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Pulleys
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In this activity, learners build inexpensive pulley assemblies from pulley wheels used for sliding screen door replacement or from clothesline spreaders.

Incredible Shrinking Shapes
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In this activity, learners get hands-on experience with ratios and scaling while making their own jewelry out of recycled plastic containers.

Plot the Dot: A Graphical Approach to Density
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In this activity, learners work in groups to determine the mass and volume of four samples: glass marbles, steel washers or nuts, pieces of pine wood, and pieces of PVC pipe.

Life Size: Line 'em up!
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In this activity on page 1 of the PDF, learners compare the relative sizes of biological objects (like DNA and bacteria) that can't be seen by the naked eye.

Paper Tape Motion Timer
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In this activity, learners build a recording timer made from simple materials (e.g., small dc motor, sharpie pen, craft sticks, adding machine paper tape, etc.).

Paper Airplanes
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In this activity, learners explore the properties of paper by constructing and modifying paper airplanes.

Sweetly Balanced Equations
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In this (edible) activity, learners balance chemical equations using different kinds and colors of candy that represent different atoms. Learners will work in pairs and explore conservation of atoms.

Mold Mole Molds
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In this activity, learners make different shapes that hold exactly one mole of gas (air).

Throwing Pi
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In this calculus activity, learners use a classic problem of geometrical probability to find an important mathematical constant (pi).

Greeting Card Boxes
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In this activity, learners make cool boxes out of old (or new) greeting cards or postcards.

Evolution in Plane Sight
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In this activity, learners model directed evolution by making paper fly. Learners construct and fly paper airplanes.

Earth Atmosphere Composition
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In this activity, learners use rice grains to model the composition of the atmosphere of the Earth today and in 1880. Learners assemble the model while measuring percentages.

String Shapes
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In this activity, learners work together to make polygons (many-sided shapes) with string. Learners sit on the floor and hold onto a piece of string slid between their thumbs and index fingers.

Cylindrical Wing
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In this design and physics challenge, learners construct a cylindrical wing, fly it, make modifications, and determine how the changes affect flight patterns.

The Four-Square Quilt
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In this activity, learners arrange triangles together to make patterns to create paper quilts. Learners experiment with arranging the triangles in different ways to make various designs.

Polarized Light Mosaic
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In this activity, learners use transparent tape and polarizing material to create and project beautifully colored patterns reminiscent of abstract or geometric stained glass windows--no glass required

Suminagashi: Floating Ink Paper Marbling
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In this activity, learners try to float ink on the surface of water to create a pattern and then capture it with absorbent paper.

Making a Translation Tessellation
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In this activity, learners slide shapes to create unusual tiled patterns.

Wind Tubes
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In this activity, learners create and experiment with wind tubes. These tubes are a playful and inventive way to explore the effect that moving air has on objects.

Simple Pop-Up Mechanisms
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In this activity, learners construct three quick and simple mechanisms to start building a pop-up book. Learners fold, cut, and glue paper to make a bird beak, parallelogram, and V-fold.