Through scientific inquiry, middle schoolers discover how to arrange solar cells in order to produce electricity. This activity is intended to prepare learners to be able to design and construct solar cars. As with other resources...

Collaborative groups connect resistors and solar panels in series and measure electrical resistance, voltage, and current. The objective is to order 16 solar panels from strongest to weakest. They graph current-voltage and power curves...

For this physics worksheet, students complete a series of multiple-choice and short-answer questions on force, magnitude, and energy. They complete calculations to solve word problems.

Get ready to move, shake, slip, and slide with a well-rounded plate tectonics unit! The engaging resource includes everything you need to inspire eighth grade science scholars, from worksheets to demonstrations. Assess their...

Make your work as a teacher a little easier with a physical science project on simple machines. After introducing young scientists to these devices and identifying their different uses around the school, this project engages...

Learners distinguish between energy, work, and power. They calculate work done by a force and the power used. THey identify the force that does work through creating a Webpage, Power Point presentation, and completing online activities.

Excite scholars to design their own planet in this first of five lessons. The lesson starts with a pre-activity assessment, a complete lesson plan that is easy to implement, and a post-activity assessment that would look great...

Young scholars review key physics terms using a Visual Thesaurus. In this science lesson, student groups compete against each other to correctly identify "imposter" words from a list of related physics vocabulary terms.

High schoolers are able to give specific examples of what to do and what not to do during given safety situations, and classify materials as metals, polymers, ceramics/glass, or composites. They are able to distinguish between chemical...

Students participate in a culminating activity for a unit on Energy and Simple Machines. They are challenged to incorporate simple machines in to a complex mechanical system. While designing and testing their machine they will also...

Learners study different ways of using solar energy. They design a solar water heater and determine how much water it can heat in a set amount of time. They examine how the heaters work by solar radiation and convection.

Students use a chart of the six simple machines and become aware of how the machines improve our ability to meet the following needs: shelter, food, water, and transportation. Students use model cars to experiment with force. They divide...

How can heat power an engine? Scholars observe a heat engine working and control variables to determine the most efficient setup. They change the amount of heat input as well as the stroke length. Energy efficiency numbers prove the...

Young learners take a look at what they eat in one day and compare it to how much physical activity they do on that same day. Point out that this is only a one-day glimpse at balancing the energy going in and what energy being used. They...

What are the three types of energy a ski jumper uses? If you said potential, kinetic, and heat, then you are correct. Scholars adjust the jumper's mass, jumper's form, and height of the start line in the simulation to display graphs of...

Learners explore the drawings of Rube Goldberg to design and construct a simple machine. They discuss simple machines, and using various materials and toy parts, design and construct a "Rube Goldberg" style machine to ring a bell.

Equip young campers with important survival knowledge with a set of engaging lessons. Teammates work together to complete three outdoor activities, which include building a shelter, starting a campfire, and finding directions in the...

Consider our energy sources: wood, coal, oil, uranium. Learners compare the pollution to energy produced for each. They practice fractional distillation of an alcohol/water mixture to simulate the process of refining crude oil....

A colorful and comprehensive PowerPoint highlights this lesson on waves. Junior geophysicists pretend that they are hired to analyze seismic waves. A worksheet is provided to go along with an online article about how compact discs work...

Students explore the concept of electricity in this activity based unit.  In this physical science lesson, students focus on electricity and electrical engineering. The teaching unit includes 5 activities to develop students...

Give youngsters the components of a solar-powered electric circuit and turn them loose to figure out how to connect them in order for a light to shine or motor to turn. They compare energy output of a solar panel to that of a battery. On...

Entropy, it isn't what it used to be. Presentation includes kinetic-molecular theory, heat and internal energy, thermal equilibrium, temperature scales, laws of thermodynamics, entropy, latent heat of fusion, specific heat, calorimetry,...

You're only 10 minutes late? Do you know how much the universe has expanded in those 10 minutes? Scholars graph supernovae based on their redshift and see if the results verify Hubble's Law. If it does confirm it, the universe is...

What kind of pears do electricians eat? Amperes! Presentation begins with electric field vectors for various charge configurations and field strengths for both point charges and uniform fields. It continues with various surfaces,...