Students learn how and why engineers design satellites to benefit life on Earth, as well as explore motion, rockets and rocket motion. Through six lessons and 10 associated hands-on activities, students discover that the motion of all objects everything from the flight of a rocket to the movement of a canoe is governed by Newton's three laws of motion. This unit introduces students to the challenges of getting into space for the purpose of exploration. The ideas of thrust, weight and control are explored, helping students to fully understand what goes into the design of rockets and the value of understanding these scientific concepts. After learning how and why the experts make specific engineering choices, students also learn about the iterative engineering design process as they design and construct their own model rockets. Then students explore triangulation, a concept that is fundamental to the navigation of satellites and global positioning systems designed by engineers; by investigating these technologies, they learn how people can determine their positions and the locations of others.

Given a hypothetical civil engineering scenario, student pairs are tasked to apply their knowledge of the rock cycle, rock types, rock weathering and the engineering design process to model a potential method to create a sandy beach from three rocky island shorelines. For their abrasion weathering models, they use wide-mouth lidded jars and three types of candies that serve as the testing “rocks.” They simulate both low- and high-energy weathering environments. After completing the simple weathering techniques and analyzing their observations of the results, they conclude by recommending to the island developer which rocky shoreline would be the easiest, simplest, and most cost-effective from which to create a sandy beach. A worksheet and pre/post quiz are provided.

Through this activity, students come to understand the environmental design considerations required when generating electricity. The electric power that we use every day at home and work is usually generated by a variety of power plants. Power plants are engineered to utilize the conversion of one form of energy to another. The main components of a power plant are an input source of energy that is used to turn large turbines, and a method to convert the turbine rotation into electricity. The input sources of energy include fossil fuels (coal, natural gas and oil), wind, water, nuclear materials and refuse. This activity focuses on how much energy can be converted to electricity from many of these input sources. It also considers the impact of the by-products associated with using these natural resources, and looks at electricity requirements. To do this, students research and evaluate the electricity needs of their community, the available local resources for generating electricity, and the impact of using those resources.

Learn from the experience of the Netherlands-based “Room for the River” program devising sustainable river and delta solutions in times of climate change.

With a long history of disasters and years of dealing with the challenges posed by water, the Netherlands has accumulated essential knowledge about water management and specifically of rivers. This course will share with you this knowledge gleaned over more than a decade under the Dutch government’s “Room for the River” program, started in 2007. The goal of this program was to manage higher water levels in rivers, while restoring the river’s natural flood plain in places where it is least harmful in order to protect those areas that need protection. All this in the context of the changing characteristics of rivers in times of climate change.

While the practical experience gained from this program is derived from cases in the Netherlands, it also applies to other countries that build their social, ecological and economic prosperity on what rivers bring them. It will be most beneficial for water managers, river engineers, landscape designers and policy makers who seek more knowledge surrounding analysis, design and development of river and delta solutions.

The specific skills gained in this course are in the design of engineering interventions; stakeholder analysis and balancing economic benefits with safe living conditions, ecological quality and attractive landscapes. You will also understand the impact of climate change and will be introduced to approaches to deal with the long-term dynamics and uncertainties that rivers bring.

We offer you the opportunity to learn from our experiences and apply it on your own river and we also aim to learn from you. The course is structured as an exchange, with a strong focus on analysis and design.

This activity is about planetary rovers. Learners will simulate the challenges in communications that engineers face when driving a rover on Mars. They will particpate as part of a rover team to design and execute a series of commands that will guide a rover made of people through an obstacle course simulating the Martian surface. Students will learn the limitations of operating a planetary rover and problem solving solutions by using this simulation. The lesson models the engineering design process using the 5E instructional model and includes teacher notes, vocabulary, student journal and reading.

In this group activity, learners use some common objects and work together to simulate the Coriolis effect. During the challenge, learners make predictions and test different scenarios. This resource includes background information about the Coriolis effect and helpful hints.

Watershed Awareness using Technology and Environmental Research for Sustainability (WATERS)

The WATERS project is developing and researching a student-centered, place-based, and accessible curriculum for teaching watershed concepts and water career awareness for students in the middle grades. This 10-lesson unit includes online, classroom, and field activities. Students use a professional-grade online GIS modeling resource, simulations, sensors, and other interactive resources to collect environmental data and analyze their local watershed issues. The WATERS project is paving a path to increased access to research-based, open access curricula that hold the potential to significantly increase awareness of and engagement with watershed concepts and career pathways in learners nationwide.

This material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. The software is licensed under Simplified BSD, MIT or Apache 2.0 licenses. Please provide attribution to the Concord Consortium and the URL https://concord.org.

How did Rutherford figure out the structure of the atom without being able to see it? Simulate the famous experiment in which he disproved the Plum Pudding model of the atom by observing alpha particles bouncing off atoms and determining that they must have a small core.

How did Rutherford figure out the structure of the atom without being able to see it? Simulate the famous experiment in which he disproved the Plum Pudding model of the atom by observing alpha particles bouncing off atoms and determining that they must have a small core.

Students are asked think-pair-share questions to predict the interaction of alpha particles fired toward the nucleus of an atom. An online applet is used to illustrate the interaction and test students' ideas for the causes of the interaction. This activity uses a resource in the comPADRE partner collection.

