HS-PS1 Matter and Its Interactions
- Life
Analyzing a top article
Students will read and summarize one of the Top 10 stories of 2017, as reported by Science News.
- Chemistry
Exploring half-life
Students will simulate the exponential radioactive decay and half-life of carbon-14 with pennies and a food coloring/bleach chemical reaction.
- Chemistry
Making carbon connections
These discussion prompts cover the basics of radioactive decay and carbon-14 dating, as well as concepts related to climate change.
- Plants
Uniting past and present
Students will search the Science News archive for stories related to frozen mosses, radioactive carbon-14 dating and global warming.
- Plants
Mosses exposed and analyzed
Students will answer questions about how scientists measure the age of newly thawed mosses in the Arctic, and the implications of those scientists' findings.
- Physics
The pressure to be a star
To better understand the life cycle of stars, students will estimate the conditions involved in stars and element formation.
- Space
Star light, star bright
These discussion prompts cover the principles of spectroscopy, stellar evolution and fusion reactions.
- Space
Crash from the past
Students will search the Science News archive for other stories on neutron star collisions and gravitational waves.
- Chemistry
Going beyond the robot
These discussion prompts cover topics related to materials science, magnetism, and biological adaptation and self-assembly.
- Tech
That’s a wrap
Students will answer questions about how a cubic metallic robot wraps itself in different exoskeletons to perform different functions.
- Health & Medicine
Your body as watchdog
These discussion prompts focus on gene activity and analysis, the immune system and how vaccines work.
- Physics
Your inside guide to the learning brain
These discussion prompts focus on neurons and their signals and how magnetic resonance imaging works.
