Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: The Fishing Game
A lesson outline for The Fishing Game, which is located on a linked website. Teachers register a class from within the game. Students compete against two fishing companies and try to make the most profit they can over a ten-year period....
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: State Map Poster
This is a project where learners pick a state, study its landforms and data about its geology, and produce a poster that outlines how the state's geography evolved over time. An example of such a poster is provided on a downloadable...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Pathogenic Microorganisms in Water
Use this lesson plan to introduce young scholars to testing water sources for pathogenic microorganisms. Students will learn methods for groundwater sampling to evaluate water quality. Lesson plan includes student worksheets.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Peer Instruction
A instructional activity where students take on the role of the teacher with peer instruction. Lesson includes examples and resource links.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Ocean Water: Density
In this lesson students will learn about the stratification of the ocean by using a simulation to show the different densities. The simulation explores how temperature, salinity, and wind affect the development of water stratification.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Layer Cake Geology
Using a cake analogy, this activity teaches concepts such as: geologic time, rock layers, fossils, Law of Superposition, and relative dating. Activity can be modified to grade level and appropriate content for students,
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Ontogeny
A series of lessons that introduce students to growth series so they can better understand how dinosaurs are studied. Students will learn about growth series in both humans and dinosaurs. By learning about the growth series students will...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Science and Religion
A lesson using the strategy of structured academic controversy where students explore the roots of differing perspectives on evolution, In the process, they develop a deepened understanding of science and religion, and tolerance for...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Personal Timeline
Use this activity to help students understand the history of Earth by creating their own timeline of their life. By creating their timeline, students can see the resemblance and make connections between Earth's history and their own....
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Peat Bogs of Allegan County: A Field Based Research Project
An article describing a research project where students and teachers spent six weeks during the summer investigating bogs. Learn more about the program in general as well as what teachers and students discovered during their research.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: The Heat Is On: Understanding Local Climate Change
A lesson unit where young scholars analyze long-term weather data for Phoenix to look for changes that have occurred over time. They look at factors that would cause climate warming, including greenhouse gases and other phenomena. They...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Phases of the Moon
An interactive activity where students observe the different phases of the moon. Activity is part of a lesson that includes background information, instructions, and quiz.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: The 2004 Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami
Using real seismic recordings from a number of seismic stations, students find the location of the epicenter of the 2004 Sumatra earthquake. They next determine the path of the tsunami triggered by it, and calculate how much lead time...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Seeing and Describing the Predictable Pattern: The Central Limit Theorem
A learning activity where learners are guided into discovering the Central Limit Theorem. As they explore sampling distributions, they will identify predictable patterns which can be described with this mathematical theorem. Handouts for...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Reese's Pieces Activity: Sampling From a Population
Students use Reese's Pieces to investigate the proportion of orange candies present in a set of 25. After collecting data for the class, they use a web applet to collect more data for random samples. This is compared to the actual...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Count the Fs: Why a Sample Instead of a Census?
In this interactive lecture activity, students count the number of times the letter F appears in a paragraph. The activity demonstrates that a census may not always give accurate information, and that sample counting can be a more...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Phylogenetics Problems
A lesson plan where students solve problems by using cladistics to determine phylogenies. Problems require that students determine which characteristics are ancestral or derived by looking at both dinosaurs' remains and primate skulls....
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Rock Types Lab
A well-designed lesson on rocks where students first learn about how the three categories of rocks form (sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic), then must examine the features of different rock samples, and determine which category each...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Who Owns Rights to Pharmacogenetic Information?
This lesson explores ethical issues around ownership of scientific and human DNA information. Students learn about the benefits and risks of new drugs, and related ethical matters, and what the concerns are about sharing of genetic...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Extinction: Is It Inevitable?
Students read the article "The Sixth Extinction" by Niles Eldredge on past mass extinctions and the current rate of loss of species. There is a choice of student activities which includes having students respond to discussion and...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Resources for Using Ph Et Simulations in Class Ph Et Activities Database
The PhET website at the University of Colorado in Boulder has a large collection of science simulations for teaching chemistry and physics, available in many languages. This page describes the Activities Database, which is searchable by...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Ph Et Simulations: Replace Real Equipment in Lab Circuit Construction Kit
Students explore with a PhET interactive simulation to replicate the construction of electrical circuits.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Using Ph Et Simulations in a Large Lecture Class the Photoelectric Effect
This activity provides a complete curriculum for teaching the photoelectric effect using the PhET Photoelectric Effect simulation in a large-lecture modern physics course.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Rutherford's Enlarged: A Content Embedded Activity on Nature of Science
Through a study of Ernest Rutherford's experiments with atomic structure, students develop a deeper understanding of the nature of science. The activity is taken from a linked article by the author that was published in the Journal of...