This guided inquiry is a laboratory investigation on soil textures where students gather and analyze data, compare findings and develop new experimental questions.

This activity is a classroom experiment where students gather data on which foods contain starch. They use observation and develop their own hypothesis to create a question they would like to discover about starches.

In activity is a Biology field lab where students will investigate the relative health of an aquatic system based on bioindicators. Students will then summarize and reflect upon their findings.

This activity is a classroom investigation of wolf behavior where students use observational evidence to identify and describe wolf pack structure.

This activity is a field investigation where students conduct biological sampling on goldenrod galls and form conclusions.

In this activity learners investigate the link between ocean temperatures and hurricane intensity, analyze instrumental and historical data, and explore possible future changes.

In this investigation, students gather biotic and abiotic data and samples in the field, develop an experiment to test another abiotic factor in the lab, synthesize group data, interpret their findings and make a claim on the health of the wetland ecosystem.

This activity is an outdoor lab in which students investigate the process of evaporation, record their findings, and use the data to make connections to the environment around them.

This activity is a field investigation where students collect and design an experiment to identify the water quality of a section of the North Branch of the Root River in Lanesboro, MN. The investigation is done in collaboration with Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center.

This activity is a field investigation where students list plants and animals they observe. Students will organize their data as producers, consumers, or decomposers and create a food web showing how they affect each other. They will predict what will happen if the food web becomes imbalanced by extinction or over population.

The University of Iowa Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research and College of Education teamed up to develop free eighth grade science curricula on land use and climate science, in response to Iowa’s grade level alignment of the middle school Next Generation Science Standards.

Primary author Dr. Ted Neal, clinical associate professor of science education, led a team of graduate and pre-service teaching students and CGRER scientists to develop the material. They grouped standards, resources and lesson material into six bundles, each designed to engage Iowa’s middle schoolers with local data and information on relevant topics like athletic concussions and agriculture.

These lessons are built on NGSS principles and put learning in the students’ hands with hands-on activities for groups and individuals. Kids will have ample opportunity to get curious, generate questions and lead themselves to answers.

The Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation mission is to educate Iowans with a focus on youth regarding the breadth and global significance of agriculture.

This website was created to be a resource for those who want to teach agriculture to Iowa students. One of their goals is to build trust of users by being a credible site.

Students will explore the importance of Iowa Agriculture by using "The 3 Whys" strategy. 

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"A research team at MIT has spent years trying to unravel how climate change will affect Earth’s habitability in the future. Using sophisticated computer simulations, they’ve shown that extreme heatwaves will sweep across a region spanning southwest and south Asia, potentially rendering some areas inhospitable to human life. Now, in the third part of this ongoing study, they’ve shifted focus to China – currently the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. Using regional climate models that examine how irrigation impacts surface conditions, the team found that the current pace of greenhouse gas emissions will leave North China Plain, an intensely irrigated region that is presently home to about 400 million people, vulnerable to extreme heatwaves, making it difficult for humans to survive in what is now one of the most densely populated regions on Earth. The reason? Irrigation exacerbates heatwave conditions, worsening the impact of climate change..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This short video illustrates how warming ocean temperature is a major factor in climate change, particularly the increase in severity of extreme weather (notably storms and drought).

Data-centric activity where students explore the connections between an observable change in the cryosphere and its potential impact in the hydrosphere and atmosphere. Students analyze the melt extents on the Greenland ice sheet from 1992-2003. Students also learn about how scientists collect the data.

SYNOPSIS: In this lesson, students examine the nutritional value and environmental impact of non-dairy alternatives as a replacement to traditional dairy.

SCIENTIST NOTES: Milk sourced from cows has, by far, the largest environmental impact of all of the milk options. But when it comes to the non-dairy competitors, there is no clear winner, as this lesson investigates. All of the resources in this lesson have passed the scientific review process.

POSITIVES:
-Students undergo the process of identifying a possible issue, gathering evidence to prove or deny it, and proposing a solution to it.
-Students have a voice in their school environment and culture.
-Students learn about new foods and lifestyles.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-Teachers may need to prepare for the possibility of their students presenting to the school administration and/or board.
-Teachers may need to clarify the meaning of “dairy” and “non-dairy” to students.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Students work in small groups, providing multiple opportunities for students to problem solve before asking the teacher.
-Teachers can have students explore the more advanced table in the science article or look through FoodData Central if that is too advanced.

Objectives:
To understand what fruit is.
To explore how fruits are developed.

This lesson will introduce students to environmental issues. Students will recognize environmental opinions and perspective, which will help them define themselves and others as either preservationists or conservationists. Students also learn about the importance of teamwork in engineering.