Third in a set of lessons regarding reservoirs, dams, and hydropower, this involves a two-day hydropower plant simulation. Collaborative groups build, maintain, and finance the plant. The transparency of the reservoir setup can be...

Students simulate coal mining with chocolate chip cookies and toothpicks. They investigate the costs associated with mining coal.

Students explain how pollution affects ground water. They participate in a simulation to discover the location of an illegal dump. Students explore the monetary benefits, risk and environmental concerns are factors in business decisions.

Class members create their own social networks by collecting signatures before graphing the interactions with their fellow classmates. The degree distribution of the simulated social network is determined by calculating the degree of...

Eighth graders put their knowledge of rocks and minerals into perspective by seeing how minerals can be mined and the difficulties and costs of mining. They explore the environmental impacts of mining.

Emerging environmentalists work in groups and pretend that each is a power company generating electricity for a community. They consider the costs of building a renewable electricity generator that will increasingly replace generating...

Learners participate in an activity where they flip coins to determine which allele they pass on to the F1 generation and draw the resulting child's face. They identify several inheritance patterns including dominant, recessive,...

Students import UNEP World population data/projections from either the World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision Population Database - UN Population Division or a text file. They graph this data by itself, and then along with...

Learners investigate genetics and evolution of species. They simulate the breeding of birds using origami birds. In addition, using dice they introduce genetic variation into the species.

Students investigate the recycling process. In this recycling lesson, students read the article The Recycling Process After Collection and discuss the advantages of recycling. As an extension activity, students simulate the molding of...

Introduces your class to random processes in networks with an activity that uses information about disease spread using the susceptible, infectious, resistant (SIR) model. Participants determine whether a susceptible person becomes...

Students explore the process of carbon dating fossils to determine their age. They simulate radioactive decay using pennies in a shoe box. Heads represents a decayed atom each time they shake the box. They use the data to calculate the...

Students explain how radioactive decay occurs. In this physical science instructional activity, students simulate radioactive half-life through an experiment. They graph their data and share their results in class.

Middle schoolers explore minerals and examine environmental impact of mining through simulation.

Nanoparticles have toxic effects on plant and animal life—even though you can't see them. The second activity of a two-part series has young scientists conduct an experiment that exposes plant and animals to nanoparticle pollutants. They...

Students examine whether objects will sink or float.  In this buoyancy lesson students bring in objects and experiment to see if they sink or float.

Make your lesson on radioactive decay pop with this lab exercise. Using popcorn kernels spread over a tabletop, participants pick up all of those that point toward the back of the room, that is, those that represent decayed atoms. As the...

Students draws the child's face and compares "mother's" and "father's" perception of characteristics. One student draws the child's face; partner writes a biography of the child at age 30- what is the child like, what have they...

Students explore how forensic science is used in criminal investigations. They learn that for the next few days that are going to try to solve a crime that took place in the classroom. Students are given a story to read about the crime...

Students participate in an archaeological excavation to determine how archeologists make inferences about various cultures. They reconstruct the site using layers of drawings. They discuss the kinds of information they learned.

Young scholars will enjoy smashing the two tectonic sandwich plates together in faulting and compression fashions! They may even desire to capture their instructional destruction in a slideshow.

Learners explore forensic science and its uses in criminal investigations. They solve a fictional crime by identifying and analyzing the fingerprints, strand of hair, and thread samples for evidence. After completing charts for each,...

Students explore the concepts of phenotypes and genotypes.  In this genetics lesson students work together to pick a superhero and determine the traits of the offspring. 

Learners perform a literature search and use reputable research resources in order to find the surface temperature of different planets in our solar system. They speculate about the observed and unobserved factors. Then brainstorming is...