Curated OER
Sweet-Talkers
Students investigate what is being sold to them. In this media awareness lesson, students visit selected websites to take a closer look at advertising marketed at them. Students discuss the implications of marketing geared toward children.
Penguin Books
A Teacher's Guide to The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
"What should we have for dinner?" "What am I eating?" "Where did it come from?" These three questions are at the heart of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Pollan's book provides some very...
Curated OER
DNA Fingerprinting with Restriction Enzymes
Students will illustrate how restriction enzymes work by piecing together parts of a puzzle. Then they apply this knowledge to help them analyze genetic evidence from the scene of a crime as well as to help them comprehend how a DNA...
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The Magnetic Sun
Learners follow steps to build a simple version of a magnetometer, an instrument capable of detecting areas of strong magnetic field. Students use the magnetometer to investigate models of the Sun and examine images of the Sun.
Curated OER
Is There Seaweed/Algae in Your Food?
Young scholars discover that seaweed/algae is a small part of the resources the oceans provide. By investigating common household products, students discover that human senses are not enough to detect the presence of seaweed/algae in food.
Curated OER
Compare Your Air
Middle schoolers will compare the data for different locations that they select and investigate trends over the course of a number of years. This will give the students an opportunity to apply statistical measures (mean, median,mode) to...
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Mysterious Music
Eighth graders investigate how to compose music for a detective program. The goal is for them to discover the method needed. The idea was simple, they were told to compose the music with emotional tension that climaxed and then relaxed...
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Number and Algebra: Again and Again
Students use a given spreadsheet to investigate an iterative process by changing the variables. They design their own spreadsheet to investigate the iterative process.
Curated OER
Evaluating Informaton Quality
Sixth graders investigate the concept of the quality of information that is used to conduct research. They begin to conceive the differences between information that is fact or fiction. Students write a critique of an information source...
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and and Ocean Views of Earth by Remote Sensing
Students explain how satellites help scientists to see more than with the unaided eye and how Landsat technology works. Students identify vegetation and fire sites in the rainforest and detect erosion along rivers. They are able to use...
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Searching the Attic
Students investigate an attic or basement to "discover" family artifacts. They develop a grid map using string, create a naming system for the grid, and analyze items of interest.
Curated OER
Classroom Triangles
Students use bearing measurements to triangulate and determine objects' locations. Working in teams of two or three, students must put on their investigative hats as they take bearing measurements to specified landmarks in their...
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Using Yeast as an Ultraviolet Light Measurement Tool
Students accurately measure the relationship between radiation dose and either survival or some genetic event such as mutation or recombination. They investigate the damage that was done to the DNA molecule as a result of exposure to...
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Biology: Howler Monkeys Tell All
Students examine a PBS special about howler monkeys as an introduction to scientific forensic investigative methods. In groups, they conduct a host of experiments containing clues which point to discovery. By challenging assumptions,...
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Elodea Lab
Pupils observe the changes between elodea leaves placed in darkness and light. In this life science lesson, students experiment to find evidence of photosynthesis in elodea leaves. Pupils use indicators to detect the presences of...
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The Case of the Mysterious Red Light
Students investigate why some sunrises and sunsets are unusually bright red.
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The Inside Story
Young scholars think about and investigate some of the social problems facing their communities: what causes them; how extensive they are; and what can be done to solve them.
Curated OER
Mission Planning: Geography
Students investigate the use of latitude and longitude to locate specific locations on Earth and evaluate that location as a potential landing site for researchers, terrestrial or alien space missions.
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Oceans of Trouble
Students investigate the illegal and legal nuclear waste dumping activities by various nations, including the United States. The effects of nuclear waste dumping in oceans and in coastal areas that share ecosystems with ocean life is...
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Is It Living?
Students investigate the definition of life and alive in the context of a unit that is involved with building their own planet. They participate in a class discussion about defining life, and in small groups analyze artifacts to...
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Environmental Justice
High schoolers investigate the problem of pollution and its effects on the environment. The use of questions for research stimulate thinking and advanced problem solving skills. The important skill of reflection is used to help students...
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Mission Meals
Students engage in a investigation of the types of meals that astronauts eat in space while examining the types of nutritional elements needed for optimum physical tasks in space. They are given different foods and then document the...
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Polythene: Bags Of Trouble
Students investigate the use of polythene bags in the community and measure the possible impact upon the environment. They conduct research using a variety of resources. The information is used in order to create an evaluative opintion...
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Gamma Ray Bursts
Young scholars study an article on Gamma Rays. In this investigative lesson students study the energy and wavelengths of gamma rays and the theories behind them.