Bill Young

Students are provided rubber poppers (http://www.orientaltrading.com/large-marbleized-poppers-a2-16_454-12-1.fltr?Ntt=popper) that are various sizes and colors. Students design an experiment to test an independent variable of their choice (color of popper, size of popper, surface used to launch, etc.) so they can record the data for their dependent variable (height, distance, volume of 'pop', etc.). I normally use this as my culminating activity once students have had previous experience wit

Students come in and all place their right shoes into a large pile. They then use the provided template to create a dichotomous key that separates the shoes into smaller and smaller piles based on their charateristics until all students have their shoes back. The next day, repeat using the already created dichotomous key and discuss why it didn't work the next day (students wearing different shoes have introduced "new" organisms into the environment).

Students use America's favorite cookie to determine if double stuff really do have "double" the stuff. Materials needed include scales (triple beam or digital), plastic knives, napkins and cookies. This would be a good assessment for students to ensure that they understand experimental design. It would also make a good review for a final exam at the end of the year, or in preparing for standardized testing.

Students bring in different types of sugar bubble gum (Hubba Bubba, Bubblicious, Double Bubble, etc.). Gum is weight (with wrapper), then chewed, then weighed again (with wrapper). This generates individual data which is used to create a data table and graph that are used to support the experimental conclusion outlining which type of gum has the most sugar.' The lab is formatted to be a book-fold insert into my students interactive science notebooks.

Students create 4 different slides; 2 using staining materials (iodine and bromothymol blue) and 2 using just plain water. Students compare and contrast the slides to determine the effectiveness of using stains on microscope slides. I created this to incorporate experimental design into my cell unit. Lab sheet is formatted to be a book-fold that can be inserted into student science notebooks.