Student groups compete to design a process that removes the most iron from fortified cereal. Students experiment with different materials using what they know about iron, magnets and forces to design the best process for removing iron from the cereal samples.

The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to the basic elements of our Earth's crust: rocks, soils and minerals. They learn how we categorize rocks, soils and minerals and how they are literally the foundation for our civilization. Students also explore how engineers use rocks, soils and minerals to create the buildings, roads, vehicles, electronics, chemicals, and other objects we use to enhance our lives.

To gain an understanding of mixtures and the concept of separation of mixtures, students use strong magnets to find the element of iron in iron-fortified breakfast cereal flakes. Through this activity, they see how the iron component of this heterogeneous mixture (cereal) retains its properties and can thus be separated by physical means.

In this lesson, students will learn that minerals are a necessary part of our diet. They will learn that different minerals have different functions in the body. More specifically, they will discover that iron is necessary to carry oxygen around the body. In the associated activity, students will design a process that removes the most iron from the cereal.

After studying that iron is attracted to magnets, students will use magnets to extract food-grade iron filings from iron-fortified food.

This activity is a hands on activity where students will gather information on their findings about iron in different cereals. Then use their finding and give reasonings of the differences and similarities.

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:

"Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death and one of the most prevalent forms of dementia, affecting over 50 million people worldwide. Unfortunately, the molecular signaling pathways underlying neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease are not clearly understood. A recent study identified a link between two physiological phenomena that are affected in Alzheimer's disease: disrupted calcium signaling, which is associated with memory loss and cognitive dysfunction; and increased iron accumulation, which results in neurotoxicity in the brain. Using genetically modified human cell lines and mice, the researchers studied the mechanistic connections between calcium signaling and iron transport. They found that calcium (Ca²⁺) signaling through CAMKK2 and CAMK4 proteins had direct effects on transferrin protein-mediated iron transport..."

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

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:

"Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Despite advancements in HCC diagnosis and treatment, current staging systems lack specificity and can’t easily predict patient survival. Researchers now report a new prognostic and diagnostic approach based on tracking genes that control iron metabolism in the body. Iron is critical for normal cell metabolism, growth, and proliferation. That goes extra for tumor cells, which have an increased demand for iron. But too much iron can lead to cell death—a process known as “ferroptosis”—which some researchers are harnessing to eliminate harmful cancer cells. In the current study, researchers used high-throughput sequencing to identify genes associated with iron metabolism and ferroptosis in patients with HCC. Based on four genes, patients could be divided into a low-risk group and a high-risk group with poorer overall survival and HCC samples could be distinguished from normal samples..."

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

The rusting of iron is characterized by the formation of a layer of a red, flaky substance that easily crumbles into a powder. This phenomenon is a great example of the corrosion of metals, where the surfaces of metals are degraded into more chemically stable oxides.

In this activity, learners use basic measurements of the Earth and pieces of rock and iron to estimate the mass of the Earth. Learners will calculate mass, volume, and density, convert units, and employ the water displacement method. To calculate an even more accurate estimate of the mass of the Earth, this resource includes optional instructions on how to measure the iron core mass.