As you have read in the previous After the Bell column, water harvesting is a process of diverting and collecting rainwater. One of the main reasons to harvest rainwater is to reduce the demand on local sources of water. The objective of the harvesting procedure is to gather water from a weather event that is usually lost as runoff and either use it immediately or store it for future consumption. In this second half of the article, students will collect their ideas for harvesting water through a brainstorming activity, practice designing a solution to a problem, and calculate the amount of potentially available water to harvest.
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Nanoscience, or the study of the world at the size of a billionth of a meter, has the potential to help students see how all of the sciences are related. Behavior of materials at the nanoscale differs from materials at the macroscale. This article introduces three nanoscale properties and how they relate to various science domains. Three activities following an adapted learning cycle model are suggested for student exploration of three properties of the nanoscale: bumpy, sticky, and shaky.
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It is no secret that students learn best when the topic they are studying interests them or relates in some way to their lives outside of school. With a little work and planning, science teachers should be able to make science content relevant to just about everything in their students’ lives and environment. This month’s column provides some practical suggestions for adding relevancy to your teaching.
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In this problem-based learning activity (PBL), students embark on a science trek to answer the question “Where is the science in my neighborhood?” The project serves as an excellent review of science curriculum in anticipation of Virginia’s year-end standardized test—the Standards of Learning (SOL). This has proved to be an interesting way to integrate the principles they have studied, as well as some yet to be studied, and to correlate to the standards of learning.
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The Technology-Enhanced Learning in Science (TELS) center, a National Science Foundation-funded Center for Learning and Teaching, offers research-tested science modules for students in grades 6—12 (Linn et al. 2006). These free, online modules engage students in scientific inquiry through collaborative activities that include online investigations, interactive visualizations, and electronic discussions that allow teachers to access detailed accounts of student learning (Williams and Lynn 2003). This paper reports on how the Mitosis and Cell process module worked in a seventh-grade classroom in an urban school.
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Each of these outstanding selections defies the traditional image of a child “curling up with a good book.” Yes, they can be a source of great personal reading, encouraging students of all ages to stretch their skills and their imagination as they interact with the printed page. But these journeys of the scientific imagination seldom end with the final chapter. They have the capacity to draw the reader out from that cozy seat and into the natural world—to observe, investigate, and continue the process of discovery that has characterized scientists from Aristotle to Hawking. The adventures begin here.
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Exploring our patent system is a great way to engage students in creative problem solving. As a result, the authors designed a teaching unit that uses the study of patents to explore one avenue in which scientists and engineers do science. Specifically, through the development of an idea, students learn how science and technology are connected. The activities described here promote scientific literacy by helping students appreciate science as a human endeavor and making connections between science, technology, and society.
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Science, like most subjects, can only come alive when students are actively engaged in real-life pursuits that interest and challenge them (VanTassel-Baska and Bass 1998). Here the author describes how she was able to bring science to life for her middle school students through a series of Science Safaris—inquiry-based excursions to a variety of locations for the purpose of generating interest in science. The excursions were not closely tied to the content of curriculum in the classroom, but existed for the purpose of generating enthusiasm for and engagement in science as a domain.
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This article describes a modular middle school curriculum that integrates science, math, social studies, and language arts. An adventure story creates the context for student learning of the academic content, which is made relevant to students by including environmental health themes. Most children can relate curriculum concepts to environmental health problems because they have such a problem or know of someone who does. Common conditions include allergies and asthma; poisoning from food, water, or air; exposure to chemical hazards and carcinogens; nutritional disorders; and assorted infectious diseases (NIEHS).
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Real-life science experiences can excite students. Both the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Research Council (NRC) stress the importance of hands-on activities that foster inquiry-skill development. One such strategy is to get students out in the field where they get to actively conduct investigations as scientists do. “Beaver Pond” is an activity that allows students to experience the work of various scientists in the field.
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As middle school students and teachers become involved in citizen-scientist activities, their awareness of important environmental issues will be enhanced. Here the author shares her involvement in a partnership with the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont’s All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) to turn her students into citizen scientists. The ATBI is an ongoing program to document, catalog, and count species of animals, plants, and fungi in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
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National rainfall maps show large areas of the United States experiencing major droughts. Government agencies are intervening with water awareness programs, and in extreme cases, rationing. Because students are both water consumers and tomorrow’s civic leaders, they must be made aware of this issue and motivated to become involved in creating solutions. Focusing on units of measurement and conversions, this lesson asks students to calculate whether more water is used in a bath or shower in their home.
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Wi-Fi, or wireless fidelity, is a type of wireless local area network (WLAN). Two or more computers form the network using radio frequency (RF) signals. The safety of these networks, however, has come under scrutiny in recent years. Some parents have become so concerned about the health risks associated with Wi-Fi networks that they have pressured school districts to remove them. In many instances, the concern is that children’s bodies are developing quickly and may be much more sensitive to these energy sources. With all this in mind, should middle school science teachers be concerned about using Wi-Fi in the science lab? This month’s column addresses this issue.
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In earlier columns, the celestial coordinate system of hour circles of right ascension and degrees of declination was introduced along with the use of an equatorial star chart (see SFA Star Charts in Resources). This system shows the planets’ motion relative to the ecliptic, the apparent path the Sun follows during the year. An alternate system, using heliocentric longitude, places the viewer in an above-the-solar-system viewpoint, tracking the planets in their near-circular orbits around the Sun.
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Tired of building a paper mâché volcano to teach about plate tectonics? Do you want to connect science and writing? Then the volcano résumé project is perfect for you. This one-week, problem-based learning (PBL) project requires students to research a specific volcano and then create a résumé for it that describes its location, physical characteristics, eruption history, and additional information of interest. Students are also required to include references for the information included on their résumés.
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