Filter It Down

Drinking clean water can be taken for granted. Explore the process and high cost of filtering water with a water pollution and filtration activity. Young scientist build a filtration system to filter polluted water, examine the economics...

Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink—until we clean it, of course! Scholars design a filtration device that removes pollutants from water. The goal is to have the water come out as clean as possible from the device. How...

As an example of nature's water filtering system, young ecologists conduct an experiment in the lab. They construct a funnel out of a plastic bottle, fill it with specified layers of materials that simulate layers of soil, then run muddy...

In this environmental science lesson, students write a short story about what it's like to help at an oyster garden. They formulate 2 hypotheses on the disappearance of oysters in Chesapeake Bay.

Examine the impact the fishing industry has on local ecosystems. The hands-on lesson begins with an experiment that tests the effectiveness of fish-based fertilizers. It continues with a computer-based module that simulates sustainable...

Someone stole a diamond-making machine. Who done it? Scholars use forensic science at six different stations to determine the culprit. They analyze fingerprints, use their senses, and complete chemistry experiments to determine the...

How are living organisms grouped? In this eight-minute video clip, the system of grouping them according to similarities and relationships is broken down in a simple and straightforward manner. Sal explains the definition of species and...

Sal continues this short series on specific heat and vaporization. The situation he poses uses 500 grams of liquid water at 60 degrees Celsius, with the goal of getting the water to 0 degrees Celsius. The ice he adds to the water comes...

Help your class understand the design challenges when trying to land a remote spacecraft on a planet. Class members examine the provided information to understand how each component of a spacecraft is designed in order to safely land a...

Students explore water treatment systems. In this water conservation ecology lesson, students identify and explain several processes used for water treatment and define related vocabulary after listening to content information given...