Interactive and Experiential Science Tools

Though the school year is coming to an end, exploration and learning will continue. We all know, that science learning playgrounds are everywhere around us, and hence we educators are constantly trying to figure out how to bring creativity to our classrooms and beyond. We particularly liked this article published in Wired, that talks about creativity in science classrooms.

At prepmagic.com we believe our deep contextualization engine which allows you to customize our interactives and control the narrative is a great catalyst to your creative endeavor.

Visit prepmagic.com to check out the May interactives. The new ones that are coming in June are listed below.

CHEMISTRY

Atomic Theory

• Gold Foil Experiment - Recreation of Rutherford's gold foil experiment that led to discovery of the nucleus and the formulation of the nuclear model.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Energy and matter, DCI - PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter.

Periodic Table

• Property Trends - Investigate the trends in properties such as atomic radius, electronegativity and ionization energy across elements in the periodic table

NGSS: SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Patterns, DCI - PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter.

Stoichiometry

• Mole Concept - Explore the concept of mole and the relationship between molar mass and atomic mass.

NGSS: SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Energy and matter, DCI - PS1.B: Chemical Reactions.

BIOLOGY

Cell Structure & Function

• Diffusion - Explore diffusion and facilitated diffusion as modes of passive transport.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Systems and System Models, CCC - Structure and Function, DCI - LS1.A: Structure and Function.

• Active Transport - Investigate transportation against the concentration gradient by expending energy.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Systems and System Models, CCC - Structure and Function, DCI - LS1.A: Structure and Function.

• Life Functions: Virus Replication - Explore how a virus infects and rapidly replicates inside a host cell.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Stability and Change, DCI - LS1.A: Structure and Function.

PHYSICS

Radioactivity

• Radioactive Decay - Investigate effects of emitting an alpha particle or a beta particle and the resulting decay chain.

NGSS: SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, PS1.C: Nuclear Processes.

Momentum

• Impulse Momentum - Explore thrust produced by a jet or a rocket engine resulting in its motion.

NGSS: SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, DCI - PS2.A: Forces and Motion.

2-D Motion

• Projectile - Explore motion of a projectile in 2 dimensions.

NGSS: SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, DCI - PS2.A: Forces and Motion

Wish you a very happy new year from the prepmagic.com team. The big news! The new year has been fantastic for the four who made it to the most elite club in the universe, 'the periodic table'. You can read more about it here.

Wanted to share our new year resolution with you. We will be sending you, at the beginning of the month, the list of what to expect in the month on prepmagic.com. This will be our commitment to you.In this month, we will be adding interactive simulations on acids and bases, solutions, gases, and energy in Chemistry. In Biology, we will have heredity, life functions, and ecosystems. Physics will see electrostatics and momentum. Check out our detailed list for January below.

CHEMISTRY

Solutions

Moles & Molarity - Series of interactives demonstrating:

• Concept of a mole and how it relates to atomic mass
• Molarity of a solution, based on moles of solute and volume of solvent
• Diluting a solution

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Scale, proportion, and quantity, PS1 - Matter and its interactions.

Acids & Bases

Acid-Base Titration - Series of interactives on

• Acid-base titration for exploring reaction between acids and bases, based on strength, molarity and pH value.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Scale, proportion, and quantity, PS1 - Matter and its interactions.

Gases

Gas Laws - Series of interactives demonstrating

• behavior of gases and the relationship between pressure, volume and temperature using Boyle’s Law, Charles’ Law and the ideal gas equation.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Scale, proportion, and quantity, CCC - Energy and matter, PS1 - Matter and its interactions

Energy

Heating, Temperature & Phase Change - Interactives to

• investigate the process of heating and phase change using heating curves and to understand the concept of specific heat capacity and molar heat of fusion and vaporization.

Calorimetry - Series of interactives involving

• use of calorimeter to monitor energy changes due to specific heat, molar heat of fusion and vaporization, heat of solution and to measure energy content of common food items.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Scale, proportion, and quantity, CCC - Energy and matter, PS1 - Matter and its interactions, PS3 - Energy.

BIOLOGY

Life Functions

Homeostasis - Interactives investigating

• regulation of body temperature exhibited by endotherms, ectotherms and homeotherms.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Structure and function, CCC - Stability and change, LS1 - From molecules to organisms: Structures and processes

Heredity

Mendelian Inheritance - Interactives exploring

• inheritance patterns based on Mendel's laws of heredity.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Patterns, CCC - Cause and effect, LS3 - Heredity: Inheritance and variation of traits.

Ecosystem

Population Growth - Interactives to interpret

• a population growth curve and understand the carrying capacity of populations.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Patterns, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Stability and change, LS2 - Ecosystems: Interactions, energy, and dynamics.

PHYSICS

Electrostatics

Coulomb's Law - Series of interactives demonstrating that

• electrostatic force between two point charges is a function of their magnitudes and the distance separating the two, as given by Coulomb's Law.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Scale, proportion, and quantity, PS2 - Motion and stability: Forces and interactions.

Momentum

Elastic Collisions - Interactives showing that

• linear momentum is the product of mass and velocity, and is conserved during an elastic collision along with the conservation of kinetic energy.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Patterns, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Stability and change, PS2 - Motion and stability: Forces and interactions.