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Our Virtual Labs

Inq-ITS is, at its core, a collection of virtual labs. Students learn through digital simulations that allow them to design and conduct their own investigations. Inq-ITS truly embodies the three-dimensional nature of the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices; students discover the science content while engaging in inquiry. Emphasized throughout are opportunities for students to create explanations and modify those explanations. Piece by piece, students are coached through the Practices: designing investigations, using evidence to make claims, and backing up those claims with evidence and reasoning.

General Inquiry

Designed for Middle School and High School Students

These labs are focused on the Science Practices and are a great introduction to Inq-ITS. With these free digital labs, students practice their individual science investigations skills, and teachers get the data they need to see where students are struggling.

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Flower

Asking questions, collecting data, analyzing data, and writing using evidence are skills students need to practice. In this basic lab, we allow students the opportunity to practice their investigative skills so they are able to begin the process of becoming science fair participants with original investigations.

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Ramp

Our quantitative digital Lab gives students the opportunity to practice creating, reading, and analyzing data tables as they complete their individual online investigation. This free lab contains three different investigations focused on student misconceptions as students hone their science skills.

Physical Science

Designed for Middle School and High School Students

These digital labs focus on physical science topics for both middle and high school students. Topics include energy, particles, phases of matter, and Newton's Laws. As students complete any of our labs, teachers get real-time alerts to help students when and how they need.

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Phase Change

In this lab, students will heat ice in a flask to see how temperature changes and thermal energy affect the states of matter. By changing the amount of ice, thermal energy, and size of the beaker, students will see how the melting point, boiling point, melting time, and boiling time are affected. 

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Density

This virtual lab is focused on investigating how mass per unit volume equals density in different liquids. Students learn about substance properties by seeing if the shape of the liquid’s container, the amount of liquid, or the type of liquid impact density by calculating the mass per unit volume of various liquid containers. 

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Energy

Free Fall

The Energy: Free Fall lab gives students the opportunity to investigate how energy can change during free fall. Students will investigate how to drop height and item mass can change the potential energy, kinetic energy, mechanical energy, and energy transfer of a falling object.

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Forces & Motion

Introduction

In this introductory lab, students push sleds down various ramps to explore Newton's first and second laws. Students will see the relationships between motion and forces by changing the properties of the sled and ramp to affect the sled's velocity, time down the ramp, and force on a spring at the end of the ramp. 

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Energy

Air Resistance

This virtual lab explores the relationship between a falling object and the potential energy, kinetic energy, gravitational energy, thermal energy, and mechanical energy. This lab also adds the variable of air resistance to show how energy is impacted by the resistance of air on a falling object. 

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Forces & Motion

Different Planetary Bodies

Newton's first and second laws are shown on different planetary bodies in this digital lab. With the added variables of gravity and mass, students will explore how the sled, ramp, and planet affect the sled's velocity, time down the ramp, and force on a spring at the end of the ramp. 

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Gravity & Mass

This lab gives students the chance to do what normally cannot be done in a lab setting: experiment with mass and weight with different gravitational interactions. By changing the amount of gold, orbiting body, and orbit distance, they will find if those variables affect the mass and weight of the gold bars.

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Gravity & Forces

This lab allows students to investigate how a planet’s mass and orbital distance impact the force of gravity in order to confront misconceptions around Newton’s Law of Gravitation. They will see the relationship between a planet’s mass and orbital distance when gold is moved to different planets at different orbital distances.

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Collisions

Advanced

This virtual lab continues the Collisions series of labs, which explore Newton's third law of motion. Students continue to explore relationships between object mass, the initial velocity of an object in motion, and the final momentum and velocity of a second object, either at rest or in motion.

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Waves in a Drum

Introduction

The goal of this virtual lab is to investigate how changing various factors affects wave properties in a drum. By changing the substance inside the drum and the mallet speed and position, students will see the relationships to the generated sound's loudness, pitch, and wave speed.

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Gravity & Orbit Distance

In this lab, students will investigate how a planet’s mass and orbital distance impact the force of gravity on a stack of gold bars. They will explore the relationship between a planet’s mass and orbital distance and the mass and weight of gold bars on the space shuttle orbiting the planet.

