Suggesting using the cockroach as a free resource to teach students lessons on population dynamics and habitat management that apply to all wildlife. Presents suggestions on how and where to locate and trap cockroaches. Emphasizes the importance of controlling their population without using dangerous pesticides. (BC)

Suggests making insect models to learn more about the world of insects. List of materials needed and recommended procedures are provided. Also suggests other interdisciplinary activities for investigating insects in the classroom, including the preparation of an insect zoo using the student-constructed models. (BC)

Methods of collecting, isolating, and culturing microscopic and macroscopic marine algae are described. Three different culture media list of chemicals needed and procedures for preparing Erdschreiber's and Provasoli's E. S. media. (BC)

Procedures for demonstrating rainbows in the classroom are provided. Materials required include a clear plastic box (the size of a shoebox), water, and an overhead projector. Also tells how to make a rainbow on the chalkboard using colored chalk. (JN)

Presents ideas for teaching ecology in the winter. Suggested topic areas or units include snow insulation and density, snowflakes and snow crystals, goldenrod galls, bird behavior, survival techniques, bacteriology and decomposition, trees and keying, biomass and productivity, pollution, and soil organisms. A sample student activity sheet is…

Presents three activities: (1) investigating succession in a schoolground; (2) investigating oak galls; and (3) making sun prints (photographs made without camera or darkroom). Each activity includes a list of materials needed and procedures used. (JN)

Recommends an experiment which will help students experience the physical evidence that floors, tables, and walls actually bend when pressure is exerted against them. Set-up includes: laser, radio, solar cell, and wall-mounted mirror. When the beam is moved by pressure on the wall, participants can "hear the wall bend." (DH)

Discusses methods used in the biological assessment of river quality and such indicators of clean and polluted waters as the Trent Biotic Index, Chandler Score System, and species diversity indexes. Includes a summary of a river classification scheme based on quality criteria related to water use. (JN)

Presents a laboratory problem in metamorphic petrology designed to simulate a research experience. The problem deals with data on scales ranging from a geologic map to hand specimens to thin sections. Student analysis includes identifying metamorphic index minerals, locating their isograds on the map, and determining the folding sequence. (BC)

Describes: basic features of pollen grains (shapes, apertures, layering of wall, exine sculpturing); strategies for pollination (anemophily--wind transported, zoophily--animal transported); and the structures specialized for each process. Gives instructions for using scanning electron microscope photographs and for collecting, identifying, and…

Describes a laboratory investigation designed to analyze surface area to volume ratio related to cell division. Uses agar-gel "cells" with pH indicator added which are then "fed" acid for a measured time. Discusses procedures and materials used, providing a sample data table and important guiding questions. (JM)

Measurement of harmonic amplitude and phase response are discussed, focusing on an instrument used to demonstrate motion of a damped system when oscillating freely and motion of the same system when driven into harmonic oscillation. Includes procedures, sample results, and comparison of results to values calculated from geometry of the system. (JM)

Describes a soap bubble motor, house insulation models, using hot-water bottles as heat sources, solar mobile, surface tension boat, evaporative cooling experiments, six activities on heat, and a magic trick based on friction. Also discusses using the Cambion Electronics Kit to introduce junior high students to the subject. (JM)

Discusses two activities suitable for group involvement or demonstration purposes. The first focuses on factors which determine how much time an object (such as a ball) will take to fall to the ground from a certain height. The second concerns the nonconservation of volume when two soluble liquids are added together. (JN)

Describes a series of demonstrations and/or group activities used in a science methods course for prospective elementary school teachers. The topics include center of gravity, behavior of fluids; electricity and magnetism, the motion of objects, chemical reactions, and sound. (GS)