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This activity is a hands-on simulation using Skittles and mini-marshmallows to show how natural selection can act as a mechanism to increase the presence of antibacterial resistance in a population. Students simulate the effect of hand sanitizer on a population of bacteria, collect, record, graph and analyze their data. The bacteria that are affected by the selective pressure decrease and the popu ...

This web simulation allows students to explore adaptive radiation of a fictitious group of birds called Pollenpeepers over a period of 5 million years. A hurricane blows some birds to 3 very different island groups and students identify the changes that take place over time and their causes including different climates, food, competition and predators. Each of the three island groups are compared ...

This lesson is the second in a unit on electricity. It begins with a whole class discussion of a flashlight and how it works. Students are then challenged to light a bulb using a battery and a wire. They use science notebooks to record their progress. Students share their findings and to begin to construct an explanation of how a circuit works. They learn that an electric current requires a comple ...

The resource (beginning on page 15) gives excellent background information that derives the equation for the conservation of energy of a falling object. Using that background as a guide, the resource then has the students perform an experiment with a PASCO cart on a track that is pulled by a falling mass. The experiment asks the students to determine the kinetic energy of the cart and compare it t ...

This resource provides background information about semiconductors and photovoltaic cells. Then it has three parts to the lab activity: (1) solar cell(s) and small electric fan, (2) Lifting small masses with an electric motor, and (3) Powering a light bulb. The first activity, solar cell(s) and small electric fan, simply requires the students to create an electric circuit of their design that inco ...

In this lab activity from the book Argument-Driven Inquiry in Biology, students use an online simulation (www.fastplants.org/legacy/genetics/Introductions/two-trait.htm) to cross Wisconsin Fast Plants with different traits and identify inheritance patterns, enabling them to analyze data collected over several generations. The simulation offers the opportunity for students to visualize these data, ...

This is a lab activity involving transformations between the gravitational potential energy, elastic potential energy, and kinetic energy of a system. An air track with a glider and a photo gate timer are needed to perform the lab. The lab is divided into three separate but related parts. The first part involves using a spring to launch the glider horizontally, measuring the velocity of the glider ...

This resource presents the students with three small activities which are all disguised as challenges. The first activity, "Deactivating the Bomb," requires the students to determine how much hot water to add to a beaker of cool water so that the final temperature rises to 37 degrees Celsius. For every degree that the students miss the final temperature by, they lose a point. The second activity, ...

This is one of 30 lessons from the NSTA Press book Scientific Argumentation in Biology. The lesson engages students in an argumentation cycle in which they evaluate three alternative claims regarding whether and how plants use oxygen to obtain energy. The lesson engages students by discussing how animals use sugar to obtain energy and then opens the comparison between animals and plants. Students ...

This resource includes three parts: a video clip from the TV show, Zoom, to introduce the activity, an essay with background information about energy, and a set of printable instructions. Students use a spool, a toothpick, a washer, a rubber band, and a pencil to build a racer. They conduct tests with the racer by varying the number of twists in the rubber band or changing other design features. T ...