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.

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.

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.

Chemical kinetics and buffers are two topics that are extremely difficult for students to understand. Combining the two topics will allow for a staggered, repetitive approach to teaching students to understand of how these two topics in chemistry actually work. Students will both qualitatively and quantitatively track the effect and enzyme has on a reaction, calculate the reaction rate and buffer capacity. Students will use a variety of lab techniques including calculations using Beer’s Law and spectrophotometry.

Chemical kinetics and buffers are two topics that are extremely difficult for students to understand. Combining the two topics will allow for a staggered, repetitive approach to teaching students to understand of how these two topics in chemistry actually work. Students will both qualitatively and quantitatively track the effect and enzyme has on a reaction, calculate the reaction rate and buffer capacity. Students will use a variety of lab techniques including calculations using Beer’s Law and spectrophotometry.

Literacy is an important aspect of science. To be literate in science means students are able to understand, read, and write in terms of science. This lesson is designed to get students to think critically about real world application. The lesson incorporates technology and Bloom’s highest level of thinking, creativity. Students will learn about writing scientific names of organisms and classifying organisms, how organisms interact with each other and their environment, and the impact of natural disasters.