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Collisions

Introduction

This lab is an introduction to the Collisions series of virtual labs, which explore Newton's third law of motion. Students will explore the relationships between object mass, initial velocity of an object in motion, and the final momentum and velocity of an object at rest after colliding with the object in motion.

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Collisions

Inelastic (Trains)

This lab continues the Collisions series of virtual labs, which explore Newton's third law of motion, with the addition of inelasticity. Students continue to explore relationships between object mass, initial velocity of an object in motion, and the final momentum and velocity of a second object, either at rest or in motion.

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Waves in a Drum

Advanced

This virtual lab allows students to see how changing various factors affects wave properties in a drum through experimentation. By changing the substance inside the drum and the mallet speed and position, they will see their relationships with the sound's loudness, pitch, and wave speed.

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Waves on a String

Introduction

The goal of the Waves on a String lab is to allow students to investigate how sound waves can change. Students conduct investigations to understand the relationship between string thickness, length, and tension to the generated sound's loudness, wave speed, and waveform.

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Waves on a String

Advanced

This advanced version of the Waves on a String lab lets students to investigate how sound waves can change. Students conduct investigations to understand the relationship between string thickness, length, and tension to the generated sound's loudness, wave speed, and wave form.

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Waves & Thermal Energy

This virtual lab is designed to allow students the opportunity to explore the influence of several variables on the behavior of a mechanical wave. Students conduct investigations to learn how changing the frequency, wavelength, amplitude, thermal energy, or medium effects the wave speed.

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Velocity

Air Resistance

This digital lab continues exploring height and mass impact speed and time based on Newton's first and second laws. They will investigate the relationship between a ball’s mass and volume, its final speed, and its acceleration when the ball is dropped from different heights and when the air has resistance. 

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Velocity

Free Fall

This lab explores how height and mass impact speed and time based on Newton's first and second laws of motion. Students conduct experiments to understand the relationship between a ball’s mass, its final speed, and its acceleration when it is dropped from different heights.

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Chemical

Reactions

In this lab, students will have the opportunity to investigate Chemical Reactions as they change the factors that can influence reactions. Students will be able to see how reactions can occur in some situations and the way that those reactions can differ when variables are changed.

Life Science

Designed for Middle School and High School Students

These digital labs focus on life science topics for both middle and high school students. Topics include trait diversity, predation cycles, genetics, and cell health. In all of our labs, Rex the virtual tutor can be used to help students fully understand the lab topics.

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Natural Selection

In this digital lab, students investigate how changes to environmental factors alter the expression of genetic traits seen in a population over time. By changing an environment's foliage and temperature, students will see how a population of small fuzzy creatures change through natural selection. 

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Diversity of Traits

This lab lets students see how variations of traits can occur because of mutations. It addresses a misconception that students have related to mutations: "Organisms choose to adapt and are able to choose a particular look or ability." Students will discover that the environmental factors they choose don't influence how variations of traits occur.

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Predation

Advanced

The Predation: Advanced activity requires students to analyze factors that affect the carrying capacity of a marine ecosystem with predator sharks and prey seals. Students explore a key component to ecosystem understanding: the back-and-forth patterns that occur as a result of the predation cycle.

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Genetics

The Genetics virtual lab allows students the opportunity to investigate how changes in parent genetics impact the traits seen in offspring and the genetic variations in the population. By selecting parents and generating a Punnett square, students can explore how different traits express themselves in the next generation. 

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Predation

Introduction

​This activity explores predator and prey relationships by looking at a marine ecosystem and changes in populations over time. Students explore a key component to ecosystem understanding: the back-and-forth patterns that occur as a result of the predation cycle (as the predator numbers increase, the prey population decreases, and vice versa).

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Plant Cell

Energy

This digital plant cell lab gives students the opportunity to investigate photosynthesis and how mitochondria, vacuoles, and chloroplasts impact overall cell health. Students will conduct investigations to learn how organelles work together to sustain the plant cell’s ability to store energy.

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Plant Cell

Function

This virtual plant cell lab gives students the opportunity to explore photosynthesis and how the golgi body, ribosomes, and protein work to impact cell function. Students will use their investigations to learn how organelles work together within a plant cell to sustain the cell’s necessary functions.

