The space industry has been creating innovative technologies for decades. Students in this lesson will explore the world of space technologies and how they play a role in our everyday life.

In this lab exercise, students make measurements using common lab equipment and practice a wide range of calculations. It serves as an introduction to lab measurement and calculation for a physics or chemistry course.

Join Lauren Paullin as she conducts a scavenger hunt around her house to find all kinds of things that can be used to make pictures, prints, paints, and even musical instruments! Learn how to make a mixed media collage and print it with fruits and vegetables. Learn from New Orleans-based musician, artist, and cultural diplomat Charles Burchell how to turn ordinary objects like glasses, wood, plastic, and even paper into musical instruments. Developed for grades 4 through adults. 

Learn about art and the five senses. A lot of art is made to be seen — but what if you could touch, hear, and even smell works of art? In this episode, host Lauren Paullin shows you how to mix paints that smell like pastries and transform sounds into sketches. You'll also learn about a fascinating condition called synesthesia, which links multiple senses together in the brain so that some people can taste music, hear color, and smell words! Developed for students in grades 4- adults.

Get moving in The Creative Corner with a seriously silly drawing challenge, a visit with the Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School step team, and a great big outdoor adventure art project. Learn to create blind-contour drawings and land art installations.  

Students set up an apparatus as shown in the companion document. Using geometry coupled with Snell's Law, students are able to determine the index of refraction of multiple liquids. .

The foamy fun of "Elephant's Toothpaste," also known as the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, helped Camille Schrier win her job as Miss America 2020! In this episode, Camille re-creates this winning chemical reaction and teaches us all about the science of catalysts and decomposition. Explore questions such as: What is a catalyst? What does a catalyst do? Why do we need a catalyst to make "Elephant's Toothpaste"? It’s a HUGE, wonderful, foamy mess that's all powered by science! Developed for students in grades 6 - 10.

Two-day 5E lesson plan covering the basics of the dichotomous key using different types of candy.  The lesson begins with a whole group activity and then moves into student exploration using a key to identify "mystery candy."  On the second day, students create their own dichotomous key to help students identify random buttons.

Students break apart cell phones to determine what elements are located in cell phones.  They then use the elements to determine how the flow of electrons works in the cell phone.  Lastly, create designs using legos to practice engineering practices that would be common in engineering.

Students will participate in a 5E lesson. To ENGAGE, students will connect their understanding of similarities between parent and offspring to the fundamental molecule of life: DNA. To EXPLORE, students will participate in interactives to observe, analyze and summarize how genes are used to create proteins and traits. In the EXPLAIN section, students will take notes on DNA replication and the Central Dogma. To ELABORATE on their understanding of DNA, students will participate in a protein synthesis race (game) to practice transcription and translation. Formative evaluations of students's ability to explain the process of protein synthesis include (1) a protein synthesis and codon practice sheet, (2) a labeling activity, and (3) making a recording that models and explain the process. As an extension, students can apply their understanding of mRNA to explain how the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines work. Finally, int summative EVALUATE, students model replication, transcription, and translation as they build an organism!

Students will examine a map projection of a chosen USGS topographic map versus other maps. The teacher will explain that each map is drawn according to a specific map projection. Students will be given or shown a USGS poster of numerous map projections, as well as cartography in texts to illustrate how distance, direction, angle, or area have to be distorted.

Students will examine a map projection of a chosen USGS topographic map versus other maps. The teacher will explain that each map is drawn according to a specific map projection. Students will be given or shown a USGS poster of numerous map projections, as well as cartography in texts to illustrate how distance, direction, angle, or area have to be distorted.

This resource provides a 5E style lesson (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) over the rock cycle, including a single-period lab using crayons to model the cycle.  It’s often a difficult concept for students to imagine that over millions of years, one kind of rock will change into another kind of rock.  This lab allows students to see the changes taking place, and learn important qualities of each type of rock and how they are formed.Photo:  Rainbow of Crayon Shavings by Richie Girardin via Flickr

DASHlink is a virtual laboratory for scientists and engineers to disseminate results and collaborate on research problems in health management technologies for aeronautics systems. Managed by the Integrated Vehicle Health Management project within NASA's Aviation Safety program, the Web site is designed to be a resource for anyone interested in data mining, IVHM, aeronautics and NASA.

This activity would be a great start to a unit on weather.  Ideally, students should create their weather instruments and use them to gather data over a period of at least several days, looking for trends in the weather such as temperature and cloud cover.  Show the weather PowerPoint to introduce weather tools and terms.  Divide students into teams of 3 or 4 to create one of the tools.  The following day, students should use the weather tool they create to take and record measurements using the “Weather Data Sheet."  Repeat this process several times over several days (or even weeks). 

In this activity, participants plan and conduct a plant growth experiment while considering the role of data quality in automated systems in agriculture. The timing of the activity is highly dependent on the seed variety that you are growing and the level of familiarity that participants already have with basic plant science and scientific investigation concepts, but will likely take several weeks. This activity is part of the Agricultural Cyberbiosecurity Education Resource Collection that contains resources for formal and non-formal agricultural educators working with middle school aged youth. Published as Open Educational Resources, all resources are provided in durable (pdf) and customizable (MS Word) formats. They are hosted on  GoOpenVA in a unique resource collection, Ag Cybersecurity Virginia Tech, at https://goopenva.org/curated-collections/143 and on on Virginia Tech’s stable repository, VTechWorks at https://doi.org/10.21061/cyberbiosecurity

Students use a block of clay, a spring scale, and a glass of liquid of unknown volume to determine the density of the liquid in the cup.

This site presents challenges faced by NASA engineers who are developing the next generation of aerospace vehicles. The challenges: thermal protection systems, spacecraft structures, electrodynamic propulsion systems, propellers, and personal satellite assistants. Students design, build, test, re-design, and re-build models that meet specified design criteria, using the same analytical skills as engineers.

This activity is designed to be a self-paced activity to review students on the parts of Experimental Design while at home or in the classroom. There is a simple experiment for the students to complete to generate and collect data and a second example in which they design their own experiment and collect data. They are then led through the process of analyzing their data and writing a conclusion.

NASA released the Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) emblem. Launching from a modernized Kennedy Space Center, EM-1 is the first integrated flight of the Orion Spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. To learn more, visit https://www.nasa.gov/content/j2m-getting-to-mars-sls-and-orion.