Next Gen Sci Guy

Brief: In this activity, students practice writing step-wise instructions for constructing a small object (legos, K’nex, household materials…it doesn’t matter). Then, students switch with one another, and try to construct the intended object using their classmates’ instructions. Finally, they self-assess their success. It is a fun and creative way to teach following directions, descriptive writing, and procedure writing for science experiments. A. NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS HEREIN DCI’s

This activity proceeds as follows: 1. Students brainstorm about why it is important to estimate the population of organisms 2. Students learn how to estimate population using the “sampling” technique 3. Students learn how to estimate population using the “mark and recapture” technique 4. Students design a study to estimate a real population, and carry out their study. 5. Extension Activity: Students read an article about the overfishing of Bluefin tuna, which is down to 4% of the population that

Summary: Students will experiment to create three different mixtures (one of which is cornstarch an water), and test the mixtures for their efficacy as a bio-armor. Then, they will play the role of a material-science engineer to design a vest or suit of armor, based upon the results of their lab. DETAILS BELOW: I'm new to TPT, and would love feedback if you have a minute. I'm adding new content on a weekly basis, so click follow me under my store name to be the first to know. Like this lab? C

This activity proceeds as follows: 1. First, learn about the theory of Tragedy of the Commons, using a short video link 2. Then students describe a real-world example using a website (provided) as a resource 3. Then students walk around the school (in pairs), or as an entire class (teacher lead), and must identify examples of Tragedy of the Commons around the school 4. Students generate possible solutions to the problem areas that they located 5. In conclusion, students choose two real-wor

In brief, this lab requires students to calculate the number of airborne bacteria in the classroom. They are given a conversion factor (50,000 bacterial cells per cubic meter), and must brainstorm what they need to know and the materials they will need. They then design a protocol to calculate the number (by accurately measuring the dimensions of the room, and applying a volume formula, LxWxH). To conclude, they average class data, and answer analysis questions. There is a link to an article

Brief: In this Next Generation Science Standards Aligned lab, students write rules for a game that simulates how a food chain works. They play two games: In Game 1, they play their first iteration of rules, taking 12 rounds of population data, and graphing the data. In Game 2, students play revised rules; tweaking their original set of rules to make the game a better model for a real ecosystem. They, again, graph their data, and analyze the results by answering conclusion questions. This ac