In this activity, students act as engineers to determine which type of insulation would conserve the most energy.
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.
In this resource, students will explore information about the sun. It contains facts and figures about the sun, an in-depth article describing the physical structure of the sun and how it got its name, a gallery of images, a list of activities and lessons for teachers, and news articles about the sun.
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.
The Take Action column provides resources that help teachers engage students in activities that connect their science learning to their lives. In this article, students are introduced to household appliances and devices, called energy vampires, that continue to draw electrical current even when turned off. The article offers a few simple activities that students can take to reduce the impact of energy vampires. The Take Action column regularly appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which focuses on the essential principles of climate literacy.
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.
Through this series of simple hands-on activities, students will develop a basic understanding of the physical properties of waves. They will investigate and identify the "crest" and "trough" of sound, water, and light waves.
How carbon and energy move through an ecosystem will be discussed in this lesson.
In order to understand the cycles of carbon in an ecosystem, we will play a game that represents how carbon cycles through an ecosystem. This game is a simulation of what happens in an ecosystem.
For this unit plan, see the old unit calendar (link on left sidebar, click ALT7 tab at the bottom). Once we update this unit to the new Doc template, we will post it here. This is now unit 7, but it used to be unit 4 (we will update file and folder numbering as we continue to revise the units). Thanks for your patience as we work hard this year to update all of the materials to the new unit template and unit/standards arrangements.
In this article, teachers find two unit plans (grades K-2 and 3-5) that use resources featured in the science and literacy articles in the magazine. The unit plans are modeled after the five key steps in the learning cycle: engage, explore, explain, expand, and assess, or evaluate. The plans are aligned with the science content standards of the National Science Education Standards and the English language arts standards of the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association. The plans appear in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle.
The airplanes unit begins with a lesson on how airplanes create lift, which involves a discussion of air pressure and how wings use Bernoulli's principle to change air pressure. Next, students explore the other three forces acting on airplanes thrust, weight and drag. Following these lessons, students learn how airplanes are controlled and use paper airplanes to demonstrate these principles. The final lessons addresses societal and technological impacts that airplanes have had on our world. Students learn about different kinds of airplanes and then design and build their own balsa wood airplanes based on what they have learned.
8th Grade Integrated Science textbook for the 2019-2020 school year. This textbook was developed to align to the Utah Science Core Curriculum. (Updated: May 29, 2019)
Students observe a model waterwheel to investigate the transformations of energy involved in turning the blades of a hydro-turbine. Students work as engineers to create model waterwheels while considering resources such as time and materials, in their design. Students also discuss and explore the characteristics of hydropower plants.
Students learn the history of the waterwheel and common uses for water turbines today. They explore kinetic energy by creating their own experimental waterwheel from a two-liter plastic bottle. They investigate the transformations of energy involved in turning the blades of a hydro-turbine into work, and experiment with how weight affects the rotational rate of the waterwheel. Students also discuss and explore the characteristics of hydroelectric plants.
Students use watt meters to measure the power required and calculate energy used from various electrical devices and household appliances.
This instructional video shows educators how to set up a wave machine using wooden kabob sticks, jelly candies, and duct tape. The video also demonstrates how the wave machine can then be used to illustrate various wave properties. Background content on waves and wave energy is also provided.
This online resource provides information about the different types of waves and how waves can be categorized based on distinguishing characteristics. A simple assessment is provided at the end of the text to check student understanding.
