Columbus City Schools
Rocking the Cycle!
Time to rock out! Discover the "life" cycle of the average rock using an illustrative stations lab and stimulating pairs game. Roll the dice to determine your fate: will it be melting in magma or chilling out to form igneous rock? The...
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Making Variables More Concrete
When teaching about the different types of variables, practice is the key.
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Changing Planet: Black Carbon - a Dusty Situation
Introduce your young meteorologists to black carbon produced by the burning of fossil fuels by showing the video, "Changing Planet: Black Carbon." Viewers discover that deposition of this carbon on polar ice impacts the absorption of...
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Genetics
Become familiar with the basic concepts of inheritance. Your junior high students work through mulitple examples of crosses and calculate probabilities of trait occurance. The explain the concept that each parent contributes one half of...
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Bird Populations
Young scholars gather data about bird populations. They study bird migratory patterns using the methods that researchers use. They write an essay explaining the differences between the four types of population movements.
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Our Universe: Designed or Evolved?
Students brainstorm and write arguments for Evolution and Intelligent Design. They research the history of each of these ideas. They also examine the controversy of teaching one or both ideas in schools.
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Spineless - YES... Helpless - NO!
Young scholars distinguish between invertebrate and vertebrate organisms while examining the zoological classes of a number of invertebrates. They illustrate a food web of these organisms and investigate the impact of humans on the...
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Secrets from the Sea
Students utilize technology for research. They research the potential causes of the sinking of the Hunley.
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BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Students observe and identify characteristics of artifacts and fossils; explain how artifacts and fossils are used to explore the past; and identify ways that Native Americans prepared food and made tools
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Crime Scene Investigation: Hair Analysis Lab
Students participate in a hair analysis lab. Using a digital microscope, students compare and contrast hair samples. They determine if the hair samples are human or animal. After completing lab results sheets, students share their...
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The Survey Says
Students experience the development of statistical data. In groups, they construct a survey questionnaire for a target audience. Students produce the questionnaire, distribute it, collect it, and tabulate the data. Using EXCEL, the...
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Plant and Animal Cells
Students investigate the difference between plant and animal cells. They observe a variety o plant and animals cells by looking at a piece of cork, an onion, elodea, prepared slides of paramecium, human bone, frog blood, and human...
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Rocks and Minerals- Uses Past and Present
Students investigate the use of rocks in past and present societies. They examine how important rocks are.
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Deep Freeze
Students practice various sampling methods for retrieving data under water, ice, and soil. They use the sample material to make temperature measurements, chart contents, and draw their own conclusions as to what is happening in the...
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Take A Meal Worm To Lunch
Seventh graders, using a magnifying glass, observe mealworms in a cup.
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How Do New Species Form?
Students read an article by Niles Eldridge about species and the environment and break into small groups to discuss it. They write essays noting strengths and weaknesses of punctuated equilibrium and gradualism, or other topics listed.
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Sorting Rocks
Students devise a rock word web and sort rocks by applying the categories they discuss.
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Minerals- the Building Blocks of Rocks
Students investigate how rocks are composed minerals by dissecting rock cookies.
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Lab Safety
Students investigate the concept of lab safety using a variety of different activities. The equipment necessary is covered. They draw the different types of lab tools using a graphic organizer.
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South of the Border Down Brooklyn Way
Young scholars use the Internet to research the behavior and ecology of feral monk parakeets. They design a monk parakeet behavioral study, then post their results to a Web page.
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Experimental Archaeology: Making Cordage
Students make a cordage and use an activity sheet to experience a skill that ancient Native American in North Carolina neded for everyday life.
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Chemical Engineers and the Things They Do
Students explore the field of chemical engineering and identify the contributions of chemical engineers to society. They explore how chemical engineering is like and different from the other engineering professions. They study the...
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Who's Coming to Dinner?
Learners identify the role predators/prey play in food chains, differentiate between food chains and webs, identify factors that affect the balance in food webs, and propose solutions to protect endangered species' environments and...
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Volcano!-Thar She Blows!
Middle schoolers describe how volcanoes are formed. They name the types of boundaries where volcanoes occur. They utilize models to illustrate the occurence of volcanoes and earthquakes along plate boundaries. They compare and constrast...