Spring is here! Get outside and get your students active with these hands-on science demos.
The following exercises are created with science classrooms of all levels in mind and work best when paired with Britannica LaunchPacks: Science. Contact your school librarian to see if your institution already has access, or claim your own LaunchPacks Free Trial.
Elementary and Middle: Experiment with air pressure
Use the mini paratroopers on parachutes and the giant parachute with your class to demonstrate how parachutes work with air pressure and air resistance. Questions you could ask might be:
- How is air pressure used to save lives?
- What other factors come into play?
LaunchPack: Friction (Grades 3-5)
EXTRA CREDIT
Kites! Kites were used by early airplane inventors to study air movement. Have students research the history of kites on Britannica School, then see if they can construct their own working kites.
High School: Experiment with air movement
Use the giant air blaster to help students visualize wind and how air moves through our atmosphere. Ask students:
- How does the air around you affect your lifestyle and the living things around you?
- What is an air vortex and where do they occur?
Graphic Organizer: Observation, Inference, Explanation
LaunchPack: Air, Wind, and Weather (Grades 9-12)
EXTRA CREDIT
Research your neck of the woods! Using the LaunchPack as a springboard, have students research the topography and common weather of where you live, other regions of the U.S., or even other countries. Britannica E-Books and Britannica School have all the resources they need to learn about different biomes and geographical zones. Students can present these findings to the class on their own or even as groups.
Watch my webinar on these topics to get more instructions in-depth:
Watch me demonstrate these ideas live!
We took to the streets of Chicago to break down these activities for you. Watch the Facebook Live video below to see how they look.
Don’t have access to LaunchPacks? Try it here for free! Or CHECK HERE to see if your region is one of our state-wide subscribers.
Try this with your class? How did it go? Tweet us feedback to @BritannicaLearn.
Become an expert in minutes! Watch this two-minute video on how to use LaunchPacks annotation features.
