ingridscience

What lives in our local park or garden?

Summary
In a local outdoor space, find familiar and not so familiar plants and animals in the earth and/or water. Investigate them further to learn new things about them.
Curriculum connection (2005 science topic)
Life Science: Needs of Living Things (grade 1)
Life Science: Animal Growth and Changes (grade 2)
Life Science: Plant Growth and Changes (grade 3)
Life Science: Habitats and Communities (grade 4)
Materials
  • outdoor space with rich life
  • materials in the chosen activities
Procedure

Once the local area has been chosen, choose activities that explore the animals/plants in that area more deeply.
The activities listed are the ones I have tried - many more can be used for this lesson on local life.

The pond dipping and stream chemistry activities can be run at a lake or stream. The pond dipping finds the living things, then stream chemistry investigates the chemistry of the stream that supports that life.

The nurse log study needs a forested area.

Native plant bingo can be adapted for any area with native plants.

Wood bugs and soil animals can be found and then studied more deeply in a variety of habitats, from gardens to forests.

Notes

Eton Arrowsmith tacked a chicken observation onto this lesson.

Grades taught
Gr 1
Gr 2
Gr 4
Gr 5
Gr 7

Looking closely at living and non-living things

Summary
Students are shown how to look closely using their eyes, a magnifer and, if possible, a microscope.
Curriculum connection (2005 science topic)
Life Science: Characteristics of Living Things (grade K)
Life Science: Needs of Living Things (grade 1)
Procedure

Careful observation is a simple but important skill of a scientist.

Two lesson formats used so far:

1. Start with habitat survey outside on the school grounds.
Students choose items to bring back to the classroom at look at more closely with Magnifers and Microscopes. (If they are live they need to be cared for, then returned to where they were found.)
Conclude that careful observation is the first step to understanding more about our world and the living things in it.

2. Set up Magnifers and Microscopes outdoors. Show students how to use them if necessary.
Ask students to find anything that interests them.
They can look at an object closely with a magnifier, then look at it more closely with a microscope.
End with an outdoor game: magnified images hunt.

Notes

Weir did #1 lesson.
Science Club did #2 lesson.

Grades taught
Gr K
Gr 1
Gr 2

Nurse Log Study

Summary
Students document the living things on a nurse log. Write them into a food web.
Science topic (2005 curriculum connection)
Life Science: Needs of Living Things (grade 1)
Materials
  • nurse log
    Procedure

    Introduction:
    Nurse logs are formed when a tree falls over, or from the stump of a tree that was felled, and provide an environment for other things to grow. As the log decomposes it provides food and a habitat for many animals and plants. In coniferous forests (e.g. Pacific Northwest Coast) rotting logs provide many of the nutrients of the forest floor.

    Some of the photos above show nurse logs that have decomposed completely, leaving only the shape of the roots of the trees that grew on it.
    For this activity, find a nurse log that has some of its stump remaining.

    Ask students to draw the nurse log, and anything they see growing out of it, or any evidence of life living on it. They can shade in the nurse log (to highlight how much is consumed by the new trees). Examples of living things they might find on a nurse log: hemlock and douglas fir saplings, small huckleberry bush, sword fern or other ferns, lichen, spider webs, bird poop, insects, holes made by insects and birds.
    Ask students to smell the wood - the mushroomy smell is fungus growing through the log.

    Group discussion of what everyone found, and students can add more items to their drawings, and label anything they did not know the name of.

    Use a large sheet of paper or a board, and write "nurse log" at the bottom. This will be the start of a food web. Add in the other names of living things found, with arrows to show who eats who e.g. nurse log eaten by insects, plants, fungi and lichen; insects eaten by spiders and birds; spiders eaten by birds.

