Project WET Foundation
The Blue Planet
What a neat interactive that interacts with the amount of water on Earth's surface. It begins with a brief audio introduction of the Blue Planet and how it got its name. Then, users click on the activity to play a game that calculates...
Project WET Foundation
Healthy Water Healthy People
People and water have something in common. They both need to be healthy. Explore with an engaging interactive what it means to have a healthy body and why having healthy water is also important.
Georgian Court University
Introduction to Marsh Ecology
Compare and contrast the characteristics of fresh and salt water marshes. After exploring the typical plants and animals found in each marsh type, participants use a set of flash cards to sort into fresh and salt water marsh life. Their...
University of Colorado
Patterns and Fingerprints
Human fingerprint patterns are the result of layers of skin growing at different paces, thus causing the layers to pull on each other forming ridges. Here, groups of learners see how patterns and fingerprints assist scientists in a...
Tech Museum of Innovation
Human Body Exhibit
Explore human anatomy and physiology using models. Scholars study systems of the human body and design a display for a museum exhibit. To complete the activity, individuals create analogous models of their chosen human body systems.
Intel
Beat the Heat
Explore greenhouse effect and climate change through a 15-day unit. Scholars learn about these STEM concepts by researching, conducting surveys, experimenting, and collaborating with experts in the field. They frequently communicate...
New South Wales Department of Education
Plant Groups
Bryophytes can grow in temperatures just above zero degrees. This 17th installment in a series of 20 introduces learners to the five groups of plants: algae, bryophytes, pteridophytes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms. Classes then explore...
New South Wales Department of Education
Plant Features
Pine needles are actually modified leaves. In the 16th installment of 20, young scientists explore plants. Through an analysis of leaves — shape, veins, and edges — pupils see how to classify plants based on structural features.
New South Wales Department of Education
Invertebrates
Of all invertebrates, insects by far are the most numerous. Scholars discuss invertebrates and then use a key to classify them. They see different examples and must describe features of each organism based upon the key.
New South Wales Department of Education
Is it Alive?
Interestingly enough, movement is not a characteristic of living things. The first activity in a series of 20 introduces learners to the concepts of living versus non-living things and then focuses on biologists and what they study....
New South Wales Department of Education
History of Plant Classification
Bamboo, the fastest growing plant in the world, can grow up to 35 inches in one day! Pupils learn how plants historically have been classified and determine if these traits are appropriate to use in this 17th lesson of 20. They will also...
New South Wales Department of Education
The Mangroves
Mangroves are a nursery for a variety salt-water organisms. Learners explore the mangrove ecosystem through audio, video, and/or images, to see the organisms that live in this environment and make food chains pertaining to this...
New South Wales Department of Education
Photosynthesis
Venus fly traps photosynthesize and consume insects because the soil they live in does not provide enough nutrients. Scholars analyze historical scientific experiments to learn how scientists discovered photosynthesis. From their...
Polar Trec
Plankton Parents
Plankton are so abundant in the ocean they outweigh all of the animals in the sea. In this three day activity, groups discuss and become familiar with plankton, capture females, and look for egg production on day three.
EnLiST
Trap Your Own Insects: What’s in Your Backyard?
Young entomologists construct three types of insect traps—pitfall, pollinator, and panel—before setting their traps out and observing what they caught. They then observe what types of insects the different traps attract.
Polar Trec
Talk Story: A Native Way of Knowing
The steps of the scientific method examine a problem, make a prediction, and attempt to solve the problem—similar to the path most stories take. In the activity, individuals see how stories can explain natural events similar to the way...
Polar Trec
Calorimetry Lab
Young people between the ages of 11–13 need on average about 2,000 calories per day. Within the lab, groups learn about calorimetry and respiration. They explore how it pertains to humans and animals living the Arctic where cold...
Polar Trec
How Much Data is Enough?
The next time you read a magazine or watch the news, make note of how many graphs you see because they are everywhere! Here, scholars collect, enter, and graph data using computers. The graphs are then analyzed to aid in discussion of...
Polar Trec
Bering Sea Fabulous Food Chain Game
In spring, the Bering Sea turns green due to phytoplankton, which live at the surface, experiencing a population explosion. Groups of scholars play a food chain game, writing down food chains as the game is played. After five to six...
Polar Trec
Rings of Life
Individuals analyze tree rings to determine the health of an ecosystem. They then look at otoliths of fish, hard calcium carbonate structures located behind the brain, in the same manner.
Polar Trec
Who Will Melt First?
If the Greenland ice sheet melted, sea levels would rise by about 20 ft; if the Antarctic ice sheet melted, sea levels would rise by 200 ft. Scholars explore ice melting through the analysis of different ice samples, clean and dirty ice....
Polar Trec
Is There Salt in a Glacier?
What can conductivity tell us about a glacier? Groups analyze glacial melt to determine salt content through an analysis of the pH and conductivity measurements of two samples. Groups then determine the source of the salts.
Polar Trec
Can Carbon Dioxide Act Like a Greenhouse Gas?
Ninety-seven percent of scientists who study climate agree that human activity is warming the planet. Learners explore carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, a gas causing this warming, through a hands-on experiment. Once complete, they...
Polar Trec
Arctic Smorgasbord!
Two blooms of phytoplankton, instead of just one, now occur in the Arctic due to declining sea ice, which will have widespread effects on the marine life and climate. In small groups, participants build an Arctic food web with given...