Electricity is a form of power that is produced by the movement of electrons. When the flow of electrons is constant, it produces an electric current.
The classroom resource provides a slide show that will describe electricity and how it works. This resource can provide background information for students before they carry out their own investigations. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
Light is a very important energy source that keeps us warm and lets us see the world. Light travels in waves in bundles of energy called photons. Those photons contain all seven colors in the rainbow. Grab a prism and check them out!
The classroom resource provides a video that describes light, how it moves, and how it helps us see. This resource can provide background information for students before they construct their own models and carry out their own investigations. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
Electricity is a form of power that is produced by the movement of electrons. Static electricity and lightning are natural forms of electricity, and they occur when electrons jump from one object to another.
The classroom resource provides a video that will introduce students to the different types of electricity. This resource can provide background information for students before they conduct their own investigations. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
Sound is energy that travels as a result of vibration. It can be characterized by frequency, loudness, and pitch, and it is measured in decibels.
The classroom resource provides a video that will explain sound energy, how it moves, and how it is measured. This resource can provide background information for students before they create their own models and conduct their own experiments. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
Light always travels in a straight line until something gets in its way. When that happens, light can be absorbed, reflected (bounced off), or refracted (bent), depending on what kind of surface it hits.
The classroom resource provides a video that will explain how light can move on and through different surfaces. This resource can provide background information for students before they create their own models or conduct their own investigations. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
A scientific theory is a proposed description, explanation, or model of something occurring in nature. These theories have to be testable so that scientists can use the scientific method to see if they work.
The classroom resource provides a video that will introduce students to the scientific method, developing hypotheses, and collecting evidence. There is a karaoke song that students can learn to help them remember the steps in the scientific method. Students can use the information presented in this video to follow the scientific method as they plan their own investigations. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
Scientists are always working to better understand the world. They use the scientific method to help them. The scientific method includes making observations, developing hypotheses, designing experiments, collecting data, and then drawing conclusions.
The classroom resource provides a video that will introduce students to the scientific method and experimentation. There is a karaoke song that students can learn to help them remember the steps in the scientific method. Students can use the information presented in this video to follow the scientific method as they plan their own investigations. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
When scientists conduct experiments, they collect data through observation and measurement. There are many different ways to measure data, but they all help ensure that scientists can collect accurate information.
The classroom resource provides a karaoke song that will describe how scientists collect data as they experiment. Students can use the information presented in this audio resource as they plan their own investigations. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
An "energy vampire" is an electronic device that drinks power even when it is not being used. Like computers in standby mode or chargers that are done charging. Spooky, huh? Take a look at this slideshow, from The Greens, and slay the energy vampires in your house. The Greens is a website for kids from WGBH about sustainability and green living.
You can think of energy as the ability to move or cause change in matter. It comes in many forms. Kinetic energy is energy that is in use, and potential energy is energy that is stored for later.
The classroom resource provides a video that will explain the different forms of energy. This resource can provide background information for students before they conduct their own investigations and/or create their own models. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
In this interactive lesson, students enjoy zaps, flashes, and bad hair days as they read together with a Gray Crowned Crane about static electricity. Learn to use images when reading to help clarify meaning and improve understanding of an informational text.
In this interactive, students will play the role of a lighting designer to understand that the lighting designer creates stage lighting for performances and that one needs to understand how the electrical components are connected. This animated interactive job exploration experience connects schoolwork with real work and familiarizes students with skills needed to become a lighting designer for the theater.
When you flip a light switch on and off, you are closing and opening a circuit. A circuit is a path that electricity follows. This interactive helps students learn more about circuits.
In this activity, students experiment with batteries, wires, bulbs, and switches to assemble series and parallel circuits and to test for conductivity in sample items.
In this activity, students explore the parts of a circuit by modeling, as a group, a “human” circuit.
Another Science Netlinks lesson, Converting Energy (https://alex.state.al.us/cr_view.php?res_id=1146), is a prerequisite for this lesson. In that lesson, students are introduced to the concept of energy conversion and develop their basic ideas about energy and how it can be measured. In this lesson, students broaden their ability to identify energy sources, the energy transformation process, and build basic machines/systems that use energy transformations to get work done.
This lesson is intended to give students a general idea of how heat is produced from human-based activities and mechanical and electrical machines. The purpose of this lesson is for students to understand how and why heat is produced from things that give off light, from machines, or when one thing is rubbed against another.
In this lesson, students will perform simple experiments that will help them explore the unseen energy produced by the sun. During the course of this lesson, students will be exposed to these concepts: the sun produces both visible and invisible forms of energy, the light we see is visible energy produced from the sun reflected off surfaces, ultraviolet energy emitted from the sun can produce skin burns and cancer, and there are ways of blocking ultraviolet radiation.
In this lesson, students discover the properties of light (radiant) energy from the sun by experimenting with solar collectors, cookers, and calculators. To accomplish this goal, students will use some commonly available materials and work together in teams to construct a solar cooker and a solar grill. At the end of the lesson, they have the opportunity to observe a solar calculator in action.
In this lesson, students will study energy through the idea of energy transformations and conversions. They will do this by exploring some Internet resources as well as engaging in some hands-on activities. This investigation could be the beginning of a unit on energy.
This lesson focuses on the idea that we can see objects because they either emit or reflect light. This lesson will lead to a discussion about the way light is reflected, absorbed, and scattered to allow certain wavelengths to reach the eye, leading to a perception of different colors. There are three Science NetLinks lessons in this series on light.