In this seventh grade science Atmosphere and Weather Unit, students will explore the atmosphere, air and water quality, the water cycle, the greenhouse effect, global warming, climate change, and human-environment interaction through a number of experiments, interactive webquests and projects. They will be exposed to the STEM practices behind growing and agriculture in a hands-on, experiential and experimental life science growing project. They will create terrariums in two-liter soda bottles and will focus on the importance of understanding meteorology and the cycling of water and gasses in and out of the Earth and atmosphere in order to effectively plan, grow and harvest.

In this project, much of the learning responsibility is placed on the individual students within the project team, and also on the team acting as a cooperative unit.  Students will be provided with some basic background and will have some avenues to investigate and present as a team (polar vs. nonpolar compounds and surface area, hydrophilicity vs. hydrophobicity, the history of mass spectroscopy, the advantages and disadvantages of longitudinal studies, the specialization of scientific fields, and the importance of collaboration between experts in different scientific fields.

About this book
Origin story
I (Erin) began this book project after participating in the Open Pedagogy Incubator hosted by the NC State University Libraries in 2020, with the goal of making my course materials – and information about Applied Ecology – more broadly accessible to students, educators, and the general public. Rather than impose my sole voice, perspective, and biases, I restructured my course assignments to enable student creation of the content you will encounter in this book. The assignments are open-ended and open-world, motivating students to collaborate with each other and to seek knowledge beyond the classroom, and thus embody core characteristics of the discipline of Applied Ecology as well as Open Education and Universal Design for Learning. I hope that by centering student voices and by highlighting diverse scientists, research systems and ecosystems, this work empowers the reader and highlights the relevance of Applied Ecology in our everyday lives.

Intended use
This book is formatted to provide information about key ecological principles, concepts, and processes, explored and applied across various contexts. The text can be used as a foundational or supplementary text for ecology courses, or as a standalone reference for students in formal academic settings or beyond.

The Vocabulary terms at the beginning of each chapter are listed in the order that students will encounter them while reading the blog-style summary for that chapter. The Glossary lists all terms in the entire book in alphabetical order, for quick reference as needed.

We have provided an appendix with skeletal outlines that students can use to guide their notetaking. I also intend to compile a companion volume for educators, containing templates for each assignment used to guide the student works presented here.

Accessibility
We use sans-serif fonts to facilitate readability in digital format and by readers who are neurodivergent. We also support screen readership through alt-text images.

As teachers it is important to interject real-world applications with science and math whenever possible.  Students often do not connect the principles to the career opportunities.  In our society, advanced manufacturing is creating many exciting careers that incorporate these scientific principles and provide excellent salaries.  This project will require students to determine and design methods that will move a selected product in a designed assembly process.

The economy in North Carolina began as a largely agrarian one. Many of our traditions today hearken back to that agricultural past, including the traditional school calendar. As time has passed, North Carolina gained many jobs from textile manufacturing. Farms consolidated and there were less small family farm operations and more, large scale industrial farms. Over the past few decades, textile and furniture manufacturing jobs have been lost by North Carolina – many of these jobs have gone overseas. The new jobs that have been coming in to replace these are biotechnology jobs. These jobs pay well, but require more training and expertise than traditional manufacturing jobs.

In these lesson plans, students will act as CSI agents investigating the mysterious pathogen that caused the massive potato crop failure and resultant Great Famine of 1845 in Ireland. Through a variety of seven focused activities, students will map its diffusion, experience the history of the Great Famine, isolate and test samples using PCR and gel electrophoresis, create Wanted Posters of plant pathogens and take action in communicating their concerns of chemical controls of these pathogens and the danger of repeating history.

Students will explore the different careers found in Biomanufacturing by conducting a series of experiments that mimic the day to day operations found in industry. Students will use yeast cells as the basis the labs. They will conduct microbiology-type experiments by growing some of the yeast cells on petri dishes and examining the number of cells that grow both on the plates and under the microscope. Next, students will grow yeast cells in a similar fashion to what is seen in large-scale bioreactors. They will analyze the results of the experiment by applying computer skills to create graphs and charts of their results. In addition, Students will also design a filtration apparatus that will separate the cells from the product they are producing and calculate the yield percentage. These activities can be used as part of a microbiology or biochemistry unit or as an introduction to biotechnology.

