Serendip
How Do Biological Organisms Use Energy?
When an organism eats, how does food become energy? Young biologists follow glucose through the process of cellular respiration to the creation of ADP using a discussion-based activity. The resource also highlights conservation of mass...
Kenan Fellows
Unit 2: DNA Analysis
Ever wonder how they solve those mysterious murders in TV crime dramas? The second of four units in a Biotechnology series introduces scholars to the many methods of DNA analysis. Pupils create and run their own gel electrophoresis...
Montana State University
Climb into Action!
Climate change affects even the largest and intimidating of landforms—even Mount Everest! A resource helps teach learners the connection between global climate change and its effects on Earth. Activities include videos, class discussion,...
NOAA
Animals of the Fire Ice
When the sun's rays can't reach the producers in a food web, where does all the energy come from? Extreme environments call for extreme food sources. Young scientists investigate creatures that appear to get their energy from methane...
Chicago Botanic Garden
The Carbon Cycle
There is 30 percent more carbon in the atmosphere today than there was 150 years ago. The first lesson in the four-part series teaches classes about the carbon cycle. Over two to three days, classes make a model of the cycle,...
Curated OER
The Water Cycle
Your class sets up a mini water cycle model to examine the process. Then they watch an animation, following a water molecule through the cycle. A well-developed lab sheet guides learners through the lesson plan and a PowerPoint...
Wild BC
The Greenhouse Effect: The Role of CO2
Though this is meant to be second in a two-part instructional activity, the two are not dependent on each other. Pupils play the roles of visible light rays, light or dark surfaces, and carbon dioxide molecules. They interact and react...
Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Investigation: Chemical Models
Science teams make models of four different hydrocarbon compounds that we commonly use for fuel. Then they demonstrate chemical reactions that result when energy is produced. This can be used as an enrichment when your class is studying...
Curated OER
Circle of Life
Here is a well-designed science lesson that shows learners that everything that organisms do in ecosystems, including running, breathing, burrowing, growing, requires energy. After a thorough discussion of their own eating and drinking...
Teach Engineering
Balancing Liquid on a Coin: How Intermolecular Forces Work
Let knowledge of chemistry flow like water. Future scientists conduct two different experiments to investigate the properties of water. They learn about surface tension and cohesion as they see how many drops of water they can place on a...
Serendip
How Do We Sense the Flavors of Food?
We taste with our taste buds, so why do flavors change when we have a stuffy nose? Scholars experiment with taste testing while holding their noses and then while smelling. They record their observations in pairs and come together to...
Curated OER
The Marvels of Mud
Young scientists roll up their sleeves and get a little dirty in this three-day earth science investigation. Following the scientific method, children monitor the growth of algae in pond water samples in order to determine...
Curated OER
Molecular Biology and Primate Phylogenics
By counting differences in amino acids, biology stars examine the relationships between different primates. With information gleaned, they map out a phylogenic tree and discover common ancestry. You will need to create printable versions...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Carbon, Greenhouse Gases, and Climate
Climate models mathematically represent the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land, sun, surface, and ice. Part two in the series of four lessons looks at the role greenhouse gases play in keeping Earth warm and has participants...
Virginia Department of Education
Building a DNA Model
It has been decades since the discovery of DNA. Still, activities such building this DNA model allow blossoming scientists to better understand the components that form this overall structure. During this activity, they will also...
Michigan Sea Grant
Fish Life Cycle
Fish are no different when it comes to a living being's primary objective—to reproduce. They do differ, including from fish species to fish species, in their life cycles, survival tactics and reproductive strategies. After discussion of...
Journey Through the Universe
Comets: Bringers of Life?
Young scientists investigate the elements found in our solar system and then construct a model of a comet. They apply their new knowledge to the formation of the solar system.
NASA
Is It Alive?
Determining whether or not something is living can be more difficult than it seems. Put your young scientists to work defining their own criteria to identify life, then work with three samples to see if they are alive or...