Are you planning high school summer science opportunities? Carolina offers technique-based activities for students who love lab work.
Science enrichment
Many students look forward to a summer science camp. A week or more is ideal, but some students just don’t have the time or resources for that kind of science camp experience. Alternatively, students may be interested in several half-day sessions for science enrichment or remediation, if needed.
While summer science camp introduces students to careers, techniques, and generalized concepts, enrichment activities are for students who have a passion for a particular topic or field. Enrichment activities go beyond the standard curriculum and allow students to delve deeper into content. This summer, enrichment activities may be more important than ever.
Carolina offers technique-based activities for students who love lab work, including investigations on advanced topics in biology, chemistry, physics, and environmental science. We also supply materials for robotics and programming also. Many of these activities are best completed in a face-to-face format for efficiency, cost, and safety considerations.
Lab techniques
Distillation
Separating and purifying the components of mixtures is a major challenge for the chemical industry. Help students get a jump start on chemistry labs by including distillation in their camp.
Build excitement around water distillation by allowing students to design, construct, and test their own water distillation apparatus with the Carolina STEM Challenge®: Solar Water Distillation Kit. Students gain hands-on experience with evaporation and distillation while using an incandescent light source to model solar energy. They also gain real-world experience using distillation to remove contaminants (salt) from water. In this design challenge, students compete to produce the most contaminant-free water in a 24-hour period. Alternatively, use the Student Distillation Kit to distill the solution of your choosing.
Dissection
Use one of these dissection kits to help students gain and improve their dissection skills:
- Advanced Brain Dissection Student Kit
- Advanced Frog Dissection BioKit® with Dissection Mats
- Advanced Rat Dissection BioKit® with Dissection Mats
Additional Reading: Basics of the Dissection Lab
Advanced science topics
Select one of the kits below for your summer program focused on human genetics.
Carolina BioKits®: Human Chromosome Analysis
Bring hands-on learning into your classroom and connect it to real-world human disorders to reinforce genetics with your students. Introduce students to karyotyping using photomicrograph pictures of human chromosomes for a normal male or female. Then, let students explore simulated chromosomes as they learn more about numerical and structural chromosome abnormalities that exist in the population.
Carolina BioKits®: Introduction to Gene Regulation: The lac Operon
Introduce your students to gene regulation with this lab activity focused on the lac operon. Students test the B-galactosidase levels of 3 cultures grown in the presence of glucose, lactose, or glucose and lactose. You have the option of allowing students to perform the activity as a quantitative lab (with spectrophotometer) or as a qualitative lab (without spectrophotometer).
Genetic Kinship: Following the Globin Gene Through Time
This kit introduces genetic similarity and variation by evolutionary processes. Students can examine the evolution of the globin gene family with 3 dynamic activities. In the first activity, students use magnetic nucleotide bases to model DNA and RNA structure. They generate a mutation in the sequence and investigate subsequent changes in the amino acid sequence. In the second activity, students focus on gene duplication by making cladograms.
Using an Alu Insertion Polymorphism to Study Human Populations
This high-quality kit gives your students the opportunity to determine their own genotype by looking at a 300-nucleotide Alu insertion (PV92). The experiment is set up to ensure students succeed in making real-world connections between population genetics, evolution, DNA sequencing, and much more.
Using a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) to Predict Bitter Tasting Ability Kit
Explores the molecular basis of the inherited ability to taste the bitter chemical phenylthiocarbamide (PTC). Students determine their ability to taste PTC using taste paper. They then use safe saline mouthwash and Chelex® extraction to obtain a sample of their own DNA and amplify a 221-nucleotide region of the PTC taste receptor gene.
Mitochondrial DNA Polymorphisms in Human Evolution
Students use a classroom-friendly protocol involving saline mouthwash or a hair sample and Chelex® extraction to obtain a sample of their own DNA then amplify and sequence a 440-nucleotide segment of a hypervariable region of the mitochondrial chromosome.
Modeling kits
Students explore the chemistry of carbon using a variety of modeling methods with the Inquiries in Science®: Introducing Organic Chemistry Kit. Based on the models created, they learn about molecular shape, stereochemistry, isomerism, and different classes of organic compounds. A series of exercises help students relate the structure of organic molecules to their functional applications.
This molecular model set enables students to construct ball-and-stick as well as space-filling models of organic compounds.
Organic wet labs
The following kits include the instructions and materials needed to perform classic organic chemistry wet labs.
Carolina ChemKits®: Qualitative Analysis of Proteins and Amino Acids Kit
Carolina ChemKits®: Introduction to Properties of Lipids Kit
Carolina ChemKits®: Caffeine Extraction from Tea
Applied physics
Take your physics course to the next level while having students apply their knowledge to problems.
Applied physics: crime scene investigation
Use one of these kits to apply physics knowledge to a crime scene.
Applied physics: mechanics
Teach students basic physics and engineering concepts using the Eisco® Garage Physics™ Kits. This line of kits was designed for elementary and middle school students. Many of the kits contain concepts so universal and important that high school students benefit from their use.
Eisco® Garage Physics™: Leonardo da Vinci Bridge Kit
Eisco® Garage Physics™: Ballista Kit
Eisco® Garage Physics™: Ball Bearing Roller Coaster Kit
Environmental science
Use real-life scenarios to get students excited about environmental science. Students conduct multiple investigations during the “explore” portion of these kits. Choose one of the following to match the learning objectives of your program:
Inquiries in Science®: Experiencing Air Pollution Kit
Inquiries in Science®: Testing Water Pollution Kit
Inquiries in Science®: Modeling the Hydrosphere Kit
Inquiries in Science®: Determining Agricultural Resources
Inquiries in Science®: Sustaining Ecosystems
Inquiries in Science®: Understanding Climate Change
Additional Reading: Make a Splash with Summer Science Camps
Science credit recovery
It’s been a rough year filled with disruptions and uncertainties. Consequently, there may be more students than usual that need credit recovery. Remediation doesn’t have to be dry or boring.
We offer Carolina Kits 3D® Flex and Flex Digital programs for biology and chemistry that provide background content plus investigation activities. Carolina Kits 3D® Flex is designed as a single student kit providing the opportunity for in-class, socially distanced, or at-home student investigations. Carolina Kits 3D® Flex Digital is a digital product that provides an authentic lab and data collection experience at home or in class. Some investigations require materials or manipulatives, and some are procedural videos where students collect and analyze data from the videos.
The Flex program is appropriate for face-to-face, socially distanced, and remote learning. The Flex Digital program was designed especially for teacher-guided and independent remote learning.
- Carolina Kits 3D® Flex Biology
- Carolina Kits 3D® Flex Chemistry
- Carolina Kits 3D® Flex Digital Biology
- Carolina Kits 3D® Flex Digital Chemistry
- Carolina Kits 3D® Flex Digital Earth and Space Science
- Carolina Kits 3D® Flex Digital Environmental Science
The Flex program is divided into these learning segments:
Biology
Chemistry
Chemical and Nuclear Reactions
Reaction Rates and Equilibrium
Structure and Properties of Matter
You can pick and choose the segments you need to individualize student credit recovery plans.
Additional classroom kits applicable to science credit recovery are listed below.
Skills need to be practiced, and science skills are no different. Summer science opportunities give students the time and guidance to practice lab skills; relearn concepts they missed; recall and use knowledge and practices they have already gained; and explore their personal interests in depth.
Enrichment and learning recovery can be fun, exciting, and rewarding for both you and your students. If you need help with planning or pricing a summer program or just need suggestions, let us know.