The goal of these lessons, packaged under the title “A Day in the Life of a Protein,” is to select an example that is not only real world, but also is connected to many of the topics taught in the course. The specific protein used here is Hemoglobin A, looking at the mutation leading to sickle cell anemia. Other proteins could be substituted into this model as needed.

Biotechnology is one of the largest and fasted growing science-based industries in North Carolina. In this lesson students will have an opportunity to research some different Biotech companies in North Carolina. Secondly, students will grow live yeast cultures to model the cell culture development essential to the success of biotech companies. Students will manipulate different limiting factors such as temperature and the amount of media to measure the impact on cell growth/viability. The third part of this lesson will have students graphing, performing data analysis, and comparative analysis to modeled-data from Biogen Idec’s cell culture development.

Welcome to Chemistry Applications: Pharmacology, Biotechnology and Forensics, a high school curriculum. Included in this curriculum are many lesson plans that are aligned with the North Carolina Chemistry and Biology Standards, in addition to the National Science Standard. Students will learn to be critically thinking, problem solving individuals who will relate science to the real world.

This unit uses roller coaster design as a method of teaching students about energy types, energy conservation, and the design process. At the end of this Unit, students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills should be strengthened.

The purpose of this lesson is to research artificial selection. During this lesson, we will use fast growing plant crossing to model traditional agricultural practices and we will use Punnett squares to predict plant crossing outcomes. We will also use online simulations to learn about current biotechnology techniques used to make genetically modified crops. We will compare traditional agriculture to current biotechnology techniques that are being used to create pest resistant crops. We will discuss how artificial selection such as selective breeding and genetic engineering can impact organisms over time.

A hospital is an integrated system of physicians, other hospitals, outpatient services, and more. Each element is connected and significant in providing an exceptional healthcare experience. Through a series of lessons, students will serve as members of the hospital team, utilizing the mission, vision and values of the healthcare system to solve a patient puzzle.

Designing the school garden will require Math, ELA, and Science skills with Scientific Method being used as a foundation. Students will create a school garden as a result of the work they preloaded into the activity. Finally, students will decide if the school garden has an improvements needed for future growth or more growth.

The book series Microwave and RF Design is a comprehensive treatment of radio frequency (RF) and microwave design with a modern “systems-first” approach. A strong emphasis on design permeates the series with extensive case studies and design examples. Design is oriented towards cellular communications and microstrip design so that lessons learned can be applied to real-world design tasks. The books in the Microwave and RF Design series are: Radio Systems (Volume 1), Transmission Lines (Volume 2), Networks (Volume 3), Modules (Volume 4), and Amplifiers and Oscillators (Volume 5).

In a 21st century globally-competitive society, agriculture is rapidly progressing and incorporating more innovative STEM practices (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). A number of agriculture advances incorporate genetics, which is an important unit in seventh-grade science. The lesson exposes students to a real-life application of genetics and technology to improve agriculture production and profit. The lesson specifically addresses bioengineering, biotechnology and selective breeding. Students use the technique of selective breeding in a class competition to make the best and most profitable grapes to sell to local industries. In doing so, they will learn about progressive agriculture science and technology, while covering the seventh-grade science genetics standards.

These lessons link the understanding of concepts in chemistry to skills learned in algebra II. Using systems of equations in solving problems, students are utilizing matrices to balance chemical reactions and direct and inverse variations. This fresh approach reinforces students’ understanding of the relationship between two disciplines that have traditionally been taught separately.

This series of lessons focuses on exposing high school math students to relevant applications in the aviation industry. This is the first in the series for the Integrated Math 2 level. This can be taught in conjunction with Unit 1 Lesson 2 – Reading Airline Maintenance Graphs but can also be a stand-alone lesson. In this lesson, students will explore the use of a Flight Computer (E-6B) to solve Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) problems.

The “Investigating Alternative Fuels for Vehicles” curriculum focus will allow students to learn about alternative fuels used to power vehicles. Students will expand their knowledge through discussion, inquiry-based activities, and research on the innovative technology related to alternative fuel vehicles. This project will expose students to the role that alternative energy have in reducing global warming and conservation of natural resources.

Green chemistry, in addition to being a science, it is also a philosophy and nearly a religion. Attendance at American Chemical Society Green Chemistry & Engineering Conferences will instill such an ideal into any attendant because of the nearly universal appeal and possibilities in this novel approach to radicalizing the business of doing science and engineering.