Students participate in a probability-based exercise. They consider the implications of testing positive for a cancer when the test is less than 100% accurate and analyze their results.

Students examine the relationships between plants, animals, and the environment in ecosystems. They sort animal cards, collect natural materials from the schoolyard, and record an ecosystem web in the form of a poster.

Although the instructions include reading from a specific textbook, the tasks are appropriate for any unit dealing with how genotype frequency changes over time. Junior biologists define five vocabulary terms and then answer five...

Students review data about a health problem and prepare an investigative report. Teams trade reports and utilize skills developed from previous lessons to evaluate the critical thinking evident in the reports.

Students explore questions in a scientific context. They consider what makes questions testable. After reading short scenarios, students come up with their own testable questions about the reading.

Students use field research and traditional research to identify migrating species of birds as well as their migratory patterns. Students generate a list of questions regarding migration and a plan to research the questions. A field...

Students determine how evidence gained from a simulated test for the presence of pesticide residues can be used to determine risk. They use peas to simulate pesticide residue testing.

Students use NASA satellite data to see cloud cover over Africa.  In this seasons instructional activity students access data and import it into Excel. 

Students examine the genetic relationships of different organisms. In groups, they discover the importance of genes and how different amino acids show various evolutionary relationships. They use an online database to continue their...

Learners analyze graphs and make conclusions about climate change.  In this climates lesson students produce graphs and identify relationships between parameters.

Young scholars compare and constrast a wide variety of minerals and rocks. They test them for streak, luster, color and other characteristics. They view an exhibit and compare their answers to them.

Sixth graders pick a native animal and write a classified housing ad to match the animal's habitat requirements, paste it on posterboard and then try to match each habitat with the animal it represents.

Students practice writing research proposals to test the color fastness of a dye once it has been exposed to a t-shirt. Each proposal needs details of experimental design, length of treatment, and means of cleaning the shirt. All...

Learners produce a research project on an animal. Using the Internet, they find pictures and information about animals. They are also given a list of items that should be covered in their report, including the appearance of the animals,...

This six-week unit encompasses all subjects with a focus study on world history and the development of ancient civilizations. As gifted and talented students dive into the interesting yet challenging topic of Egypt, they...

Students create a classification tree based on grouping candy with eight different properties. This allows students to understand how living things are classified.

Ninth graders describe how equilibrium can occur as the balance of two effects. They model the stability of elliptical galaxies based on how fast stars within the galaxy are moving.

Students make observations about Mystery Boxes that their teacher has made up and describes the motion of the object inside the box and hypothesizes it's shape based on their observations.

Students have the opportunity to use model-building as a way to help comprehend the forces and phenomena at work in the world around them. They describe gravity as a universal force that pulls everything toward the center of the earth....

Sixth graders follow in the footsteps of early scientists as they put the pieces of Pangaea back together and discovered the forces that create the variety of landforms and sea-floor features of our Earth.

Students participate in a lab experiment to observe and measure the opening and closing of stomata. They focus on photoperiod, locate and identify stomata on a leaf and explain the role of stomata in the daily functioning of a plant.

Students test the factors that influence the rate at which a virus spreads through a population. They complete a lab activity then discuss data collected and review and answer a set of questions.

Students investigate the physics of heating and cooling through conduction, convection, and radiation. Working in groups, they determine the best way to cool a can of water and warm a can of water. Temperature is taken at five minute...