    More information on nurse logs and how they help seedlings survive: https://asknature.org/strategy/nurse-logs-provide-new-habitat/

    Grades taught
    Gr 1
    Gr 2
    Gr 3

    Magnifiers and Microscopes

    Summary
    Students use magnifiers and microscopes to look closely at living things and inanimate objects. They are asked to find details that they did not see without magnification. Careful observation is the first step to understanding more about our world and the living things in it.
    Science topic (2005 curriculum connection)
    Life Science: Characteristics of Living Things (grade K)
    Life Science: Animal Growth and Changes (grade 2)
    Life Science: Plant Growth and Changes (grade 3)
    Life Science: Diversity of Life (grade 6)
    Materials
    • collecting boxes or tubs for specimens
    • good quality magnifiers (see resource)
    • dissecting microscope(s) if available
    • transmission microscope(s) if available, slides and cover slips
    • scanning electron microscope images of common living things
    • things to look at - see ideas below
    Procedure

    Students can collect their own items to look at and/or teachers can provide objects.

    Ideas of things to look at:
    Your own skin, fingerprint, hair, nails.
    Man-made items such as fabrics with different weave densities, paper with different texture and colour printing (to see the individual coloured dots).
    Natural organic items such as fur, wood, feathers and seeds.
    Natural inorganic items such as crystals (including salt) and rocks with different mineral colours in them.
    Living samples such as pond water or soil containing small animals.

    A microscope can be set up in the classroom, or outside if power can be run outside.
    If any collected specimens are animals, students should ask an adult to help them put it in a collecting with some dirt and/or leaves, and return it to the same place after class.

    A sequential magnification of specimens, from looking closely with the naked eye, to looking with a magnifier, to looking with a microscope, give a good sense of what is being looked at. What can you see with the magnifiers that you were not able to see with your naked eye? What were you able to see with the microscope that you were not able to see with the magnifier? It also creates a wonderful zoom into the details upon details in objects - there is so much going on that we don't usually see, and understanding the structure in more detail can help us understand function.

    Proper use of magnifiers
    Great for younger students.
    Hold the magnifier 5-8cm from one eye, and look through it. Hold a finger on the other side of the magnifier, 5-10cm away from it. Then move the finger slightly until it is large and clear (in focus). Students should be able to easily see their fingerprint. The key point is not to have either your eye, or the object being viewed, touching the magnifier.
    Use the same method to look at specimens. Sometimes, instead of moving the specimen closer to the lens, it will be easier to move your eye and magnifer (keeping them apart) towards the specimen.
    (See the Open Door Website at http://www.saburchill.com/lab/observations/observe01.html). The curved glass makes things look bigger. Ask students to make a drawing of their living thing, showing the details that they can now see with the magnifier that they could not see with the naked eye.

    Proper use of stereo (dissecting) microscopes
    Good for primaries and up.
    Place an object on the stage, and while watching from the side, turn the focus knob to bring the lens as close to the object as possible without touching it. While looking through the ocular lenses on top, slowly focus up until the object is in focus. The stereo microscope magnifies 20 to 40 times, so bridges the gap between the visible and microscopic.

    Proper use of transmission (compound) microscopes
    Best for intermediate and older students.
    The transmission microscope magnifies 40 to 400 times, and can be used to look at small details invisible to the naked eye. The light comes from underneath so the sample must be thin enough for light to pass through, and for the lens to move over. The sample can be mounted on a slide, or simply placed under the lens if it is flat enough to fit. To prepare a slide, place the specimen on the slide and add a small drop of water if necessary. If needed, arrange the specimen with a toothpick. Lay over the cover slip, by lowering from one side. First view the slide at the lowest power (40X), by starting with the objective lens at its lowest point and moving it upwards with the coarse focus knob, until the sample is in focus. Then the higher power lenses can be used in sequence, adjusting the focus using only the fine focus knob.

    More detail on microscope use and specimen ideas:
    http://www.saburchill.com/lab/observations/observe04.html
    Levine, Shar and Johnstone, Leslie. 1996. The microscope book. Sterling Publishing Company

    Further magnification in scanning electron microscope images
    Show images of familiar living things magnified even further:
    scanning electron microscope images at:
    http://www.denniskunkel.com
    Scharf, David. 1977. Magnifications. Publisher Schocken
    Breger, Dee. 1995. Journeys in Microspace. Columbia University Press
    or a google image search of "scanning electron microscope images"

    Notes

    Pond dipping is a good companion activity.

