How can you tell what an owl has eaten? Study the food chain and flow of energy in an ecosystem by dissecting an owl pellet and noting the bones found inside. Additionally, the lesson includes a game about consumers and producers with a...

Pupils make observations while eating food. They act out the process of food breaking down in the body and the roles of various chemical components, such as sugar and protein. It concludes with an activity illustrating the process and a...

When you have a cold drink and you notice the water forming on the outside, it is literally pulling the water from the surrounding air to form the condensation. After watching a demonstration of condensation forming on a glass,...

Can you disprove the law of conservation of mass? Pupils observe the teacher weigh each part of a reaction. Then, the teacher weighs the result of the reaction and everyone sees that the products do not equal the reactants. Then they...

This exam covers every topic in a typical first-year biology course. A wide variety of question styles gives high schoolers every opportunity to show what they know. Why start from scratch when a comprehensive final exam is easily...

It's time for a field trip! Scholars take their new-found knowledge of adaptations and seed dispersal on a field trip to a local botanical garden. They gain an up-close look at how ecological interdependence works in a distinct...

When you take a simple task and create an exceptionally difficult way to complete it, it is known as a Rube Goldberg machine. These machines are filled with many types of energy transfers and energy transformations. Here, pupils...

In the study of wind energy, scholars build a small windmill and observe how it transfers wind into mechanical energy. Learners will make connections to the previous instructional activity with concepts such as the...

Budding scientists work collaboratively to reenact energy flow in a food chain. Scholars take on roles such as producer and consumer and perform tasks that symbolize energy flow in order to provide evidence of how much energy passes...

The Sierra Mountains in Nevada and the Tetons in Wyoming originally formed as fault block mountains. In order to visualize these fault blocks, pupils use construction paper to create layers of earth. They cut the paper models and form...

The world's largest measured earthquake happened in 1960 in Chile, reaching a terrifying 9.5 magnitude on the Richter Scale. The second lesson in the 20-part series introduces earthquakes and fault lines. Scholars map where previous...

Does increasing the pressure between two moving plates provide a stabilizing force or create more destruction? The hands-on lesson encourages exploration of strike-split fault models. The sixth lesson in a 20-part series asks...

The Mammoth Lakes area regularly releases warnings to hikers and skiers to be careful because melting snow releases trapped gases from volcanic vents. The 17th lesson in the 20-part series opens with a demonstration of carbon...

Everything has potential energy; learning to use it is the key to understanding all types of energy. Scholars learn the difference between kinetic and potential energy. They then apply the concept to drawing examples of both types...

Historians believe the first vertical water wheel was invented in Rome during the Augustan Age. The sixth lesson in the series of 10 has scholars experiment with designing their own water wheels. Through testing various pastas and...

Instill the concept of adaptation with the help of Blubber Gloves—ziplock bags, shortening, and duct tape. Scholars discuss how animals and plants keep warm in polar regions, record their predictions, and try on their Blubber Gloves to...

Young scientists discover how sea otters' habitats have changed due to human impact. Through conversation, video observation, and story reading, scholars identify how human interactions change a specific ecosystem in both positive and...

Viewers are a PowerPoint are exposed to the idea that pollutants are in more than just the air we breathe. the presentation provides information about the layers of the earth's atmosphere and takes a look at the pollutants in the...

Students investigate the effects of pollution on marine ecosystems. They read and discuss an article, identify the effects of pollution on marine life, conduct research on local nutrient pollution, and conduct local water quality studies.

Three major types of volcanoes exist: cinder cone, composite/strata, and shield. The 18th lesson in a 20-part series covers the various landforms created from volcanoes. Scholars work in pairs to correctly identify the three...

Middle schoolers examine the legitimacy of advertisers' claims about products using science and critical thinking. They view and discuss ads, read a case study, and conduct an experiment to demonstrate whether a product lives up to its...

The sun will continue to rise in the east and set in the west, no matter what. The first instructional activity in a series of eight introduces the class to solar angles. It makes connections between a person's latitude and the angle of...

The San Andreas Fault moves about two inches a year, approximately the same rate fingernails grow—crazy! The third activity in the series allows for hands-on exploration of various fault formations. Through the use of a Popsicle stick,...

By the 19th lesson in the 20-part series, scholars realize volcanoes and earthquakes are related to plate boundaries. The lesson extends and applies the knowledge by having individuals create a bumper sticker for one specific area of...