Free Online Educational Activities
The LCCC Science in Motion Program would like to share free, online educational science activities that can be used by teachers, students, and parents to help continue learning at home. We have created scaffolded science activities that can be used to help engage and entertain students in elementary through high school grades using household materials. Our first module is focused on Rocket Science, using straws, soda bottle rockets, and computer simulations that the whole family can work on together and enjoy. These modules are being shared with the public through our LCCC Canvas Course site and the individual files can be downloaded from http://lccc.instructure.com/courses/5456/modules
We also have a wide variety of lab experiments with actual lab data, that you can share with your students to analyze the results and draw conclusions about the scientific principles involved. Many of these labs also have short video presentations on youtube or other sources that accompany the experiments to explain the methodology and equipment used during the lab. If needed, we can create new videos that demonstrate the lab techniques and instruments used, such as spectrophotometers for colored solutions, burets for titrations, or sensor carts for collision studies, that you can use with your students. You may also request either an equipment loan to use with your students during in-person classes or for you to demonstrate during Zoom meetings. Check out what we offer at http://wtle.miyao2009.com/science-in-motion/labs-equipment
Free Subscriptions to Vernier Graphical Analysis Pro App
The Lehigh Carbon Community College Science in Motion Program has purchased a subscription for the Vernier Graphical Analysis Pro App, which covers all science teachers and their students from our supported schools until the end of June, 2025. It allows instructors to demonstrate a Vernier lab with GA Pro on their computer via Zoom or Canvas during an online session, and students can connect via WiFi to simultaneously view and receive the collected data (along with any saved data sets) on their own devices that are also running the GA Pro App. Students will then have the ability to perform statistical and/or graphical analysis of the data to help them interpret the results and draw conclusions. Vernier also has a sample library of experiments, with saved data and many with videos of the set up and procedures, that can be accessed with the GA Pro App from their website http://www.vernier.com/downloads/graphical-analysis/
If you want to preview how the GA Pro can be used as a stand-alone App to work with more than 40 sample experiments in biology, chemistry, physics, and middle school science, check out the Graphical Analysis Pro Part 1 video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O14xYvFjJAw
To preview how the GA Pro App can be used to explore over 300 additional experiments from the Vernier remote learning sample data library, check out the Graphical Analysis Pro Part 2 video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6QqluyvaXA
In order to request access to either the GA Pro License Key or Teacher Notes for any of the Vernier experiments that we offer at the Lehigh Carbon Community Science in Motion Program, please visit our website and complete a request form.
Free Pivot Interactives Subscriptions Available from Vernier
Pivot Interactives is a powerful supplement to hands‑on experimentation, allowing students to vary experimental parameters one at a time to view results from a set of many slow-motion recordings of the same experiment. Students make measurements and analyze their data directly within the online environment to “discover” scientific principles. There are lessons for biology, chemistry, and physics for middle through high school students. To access the free resources being offered and select the 30-day free trial, click on the link http://www.pivotinteractives.com/ . The Lehigh Carbon Community College Science in Motion Program has also purchased a site license to allow up to 30 subscriptions per teacher that can be shared between students in all of their classes. Submit a request form to get your Pivot subscriptions.
Teachers can assign a lesson to their students to complete during group work or as individual assignments. Focus questions guide student thinking and analysis and tools are provided to prepare data tables, calculations and graphs. Students can create their own account at www.pivotinteractives.com and they need to enter the Class Key subscription code provided by their instructor.
Free Trial of Video Analysis App Available from Vernier
The Vernier Video Analysis app allows students to use their mobile devices in the laboratory or out in the field to make a video with recorded motion, mark data points to track the object in motion, and set the scale of the video. This app brings video analysis to all of your students regardless of the device – even Chromebooks. Go to http://www.vernier.com/product/video-analysis/ to explore the free resources and lessons that are available. To access the free resources being offered and select the 30 day free trial, click on the link Vernier Video Analysis Free Trial.
Attention ALL AP Teachers!!!
2025 AP Exam Information and Review Materials
AP Online Course Schedule: Teachers and students can keep working toward college credit and placement with free, live AP review lessons, delivered by AP teachers from across the country. These courses: Are optional, mobile-friendly, and can be used alongside any work the teacher may assign.
Will be available on-demand, so you can access them any time.
Will focus on reviewing the skills and concepts from the first 75% of the course. There will also be some supplementary lessons including topics from the final 25% of the course.
To access the live classes and recordings, visit the AP YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/advancedplacement/videos.
Annotated Websites with Science Activities
The Steve Spengler Science website has commercial lab kits available for simple science activities, but also has about 50 at-home experiments that are trending and are being offered for free during this stay-at-home period. Below are two activities that can be used to build a simple motor or create a density column using sugar solutions.
World’s Simplest Motor: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/worlds-simplest-motor-version-1/
An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into motion. These machines can come in all sizes and are often used everyday. The simple principle is that an electrical current in a wire moves through a magnetic field producing a force which spins the wire. Here you can make a simple motor using items found at home!
Sugar Rainbow: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/sugar-rainbow/
Density is a measurement of how much “stuff” or mass is within a given area. This concept can be easily understood by using sugar, water and some food coloring. By mixing varying amounts of sugar into water each glass of water will have a different mass. This experiment uses that to prove the density of each sample based on the mass contained in them.
Flinn Scientific is offering access to over 50 free at-home experiments, many of which utilize common household materials. (Flinn also sells lab kits that include the necessary supplies to conduct the experiments.) The activities are organized by subject area and grade level. Detailed instructions and Teacher’s Notes are provided for each activity and can be downloaded at http://www.flinnsci.com/athomescience/at-home-activities/
Use a Google search for ZOO CAMs to explore zoo’s from Alaska to Atlanta and around the world right from your living room.
