Elemental Science

Meant for Biology classes, this project reviews concepts of Evolution such as phylogenetic trees, degrees of relatedness, and how nature selects for traits. This project has students researching an example of a phylogenetic tree, re-creating it on poster board and creatively making it 3D using salt art. Follow up questions are included along with a simple rubric for evaluation.

This project can be made useful by a variety of grade levels and different purposes! This could be a Earth Day project, Nature Appreciation book, and/or a review of Ecology concepts. This project is meant to have students interact and observe nature and concepts in a way that they can be creative. The page ideas can be modified for your own classroom and purposes. A sample rubric is included.

This project is a great end of year or end of unit project to relate chemical reactions to everyday life. Students could investigate the Maillard reaction, reactions used when driving, and others! Students have the opportunity to share their presentations with the class which strengthens their presentation skills and educates other students of the chemical reactions all around them! This resource provides ideas and directions for students to create their project.

Allow students to explore the reactions that take place with everyday household products. Students take temperature measurements and determine whether the reaction that took place were endothermic or exothermic in a data table. Students then practice making a bar graph showing the temperature change among the reactions.

Make use of a MN website to have students read facts and draw their own illustrations to represent these facts about the mining industry around the country. They will also draw the process of mining a mineral or ore labeling their drawing. This resource provides instruction, a chart for illustration, and directions for labeling the mining process.