    Bacteria can be seen around a rotting bean - see Sourcebook of Biological Sciences for set up.
    http://www.microbehunter.com/2010/09/08/life-in-the-flower-pot-water-or…

    Grades taught
    Gr K
    Gr 1
    Gr 2
    Gr 3
    Gr 4
    Gr 5
    Gr 6
    Gr 7

    Body structure molecules

    Summary
    Students explore their own body to find different textures and colours and learn about the molecules that make them up.
    Science topic (2005 curriculum connection)
    Life Science: Characteristics of Living Things (grade K)
    Physical Science: Chemistry (grade 7)
    Materials
    • flashlight
    • mirror
    Procedure

    You are made up of molecules that come in many different shapes, sizes and colors.
    Explore your body, inside and outside, and find different kinds of molecules that make up you.

    Some of your molecules are stiff and stack like bricks. They make hard structures like nails. Knock your head to find another hard molecule structure in you. What other hard molecule structures can you find on and in yourself?

    Some of your molecules are springy. Springy molecules make elastic structures like your skin. Compare how elastic your skin is with other people's: pinch the skin on your knuckle, then see how long it takes to fall back into place.
    In old people, the molecules are no longer as elastic as they used to be, so the skin takes longer to fall back. What other elastic molecule structures can you find on or in your body?

    Your blood contains molecules that are red. You can see your red molecules by holding your fingers together and covering the end of the flashlight. Now find molecules on or in your body that are white. The mirror will help you find some of them. What about molecules that are brown? Do you have other colored molecules on or in your body?

    Find molecule structures in you that are slimy and ones that are watery.

    What other textures and colors can you find on yourself? They are all made of molecules.

    Your molecules don't just make the textures and colors of your body. Your molecules also let you move, digest food or sing a song. Think of all the things your body can do. It is your molecules that do it!

    Attached documents
    Notes

    Tested with adults and children of all ages in family groups.

    Grades taught
    Gr K
    Gr 1
    Gr 2
    Gr 3
    Gr 4
    Gr 5
    Gr 6
    Gr 7

    Water filter molecules

    Summary
    Dye is added to a few grains from a home water filter. After a minute of shaking the water is clear as the dye molecules stick to the filter grains. In a home water filter, the same process removes calcium, magnesium, chlorine, lead and copper from drinking water.
    Science topic (2005 curriculum connection)
    Earth and Space Science: Air, Water and Soil (grade 2)
    Physical Science: Chemistry (grade 7)
    Materials
    • microcentrifuge tubes
    • dropper bottle with methylene blue dye, diluted to 0.0075ml in 100ml water
    • water filter grains (from inside a home water filter)
    • 15 sec timer or stopwatch
    • dropper
    • scoop
    • tape
    • pencil
    Procedure

    Do you have a water filter at home, school or work? Lots of people drink filtered water. How does a filter work? Do an experiment to find out.

    Take a scoop of grains from the water filter. This is a Brita filter, used in many home water filters. What do the filter grains look like?
    Put a full scoop of the filter grains in a tube. Add blue dye to fill the tube halfway. Snap the tube closed.
    Half fill a new tube with blue dye only. Close the tube. This is your standard. Later you will compare it to the tube containing filter grains.
    Start the timer. Shake both tubes hard until the timer is done. Compare the two tubes.
    What have the filter grains done to the dye? Where has the dye gone?

    How do the filter grains work?
    The dye molecules stick to the filter grains: Look at the round beads in your experiment. You may be able to see the blue dye stuck to them.

    What happens in a home water filter?
    In our home water filters, the filter grains remove unwanted atoms from tap water. Like the dye in your experiment, the atoms stick to the filter grains:
    Calcium and magnesium are natural, harmless atoms in water, but they cause blockage in pipes.
    Chlorine is added to drinking water to kill harmful bacteria. Some people don't like its taste.
    Lead and copper leach from old pipes and are toxic in large amounts.
    Although you could see the dye in your experiment, you can't see these atoms in tap water — they are too small and are not colored like the dye.

