways to search the resource
Propose ways to use Genome Properties in your own research