“I love to travel. But I hate the fact that something I love to do, creates so much pollution.” In this episode of TILclimate (Today I Learned: Climate), MIT professor Steven Barrett and host Laur Hesse Fisher dig into how — and why — air travel impacts our earth’s climate, and what solutions are on the horizon. They explore the surprising heating effect of condensation trails (“contrails”), how computer simulations of the earth’s climate system are built, and what scientists and engineers are doing to make flying, well, less bad for the planet.

Scientists predict that hurricanes will hit us harder in the future -- but why? And what can we expect to see? In this episode of #TILclimate (Today I Learned: Climate), MIT professor Kerry Emanuel joins host Laur Hesse Fisher to break down how these “heat engines” work and how a changing climate will increase hurricane intensity, storm surges, and flooding. They also explore how people around the world are adapting to growing hurricane risks.

How do we make choices in the face of uncertainty? In this episode of TILclimate (Today I Learned: Climate), MIT professor Kerry Emanuel joins host Laur Hesse Fisher to talk about climate risk. Together, they break down why the climate system is so hard to predict, what exactly scientists mean when they talk about “uncertainty”, and how scientists quantify and assess the risks associated with climate change. Although this uncertainty shrinks every day — as researchers refine their work, computing power grows, and models improve — what we do and how quickly we act will ultimately come down to how much risk we are willing to accept.

Is it too late to prevent climate change? Are the scary predictions that we hear about inevitable? In this episode of TILclimate (Today I Learned Climate), MIT Prof. Noelle Selin joins host Laur Hesse Fisher to answer these questions. They explore what change is predictable, explain what climate goals like 1.5 C mean, and give insight to what it will take in order to achieve them.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Advances in metagenomic sequencing have allowed for the identification of countless novel bacterial taxa in environmental samples. However, due to a lack of appropriate computational tools, the plasmids contained by many of these bacteria have received far less attention. That has restricted research into the important genetic processes plasmids are responsible for, such as horizontal gene transfer and antibiotic resistance. To address this gap, researchers recently developed the Sequence Contents-Aware Plasmid Peeler (SCAPP). An open-source Python package, SCAPP builds upon a previously developed algorithm and uses biological data to assemble plasmid sequences from metagenomic samples. SCAPP was found to outperform existing metagenomic plasmid assembly tools when tested on simulated metagenomes and real human gut microbiome samples. SCAPP could also assemble novel and clinically relevant plasmid sequences in generated samples..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Predicting what geophysical data may look like and making basic inferences from data are critical learning outcomes of introductory geophysics courses whether they happen in a classroom or in a field setting. This software and associated set of teaching activities allows students taking introductory geophysics courses to engage with geophysical models and data through modelling, visualization, and simple analysis of field data.

Learning outcomes that are common for the set (separate activities for gravimetry, magnetometry, resistivity, electromagnetics, ground-penetrating radar, and seismic refraction) are that students will be able to
- explain key concepts, including the relationship between parameters used to describe an object and geophysical data,
- estimate physical parameters for an object (and recognize non-uniqueness of solutions), and
- match a synthetic model to real data.

To our knowledge this toolkit provides the first teaching software that brings together various methods and corresponding data sets into a comprehensive learning software. The activities in their current form are based on a collection of MATLAB scripts; ie, they require students to have access to MATLAB.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

The Software Tools for Academics and Researchers (STAR) program at MIT seeks to bridge the divide between scientific research and the classroom. Understanding and applying research methods in the classroom setting can be challenging due to time constraints and the need for advanced equipment and facilities. The multidisciplinary STAR team collaborates with faculty from MIT and other educational institutions to design software exploring core scientific research concepts. The goal of STAR is to develop innovative and intuitive teaching tools for classroom use.
All of the STAR educational tools are freely available. To complement the educational software, the STAR website contains curriculum components/modules which can facilitate the use of STAR educational tools in a variety of educational settings. Students, teachers, and professors should feel welcome to download software and curriculum modules for their own use.
Online Publication

Long Description:
Funding for this project has been generously provided by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

Word Count: 2917

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)

Students are using what they have learned about safety and sanition and completing three different labs with their knowledge. They will predict what might happen when unsaintary elements are in the kitchen, they will set up a refrigerator properly, and they will find safety hazards in a kitchen. After the labs they will summarize their findings and explain how this can be helpful for their lives.

A playful caricature of a Millerite, an adherent of the Adventist preacher William Miller who predicted that the world would end on April 23, 1844. The man sits in a large safe labeled "Patent Fire Proof Chest," stocked with a ham, a fan (hanging on the door of the safe), cheese, brandy, cigars, ice, a hat, and a small book marked "Miller." As he thumbs his nose, he says "Now let it come! I'm ready." The "salamander safe," probably a trade name of the period, is named after the animal mythically reputed to have the ability to endure fire (and, presumably, the holocaust) without harm.|Entered . . . 1843 by T. Sinclair Pa.|Printed by Thomas Sinclair, Philadelphia.|The Library's impression of the print was deposited for copyright prior to the expected day of reckoning, on March 2, 1843.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Murrell, p. 159.|Weitenkampf, p. 73.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1843-5.