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This is a lesson plan for an activity in which learners, playing the role of archeologists, use math concepts about number bases to decipher the Dresden Codex, an ancient Mayan document.

With three cans and some tape, make a drum that you bonk down on any surface to produce a variety of sounds. This activity also teaches you about pitch, vibration, and frequency.

In this activity, learners build a Wilberforce Pendulum, a special coupled pendulum in which energy is transferred between two modes of vibration, longitudinal ("bounce') and torsional ("twist"), on a

With a straw, two craft sticks, and some rubber bands, construct a noisemaker called a Sound Sandwich and explore how vibration produces sound.

In this activity, learners observe as soap bubbles float on a cushion of carbon dioxide gas. Learners blow bubbles into an aquarium filled with a slab of dry ice.

In this activity, learners trap a thin layer of air between two pieces of Plexiglas to produce rainbow-colored interference patterns.

In this activity, learners make a photographic image—without a camera!

In this activity, learners explore chemiluminescence and fluorescence. Learners examine 3 different solutions in regular light, in the dark with added bleach solution, and under a black light.

In this physics activity, learners construct a small-scale version of a classic carnival game.

In this optics/mathematics activity, learners use two hinged mirrors to create a kaleidoscope that shows multiple images of an object.

In ancient Chaco Canyon, the people used a "sun dagger" petroglyph to mark the passing of seasons.

This activity provides instructions for making an aircraft that can really fly using a straw and paper hoops!

Cardboard Automata are a playful way to explore simple machine elements while creating a mechanical sculpture.

This activity provides step-by-step instructions on how to build a rain stick, a musical instrument originating in South America.

Demonstrate the Bernoulli Principle using simple materials on a small or large scale.

In this activity, learners use a laser pointer and two small rotating mirrors to create a variety of fascinating patterns, which can be easily and dramatically projected on a wall or screen.

This activity demonstrates liquefaction, the process by which some soils lose their solidity during an earthquake.

This trick from Exploratorium physicist Paul Doherty lets you add together the bounces of two balls and send one ball flying.

In this activity, learners make a yeast-air balloon to get a better idea of what yeast can do. Learners discover that the purpose of leaveners like yeast is to produce the gas that makes bread rise.

In this activity, learners manipulate film to create homemade movies. Scratch Film, also known as Direct Animation, is the process of drawing and scratching designs directly onto film.