The aim of this video lesson is to teach students about the different topologies of computer networks and how they function. The approach that is used is highly correlated with common knowledge about weddings and the local Malay culture associated with weddings. Students should be able to relate the act of delivering food to a large crowd of people to the basic principles of network topologies and the method of data transfer within each type of topology. The lesson will begin in a classroom with students working in small groups, answering assigned questions. Teaching aids such as color cards will be used. One student from each group will be appointed as the wedding event manager, and she/he will have to discuss and act out with group members in order to answer more challenging questions. At the end of the lesson, students will be asked to come up with their own version of a hybrid computer network topology. The lesson concept taught here not only educates students on computer topologies, but also introduces students to an important cultural perspective of Malaysia. Above all, this video is designed to assist students with their study of Computer Literacy in schools. The lesson will take up to 60 minutes to complete. Materials needed include: 10 red cards representing waitresses; 10 green cards representing waiters; 10 blue cards representing tables in the hall; a sketch book; and classroom tables and chairs.

This lesson uses the fundamentals of protein synthesis as a context for investigating the closest living relative to Tyrannosaurus rex and evaluating whether or not paleontologist and dinosaur expert, Jack Horner, will be able to "create" live dinosaurs in the lab. The first objective is for students to be able to access and properly utilize the NIH's protein sequence database to perform a BLAST, using biochemical evidence to determine T rex's closest living relative. The second objective is for students to be able to explain and evaluate Jack Horner's plans for creating live dinosaurs in the lab. The main prerequisite for the lesson is a basic understanding of protein synthesis, or the flow of information in the cell from DNA to RNA during transcription and then from RNA to protein during translation

This lesson presents the basics of aerodynamics by using kite flying as an example, i.e., forces acting on a flying object. Students will measure the net force acting on a kite due to blowing air and will learn how a simple instrument like a spring can be used to measure such force. They will also examine and experience how the force on the kite is transferred to the string in the form of tension and will again measure that tension with a simple spring. This lesson will take about 30 minutes to complete. One will need a calibrated spring to measure forces, as well as a few springs to study the coplanar forces.

The goal of this video lesson is to teach students about new and exciting ways of holding an election that they may not be aware of. Students will learn three different methods of voting: plurality, instant runoff, and the Borda count. They will be led through a voting experiment in which they will see the weakness of plurality when there are three or more candidates. This lesson will show that not every voting system is perfect, and that each has its strengths and weaknesses. It will also promote thought, discussion, and understanding of the various methods of voting.

The main aim of this lesson is to show students that distances may be determined without a meter stick—a concept fundamental to such measurements in astronomy. It introduces students to the main concepts behind the first rung of what astronomers call the distance ladder. The four main learning objectives are the following: 1) Explore, in practice, a means of measuring distances without what we most often consider the “direct” means: a meter stick; 2) Understand the limits of a method through the exploration of uncertainties; 3) Understand in the particular method used, the relationship between baseline and the accuracy of the measurement; and 4) Understand the astronomical applications and implications of the method and its limits. Students should be able to use trigonometry and know the relation between trigonometric functions and the triangle. A knowledge of derivatives is also needed to obtain the expression for the uncertainty on the distance measured. Students will need cardboard cut into disks. The number of disks is essentially equal to half the students in the class. Two straight drink straws and one pin per disk. Students will also need a protractor. The lesson should not take more than 50 minutes to complete if the students have the mathematical ability mentioned above. This lesson is complimentary to the BLOSSOMS lesson, "The Parallax Activity." The two lessons could be used sequentially - this one being more advanced - or they could be used separately.

In this lesson students will see the different types of evidence scientists use to understand evolutionary relationships among organisms. They will first practice by using shared physical characteristics to predict relationships among members of the cat family and then use this approach to predict primate relationships. They will compare their predictions to evidence provided by analyzing amino acid sequences and build a phylogenetic tree based on these sequences. Finally, they will look at the tree in the context of time in order to see divergence times.

This Protein Purification video lesson is intended to give students some insight into the process and tools that scientists and engineers use to explore proteins. It is designed to extend the knowledge of students who are already somewhat sophisticated and who have a good understanding of basic biology. The question that motivates this lesson is, ''what makes two cell types different?'' and this question is posed in several ways. Such scientific reasoning raises the experimental question: how could you study just a subset of specialized proteins that distinguish one cell type from another? Two techniques useful in this regard are considered in the lesson.

This lesson teaches students how to make decisions in the face of uncertainty by using decision trees. It is aimed for high school kids with a minimal background in probability; the students only need to know how to calculate the probability of two uncorrelated events both occurring (ie flipping 2 heads in a row). Over the course of this lesson, students will learn about the role of uncertainty in decision making, how to make and use a decision tree, how to use limiting cases to develop an intuition, and how this applies to everyday life. The video portion is about fifteen minutes, and the whole lesson, including activities, should be completed in about forty-five minutes. Some of the activities call for students to work in pairs, but a larger group is also okay, especially for the discussion centered activities. The required materials for this lesson are envelopes, small prizes, and some things similar in size and shape to the prize.

This lesson will explore the connections between magnetism in natural materials and electromagnetism. The ultimate goal will be for students to form an understanding that the source of magnetism in natural materials is moving charges. It is helpful, but not required, for the students to have some work with electricity, and other distance forces (such as gravity or the electric force). The lesson will probably take two 50-minute periods to complete. Although the video footage is brief, the activities are in depth, inquiry-based, and can take time for the students to explore. The materials are not specifically prescribed, but can include things such as bar magnets, compasses, iron filings, wire, batteries, steel bolts, coils, straws, and hot glue. The activities include drawing the magnetic fields of bar magnets and electromagnets. The activities also include making a magnet from a drinking straw and iron filings.

