Short demonstration on scientific notation by asking students to place numbers on a number line using string and notecards.

This article describes early studies of the auroras, including techniques used from 1960 when Henry Brecher first spent the winter at Byrd Station in Antarctica.

This article provides elementary school teachers with background knowledge about science concepts needed to understand the first of seven essential principles of climate literacy--the sun is the primary source of energy for our climate system. Graphs, diagrams, and oneline resources provide more background for the teacher. The article appears in a free online magazine that focuses on the seven essential princples of the climate sciences.

Students experiment and hypothesize about surface tension and cohesion, using water, ground black pepper, liquid soap, and other household products.

Students are presented with the question: "Why does a liquid jet break up into droplets?" and introduced to its importance in inkjet printers. A discussion of cohesive forces and surface tension is included, as well as surface acting agents (surfactants) and their ability to weaken the surface tension of water. Students observe the effects of surface tension using common household materials. Finally, students return to the original question through a homework assignment that helps them relate surface tension and surface area to the creation of water droplets from a liquid jet.

Students explore how pendulums work and why they are useful in everyday applications. In a hands-on activity, they experiment with string length, pendulum weight and angle of release. In an associated literacy activity, students explore the mechanical concept of rhythm, based on the principle of oscillation, in a broader biological and cultural context in dance and sports, poetry and other literary forms, and communication in general.

The Take Action column in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle suggests actions young people (K-grade 5) can take to reduce the impacts of climate change. The magazine examines the recognized essential principles of climate literacy and the climate sciences as well as the guiding principle for informed climate decisions.

This article describes energy efficiency as it relates to home and school energy use and provides ways that children can help.

This article provides an overview of energy education curriculum materials available from the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project. Teachers may become a member, or use free online resources.

This article provides lesson plans about natural resources and energy sources for elementary teachers.

This article discusses the importance of teaching students to reflect on text through direct instruction and modeling. The article includes a template that can be used with elementary students.

This interactive activity produced for Teachers' Domain shows the relationship between tectonic boundaries and the locations of earthquake events and volcanoes around the world.

This investigation uses the relationship between volume and temperature to reinforce the ideal gas law. It also uses the data collected to find absolute zero.

Students see how different levels of surface tension affect water's ability to move. Teams "race" water droplets down tracks made of different materials, making measurements, collecting data, making calculations, graphing results and comparing to their predictions and the properties of each surface, determining which surface exhibits the highest (or lowest) level of surface tension with water. They apply their results to make engineering recommendations for real-world applications.

Students measure different types of small-sized beams and calculate their respective moments of inertia. They compare the calculations to how much the beams bend when loads are placed on them, gaining insight into the ideal geometry and material for load-bearing beams.

Students conduct several simple lab activities to learn about the five fundamental load types that can act on structures: tension, compression, shear, bending, and torsion. To learn the telltale marks of failure caused by these load types, they break foam insulation blocks by applying these five load types, carefully examine each type of fracture pattern (break in the material) and make drawings of the fracture patterns.

Watch the ZOOM cast discover which insulator -- newspaper or aluminum foil -- is better at keeping an ice cube frozen longer.

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members show you how to make your very own electroscope. You can use it to find out if an object is electrically charged.