Group items tagged

The concept of the video is to show that when molecules are heated up they slow down and move farther apart, while the opposite happens when the molecules are cooled. The video shows and explains that by heating up the air inside an old, thick milk bottle and placing a hardboiled egg on top, the egg will be "pulled" unbroken into the bottle through the small opening at the top. The student explains that when the air inside is heated up the molecules spread far apart while the molecules in the cooler air outside of the bottle are compressed and practically push the egg through the opening. The student also does another demonstration that can be done safely at home, or in the classroom, by heating up the air in a glass juice bottle and placing a water balloon on top with the same results. She also shows that by cooling the air inside the bottle by blowing in it, the egg pops back out. I liked this video because the student is demonstrating and explaining to the grown ups the scientific principles involved. I also liked it because it provides a safe way to conduct the same experiment at home or at school. I think this is a great visual demonstration to add to chapters related to properties of matter. I would show the students the video and ask them how they think that worked. I'm fairly certain that a few would say it was a trick of some kind, so I would ask them if they thought we would get the same results or if something different might happen. I would then conduct the same experiment in the classroom.

To show students the affects of air pressure. Sixth Acquire data through the senses. (3)(B) classify matter and forces, organisms, actions, and events from the environment according to similarities and differences. Show the students a bottle that has a mouth that is too small for an egg to pass through. ______________________ This activity sparked my interest because ever since I was little, I watched a TV sitcom which explored this concept. How can an egg fit into a container with an opening smaller than the egg?! Using heated air at the bottom of the container, the air pressure sucks the egg in. This particular activity attached goes into using a piece of plywood and paper as well to demonstrate the weight of air. One of both of these demonstrations could be used when explaining air pressure to students. This is more of a complex concept, therefore I think this activity would be best suitable for older ages. I would use these demonstrations at the beginning of the unit to make them want to know more!

This experiment uses a plastic bag, string, scissors and a small action figure. As you might have guested you are going to make a parachute. After you construct the parachute you will drop it as slow as you can. This shows air resistance. This is a great start to a lesson, an experiment, and even an example of a fair test! I would use this to start a lesson on air resistance ( or maybe even gravity). I would first drop my parachute in the class and ask students what happened. I might even drop both an action figure by himself, and an action figure on a parachute to farther demonstrate the air resistance. I might ask questions such as "why did this action figure fall more slowly? What was stopping him? Why/how? Then after a discussion I would get out materials for the whole class. I would ask students "What could we test using what we now know to create different parachutes and find out which one will work the best?" We would talk about how larger surface area creates more resistance and will make a parachute fall more slowly. In the aspects of a fair test I would try to guide the idea towards testing out maybe 5 different parachutes. The controlled aspect would be using the same material, and same size parachute. What would change would be how many holes we would put in the top of it. Holes in the top cause air to go through the parachute not around it, this causes the parachute to fall more straight. (This is something we might have found out through research.) The goal would be to make a parachute that falls as slow and straight as possible. The challenge would be where to place the holes and how big the holes should be.

This is a fun science activity that helps students discover the physics of air flow by building a "hovercraft" out of a balloon and an old compact disc. I chose this resource because I feel that the explanation can help students think about how some things are powered using air as the primary resource, and I would use this activity in a lesson that focuses on air as a force.

This resource contains tips and instructions on building a tissue paper hot air balloon. I included this reference because I personally participated in this activity while in high school. It was higher on the difficulty level, however, it was extremely rewarding. This activity would better serve younger elementary students as a demonstration rather than a hands on activity. However, I think 4-5th grade students could handle the task of constructing their very own hot air balloon.

Our eyes are using light to see various objects all the time, but when this light travels through different mediums (such as water & air) it changes direction slightly. Light refracts (or bends) when it passes from water to air. I selected this resource because I could not quite find a good field trip. I feel like this is an easy way to show the young children how objects bend when looking through other material. This is a very easy lab and experiment for young grades. I would use this lab when showing my class how objects may appear and look different when seen through different objects.

