A year long field study of a deciduous tree and its interdependence through phenology.
What do Prairie Chickens Need in Order to Survive Today's Prairie?
This middle school unit covering ecosystems, animal behavior and symbiosis was developed through the Storyline approach. Middle school students will be figuring out why prairie chickens have a very unique dance and understand the role cows play to help ensure the dance takes place. Using this approach, students engage in science concepts to help ensure the survival of the prairie chicken.
In this lesson students will learn about Minnesota's natural resources, particularly iron ore.
In this video segment adapted from Hope in a Changing Climate, learn how an environmentally devastated ecosystem has been restored, benefiting both the local economy and global efforts to fight climate change.
In this video segment adapted from Hope in a Changing Climate, learn how an environmentally devastated ecosystem has been restored, benefiting both the local economy and global efforts to fight climate change.
In this activity, students pose several hypotheses for what will happen if you continue heating or supplying energy to the hot and cold planet models (Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Earth) and then test their hypotheses using a spreadsheet based radiation balance model. The activity supports investigation of a real world challenge, experimenting with life support conditions for Mars at an Arctic outpost. The interactive model runs are conducted using a Java applet. This resource includes student worksheets, assessment questions and a teacher's guide. This is Activity B in module 2, Modeling hot and cold planets, of the resource, Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate? The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales.
Using oxygen movement through urchins to bridge human and ecological homeostasis units. Let's students become creative and use their artistic expression to show their knowledge.
This inquiry lab is useful for monitoring water pollution in a freshwater system using direct and/or indirect methods.
This is an inquiry-based video with questions to get students to think about cloud formation and convection winds. This particular phenomenon is morning glory cloud formation. Students are prompted to think about weather patterns, how clouds form, how land and water effect cloud formation. Use to begin a lesson on clouds.
In this video segment adapted from Haskell Indian Nations University, student filmmakers explain why it is important to them to make a video about climate change.
Students are introduced to our planet's structure and its dynamic system of natural forces through an examination of the natural hazards of earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, tsunamis, floods and tornados, as well as avalanches, fires, hurricanes and thunderstorms. They see how these natural events become disasters when they impact people, and how engineers help to make people safe from them. Students begin by learning about the structure of the Earth; they create clay models showing the Earth's layers, see a continental drift demo, calculate drift over time, and make fault models. They learn how earthquakes happen; they investigate the integrity of structural designs using model seismographs. Using toothpicks and mini-marshmallows, they create and test structures in a simulated earthquake on a tray of Jell-O. Students learn about the causes, composition and types of volcanoes, and watch and measure a class mock eruption demo, observing the phases that change a mountain's shape. Students learn that the different types of landslides are all are the result of gravity, friction and the materials involved. Using a small-scale model of a debris chute, they explore how landslides start in response to variables in material, slope and water content. Students learn about tsunamis, discovering what causes them and makes them so dangerous. Using a table-top-sized tsunami generator, they test how model structures of different material types fare in devastating waves. Students learn about the causes of floods, their benefits and potential for disaster. Using riverbed models made of clay in baking pans, students simulate the impact of different river volumes, floodplain terrain and levee designs in experimental trials. They learn about the basic characteristics, damage and occurrence of tornadoes, examining them closely by creating water vortices in soda bottles. They complete mock engineering analyses of tornado damage, analyze and graph US tornado damage data, and draw and present structure designs intended to withstand high winds.
Interactive Risk Map that shows the amount of risk associated with different Natural Hazards for each area of the United States. These natural hazards include: Fires, Floods, Earthquakes, Thunderstorms / Tornadoes, Droughts, Hurricanes, Winter Weather events, Extreme heat.
Students will follow the scientific method for self discovery of the nature of the land around the school to then determine as a class what plants and grasses would flourish in the area.
In this video segment adapted from Navajo Technical College, meet two members of the Navajo Nation, one Elder and one scientist, as they share their observations about how precipitation has changed since they were children.
This activity illustrates the interrelationship between science and engineering in the context of extinction prevention. There are two parts to the activity. The first part challenges students to think like scientists as they generate reports on endangered species and give presentations worthy of a news channel or radio broadcast. The second part puts students in the shoes of engineers, designing ways to help the endangered species.
In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, MIT engineer Dava Newman is working to replace today's bulky, inflated space suits with a radical, sleek design that may one day allow astronauts to walk easily on Mars.
Nitrogen, one of the most abundant elements in the universe, is essential to life. This interactive activity adapted from the University of Alberta provides an overview of the nitrogen cycle.
Learn how snowfall happening later in the year than usual is impacting cultural practices in this video segment about climate change adapted from the College of Menominee Nation.
In this video segment adapted from the College of Menominee Nation, tribal members observe lower water levels in lakes and streams and call for global, collaborative solutions to address climate change.
This site is a collaborative effort between the herbaria of the UW-Madison (WIS) and the UW-Steven's Point (UWSP), along with most of the other herbaria located in the state of Wisconsin. It contains information on each of the more than 2600 vascular plant species that occurs in Wisconsin, including photos, distribution maps, specimen records, and more.