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Animal Cell

Function

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Animal Cell

Energy

In this animal cell online lab, students will investigate how animal cells break down food, store nutrients, and produce energy using their organelles. Students will conduct investigations to learn how organelles work together to sustain the animal cell’s ability to store energy.

In this animal cell digital lab, students will investigate how the Golgi body, ribosomes, and protein impact animal cell function. Students will conduct experiments to learn how the organelles in an animal cell work together to sustain the cell’s functions.

Earth Science

Designed for Middle School and High School Students

These digital labs focus on earth science topics for both middle and high school. Topics include continental plate boundaries, orbital patterns, and the sun-moon-earth system. All of our labs have automatic assessment to help teachers keep track of student growth. 

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Convergent

Introduction

In this introductory digital lab activity, students will investigate the geoscience process of plate convergence in both oceanic and continental plates. Students conduct experiments in order to see how time, plate type, and size impact the type of features and earthquakes present at the convergent boundary.

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Convergent

Advanced

In this advanced virtual lab activity, students will investigate the geoscience process of plate convergence in both oceanic and continental plates. Students conduct investigations in order to see how time, plate type, and size impact the presence of specific features and earthquakes at the convergent boundary.

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Divergent

Introduction

This virtual introductory lab gives students the opportunity to investigate the workings of continental drift at divergent plate boundaries. They will see how plate type, convection current, and distance from the spreading center impact seafloor structures, spreading rate over time, and past plate motions at the divergent plate boundary.

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Divergent

Advanced

The advanced digital lab allows students the ability to explore the workings of continental drift at divergent plate boundaries. Through their experimentation, they will see how oceanic and continental plates, convection currents, and distance impact continental and ocean-floor features, the spreading rate, and past plate motions.

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Seasons

Introduction

The online introduction lab gives students the opportunity to investigate the relationships between the position of the Earth in orbit and the seasons experienced on Earth. Students will conduct experiments by altering the location on Earth, the tilt of the Earth, and the location of Earth in orbit around the Sun to see how these factors impact seasons.

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Seasons

Advanced

This virtual advanced seasons lab allows students to investigate how the Earth's orbit impacts the seasons experienced on Earth. Students will conduct inquiry by changing the location on Earth, the tilt of the Earth, and the location of Earth in orbit around the Sun in order to see how these factors impact Earth's seasons.

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Seasons: No Tilt

Introduction

in this No Tilt investigation, students will explore the relationships between the position of the Earth in orbit and the seasons experienced on Earth if the Earth had no orbital tilt. By altering the location on Earth and the location of Earth in orbit around the Sun to see how these factors impact seasons on a non-tilted version of Earth.

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Seasons: No Tilt

Advanced

In this No Tilt investigation, students investigate how tilt impacts angle of sunlight, temperature, and seasons on Earth if the Earth had no orbital tilt. By altering the location on Earth and the location of Earth in orbit around the Sun to see how these factors impact seasons on a non-tilted version of Earth.

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Lunar Phases

Introduction

The introductory lunar phases virtual lab gives students the opportunity to investigate the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic pattern of the moon’s orbit around the Earth. By changing the position of the moon, orbital speed of the moon, and the position of the viewer on Earth, they will find how those variables relate to the phases of the moon.

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Lunar Phases

Advanced

The advanced lunar phases online lab allows for the opportunity to investigate the motion of orbiting objects to see how this motion impacts the phases of the Moon as seen from various locations on Earth. They will be able to see how their changes to the moon's orbit, position, and viewing point change the moon's orbital speed and phases.

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Eclipses

Introduction

The introductory eclipses digital lab gives students the opportunity to investigate the Earth-sun-moon system to view the factors involved in both lunar and solar eclipses. The goal of this virtual lab is to examine how lunar and solar eclipses happen, and how scientists predict where and when eclipses can be observed.

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Eclipses

Advanced

The advanced eclipse virtual lab allows students to investigate the factors involved in both lunar and solar eclipses. Through their experimentation, students will examine how lunar and solar eclipses happen, how often they occur, and how scientists can predict where and when eclipses can be observed.

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