Physical Science
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Earth
Carbon dioxide’s ecological footprint
Students will answer questions based on the Science News article "Rising CO2 threatens lake food webs" and an accompanying graph tracking pH.
- Physics
Smartphone technologies
In this two-part activity, students will complete a few simple light polarization exercises to model LCD technology and then demonstrate how a smartphone app analyzes and utilizes data to perform a specific function.
- Physics
A look inside the smartphone
These discussion prompts ask students to describe how various smartphone sensors work, and analyze three graphs related to data gathered by such sensors.
- Science & Society
The spy in your pocket
Students will answer questions about how smartphone apps could be used to spy on people and how such spying might be prevented.
- Physics
Free-fallin’
Students will determine if an object's composition and the height at which can object is dropped affects its gravitational acceleration.
- Physics
When science and gravity meet
These discussion prompts encourage students to explore concepts related to gravity and how scientists measure it.
- Physics
The equivalence principle in the archive
Use this short section to explore and compare other articles about measurements of the equivalence principle as reported by Science News since 1924.
- Space
Testing the equivalence principle
Students will answer questions based on the Science News article "Galileo experiment re-created in space."
- Life
Boosting your background knowledge
These discussion prompts help students gain a better understanding of key vocabulary and concepts covered in the Top 10 articles of 2017.
- Life
Tracking the latest developments
Students will compare and contrast one of the Top 10 stories of 2017 with an earlier related article from the Science News archive.
- 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.
