Join Simon, Anita, Emily and the rest of Ms. Patel's class as they gain an understanding of how the Earth works as a system while preparing their end of the school year play.
Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.
Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.
Microorganisms in action!
This lesson introduces the idea of soil as an ecosystem and as a carbon sink.
Step 1 - Inquire: Students view a timelapse video that demonstrates the difference between soils with and without invertebrate decomposers.
Step 2 - Investigate: Students learn about the concept of soil as a carbon sink and examine soil samples to learn how to define soil.
Step 3 - Inspire: Students draw and record their findings demonstrating understanding of soil as an ecosystem and create a model of their soil artistically using found materials in the classroom.
A learning activity for the "All About Earth: Our World on Stage" book in the Elementary GLOBE series. In pairs, students will create experimental conditions in terrariums in order to study what plants need to live. Variables to study include the presence or absence of soil, water, and sunlight. Students will record the growth of radish plants as well as observations of "the water cycle" in their terrariums. At the conclusion of their experiments, students will share their results with the class and discuss how water, Earth materials, and air are all necessary to support living things. The purpose of the activity is to acquaint students with the hydrosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere more closely, to have students use microcosms to study natural phenomena, and to introduce students to the concept of a "fair test" in a scientific investigation. After completing this activity, students will know about the importance of the hydrosphere, geosphere, and atmosphere in supporting the biosphere. They will learn how to set up "fair test", record detailed observations, use drawings as scientific records, make sense of experimental results, and share them publicly.
A learning activity for the Scoop on Soils book in the Elementary GLOBE Series. Students will make predictions about what they think they will find in a sample of soil. They will investigate the sample and sort out the various items they find. Next they will spend time outside observing one or more sites to see what they find in the soil. After recording and sharing their observations they will create their own stories about the things they found in the soil. The purpose of the activity is to learn about natural things commonly found in soil and how these things impact how the soil looks and feels as well as to introduce students to the concept of decomposition. After completing this activity, students will know about various things found in soil including rocks, critters, roots, and other organic material. They will also understand that animals and microorganisms aid in the decomposition process that contributes organic materials to soils.
A learning activity for the "All About Earth: Our World on Stage" book in the Elementary GLOBE series. One of the "big ideas" in Earth system science is the notion of interaction among parts of the Earth system. In the Elementary GLOBE book All About Earth: Our World on Stage, the children in Ms. Patel's class discuss instances of how the four major spheres of Earth's system interact. They symbolize these interactions by using large arrows to link the system components: air, water, soil, living things and the Sun. In this activity, students continue to explore the idea of interaction among Earth components as they identify processes in the Earth system and indicate how they illustrate an interaction between two of the Earth system components. The purpose of the activity is to help students deepen their understanding of interconnections among Earth's systems, help students to identify processes where Earth's systems are interacting, and to provide practice in the observation and recording of natural phenomena. After completing this activity, students will understand that Earth system interactions are all around them, going on all the time, and that Earth's processes are interconnected. They will learn how to make observations and identify the interactions they illustrate.
In this adapted video segment, ZOOM guest Tommy takes us on a tour of the Florida Everglades. He describes what makes a wetland biome unique, including the soil, precipitation, and biodiversity.
This activity is an indoor lab investigation where students compare and contrast different growing environments for a lima bean seed and discover the optimal conditions needed for growth.
Students observe the decomposition of a pumpkin under controlled circumstances. These observations are used to take notes and develop questions.
Science of Soil modules are fun animations and hands-on interactives to foster learning on key concepts that can hinder understanding of soils topics -- such as logarithms, graph reading, and multidimensional thinking. They were created to fill the gaps in Soil and Environmental Science undergraduates' knowledge of key concepts in the classroom.
The Soils Laboratory Manual, K-State Edition is designed for students in undergraduate, introductory soil science courses, and highlights the many aspects of soil science, including: soil genesis and classification, soil physical properties, soil-water interaction, soil biology, soil chemistry, and soil fertility. The lab manual includes 15 different laboratories, each one starting with an introduction and pre-lab assignment, followed by in-lab activities, and complimented by post-lab assignment. In-lab activities involve field trips, experiments, observation stations, or problem sets. Post-lab assignments include online quizzes, problem sets, or laboratory summary reports.