Presents an activity that tests the absorbency of different brands of paper towels. Suggests making this activity into an open-ended inquiry type of activity. Includes sample questions to guide students, topics for class discussion, and sample methods of using the absorbency activity. (KHR)

Presents an activity to answer the question, "What makes soda pop fizz?". Lists necessary materials and describes the procedure for making soda pop. Discusses the fermentation process and how it occurs. (NB)

One of the most important yet often overlooked uses of water is as a method of transportation or, navigation. Presents an activity to help students understand the importance of water as a critical, renewable, and natural resource for navigational use. Lists the learning objective, materials, and procedure for the activity. Also includes a foldout.…

Describes the Science ExpOlympics, an outreach program of competitive and noncompetitive events for high school students. Involves competitive activities, activities and demonstrations, and a science bowl competition for regional high school students. Lists events taking place at the Science ExpOlympics. (JRH)

Describes an Earth Day celebration where students had to design an invention made of simple machines that could crush an empty aluminum can through 10 rapid mechanical movements using materials foraged from the students' homes. (JRH)

Presents activities that involve the separation and identification of dyes from mouthwashes and the determination of their alcohol content. Provides a review of various analytical techniques and shows students that more than one instrument or technique may be required to analyze a product. (JRH)

Provides projects on soap bubbles designed to entertain and educate young children and high school/beginning college students as well as grown-ups with a variety of backgrounds. (MM)

Introduces an activity that focuses on qualitative and quantitative measurements of density, mass, volume, area, length, and units for making measurements and simple calculations. Includes instructor information and a student activity sheet. (Contains 14 references.) (Author/YDS)

Presents a scenario of a plane crash and asks students to identify passengers based on chemical compounds and passengers' health conditions. (YDS)

Presents an instructional approach that goes beyond memorization of new vocabulary in a unit on classification to engage students in cooperative learning activities. Students work in six teams differentiated by taxonomic level to create skits, models, a Mollusk Fashion Show, and pictures. In a final activity, students create their own…

Describes a sledding project for kindergarten students that engages them in designing, building, and testing miniature sleds. Uses a computer program to create blueprints and uses tools at a construction center in the classroom to build the sleds. Completed sleds were described by groups to the full class, then tested. Identifies connections…

Proposes a simple and low-cost experimental method for measuring atmospheric pressure. Uses a 100mL glass and Boyle's law for ideal gases as the only theoretical requirement. (Author/KHR)

Presents a student simulation activity based on the dideoxy chain termination method of determining the nucleotide sequence of DNA fragments developed in 1977 by Fred Sanger. (JRH)

Includes a description of a program designed to help students better recognize a wide variety of life forms and understand their important role in the ecosystem. Discusses the program format and observations about the program's effectiveness. A sample natural history sheet is also provided. (ZWH)

Presents a teaching strategy to successfully teach the periodic table using nuts and bolts as elemental analogs. Describes activities that enable the student to develop a deeper understanding of the periodic table and how it is organized. (JRH)