Students will examine sunspots and track them at different latitudes on the Sun.
This activity is adapted from the Tracking Sunspots activity on NASA’s Solar and Heliocentric Observatory (SOHO) website (2009): https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/classroom/for_students.html.
Objectives:
Students begin to familiarize themselves with solar activity by tracking sunspots at different latitudes on the Sun.
This activity is designed to get students thinking about
When radioactive elements decay they emit high-speed particles. These can be detected by use of a cloud chamber. The cloud chamber was invented by Charles Thomson Rees Wilson in 1911. The chamber works by saturating the air inside with alcohol vapor. Cooling the chamber with dry ice supersaturates the air. The energetic particles produced by the radioactive decay ionize
Models are great to use to make a concept easier to understand, to visualize a process or outcome, and also to allow a scientist to test selected variables. IMOLD is a great model of leaf decomposition, because it allows the students to interact with two variables affecting decomposition rates, and test those variables in many more ways than they could
This lesson describes how decomposition happens, and the role of microorganisms in this process. The animation, which runs for 3:23 minutes total time, covers information that students may or may not be familiar with. Here is one suggestion for working your students through the animation. By actively taking notes during the animations, students can engage in a dialogue with the
The purpose of this lesson is to highlight the importance of the structure of a leaf at its implications for how it decomposes. The animation, which runs for 2:03 minutes total time, covers information that students may or may not be familiar with. Here is one suggestion for working your students through the animation. By actively taking notes during the
The purpose of this lesson is to highlight the importance of the Carbon Cycle in the natural cycles of photosynthesis and respiration. It also models how human activity can alter the carbon cycle. The animation, which runs for 2:56 minutes total time, covers a large amount of information that students may or may not be familiar with. Here is one
This lesson was designed to teach pre-service teachers an inquiry-based approach for a science classroom. To give context to the activity, I used my experiences as part of “High Arctic Change 2014” for a lab activity. As such, the activity focuses on discovering how glaciers are formed and flow and how icebergs float in water. The materials can
This lesson is based on studies completed by undergraduate geoscience students working around the glaciers of Kongsfjord, Svalbard during the summer of 2014. It is intended as part of a larger unit on matter that covers atomic theory, atomic structure and the periodic table. Students connect authentic research to their classroom understanding of atoms while learning how this
This lesson is based on studies completed by undergraduate geoscience students working around the glaciers of Kongsfjord, Svalbard during the summer of 2014. It is intended as part of a larger Earth science unit that covers erosion, transport and deposition of sediment. Students connect authentic research to classroom investigations while learning how to interpret current data to understand