Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Analyzing Greenhouse Gases and Global Temperature Data Over Time
In this activity, students plot data on the concentrations of various greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere and look for trends. They will learn that greenhouse gases allow the Sun's light to pass through them to the surface of Earth,...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Activity 1: Evolution and Antibiotic Resistance
This page contains three student activities for learning about evolution of antibiotic resistance. The first activity involves two videos (freely available on the website), follow-up questions, and classroom discussion. The second...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Climate Change Is About Water
Through a range of voices and multimedia materials, discover the story of climate change and its impacts on water in Bolivia. Case studies bring the explanatory analysis of vulnerability and the social, economic and cultural impacts of...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Choosing Between Home Appliances: Benefits to the Planet and Your Wallet
Students compare various options for purchasing new home appliances by comparing the energy usage of more efficient models to less energy efficient models. They calculate the payback period in cases for which the purchase price for the...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Finding the Personal Voice of Sustainability
Students explore a more personal connection to sustainability and environmental concerns by reading an article, and rewriting it into a first-person monologue which they will perform.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Constructing a Projectile Launcher and Free Falling Target
Implement the classic physics demonstration "the monkey and the hunter" using this description of a projectile launcher and a target that begins to fall at the same time the projectile is launched. The completed project is a spectacular...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: A Simple Motor/generator Demonstration for Use in Interactive Lecture
This apparatus is easy and inexpensive to construct and provides a clear and compelling demonstration of Faraday's Law of Induction and the Lorentz force. Two magnets are suspended from springs so that they are free to oscillate...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: An Electrostatics Puzzler
A simple demonstration will tests students' understanding of electrostatics. This puzzler stumps even experienced physics educators and is sure to entertain a physics class. A plastic rod is charged using a piece of animal fur. The rod...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Angular Momentum Experiment
After reading about the historical development of concepts of conserved motion, learners are directed to a series of activities to gain a better understanding of momentum, conservation of momenta, angular momentum, and conservation of...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Conservation of Energy of While Rolling Down a Hill
A real-life example of a ball rolling down a ramp to see whether mechanical energy really is conserved when objects roll down hills. Students analyze video clips of children rolling down a driveway on roller blades and various bikes and...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Activity: Measure Your Reaction Time
This is a lab activity that allows students to collect data to practice using effective measurement. While other authors have produced similar labs, this version includes uncertainty analysis consistent with effective measurement...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Activity: Identifying a Solid Using Density
Students will measure the length, diameter, and mass of twelve cylinders made of the same element. The first set of measurements are made with a standard metric ruler and 0.1g balance. The measurements are then repeated using a Vernier...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Hotspot Lesson: Mantle Plumes
A lesson that explains a theory on magma generation at hotspots called the mantle plume theory. The goal of this lesson is to introduce students to a theory that scientists are actively trying to prove or refute. Through this, students...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Beginning Scientific Inquiry With Water Kits
Young scholars will use their prior investigations with the Foss water kit to help create controlled scientific investigations. Groups will create a scientifically oriented question to further investigate water. They will create a...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Birds' Bills
Students will compare and contrast different kinds of birds' bills and categorize pictures. After drawing the bills in each category, they will then compare the bill types with common household items.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: "Mystery and the Unknown": Teaching Inquiry Through Aquatic Exploration
This field experience takes place at our school site pond. Students will use inquiry and direct observation to discover the types of aquatic animals that live in our school site pond. Students will record their findings in a journal, and...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Calculating Kinetics of a Student Designed Machine
In this interactive building experience, students will design and construct a complex machine to do a fairly simple task. Students will calculate several kinetic quantities of different parts of their machine. Students will create an...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Cartesian Diver Race
In this lab, students will have to build a Cartesian diver to bring to class to race. I do this as an introduction to the gas laws, specifically Boyle's Law which deals with volume and pressure of gas at the same temperature. The...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Bowling Balls: Will They Sink or Will They Float?
Students will investigate what determines whether a material will sink or float. They will be given a bowling ball and have to make measurements and conclusions on whether their bowling ball will float, hover, or sink when placed in an...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Hawaiian Islands: Volcano Ages, Hotspots and Plate Motion
The ages of volcanic rocks are used to investigate speed of motion of the Pacific plate, to analyze the distinctive bend in the chain, and to consider the age data in the context of a hotspot model of formation.
Climate Literacy
Clean: 12 Steps to a Sustainable High School
This activity includes an assessment, analysis, and action tool that can be used by classrooms to promote understanding of how the complex current issues of energy, pollution, supply, and consumption are not just global but also local...
Climate Literacy
Clean: Animation for Grades 6 12
Students will create an animation to represent one of the many feedback loops that influences climate change. To create their animation, students will use clay, cut paper, whiteboard or other materials commonly found in the classroom....
Climate Literacy
Clean: A Fossil Thermometer
In this activity, students calculate temperatures during a time in the geologic record when rapid warming occurred using a well known method called 'leaf-margin analysis.' Students determine the percentage of the species that have leaves...
Climate Literacy
Clean: Automotive Emissions and the Greenhouse Effect
This is a laboratory activity in which students will compare the amount of carbon dioxide in four different sources of gas and determine the carbon dioxide contribution from automobiles. They test ambient air, human exhalation,...