Teach Engineering
Biomimicry and Sustainable Design - Nature is an Engineering Marvel
Discover how copying nature can be beneficial to humans. Scholars read articles about examples of biomimicry and its potential applications. Along the way, they learn about Nature's Nine Laws and how they relate to biomimicry. This is...
Teach Engineering
Computer Simulation of the Sonoran Desert Community
See how changes in initial populations and parameters affect a biological community. Individuals use a special software program to simulate a desert community with five species. They adjust initial populations to see how the community...
Teach Engineering
Biomes and Population Dynamics - Balance Within Natural Systems
How large can a population become? The fifth installment of a nine-part unit teaches young ecologists about limiting factors that determine the carrying capacity of species in the Sonoran Desert. Here is a PowerPoint to help present this...
Teach Engineering
Food Chains and Food Webs - Balance within Natural Systems
Feast on an informative resource. Scholars learn about food chains and food webs and how these interactions give information about the natural community. A PowerPoint presentation provides information about this concept.
Teach Engineering
Designing a Winning Guest Village in the Saguaro National Park
Don't desert a resource on the desert! Scholars work in groups to build on their ideas from the previous lesson to design a sustainable guest village in the Saguaro National Park. Each group produces a PowerPoint presentation to share...
Teach Engineering
Designing a Sustainable Guest Village in the Saguaro National Park
Brainstorm ideas to design a sustainable guest village in the Sonoran Desert. The first installment of a nine-part unit teaches young environmental scientists about the basics of the Saguaro National Park and about sustainable design....
Berkeley Lab
Virtual Frog Dissection Kit
Fluffy is one of the most common names for a pet frog. Fluffy, the digitized frog in this dissection kit, opens up quite literally to allow scholars to see what's inside. The basic kit encourages pupils to click on various organs to see...
Biology Corner
DNA The Blueprint of Life
Engage learners with an intriguing presentation on DNA and its role in organisms. Individuals see its structure, what genes are, how the code works, and then explore DNA replication. For advanced classes, the presentation introduces...
Teach Engineering
Grow Your Own Algae!
Develop a model of a wastewater treatment center. The last activity of the unit has pupils mix a lake water sample into a tank of water containing fertilizers. Over time, the algae from the lake water grows and removes the nutrient-rich...
Teach Engineering
Microbes Know How to Work!
Scholars harness the power of microbes with an engaging activity that uses yeast to break down sugar in water. Multiple setups of the same experiment lets learners determine which temperature results in the fastest rate of sugar...
American Society for Microbiology
”Build a Bacterium” Scavenger Hunt
An exciting activity has scholars use cell parts to build bacteria through cooperation with other groups. Each group has some of the cell parts needed, but they must trade with other groups to be able to fulfill their function as a...
Teach Engineering
Constructing Sonoran Desert Food Chains and Food Webs
Investigate desert biomes by creating food chains and food webs. Groups first research feeding habits of organisms in the Sonoran Desert. This information helps pupils draw food chains and webs to determine relationship between organisms.
Intel
Biomes in Action
A STEM project-based learning lesson, number four in a series of 10, focuses on human impacts to biomes around the world. Groups work together as environmentalists to research a specific biome, investigating human impacts on it. From...
Intel
Cell-to-Cell
The third in a series of 10 STEM project-based lessons focuses on cells types, functions, and physiology. Through research, discussions, writings, and presentations, groups learn about the difference between plant and animal cells, the...
Intel
Designer Genes: One Size Fits All?
In this STEM group of 10 activities, lesson two focuses on the question, "Just because we can, should we?" when considering genetically engineered food. Classes hear a scenario and, as young scientists and geneticists, must determine if...
National Institute of Open Schooling
d-Block and f-Block Elements
Potassium permanganate, containing manganese one of the transition elements, has many uses such as mouthwash and propelling rockets, making it is a very diverse compound. The lesson delves into such transition elements and lanthanides,...
National Institute of Open Schooling
Periodic Table and Atomic Properties
An in-depth lesson, the fourth activity in a series of 36, begins with teaching how the periodic table's arrangement came to its current design. Using this knowledge, pupils then move on to analyze the arrangement of elements to their...
National Park Service
Who Grows There?
More than 127 non-native species live in Glacier National Park in Montana and their infestations are growing! Pupils read about and gather samples of exotic plants. Participants create a master book of pressed plants and complete a...
National Park Service
Fitting In
Birds help other birds find food? Scholars are placed into one of five groups of different birds. Each group then "feeds" on letters of paper in a field and gather five pieces per person. As each group plays, more food is exposed,...
National Park Service
The Secret of Life
Dead trees provide nutrients for the soil, food for animals, protection and a home for organisms, a seed-bed for new trees, and a place for nitrogen-fixing bacteria to live. In the activity, pupils collect decaying logs, expose them to 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.
National Park Service
Leave it to Beavers
Many people know cats mark their territories by rubbing the back of their necks to leave a scent, but not many people know beavers also leave a scent to mark their territories. During the first activity of two, scholars use their noses...
National Park Service
Subalpine Web
The theory of keystone species in an ecosystem was first established in 1969 by Robert T. Paine. Pupils open the final lesson in a five-part series with a game guessing which member of the alpine ecosystem they are based on clues. After...
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)
Climate Change Impacts on Blue King Crabs
Carbon dioxide is not only causing global temperatures to increase, it causes the oceans to become more acidic. Lesson focuses on the blue king crab and the fragility of the habitat due to climate change. Scholars create a concept map...