In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members make their own hovercraft and demonstrate how the air leaking out of a balloon can make a plastic plate hover above a table.
What kind of unit conversion would you like to do? This site will allow you to do a multitude of conversions. Just click on the specific measurement you are needing to convert. It also provides a history of measurements and a chart of metric symbols.
Presents a chart contrasting the powers of the National government to the powers of a State government. The powers shared by both levels of government are listed below the chart.
Something seems familiar here: Students learn how allusion invites more into a text. Using "The House On Mango Street" students will learn about allusion by paralleling events from both the Bible and from Greek mythology.
The University of Groningen provides information about the 17th century British liberal philosopher. Includes concise biographical information and a link to the text of "A Letter Concerning Toleration." Read about what part of his philosophy was adopted by Thomas Jefferson and included in the Declaration of Independence.
Students read news reports and first-person accounts to imagine what it would be like to be in a blackout in a large city. They follow news reports as if the event were unfolding in real-time and keep weblogs or journals of their experience as they imagine it, taking on different roles of people who live in the city or commute there to work. They use their journal accounts to create a play or screenplay that depicts what the August 2003 blackout was like for the people in the U.S. and Canada who experienced it. Although this activity is geared towards fifth-grade and older students, it could be easily adapted for younger students.
Mr. Andersen defines the terms energy, work, and power. He also uses a simple example to calculate both work and power. [3:34]
Step-by-step explanations of the exponent laws including rules for combining powers and roots. Includes practice exercises.
Construct and measure the energy efficiency and solar heat gain of a cardboard model house. Use a light bulb heater to imitate a real furnace and a temperature sensor to monitor and regulate the internal temperature of the house. Use a bright bulb in a gooseneck lamp to model sunlight at different times of the year, and test the effectiveness of windows for passive solar heating.
Meet three mechanical engineers who are designing the next generation of jet engines at a major US company. They explain how their curiosity about how things work led them to advanced engineering degrees and cool careers with aircraft engines.
Students learn about gear ratios and power by operating toy mechanical cranes of differing gear ratios. They attempt to pick up objects with various masses to witness how much power must be applied to the system to oppose the force of gravity. They learn about the concept of gear ratio and practice calculating gear ratios on worksheets, discovering that smaller gear ratios are best for picking objects up quickly, and larger gear ratios make it easier to lift heavy objects.
Hydropower generation is introduced to students as a common purpose and benefit of constructing dams. Through an introduction to kinetic and potential energy, students come to understand how a dam creates electricity. They also learn the difference between renewable and non-renewable energy.
Students learn how the total solar irradiance hitting a photovoltaic (PV) panel can be increased through the use of a concentrating device, such as a reflector or lens. This is the final lesson in the Photovoltaic Efficiency unit and is intended to accompany a fun design project (see the associated Concentrating on the Sun with PVs activity) to wrap up the unit. However, it can be completed independently of the other unit lessons and activities.
Students design, build and test reflectors to measure the effect of solar reflectance on the efficiency of solar PV panels. They use a small PV panel, a multimeter, cardboard and foil to build and test their reflectors in preparation for a class competition. Then they graph and discuss their results with the class. Complete this activity as part of the Photovoltaic Efficiency unit and in conjunction with the Concentrated Solar Power lesson.
This lesson [3:49] demonstrates conversion from a long number to scientific notation. It is 1 of 10 in the series titled "Converting to Scientific Notation."
In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, two solar cookers are tested against a control to see which can cook a "s'more" faster.
This collection contains two lesson plans and an interactive game that will facilitate discussion and deepen understanding of the complex issues raised in the documentary film, A Fragile Trust: Plagiarism, Power, and Jayson Blair at The New York Times. Students will be encouraged to think critically about the daily pressures faced by journalists and media makers in a fast-paced and quickly changing field.
This collection contains two lesson plans and an interactive game that will facilitate discussion and deepen understanding of the complex issues raised in the documentary film, A Fragile Trust: Plagiarism, Power, and Jayson Blair at The New York Times. Students will be encouraged to think critically about the daily pressures faced by journalists and media makers in a fast-paced and quickly changing field.
Students gain an understanding of the factors that affect wind turbine operation. Following the steps of the engineering design process, engineering teams use simple materials (cardboard and wooden dowels) to build and test their own turbine blade prototypes with the objective of maximizing electrical power output for a hypothetical situation—helping scientists power their electrical devices while doing research on a remote island. Teams explore how blade size, shape, weight and rotation interact to achieve maximal performance, and relate the power generated to energy consumed on a scale that is relevant to them in daily life. A PowerPoint® presentation, worksheet and post-activity test are provided.
A favorite movie, “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” provides the backdrop scenario for students to discover how harnessing the sun’s energy provides unlimited power for many purposes, including the operation of thousands of satellites in orbit today and communication over long distances. In the movie, E.T., an alien life form, is stranded on Earth and befriends Elliott, the little boy who rescues him. As E.T. becomes gravely ill, Elliott realizes that E.T. needs to return home in order to survive. To arrange for transport, E.T. must “phone home.” Teams engage in an interactive quest to answer the question: E.T. phone home—fact or fiction? They must discover four clues in order to unlock four padlocks on a box that contains the answer. This requires them to watch a one-minute online video, complete a crossword puzzle, scan three QR codes for articles to read, and put together a cut-apart puzzle with an invisible ink clue. They watch short online movie excerpt videos to kick off and wrap up the activity.