Major Learning Activities

As of September 30, 2005, the North Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium is no longer in operation.

Major Learning Activities

Activity One:
This activity can be completed over several days or a few hours, depending on your students' computer skills.

Materials:
The Amazing Picture Machine (http://www.ncrtec.org/picture.htm)

Lesson:

Teachers or students (depending on the students' computer familiarity) will go online to The Amazing Picture Machine (http://www.ncrtec.org/picture.htm) Web site. The use of an LCD panel or a television monitor is extremely helpful, but not absolutely necessary. A simple online computer can be used.
Spend some time familiarizing students with The Amazing Picture Machine (http://www.ncrtec.org/picture.htm) Web site. This activity can be completed over several days or a few hours, depending on your students' computer skills.Have the students brainstorm what they know about liquids. The teacher should chart these responses as they are given. On a second chart, students should list all of the liquids they can name. One day should be sufficient for this activity. (Repeat this process for solids and gases on subsequent days.).

Activity Two:

Materials:

The Amazing Picture Machine (http://www.ncrtec.org/picture.htm)

Lesson:

Present The Amazing Picture Machine Web site (http://www.ncrtec.org/picture.htm). Use it to display images of liquids. Have the class discuss the images and identify the liquids. Be sure to include questions such as "How do you know?" and "Why do you think so?" Encourage questions and comments from students to help them clarify any confusion they might have about the property of liquids.

The following pictures could be used:

Dewdrop on a Leaf
Crater Lake at Sunrise
Iguacu Falls
Milk art picture with food
Mt. St. Helens Erupting
Picture of a blimp with a lake in the background

Activity Three:
This activity should take two days.

Materials:
The Amazing Picture Machine (http://www.ncrtec.org/picture.htm)

Lesson:

Group the students into pairs. Each pair of students should go through the pre-selected pictures, working together to identify the liquids in the pictures. Then they should use their journals to record their conclusions. They may choose to draw or write their responses or to map their results. After they complete their journals, each pair should send the next group to the computer, with students continuing to rotate until all students in the class have had a chance to use the computer and complete their journals.

The next day, the teacher may choose to have the students share their journals in a whole-class setting or in small groups of four to six students. (I would suggest that you model one journal with the whole class.) The teacher needs to make sure that the students are on task, are using good questions, and are responding to questions. If appropriate, selected pages from the journals could be photocopied and displayed on a bulletin board entitled, "The Property of Matter." (This activity should take one day.) Repeat the above activity for solids. (This activity should take two days.)
The following pictures could be used:

Japanese Cherry Blossoms
Corn snakes hatching
Anaheim
Nebraska Prairie, 1916
Cockroach infestation
Tomato Frog

The next day repeat this activity using gases.
The following pictures could be used:

Locomotive steam engine
Mt. St. Helens Erupting
The Sun
Maui -- Haleakula
Hourglass Nebula

Activity Four: This activity should take one day.

Materials:
The Amazing Picture Machine (http://www.ncrtec.org/picture.htm)

Lesson:

Gather the students in a group. Access The Amazing Picture Machine Web site (http://www.ncrtec.org/picture.htm). (It would be best if you could be connected to either an LCD panel, TV monitor, or another projection device.) The following set of pictures depict two or more forms of matter. Challenge the students to find as many examples of the three properties of matter in each image. Tell them that it is a type of hide-and-seek game in which some of the properties -- such as solids -- might be easy to find, while others -- such as gas -- might be more difficult to find.

The following pictures could be used:

Milford Sound in New Zealand
Bay in Reykjavik
Picture of blimp with a lake in the background

Activity Five: This activity should take one day.

Materials:
The Amazing Picture Machine (http://www.ncrtec.org/picture.htm)

Lesson:

Ask the students to work in pairs again. This time their task is to browse through the pictures on The Amazing Picture Machine Web site (http://www.ncrtec.org/picture.htm) to find their own set of pictures to challenge their classmates. Those who are not online could be designing their own pictures to share. They could use a wide variety of media, such as paper and pencil, crayons, paint, colored pencils, magazines, etc. This project might extend over several days and, after initial directions, could be used during center times or as art projects. After students have been given enough time to go through The Amazing Picture Machine Web site (http://www.ncrtec.org/picture.htm), either have the class share the results or let the students continue to challenge each other one on one or in small groups.

Students could be asked to sort the following pictures into liquids, solids, and gases:

Flamingos standing in water
Challenger memorial
Two scientists collecting samples of water
Nucleus of active galaxy
Steamship
Steam engine
A variety of pictures available

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