This activity promotes the learning of basic physics principle by viewing cartoon videos where these principles are bent of broken.
Introduction to Quantum Physics concepts with an activity demonstrating Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, wave/particle duality, Planck's Constant, de Broglie wavelength, and how Newton's Laws go right out the window on a quantum level.
Students explore the physics utilized by engineers in designing today's roller coasters, including potential and kinetic energy, friction, and gravity. First, students learn that all true roller coasters are completely driven by the force of gravity and that the conversion between potential and kinetic energy is essential to all roller coasters. Second, they also consider the role of friction in slowing down cars in roller coasters. Finally, they examine the acceleration of roller coaster cars as they travel around the track. During the associated activity, the students design, build, and analyze a roller coaster for marbles out of foam tubing.
This activity is a method of tying a multitude of physical (and chemical) properties together showing what makes a substance unique and identifiable. This activity is a great way to lead the students into developing their procedures, their further investigations, and yet giving them the feeling of responsibility and ownership for their learning.
This page is part of NASA's Earth Observatory website. It features text and a scientific illustration to describe how the ocean interacts with the atmosphere, physically exchanging heat, water, and momentum. It also includes links to related data sets, other ocean fact sheets, and relevant satellite missions.
This activity is an investigation of free fall and projectile motion through a track and field situation.
This task requires students to answer questions about the structure of an expression.
This activity is a hands on investigation in which students will construct, and launch a trebuchet.
Students are introduced to the physics concepts of air resistance and launch angle as they apply to catapults. This includes the basic concepts of position, velocity and acceleration and their relationships to one another. They use algebra to solve for one variable given two variables.
If you build it carefully, this crazy contraption demonstrates one of the basic laws of nature.
This activity is a classroom lab where students will conduct a controlled activity resulting in the growth of salt crystals, showing a dramatic physical change.
This activity uses cooperative learning to identify minerals in hand sample based on physical properties. The "Jigsaw" pedagogy upon which this lab is based provides the environment for four succeeding labs in which the students learn the megascopic characteristic properties, chemical composition, and a geologic significance for each of approximately 100 minerals.
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From drinking fountains at playgrounds, water systems in homes, and working bathrooms at schools to hydraulic bridges and levee systems, fluid mechanics are an essential part of daily life. Fluid mechanics, the study of how forces are applied to fluids, is outlined in this unit as a sequence of two lessons and three corresponding activities. The first lesson provides a basic introduction to Pascal's law, Archimedes' principle and Bernoulli's principle and presents fundamental definitions, equations and problems to solve with students, as well as engineering applications. The second lesson provides a basic introduction to above-ground storage tanks, their pervasive use in the Houston Ship Channel, and different types of storage tank failure in major storms and hurricanes. The unit concludes with students applying what they have learned to determine the stability of individual above-ground storage tanks given specific storm conditions so they can analyze their stability in changing storm conditions, followed by a project to design their own storage tanks to address the issues of uplift, displacement and buckling in storm conditions.
In this activity, students will learn about Newton's 2nd Law of Motion. They will learn that the force required to move a book is proportional to the weight of the book. Engineers use this relationship to determine how much force they need to move an airplane.
Students learn about video motion capture technology, becoming familiar with concepts such as vector components, magnitudes and directions, position, velocity, and acceleration. They use a (free) classroom data collection and processing tool—the ARK Mirror—to visualize and record 3-D motion. The Augmented Reality Kinematics (ARK) Mirror software collects data via a motion detector. Using an Orbbec Astra Pro 3D camera or Microsoft Kinect (see note below), students can visualize and record a robust set of data and interpret them using statistical and graphical methods. This lesson introduces students to just one possible application of the ARK Mirror software—in the context of a high school physics class. Note: The ARK Mirror is ported to operate on an Orbbec platform. It may also be used with a Microsoft Kinect, although that Microsoft hardware has been discontinued. Refer to the Using ARK Mirror and Microsoft Kinect attachment for how to use the ARK MIrror software with Microsoft Kinect.
Students review and score a concept map for physical weathering using a grading rubric. They are then asked to reorganize or redraw the diagram to a form that you believe is appropriate to earn the highest score on the rubric.
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This optional field trip is designed to augment the in-class learning experience in introductory physical geology by providing students the opportunity to see firsthand local geological features and understand their context in the long-term tectonic evolution of the western United States. The university is conveniently located in a portion of the American west where a plethora of geological features are readily accessible over a total field trip duration of 6 hours. Over a total of 6 field stops, students are presented with an opportunity to observe features relevant to topics learned in class involving rock types, volcanic features (lava flows and ash fall deposits), faults and folds, mass wasting features, catastrophic flood deposits (Bonneville and Missoula floods), and loess deposits.
(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.)
In this classroom guided inquiry lesson, students will complete a serious of tests using five different mystery powders. Student will develop hypotheses, make observations, and draw conclusions about what each powder is and the physical and chemical reactions that occur when heat, water, iodine, and vinegar are added to each substance.
Students will use science skills of observing, describing and measuring in the context of Making Ice Cream. Students will understand the concept that physical properties can change.
The purpose of the activity is to get students out of the traditional classroom setting and to spend several hours navigating their way between various localities on campus where different rock types are used for a variety of purposes. Students are encouraged to bring along their introductory geology laboratory manuals to remind them of the techniques used to correctly identify rock types. The activity is designed to promote enjoyment of the task (clues need to be "solved" to figure out the location of the next outcrop in the sequence) and to encourage students to follow the task through to completion. As a result, students invariably spend many hours engaged in the activity despite the fact that it is completely optional.
(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.)