    How much dye can the filter grains remove?
    Open your tube containing filter grains and water. Use a dropper to suck the water from above the filter grains. Squirt the water into the trash. Add more dye to the grains. Start the timer and shake the tube again. Do the grains remove these dye molecules as well?

    The filter grains in your experiment should have removed more dye molecules from the water. The round beads should have more blue dye stuck to them. In the same way, the filter grains in home water filters can be used over and over to remove unwanted atoms from the drinking water. Eventually the filter grains get full and cannot remove any more atoms. Then you need to replace the filter with a new one.

    Experiment!
    1. How many filter grains do you need to remove all the dye molecules? Find out by adding different amounts of grains to different tubes. Make sure you add the same amount of dye to each tube. Make sure you shake all the tubes for the same amount of time.
    2. How long do you need to shake to remove all the dye? Try shaking different tubes for different times. Make sure the only thing that is different between the tubes is the shaking time — put the same amount of grains and dye in each tube.
    3. Try your own experiments. Remember to change only one thing at a time, so you know why you see a difference between tubes.

    Attached documents
    Notes

    Tested with adults and children of all ages in family groups.

    Grades taught
    Gr K
    Gr 1
    Gr 2
    Gr 3
    Gr 4
    Gr 5
    Gr 6
    Gr 7

    Sour food chemistry

    Summary
    Compare foods, some that are sour with two different tests: a pH indicator (purchased or home made), or by adding baking soda to look for gas bubble production.
    Science topic (2005 curriculum connection)
    Life Science: Human Body (grade 5)
    Physical Science: Chemistry (grade 7)
    Materials
    • white tray with wells e.g. ice cube or paint tray
      For pH test:
    • test liquids: orange juice (pulp free), milk, lemon juice, vinegar, water (could also try yogurt). best if the liquids are not identified before the test
    • indicator dye: red cabbage dye or a purchased indicator dye (those that differentiate between pH 2, 4 and 6 are best)
      For baking soda test:
    • candies, sour and regular
    • baking soda, a small scoop and water
    Procedure

    Introduction:
    What is it that makes some foods taste so sour?
    Foods are sour when they have a high concentration of loose hydrogen atoms. (Atoms are tiny particles that make up us and everything we see around us. Atoms link together to make molecules.) Do an experiment to predict how sour some foods are without tasting them.

    Indicator dye:
    Add unknown liquids to wells of the tray.
    Add the indicator dye, and look at the colour change. (With red cabbage dye, high concentration of hydrogen atoms turns the dye pink; low concentration of hydrogen atoms leaves it purple, and medium concentration of hydrogen atoms turns it pinky-purple. With commercial pHydrion pH 1-10 indicator dye, high concentration of loose hydrogen atoms turn the dye orange; medium concentration of hydrogen atoms turn the dye yellow; low concentration of hydrogen atoms turn the dye green. )

    The liquid with a high concentration of loose hydrogen atoms is the most sour.
    The food with a low concentration of loose hydrogen atoms is the least sour.
    By looking at the color of the dye, predict which liquid is the least sour and most sour.
    Taste the liquids to check. (Sometimes sugar is added to foods to offset the sour taste, so they may not taste as sour as predicted e.g. lemonade).

    Baking soda bubbles:
    Add a small scoop of baking soda to a well of the tray. Add water and mix together.
    Drop a candy into the baking soda solution.
    Bubbles will indicate that the candy has a sour coating, as the baking soda and the H atoms of the coating undergo a chemical reaction, making bubbles of carbon dioxide: HCO3 + H -> CO2 + H2O

    Why foods taste sour:
    In each case the loose hydrogen atoms interact with receptors on your tongue, and depending on their concentration your brain perceives the food as sour or not.

    Notes

    Other foods to add: buttermilk, orange juice (though colour may mess it up).