In this video lesson, the concept of momentum applied to hard-body collisions is explained using a number of simple demonstrations, all of which can be repeated in the classroom. Understanding Newton's Laws is fundamental to all of physics, and this lesson introduces the vital concepts of momentum and energy, and their conservation. Only some preliminary ideas of algebra are used here, and all the concepts presented can be found in any high-school level physics book. In terms of materials required, getting hold of large steel balls may not be easy, but large ball bearings can be procured easily. On the basis of what students have learned in the video, teachers can easily generate a large number of questions that relate to one's daily experiences, or which pose new challenges: for example, in a collision between a heavy and light vehicle, why do those inside the lighter one suffer less injury?

In this video lesson, students will learn about linear programming (LP) and will solve an LP problem using the graphical method. Its focus is on the famous "Stigler's diet" problem posed by the 1982 Nobel Laureate in economics, George Stigler. Based on his problem, students will formulate their own diet problem and solve it using the graphical method. The prerequisites to this lesson are basic algebra and geometry. The materials needed for the in-class activities include graphing paper and pencil. This lesson can be completed in one class of approximately one hour. If the teacher would like to cover the simplex algorithm by George Dantzig as an alternative solution method, an additional whole class period is suggested.

This learning video explores the mysterious physics behind boomerangs and other rapidly spinning objects. Students will get to make and throw their own boomerangs between video segments! A key idea presented is how torque causes the precession of angular momentum. One class period is required to complete this learning video, and the optimal prerequisites are a familiarity with forces, Newton's laws, vectors and time derivatives. Each student would need the following materials for boomerang construction: cardboard (roughly the size of a postcard), ruler, pencil/pen, scissors, protractor, and a stapler.

This video lesson explores Newton's Third Law of Motion through examination of several real world examples of this law in action, including that of a donkey cart - a site common in the streets of Pakistan. Students will understand that forces act on objects even if the objects appear to be static and that certain conditions - gravity in particular - affect how two objects interact. The time needed to complete this lesson is approximately 50-60 minutes, and students should be familiar with basic mechanics such as Newton's laws, levers, etc. The materials required are a couple of spring balances, a meter rule, tape, pencil, two desks, and some lab weights (few grams each). The types of in-class activities for between the video breaks include active discussions and participation by students in activities related to the Third Law.

The objective of this lesson is to illustrate how a common everyday experience (such as playing pool) can often provide a learning moment. In the example chosen, we use the game of pool to help explain some key concepts of physics. One of these concepts is the conservation of linear momentum since conservation laws play an extremely important role in many aspects of physics. The idea that a certain property of a system is maintained before and after something happens is quite central to many principles in physics and in the pool example, we concentrate on the conservation of linear momentum. The latter half of the video looks at angular momentum and friction, examining why certain objects roll, as opposed to slide. We do this by looking at how striking a ball with a cue stick at different locations produces different effects.

Earth contains a variety of plants to provide food, medicine and, most importantly, energy sources for humans. In this lesson, students will categorize plants by their components and shapes. Additionally, they will learn the mechanisms behind the making of medicines and bio-fuels. It is important that the students have prior knowledge of the plant cell structures and functions. The video duration is 21 minutes, during which the students will use skills such as classification and experimentation. The students must therefore be supplied with various samples of plants. In Arabic with English subtitles.

This lesson focuses on the process of pollination. The learning objectives include learning the anatomy and physiology of flowers, the ecology of pollination, and a focus on plants as essential players in the natural world. There are no prerequisites for the lesson. The lesson will take 1½ hours, or 2 class periods or more -- depending on the areas teachers want to spend more time on or how far in depth they want their students to go. Materials needed are colored modeling clay, 8 or more assorted fresh flowers or pictures of flowers, preferably native to the local ecosystem. Dissecting microscopes or magnifying glasses are great for examining the fresh flowers, but not necessary. Additionally, pictures of different subjects/objects amongst plants are needed for the last activity. Activities for the breaks include assessing student knowledge of flowers by model building, and examining flowers to determine and distinguish between the pollination anatomy of different flowers.

In this lesson, through various examples and activities, exponential growth and polynomial growth are compared to develop an insight about how quickly the number can grow or decay in exponentials. A basic knowledge of scientific notation, plotting graphs and finding intersection of two functions is assumed.

This video lesson presents a real world problem that can be solved by using the Pythagorean theorem. The problem faces a juice seller daily. He has equilateral barrels with equal heights and he always tries to empty the juice of two barrels into a third barrel that has a volume equal to the sum of the volumes of the two barrels. This juice seller wants to find a simple way to help him select the right barrel without wasting time, and without any calculations - since he is ignorant of Mathematics. The prerequisite for this lesson includes knowledge of the following: the Pythagorean theorem; calculation of a triangles area knowing the angle between its two sides; cosine rule; calculation of a circle's area; and calculation of the areas and volumes of solids with regular bases.

This lesson teaches students about the history of the Pythagorean theorem, along with proofs and applications. It is geared toward high school Geometry students that have completed a year of Algebra.

This lesson aims to help students with quadratic functions y = ax2 + bx + c. This is the next step after linear functions bx + c. The lesson begins with three quadratics and their graphs (three parabolas): y = x2 - 2x + (0 or 1 or 2). The prerequisite or co-requisite is some working experience with algebra, like factoring x2 -2x into x(x-2). The objective is to connect four things: the formula for y, the graph of y (a parabola), the roots of y and the minimum or maximum of y. The particular example y = x2 – 2x could be repeated by the teacher, for emphasis. The lesson will take more than one class period (and this is deserved!). The breaks allow time to consider parabolas starting with -x2 and opening downward. A physical path would be one (dangerous?) activity.