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Pair these lesson plans with articles from the October issue of Science News Explores to have students learn how researchers in Hawaii are recycling plastic trash to pave roads and give students multiple examples of oxidation and reduction, including in photosynthesis and cellular respiration.

Students will compare physical and chemical changes and learn about oxidation and why gold does not readily oxidize. Then, students will explore how oxidation is instrumental to two of the most important biological processes, photosynthesis and respiration.

Researchers and engineers in Hawaii are putting plastic waste to practical use — in pavement. Discuss the unique concerns plastic poses to our environment while answering questions about how experimental-design choices in the lab can lead to large-scale environmental processes and a more sustainable future.

Commercial microbiome tests may give inconsistent results. Seven microbiome testing companies got three identical fecal samples but returned different results about which gut microbes were present. Such discrepancies matter because people may change their diets, take probiotics they don’t need or even get fecal transplants based on inaccurate microbiome test results.

Research suggests that stronger connections at school can help limit some of the harm from bullying, including mental health impacts. Building connectedness at school could help the millions of kids who have been bullied worldwide.

Use news articles from the September issue of Science News to have students compare and contrast non-living SpudCells with living animal cells and learn how scientists discovered the density of distant exoplanets.sc

In this lesson, students will learn about the SpudCell, a scientific model that is a step toward creating synthetic life. Students will compare and contrast non-living SpudCells with living animal cells. Then, they will explore what it means to be alive and the importance of scientific models in research.

Jupiter-sized planets with the density of cotton candy orbit distant stars. Learn how researchers use light-related data from their stars to reveal the size and mass of orbiting exoplanets. Answer questions about density and discuss how our limited data unlock secrets of worlds beyond Earth.

Clouds take all sorts of shapes, from wispy to puffy to towering. Meteorologists, or weather forecasters, spend a lot of time predicting clouds and studying how they form because clouds are behind all storm systems — from tornadoes and hurricanes to rain and snowstorms.

Like a toy on a string, the timing of cat domestication has been a moving target. Now researchers have pounced on a new timeline suggesting that tame descendants of African wildcats left the continent more recently than realized.

Powerful forms of artificial intelligence are now playing roles in research labs around the world. While they change how humans make discoveries, the AI tools aren’t fully autonomous yet. Some scientists are skeptical, while others are working to make the idea a reality. This could change how science is done..

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 […]