    Grades taught
    Gr K
    Gr 1
    Gr 2
    Gr 3
    Gr 4
    Gr 5
    Gr 6
    Gr 7

    Visual deprivation walk

    Summary
    Students are walked into familiar neighbourhood stores with a blindfold on, to experience how their other senses can figure out their location.
    Materials
    • two or more students
    • blindfold
    • strip of stores that students are familiar with
    Procedure

    Walk students to the middle of a strip of stores.
    Then blindfold one of them, spin them around so that they do not know which direction they are facing in, then ask the other students to lead them into a store that they are familiar with. (Teach the leaders how to allow the blind student lead, rather than pulling them along at a pace that is not comfortable.)
    Ask the blindfolded student to state what they smell, hear, touch etc, until they can name the store they are in.
    If the student guesses where they are quickly, they can be given the extra challenge of finding a specific location or product in the store.

    (Ideas for stores with good smells: pizza place, herb/aromatics shop, coffee shop, plant store, pet store.)

    Once the blindfold is off, discuss how our other senses become heightened to compensate for the loss of sight.

    Discuss how other animals use their senses of smell and hearing more than humans do.

    Discuss how blind people must navigate with their other senses.
    Some interesting facts about how blind people sense their surroundings:
    Some blind people use echolocation, by clicking their tongues and listening for the echo back to find out where objects are (just like bats or marine animals). Some blind people can so precisely tell where objects are using echolocation that they can use this method for mountain biking or basketball. (Experts in blind echolocation can even listen to a recording of tongue clicks echoing, and state what objects were there when the recording was made!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHYCs8xtzUI
    Brain scans (with functional MRI technology) of blind people using other senses (touch, sound) show that the information from these other senses goes to their visual cortex (just like the visual information in a sighed person). So their brains constructs a visual map of what they "see" using their other senses.

    Notes

    Related activity, with sound also removed, to try and return to a spot, either after a random walk, or a prescribed walk: https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/544714main_Finding_Your_Way.pdf

    In classroom modification:
    Students lay out a string in the classroom, around chairs etc. Blind-folded student follows it and guesses where the end is.

    Grades taught
    Gr 4
    Gr 5

    Heat sources

    Summary
    Try out and view different household equipment that generate heat.
    Materials
      devices that make heat, preferably in different ways e.g.
    • space heater
    • hair dryer
    • kettle
    • incandescent light bulb
    • candle
    • hand warmer (the ones that you bend the metal disc to start sodium acetate crystal formation)
    • optional: worksheet (attached)
    Procedure

    Allow students to try out the devices, and either have them try and figure out how they make heat themselves, or discuss as a group.
    Note: probably do not run several hair dryers/space heaters at once or they will trip school electrical fuses.

    The space heater, hair dryer, kettle and incandescent light bulb make heat from electricity:
    The electrical energy is converted to heat energy by the device, by running a current through a metal coil or plate to heat it up.
    In the space heater and hair dryer, the hot metal warms air, then the hot air is blown out with a fan.
    The metal coil inside the kettle is heated by electricity, which heats the water above it.
    The incandescent light bulb is designed to produce light, and works when electricity passes through a thin wire inside the bulb. The wire heats up an emits light, but also a lot of heat. Incandescent bulbs are not efficient for their purpose as only 5% of the energy emitted is as light - the rest is heat, hence the the conversion to other kinds of light bulbs (fluorescent, now LED).

    The candle and hand warmer make heat from chemistry:
    The candle gives off heat as the wax burns (a chemical reaction - see candle chemistry activity. A candle is used for light, and also for heat sometimes.
    The hand warmer works as sodium acetate crystallizes (turns from a liquid solution to a solid). It is in solution until the metal disc is bent, which initiates the crystallization. You can then see the crystal formation spreading out from the metal disc. Crystallization of this chemical produces heat. (You can reset the hand warmer by heating it up to dissolve the sodium acetate in the water again.) Hence chemical energy is converted to heat energy in these hand warmers.

    Other discussion points:
    Our bodies make heat from chemical energy.
    Rubbing your hands together makes heat from friction.
    We heat our homes by burning gas (a chemical reaction that makes heat, similar to the candle), or from electricity (heating up metal inside a device, similar to the space heater and hair dryer).
    Geothermal energy is an environmentally sound way of heating buildings - heat is extracted from deep underground and used to directly heat buildings, or used to heat up water that can be used for heating. Thousands of buildings in Richmond, BC are heated in this way.

