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Inquiry into Consumer Products
Students recognize different consumer products, found in and around the home, that have reactive or denaturing properties when used together. They explore chemical and physical properties of each product by identifying chemical formulas...
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Fertilizers
Students examine the nutrient makeup in fertilizers. In this plant nutrient instructional activity students see the effects of common fertilizers on plants.
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Fertilizers, Pesticides and Human Health
Young scholars define several vocabulary terms related to chemicals and toxicology. Students calculate chemical concentrations in water and explain the toxicological principles that govern safety of substances. Young scholars conduct an...
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Household Chemicals & the Environment
Students conduct a laboratory experiment designed to investigate the effects of chemicals, soil quality and pollution on seed growth and plant yield. They consider how best to maximize agriculture in the long term.
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Does the increased use of fertilizers effect biodiversity?
Students conduct a hands-on lab activity in which they analyze a sample of water from a local stream or pond. They introduce a fertilizer solution into the sample and analyze and describe their findings.
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Fertilizer Frenzy
Students design and conduct an experiment testing the effect of fertilizers/soaps on algal growth. They estimate and predict, identify the variables, formulate a hypothesis, and record and analyze the data, presenting their findings in a...
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Traditional Soil Remediation in the Garden
Young scholars use testing kits to analyze garden soil. They research the nutritional needs of various crops as well as the nutritional properties of fish. Students participate in fish harvesting for garden fertilizing.
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Identify Plant Nutrient Requirements
Students are given standard elemental nutrients, identify plant nutrient requirements based on criteria outlined in assessment instructment. They, are given standard elemental nutrients, provide all means and chemical symbols of plant...
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Factors Affecting Plant Growth
Students determine the physical and chemical factors that affect plant growth. In this biology lesson, students explain the role of hormones in plants. They investigate how competition with other plants affect their growth.
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Fertilized Death Water
Students investigate the effect of chemicals on Platyhelminthes and planaria development. They observe the growth and development of planaria and investigate what fertilizer can do to living organisms when it is introduced into their...
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Wetland/Estuary Structure and Functions
Students plant wetland plants in aquatic soil and regular soil. They test the effect fertilizers have on each and record the chemicals found in run-off water collected from each soil sample.
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Fertilizer Frenzy
Ninth graders design and conduct an experiment. They evaluate other's experiments. Students describe relationships between biological systems and the environmental contaminants. They work as a team to solve a problem.
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You Are What You Eat: Chemical Residues and Consumers
Learners determine how evidence gained from a simulated test for the presence of pesticide residues can be used to determine risk. They use peas to simulate pesticide residue testing.
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Water Pollution
Fifth graders study the impact of human activity on water quality and on the ecosystems of Earth. After a discussion on the various ways that water can be polluted, groups of youngsters get together to figure out the best way to clean a...
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Sustainable Agriculture
Students perform an experiment to find out if plants grow best when grown in soil with no fertilizer, with chemical fertilizers, or with compost that they have made themselves. Students discover how agriculture practices can benefit the...
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Water Pollution
Here is a fine activity for fifth graders that will give them an idea of the variety of impacts that human-introduced pollutants have on the environment. After an initial class discussion and teacher-led demonstration, pupils brainstorm...
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Your Blooming Pond
Students model a pond system that becomes enriched with nutrients (fertilizer). They manipulate variables, make observations over time, and draw conclusions that may lead to further inquiry. They, in groups, simulate a pond environment.
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Solubility and Chemical Changes in Groundwater
Middle schoolers test pH of water before and after it travels through different substrates (igneous pebbles and limestone) to detemine how soluble materials can affect groundwater. They answer questions such as: What happended to the pH...
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Week 3: Pollution Source and Effects
Lab groups set up an experiment to observe what happens over time in collected pond water when fertilizer, representing pollution, is added. This website does not include student lab sheets, but background information, materials, and...
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Is Our Water Healthy?
Students test water for a least one chemical characteristic. They hypothesize how a storm event might change the chemical characteristics of a stream. Students collect water samples and use the chemical test to test the water.
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How about a Little Give and Take?
Middle schoolers design a closed system to test the relationships between plants and animals. They monitor abiotic fluctuations within this living system by using a chemical test kit. They observe how living organisms respond to...
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Auxin: Indole-3-Acetic Acid
Students identify auxins from their structural formulas. They understand the process of refluxing in chemical synthesis. Students perform thin layer chromatography using silica gel plates to differentiate chemical substances.
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The Effects of Alcohol and other Teratogens: A model using Zebrafish
Young scholars investigate the interference of various drugs on an embryo through experimentation. This is an open-ended lab to allow students to see effects of various chemicals humans choose to put in their bodies and create...
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Ammonium Nitrate - Heat of Solution
Students quantify the relationship between temperature, energy and heat
and define an endothermic reaction. They measure the energy change caused by dissolving one mole of ammonium nitrate in water.