Giant deadly hornets, gorgeous fluttering butterflies and stealthy crawling stink bugs: readers cannot tear their eyes away from these fascinating creatures. They can discover these and more mesmerizing world insects in Expedition: Insects, an e-book written, illustrated and animated by the Smithsonian Science Education Center. Read now! This app is so cool! The weather lab allows for students to come up with possible outcomes for weather in North America. It is a very interactive, fun, and realistic app. First students pick a an ocean current, air mass 1, and then air mass 2. After, the students are asked what they should wear or what they should be preparing for with the weather situation they just created. Ex. would be, If I live along the East Coast of the US I should... and then they would pick from the options given. This app would be awesome to incorporate when learning about weather. It allows for students to create different weather situations and then also they have to predict what will happen with the situation. I think it would be a great opportunity to have student collaborate with peers and come up with 3-5 weather situations and they should record the weather they created, what they predict will happen, and what actually happened with the weather. I think students would really enjoy this app in the classroom considering its not your typical weather game or activity.

This resource allows you to change the temperature of the air and a cloud to see what type of precipitation will be formed. I chose this resource because it is an engaging and interactive way for students to explore precipitation and to see what makes different types of precipitation form. I imagine this resource being used to reinforce their knowledge of precipitation.

This is another 23 minute by Bill Nye that informs children all about the different aspects of the atmosphere. I would show this to my future class when we were learning about the atmosphere and air systems. Bill Nye is always informative and fun so the students love watching him.

When you breathe in, your diaphragm - the muscle at the base of your lungs, contracts. This expands your chest cavity, lowering the air pressure of the cavity below the air pressure outside, and inflating the lungs. You can see this same principle at work in this 'homemade lung'. This activity will definitely keep students interested. It's all hands-on and will allow them to be able to visualize an action, breathing, that is constantly occurring within their own bodies. I chose this activity because I think so many don't actually understand what is happening within their own bodies, and by being able to visualize this action I think makes it easier to understand. This activity has the students making a "homemade lung" out of simple supplies and then observing how our chest cavities contract and our lungs inflate. I could see myself using this activity when discussing the human body, in particular lungs. It is so important that the students understand how the body functions and I think that this activity does a great job in illustrating that.

This site gives tons of step-by-step experiments in different categories (air, animals, astronomy, chemistry, etc.) I like that they caution you on what could happen if you do a certain step wrong!!!

I found lots of dead ends when I clicked through the list...be aware of out-dated resources!

This activity is a challenge to see if students can construct a bridge built out of toothpicks. The challenge revolves around certain guidelines and at the end, the bridges are tested to see how well they are able to hold weight. This is another activity I participated in during my schooling. It taught all of the participants planning skills, craftsmanship, and also the ability to compromise. I think this is a more applicable activity than the tissue paper hot air balloon activity because it is a less tedious object to construct. I believe my future students will find this activity a welcomed challenge.

This is the information for an activity that mimics the idea of launching a rocket. Instead of an actual rocket, however, this experiment uses water and Alka-Seltzer. I think this is a great resource to have because it allows me in have a rocket launch activity with my students at a younger age than what they would typically get to do it. This experiment does not require students to glue, cut, or assemble a rocket. However, they still get the joy of watching one climb into the air. I will definitely use this activity in my future classroom, regardless of the age group. I think this activity is just one of many examples of all the cool things you can do with science. This activity is a great way to get my students interested in science and the suggested questions at the end can persuade them to search farther for questions.

This resource is my technology source. In this resource you are able to chose air, water, or glass. Then you press the light button which allows you to send a light ray or wave through one of those. You then can see how it reflects, bends, or bounces through each one of these. I would use this resource as part of a way to summarize a lesson. This will allow students to play around with it on the computer.

This resource is an interactive introduction to sound. I would use this resource in a lesson on sound and vibrations, and show the website on a smartboard for my students and I to explore together. This interactive resource has multiple pages of images with sounds and animations that allow students to pluck rubber bands to notice sound and compare the speed of sound with the speed of other familiar vehicles. Another page of animations also shows students the speed of sound in the air in relation to thunder and lightning, something all students should be familiar with. I like this resource but I think teacher involvement would be required. It is not something young students could explore or read on their own.

This is site talks about the ways to defy the laws of physics through space travel.