    Attached documents
    Notes

    Running the space heater and hair dryer at once may blow a fuse in the school electrical system. Know how to reset it, or only run one high wattage device at the same time.

    Grades taught
    Gr 3

    Foam molecules

    Summary
    Find out what molecules are able to make foam in water.
    Science topic (2005 curriculum connection)
    Physical Science: Properties of Matter (grade 2)
    Physical Science: Chemistry (grade 7)
    Materials
    • small tubes, or little dollar store pots with lids
    • dropper bottles, opaque or covered in foil, for test liquids e.g. dollar store twist top bottles, nearly twisted shut

    Liquids for a logic puzzle figuring out what molecules can make foam:

    • tap water (contains water and salts)
    • distilled water (contains water)
    • drink mix (contains water and sugars) - use flavoured drink crystals, about half strength in water
    • soap (contains water, fatty acids) - use a couple of drops of dish soap in water
    • skim milk (contains water, protein, sugars, salts). keep cold by adding ice cubes to the liquid and adding a foam cover
    • whole milk (contains water, protein, sugars, salts, fatty acids). keep cold by adding ice cubes to the liquid and adding a foam cover

    Liquids for finding out what molecules make foam in other recipes or environments:

    • water - use tap water
    • salt - use a couple of teaspoons of salt in water
    • protein - use a little egg white in water
    • sugar - a couple of teaspoons of sugar in water
    • fatty acid - a couple of drops of dish soap in water
    Procedure

    Logic puzzle to figure out what molecules can make foam
    Beforehand, make up dropper bottles of six liquids: water, distilled water, drink mix, soap, skim milk and whole milk (make sure the milks are cold).
    Students drip each liquid separately into a tube to fill it half way.
    Cap and shake hard.
    Look for foam above the liquid i.e. bubbles that remain for more than a couple of seconds. (Make sure the milks are really cold, when they will make foam. The soap will also make foam. The waters and the drink mix should not make foam.)
    Figure out which molecules make foam from the liquids that do and don't make foam. This puzzle is most easily done by figuring out which molecules do not make foam, and then deducing which ones must be making foam in the liquids that do foam. Use the attached foam test worksheet to help.

    Testing molecules to see which ones make the foam in a recipe or environment
    Beforehand, make up dropper bottles of the molecules that are in the recipe or environment:
    To find out what makes the foam in meringue make bottles of water, protein (in the egg white), sugar and salt (the cream of tartar).
    To find out what makes the foam in milkshake make bottles of water, protein, sugar, salt and fatty acid (all components of milk).
    To find out what makes the foam in ocean waves breaking on a beach, make bottles of water, salt, protein (from living things in the ocean) and fatty acids (from living things in the ocean).

    In these activities, protein and fatty acids will make foam, but water, salt and sugar will not.

    How is the foam made?
    Before the tube was shaken, the protein/fatty acid molecules were spread out. During shaking, air bubbles are mixed in. The protein or fatty acid molecules cluster around these air bubbles, holding them in place. The foam you see is hundreds of tiny air bubbles held in place.

    More detail: the protein/fatty acid molecules have two different parts - one end of the molecule likes to be in water ("hydrophilic") and the other end does not like to be in water ("hydrophobic"). The hydrophobic parts stick into the air bubbles (so only touch air) and the hydrophilic parts project into the water surrounding the bubbles. The protein/fatty acid molecules surrounding each air bubble stabilizes them so that they remain suspended in the mixture.
    Salt/sugar molecules don't cluster around air bubbles, so they don't make foam.

    A foam is a kind of mixture called a colloid, with a gas suspended in a liquid. (See the attached mixtures summary for more information on mixtures.)

    The attached ocean foam activity booklet is a self-guided activity investigating the molecules that make the foam in the ocean.

    Notes

    Try protein powder instead of egg white, for protein

    Grades taught
    Gr K
    Gr 1
    Gr 2
    Gr 3
    Gr 4
    Gr 5
    Gr 6
    Gr 7