Interactive and Experiential Science Tools

The Nation’s Report Card on Science is out. The average NAEP science scores for the nation increased 4 points between 2009 and 2015 in both grades 4 and 8, but did not change significantly at grade 12. Scores for most student groups at grades 4 and 8 were higher in 2015 compared to 2009, but were not significantly different at grade 12. At grades 4 and 8, Black and Hispanic students made greater gains than White students, causing the achievement gap to narrow in comparison to 2009. 

Compared to 2009, scores were higher at grades 4 and 8 in all three science content areas (physical science, life science, and Earth and space sciences) in 2015, while there were no significant changes in content area scores at grade 12. Read more.

This month on prepmagic.com we will see the following new interactives.

Rocket Propulsion and Newton’s Laws of Motion

• Explore how Newton's third law explains the generation of thrust by a rocket engine and how Newton's second law describes the acceleration of the rocket due to the thrust generated.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS2-1. Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration. HS-PS2-2. Use mathematical representations to support the claim that the total momentum of a system of objects is conserved when there is no net force on the system.

Effect of gravitational acceleration on projectile motion

• Explore the effect of gravitational acceleration (g) on the projectile trajectory including popular phenomena such as fired bullet versus falling bullet, shoot the monkey, etc.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS2-1. Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration. HS-PS2-2. Use mathematical representations to support the claim that the total momentum of a system of objects is conserved when there is no net force on the system.

Lift on an airplane - 2

• Compare the lift generated in different types of aircrafts, varying in terms of size, load and propulsion systems.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS2-1. Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration. HS-PS2-2. Use mathematical representations to support the claim that the total momentum of a system of objects is conserved when there is no net force on the system.

Potential Energy of a Chemical Reaction

• Investigate how the difference in the potential energy of the reactants and the products determine whether the reaction is exothermic or endothermic in nature.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS1-4. Develop a model to illustrate that the release or absorption of energy from a chemical reaction system depends upon the changes in total bond energy.

Enthalpy of neutralization reaction

• Investigate the enthalpy of neutralization, which is the change in heat content of the system that occurs when an acid and a base undergo a neutralization reaction to form water and a salt.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS1-4. Develop a model to illustrate that the release or absorption of energy from a chemical reaction system depends upon the changes in total bond energy.

Half-life of a Radioactive Substance

• Understand the concept of half-life by comparing the decay process across a set of radioactive isotopes.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS1-8. Develop models to illustrate the changes in the composition of the nucleus of the atom and the energy released during the processes of fission, fusion, and radioactive decay.

Radioactive Decay Series

• Explore the effects of emission of an alpha particle or a beta particle and the resulting decay chain for radioactive elements - thorium, neptunium and actinium.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS1-8. Develop models to illustrate the changes in the composition of the nucleus of the atom and the energy released during the processes of fission, fusion, and radioactive decay.

Periods and Groups - Property Trends

• Explore and compare the trends exhibited for different physical and chemical properties across periods and groups in the periodic table.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS1-1. Use the periodic table as a model to predict the relative properties of elements based on the patterns of electrons in the outermost energy level of atoms.

Homeostasis - Effect of Nicotine on Heart Rate

• Investigate the effect of nicotine on the heart rate of Daphnia magna.

NGSS: Life Sciences HS-LS1-3. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that feedback mechanisms maintain homeostasis.

Can we expect our students to work on inventions that have tangible and positive effects on the society, while providing empathetic and empowering learning experiences? Read how one school used purposeful design in PBL, to leverage their education and their classroom experiences to effect change.

As you might have noticed that all our August interactives are live on prepmagic.com. We are constantly listening to our rockstar teachers, and our September updates feature some of the requests that came in at the beginning of the school year. You can send in your requests by filling up this form.

Enzymes - Biological Catalysts

• Investigate how enzymes act as catalysts to control the rate of metabolic reactions.

NGSS: Life Sciences HS-LS1-2. Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multi-cellular organisms.

Active Transport

• Investigate transportation against the concentration gradient by expending energy.

NGSS: Life Sciences HS-LS1-7. Use a model to illustrate that cellular respiration is a chemical process whereby the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken and the bonds in new compounds are formed resulting in a net transfer of energy.

Cell Surface Area to Volume Ratio

• Investigate how the surface-area to volume ratio affects the efficiency of a cell to transport material, mitigated by cell division or change in the shape to maintain the optimum area to volume ratio.

NGSS: Life Sciences HS-LS1-4. Use a model to illustrate the role of cellular division (mitosis) and differentiation in producing and maintaining complex organisms.

Atomic Number

• Using a periodic table, determine the number of protons and electrons of an element based on its atomic number.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS1-1. Use the periodic table as a model to predict the relative properties of elements based on the patterns of electrons in the outermost energy level of atoms.

Isotopes & Mass Number

• Determine the number of neutrons in an isotope of an element, given its mass number.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS1-1. Use the periodic table as a model to predict the relative properties of elements based on the patterns of electrons in the outermost energy level of atoms.

Average Atomic Mass

• Determine the weighted average atomic mass of an element, based on its isotope abundance.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS1-1. Use the periodic table as a model to predict the relative properties of elements based on the patterns of electrons in the outermost energy level of atoms.

Electron Configuration

• Understand and construct the electron configuration of an element and relate to its position on the periodic table.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS1-1. Use the periodic table as a model to predict the relative properties of elements based on the patterns of electrons in the outermost energy level of atoms.

Half-life of a Radioactive Substance

• Understand the concept of half-life in exponential decay.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS1-8. Develop models to illustrate the changes in the composition of the nucleus of the atom and the energy released during the processes of fission, fusion, and radioactive decay.

Position

• Understand, define and compare the position of an object in Cartesian and polar coordinate systems.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS2-1. Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration.

Vector

• Explore definition of a vector and methods of vector addition.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS2-1. Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration.

Displacement

• Explore displacement of an object moving in 1-D and 2-D, including plotting of Distance-Time graph, resolution of the displacement vector into its perpendicular components and comparison with the distance traveled.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS2-1. Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration.

Velocity

• Explore velocity of an object moving in 1-D and 2-D, including plotting of Velocity-Time and Displacement-Time graphs, resolution of the velocity vector and comparison with the speed as a scalar quantity.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS2-1. Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration.

Acceleration

• Explore acceleration of a moving object and investigate its relationship with velocity and displacement through analyses of different motion graphs.

NGSS: Physical Sciences HS-PS2-1. Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration.