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Investigation of Bacterial Transport in Groundwater
Book Chapter |
Students, in this lesson, explore the transport of bacteria in groundwater by performing a column experiment in a simulated groundwater environment. Students also investigate a groundwater scenario to learn about the…
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Nano2Earth Curriculum Overview
Book Chapter |
The Nano2Earth curriculum is designed to promote student inquiry and learner centered investigations of microbe-mineral interactions at the nanoscale. This chapter shows how the curriculum is organized into lessons and…
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Nanoforces in Nature: Using Atomic Force Microscopy to Explore Microbe-Mineral Interactions
Book Chapter |
This lesson uses computer simulations of an atomic force microscope to investigate bacteria-mineral forces of interaction on the order of nanonewtons over nanoscale distances of interaction. In this lesson, students…
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Introduction to Nanotechnology
Book Chapter |
Imagining differences in scale can be very easy (a softball is bigger than a baseball) or very difficult (how can we imagine the size of a galaxy?). It is perhaps most challenging to build conceptual frameworks for…
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Documentation and Research Paper Setup
Book Chapter |
After organizing the raw data from your experiment and performing statistical analysis, you are ready to move to the next part of your research project—sharing the results of your experiment. You do this by writing a…
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Presenting the STEM Research Project
Book Chapter |
An important part of conducting research for all STEM professionals is to communicate their study results. This is generally accomplished in two different ways. The first is to write a scientific paper, in order to have…
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Book Chapter |
In this chapter, you will learn how experiments are structured. This structure or experimental setup is called the research design. The research design of an experiment determines both whether the experiment is likely…
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Book Chapter |
After you have begun background research on your topic and have a preliminary hypothesis, you will write your proposal. A proposal is a document that describes the proposed experimental design of your research project.…
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Book Chapter |
Once you have collected data from your experiment, you will need to calculate various descriptive statistics explained in this chapter. This chapter contains guidelines on how to graphically represent data and provide…
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Book Chapter |
Graphical representations are visual ways to represent raw data, descriptive statistics, or inferential statistics in order to highlight important findings from a research study. You can use the graphical…
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Inferential Statistics and Data Interpretation
Book Chapter |
This chapter is organized into two parts. In the first part, the author briefly introduces inferential statistical tests that are commonly used in STEM research. The description of these tests is meant only to provide…
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Edible Plate Tectonics: Plates Move and Interact
Book Chapter |
Plate tectonics is geology’s central theory and one of the most important in science. It provides explanations for many of Earth’s major geological processes and physical features. This Activity uses an unusual physical…
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Convection: Transfer of Heat From Earth’s Interior
Book Chapter |
In this activity, students conduct experimental trials involving a drop of food coloring moved by convection in a pan of water to observe convection cells. Students record their observations on this model and relate…
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A Voyage Through Time: Pangaea Breakup and Continent/Plate Movement
Book Chapter |
In this activity, students will follow the movement of continents over the past 200 million years, beginning with the breakup of Pangaea. Students analyze the consequences of plate tectonics on continents by modeling…
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Magma and Volcanoes: Model of a Volcano
Book Chapter |
Students, in this activity, model a volcanic eruption by melting crayons inside a plaster of paris model. They use a hot water bath to melt the wax, which rises through a tube they made with string in the plaster of…