Tag: activity
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Understanding the Evolution of Limbs in Snakes
Where did snakes come from? There’s a popular story about snakes in Ireland and how they were lead away by St. Patrick. From a science perspective, snakes likely never were in Ireland to begin with. Many islands don’t have snakes. Why? Because they haven’t had time to evolve there. The activity is adapted from Understanding…
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Investigation: Villi Height
Use a Netlogo simulation to observe how different heights of villi within the intestine affect absorption rate. Change the height of villi or size of food.
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Modeling Osmosis
This basic lab uses Deco-cubes to show how they change in size when soaked in salt water, distilled water, and tap water.
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Investigation: Earthworm
This earthworm lab is a revised version of the observation lab that I have used for years. I wanted to make the lab more open-ended and include terminology within the lab instead of expecting them to know it from their notes or textbooks. Taxonomy chapters on annelids and other invertebrates are being phased out, and…
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Exploration: An Inquiry Activity on the Dubia Roach
A short activity for day one in the science class. Give students a live animal to observe, like a dubia roach. They write observations, questions, and make inferences to share with the class.
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Laboratory Activity – Explore the Senses
Students rotate between 6 stations where they perform tasks to perform related to the senses, such as two point discrimination and reaction time.
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Fortune Telling Fish
This activity is perfect for a first day or as an introduction to the scientific method. Though there isn’t quite as much cooperation as the “Saving Sam” activity, the fortune telling fish allows students to explore the nature of science together. The handout linked can be given to students, or you can also project them…
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Investigation: Esophagus
This activity was designed for high school anatomy students, though it could easily be used in biology or even elementary school classes. The goal is for students to determine if water moves down the esophagus by gravity or by the action of the muscles, peristalsis. First, students measure the length of the esophagus with ruler…
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StoryLab – Microscope “E”
This Storylab aligns with a basic microscope lab where students learn the parts of the microscope and locate the letter “e’ on a prepared slide.