Activity
Hands-on experiments, debates, data dives, and diagramming and design exercises put students at the center of their learning.
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Your nose is running
Students will practice making predictions and drawing conclusions. The activity will help students understand how infections spread, especially among organisms living in close proximity.
- Chemistry
Atoms, ions and isotopes, oh why?
Students will use a PhET Interactive Simulation to understand the definitions, similarities and differences of elements, ions and isotopes. Then students will explore the Science News journalism archive to find current science research examples that apply these concepts.
- Science & Society
News you can trust?
Students will develop their critical thinking skills by evaluating and rating the trustworthiness of an article and will practice presentation skills by sharing the information with the class.
- Chemistry
Chirpy jerky
Students will test insects' nutrient compositions and compare that data with similar data from conventional snack foods.
- Math
Dusty data dive
Students will practice analyzing and graphing data using two data tables from a primary research study about space dust.
- Science & Society
The great gene-editing debate
Students will research and debate a contentious issue, arguing an assigned viewpoint based on scientific evidence. This debate is focused on gene editing for the creation of human babies, but can be easily adapted for other topics.
- Life
Getting source savvy
Students will explore similarities and differences in how scientific research is reported in a journalistic article versus a primary research paper.
- Ecosystems
Web of changes
Students will think through and diagram an Arctic and local food web and will explore how ecosystem disruptions can impact the food webs.
- Chemistry
The Periodic Table: A nuclear view
Students will learn how interactions among the protons and neutrons in the atomic nucleus affect the properties and stability of chemical elements, and how these properties could inform the creation of future elements.
- Physics
Tracing tracks and guessing gaits
Students will use what they know about physics and human range of motion to analyze classmates’ trackways and infer how their classmates made the tracks.
- Earth
Volcanoes, erupting now?
Students will review volcano monitoring data and learn how to use it to predict possible volcano behavior.
- Chemistry
Now trending, the Periodic Table
After watching videos about the periodic table, students will identify general patterns in the table.
