CTE Forensics Buying Guide

CTE Forensic Buying Guide Equipping your CTE classroom for courses within the Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security career cluster—such as forensic science, criminal justice, or criminalistics—can be a challenge. Our guide identifies all of the kits and materials needed to teach a comprehensive forensics CTE course along with equipment suggestions and free lessons that […]
Decomposition by Physarum polycephalum

A Carolina EssentialsTM Activity Total Time: 2.75 hr Prep: 1.5 | Activity: 1.25 Life Science 9-12 High School Total Time: 2.75 hr [ Prep: 1.5 hrs | Activity: 1.25 hrs ] Subject: Life Science Grade: High School Introduction This observational microbiology activity introduces students to a slime mold from the genus Physarum, a decomposer found […]
Urban Stream Syndrome

Purpose, goal, and standards This activity examines urban stream syndrome and how urbanization affects stream banks. Urban streams often have issues with both physical structure and chemical composition. While this activity focuses on the physical changes, the chemical changes can be more important to the overall health of the stream. Even if a stream exhibits […]
Water: A Liquid That Can Take the Heat

Water is an amazing liquid. Not only is it the main solvent of cellular protoplasm, it also helps moderate climates with its high heat capacity. Water absorbs a large quantity of heat and slowly releases it over a period of time. This is the reason coastal climates are more moderate than climates farther inland. Water’s […]
Petri Dish Electrolysis Activity

Petri dish electrolysis is a simple, colorful way to introduce or wrap up many topics in chemistry. Use this activity to introduce reduction-oxidation reactions and electrochemistry. When using it at the beginning of a lesson, you can learn what students already know, while using it at the end can highlight their learning. Student misconception:Â Electrolytic cells […]
Webinar: Student-Designed Ecosystem Experiments in Middle Grades

Student-designed investigations that use Wisconsin Fast Plants® to study ecosystems are powerful, three-dimensional learning experiences. In this webinar, we share a ready-to-teach, hands-on approach for upper elementary or middle school students to investigate ecosystem interactions. Hedi Baxter Lauffer and Claudia SolÃÂs-Lemus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison demonstrate and discuss how to support learners in identifying […]
Cow Eye Dissection

In-Booth Demonstration Life Science 6-12 Middle / High School Carolina’s Perfect Solution® cow eye dissection introduces students to the anatomy of the mammalian eye. This activity allows students to identify the major structures of the eye. The activity supports 3-dimensional learning and builds toward the following: NGSS Scientific and Engineering Practice: Developing and Using Models NGSS […]
Strawberry DNA Extraction

In Booth Demo Life Science 9-12 High School Your students may never look at strawberries the same way again! This activity is designed mainly to introduce students to DNA. A discussion of how this DNA extraction procedure works might also touch on the plant cell wall, the cell membrane, proteins, and DNA’s lack of solubility […]
Butterfly Necklace

In Booth Demo Life Science K-12 Elementary / High School Students gain an understanding of the life cycle of the painted lady butterfly. They observe the growth and development of a larva in the butterfly necklace, a miniature habitat in which the larva eats, grows, molts, and forms a chrysalis. Then, they transfer the chrysalis […]
Let’s Agree—Lab Safety First

Laboratory safety is paramount for every teacher in every science classroom. Communicating to students and modeling safe lab practices are requisite actions from the very first day of school and every day that follows. It’s not always easy for students to understand the importance of lab safety or master the techniques needed in class. As […]