Educator Guide: Cutting Onions and Conserving the Okefenokee

About this guide

Check out these lesson plans paired to the June/July issue of Science News Explores and use the phenomena of dicing onions to have students discuss how liquids respond to pressure changes and introduce students to the ecological and cultural importance of the Okefenokee Swamp before asking them to create an educational conservation campaign about a vulnerable ecosystem.

This Guide Includes:

Don’t cry over an onion

Don’t cry, just dice that onion with a sharper knife. Scientists experimented to learn what makes the cut: slow slices and sharp blades. Discuss how liquids respond to pressure changes while answering questions about how a better understanding of this minor kitchen problem could translate into major changes in other fields of science.

The Okefenokee’s outlook

Students will define various types of wetlands and identify their unique characteristics before learning about the Okefenokee Swamp’s function as a carbon sink and its ecological and cultural importance. After learning about the Okefenokee, students will create an educational conservation campaign about the Okefenokee or another vulnerable ecosystem.