They have first-hand experience with effort, load, fulcrum, and mechanical advantage. They have experience with mixture, solution, concentration, saturation, evaporation, and chemical reaction. Students use stream tables to simulate the creation of land forms and make and use topographic maps that describe land forms. Students capture solar energy using several different earth materials, and make solar water heaters using reflective and absorbent collectors. Finally they work with model houses to discover how to maximize space heating using the sun's energy.
Strong emphasis is placed on the construction of working models and solving real-world problems.