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Rockets Away
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In this activity, learners build a simple "rocket" with ordinary household materials to demonstrate the basic principles behind rocketry and the principle of reaction.

Jem's Pykrete Challenge
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In this activity, learners make pykrete by freezing a mixture of water and a material like cotton wool, grass, hair, shredded paper, wood chips, or sawdust.

Kites
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In this engineering/design activity, learners make a kite, fly it, and then work to improve the design. Learners explore how their kite design variations affect flight.

Launch Altitude Tracker
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In this activity, learners construct hand-held altitude trackers. The device is a sighting tube with a marked water level that permits measurement of the inclination of the tube.

Pollution Patrol
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In this activity, learners explore how engineers design devices that can detect the presence of pollutants in the air.

Design and Build a Wind Vane
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In this activity, learners design and build a simple wind vane —one of the oldest kinds of weather tools— and use it to show wind direction.

DIY Weather Vane
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In this activity, learners will engineer their own weather vane. This activity includes step-by-step instructions with pictures and a "What's Happening?" section explaining how the activity worked.

Solar Water Heater
Learners work in teams to design and build solar water heating devices that mimic those used in residences to capture energy in the form of solar radiation and convert it to thermal energy.

Finding the Size of the Sun and Moon
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In this activity, learners build a simple pinhole viewer. They use this apparatus to project images from a variety of light sources, including a candle, the Sun, and the Moon.

Portable Sundial
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Learners construct one or more of the following kinds of sundials: a shadow plot, a horizontal sundial, and a diptych sundial.

Weather Vane
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In this meteorology activity, learners build weather vanes using straws, paperclips, and cardstock.

Soda Geyser
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In this quick activity (page 1 of PDF under SciGirls Activity: Lift Off), learners will use the ever-popular soda geyser experiment to test the reactivity of the various sugar candies or mints.

Cook Food Using the Sun
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Learners build a solar oven from a cardboard pizza box, aluminum foil and plastic. Learners can use their oven to cook S'mores or other food in the sun.

Solar Cell Simulation
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In this activity, learners model the flow of energy from the sun as it enters a photovoltaic cell, moves along a wire and powers a load.

Weather Forecasting
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This activity (on page 2 of the PDF under SciGirls Activity: Forecasting) is a full inquiry investigation into meteorology and forecasting.

Reflective Solar Cooker
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In this activity, learners use the Sun's energy to cook marshmallows. Learners construct the solar oven out of simple everyday materials.

Sled Kite
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In this activity, learners build a sled kite that models a type of airfoil called a parawing.

Gravity Fountains
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This activity (located on page 3 of the PDF under GPS: Glaciers Activity) is a full inquiry investigation into the forces of gravity and air pressure.
Up, Up and Away with Bottles
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In this activity, learners make water rockets to explore Newton's Third Law of Motion. Learners make the rockets out of plastic bottles and use a bicycle pump to pump them with air.

Equatorial Sundial
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In this activity, learners make an equatorial sundial, which is simple to construct and teaches fundamental astronomical concepts. Learners use the provided template and a straw to build the sundial.