Alaskan Zoo Polar Bear Camera provides video of the zoo’s polar bear though out the day and night. The website also has detailed species descriptions and pictures of each of their animals.
Atlanta Zoo Panda Cam provides video footage of their panda bear as well as educational readings about other species in the zoo.
Cincinnati Zoo offers information about each of the animals in their zoo. Students can start by viewing the animals alphabetically, by classification or by habitat.
Do you teach high school students about watersheds? Utilize DCNR’s Watershed Education website. Check out tons of watershed-related resources here. Consider utilizing our Watershed Education pre-assignments (This section). All of these free lessons are suitable for high school and college students. http://www.watersheded.dcnr.pa.gov/
Use your student’s backyard for science inquiry. Micro-nature is an excellent way for your students to “claim” a little piece of the outdoors, get to know it intimately through observation, and repeat visits by focusing deeply into one contained spot, as large as 1yd by 1yd in area, or as small as a square inch.
Play Games to Learn Computer Science
Try out fun computer science tutorials, watch videos about computer science concepts, and even build your own projects! This site http://studio.code.org/courses offers a free K-12 curriculum with a wide variety of activities that help students learn how to write code and understand how computer programs operate. Learn while playing Minecraft or Angry Birds, or have a Dance Party with a group of animated friends.
Code.org® is a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by women and underrepresented youth. Our vision is that every student in every school has the opportunity to learn computer science, just like biology, chemistry or algebra. Code.org provides the leading curriculum for K-12 computer science in the largest school districts in the United States and Code.org also organizes the annual Hour of Code campaign which has engaged more than 15% of all students in the world. Code.org is supported by generous donors including Amazon, Facebook, Google, the Infosys Foundation, Microsoft, and many more.
NASA STEM Engagement Activities
NASA has created fun STEM activities for students to do at home, which can be accessed by clicking on the link http://www.nasa.gov/stem-at-home-for-students-k-4.html . These include projects to build, puzzles to solve, images to color, books to read, and more. Topics are presented in a clear concise manner, including Humans in Space, the Solar System and Beyond, Space Technology, Earth images and videos from space, and more. Enjoy the spectacular, out-of this-world views from the Hubble telescope, unmanned explorers, and manned spacecraft!
Soda Bottle Experiments
Recycling plastic 2 liter soda bottles to become vessels for science experiments is an inexpensive way to explore such topics as ecosystems and rocket science. The website http://bottlebiology.org/ has detailed instructions for creating terrariums/aquariums to study decomposition of organic materials, the fermentation process, and the interactions between terrestrial and aquatic environments. Click on the site above to find detailed design instructions and measurable data used to study changes that occur over time.
It Really is Rocket Science
Introduction: The design, construction, testing and launching of soda bottle rockets provides students with a learning experience that is guaranteed to capture their interest. Students must originate their own design, gather their own materials, build, test and make improvements in order to make their rocket fly successfully. Students can apply Newton’s Laws of Motion to launch their homemade creations into the air in a single bound using pressurized water, traveling well over one hundred meters.
Rocket Design and Construction: Students are challenged to design and build a rocket using a 2-L plastic soda bottle and water pressure as the engine that will travel the greatest distance without tumbling out of control. They will be given a few days to gather materials before construction begins. Do not use metal, glass, hard plastics, spikes, rocks or other hard objects as materials because they would create a dangerous projectile. Rockets will be built in class with allowances for making refinements at home. Fins and nose cone can be duct taped or glued onto the bottles. The fins add stability and the nose cone helps to reduce drag caused by air friction during flight. (A parachute could be added under the nose cone.) The LCCC Science in Motion Program has a triple bottle rocket launcher that can be used to pressurize and fly the rockets that your students design. As a preliminary activity, complete the POGIL lesson on Projectile Motion.
Projectile Motion Simulation
In order to get an understanding of projectile motion and the variables that describe the flight path of the soda bottle rockets, students can access an online simulation of a cannon shooting a pumpkin, a human, or other objects into the air with the goal of hitting a target.
Open http://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/projectile-motion/latest/projectile-motion_en.html
Complete the following POGIL activity to gain an understanding about what variables can affect projectile motion.
Launch the Lab activity. Notice that there are multiple variables that can be changed, such as the Initial Speed, mass, and diameter of the object that is fired from the cannon. Fire the Cannonball and notice its flight path and where it lands. Notice that the cannonball misses the target when using the default setting.
Try changing the mass of the cannonball. Explain if this will help to hit the target. Click the eraser.
Try changing the diameter of the cannonball. Explain if this will help to hit the target. Erase.
The Earth’s gravity is normally 9.81 m/s2, so do not change it. Check the box to create air resistance against the cannonball. Explain how the mass and diameter of an object determines the effect of air resistance on the height and distance the projectile travels.
Click the reset button . Move the target location so that it is centered at a distance of 25.0 m from the cannon. Now adjust only the angle of the cannon to try to hit the middle of the target. Explain how the angle of the cannon effects the height and distance the projectile travels.
Click the reset button . Move the target location so that it is centered at a distance of 20.0 m from the cannon. Now adjust only the Initial Speed of the cannonball to try to hit the middle of the target. Explain how the Initial Speed of the projectile effects the height and distance that it travels.
Click the reset button . Raise the platform that the cannon rests on to a height of 10 m and set the angle of the cannon to 0º. Fire 1 shot and note where the cannonball lands. Now, without changing the position of the cannon, adjust any of the other variables to try to hit the target in 2 attempts or less. Summarize what combination of variable settings resulted in a bulls-eye.
