Sharing Session: Labs, Ideas, Websites for Earth Science and 8th Grade Science
1) Project Wild---Quick Frozen Critters.
a. The game has the students as predators or prey
b. http://dragon.sleepdeprived.ca/games/ecological/ecology.htm
i. web site has a bunch of ecological games from Project Wild
c. See http://mrsclarksscience.webs.com it contains the Project Wild Book
d. (Olivia Valk)
2) Food Web
a. Place the students in a group, each representing an organism. Throw a ball of string
around the group. The students will make food web. You can then have the students drop
the string to represent the factors that play on a food web. (Katelyn Burwell)
3) Soil Labs—See handout Earth
a. Separate silt, sand, clay; soil triangle, NPK test, field texture guide
b. (Keith Smith)
4) Rock Cycle Earth or 8th Grade
a. See How Rocks Change Handout ( Reylinda Phillips)
b. http://www.learner.org Rock Activity (Greta Browning)
5) Water Unit Activity 8th Grade or Earth Science
a. Materials needed: aluminum pan, aluminum foil, egg cartons, tape, markers, sponge,
outside grass, rocks, twigs, cup, pennies (Katelyn Burwell)
i. Water shed: Take the egg carton and put into the pan to create mountains, place the
foil on top of it for the land. Draw your rivers in different colors, pour in water and
watch the water sheds. Make sure you have a drainage area in the pan(lake)
ii. Wetlands: collect outside materials (rocks, grass, limbs) and lay into the pan, pour in
water. Then place in a sponge. Simulates wetlands
iii. Cohesion: take the cup and fill with water to the top, add in pennies until the water
overflows in the cup
b. Aquifer simulation (Amy Harrington)
i. Have to sets of containers one with small rocks (A) and one with large rocks (B)
ii. Pour an amount of water through the container (10mL or 100mL). Measure the
water table. Add the terms of permeability, porosity, well.
iii. See handout Awesome Aquifer Lab
c. Cohesion/Adhesion mostly 8th grade
i. See Handout: A Pile of Water (Aaron Bridges)
d. Cohesion and Adhesion with Soap---instead of using just water, use soapy water and see
how many drops of water you can add on the coin (Joel Nile)
i. Use different types of coins
e. Cohesion and Adhesion with pepper---Place water in a plate and add pepper to it. Then
place your finger in soap and touch the water. The pepper will scatter away. (Rene)
f. Macroinvertebrates (Wendy)
i. See handout
ii. Using M and M as macroinvertebrates and Skittles as water pollution, this activity
simulates different water quality. The students have a bag with different colors and
numbers of each and they have to explain. See cards for the groups. The students
create bar graphs with the information
6) http://www.enviroscapes.com
a. Has resources and kits for environment and water
b. Will bring and you can order (Keith Smith)
7) Natural Selection Activities
a. Battle of the Beak
i. https://www.newrockford-sheyenne.k12.nd.us/msswedmark/files/2012/01/Battle-of-the-Beaks-Lab.pdf
ii. (Joel Nile)
b. Bird Beak Buffet
i. See handout (Amy Harrington)
c. Relay with tri colored noodles in the grass, the students are placed in relay lines and they
have to find the noodles in the grass. Extra points for green ones. (Wendy Reid)
d. Peppered Moth lab—http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/peppermoth_paper.html
i. Using newspaper dots and white paper dots to simulate the moths and the birds
e. Give each student a butterfly picture, have them color it and hang it in the room. The other
students have to find the drawing and explain.
8) Plate tectonics
a. www.learner.org
i. Simulation of plate and sections of earth plus others
b. Milky way plate tectonics
i. See handout Edible plates (Amy Harrington)
c. Oreo Cookie Subduction (Wendy Reid)
i. Have the students bite into an open Oreo to simulate the subduction
9) Sun, Earth, Moon
a. 3 people in group, each one being sun, earth, moon, with no teaching, have the students
simulate the movement and the image of the sun, earth, moon system
b. Then refer back to the activity while teaching
c. Use the activity in testing with random students in groups
d. Amy Harrington
10)Random Craft Box (Ashley Campbell)
a. With any topic, you can use this idea
b. Have the students demonstrate the concept using materials out a box (cotton balls, ribbon,
paper, etc) by placing these objects on a piece of paper.
11)Foldable
a. Use any foldable for an activity
b. http://pinterest.com/kmp444/foldables/ see for pictures (Renes)
12) Geo Time Scale
a. See handout Toilet Paper Geologic Time Scale (Renee Hodges)
b. The students use toilet paper as the time line and place the dates of the geological time
scale on the strip. The handout has the events and dates for you.
13)Forensics
a. The Deadly Picnic—CSI investigation about a murder
b. (Wendy Reid)
14)Parasite Sleuth
a. See handout (Wendy Reid)
15)Photosynthesis and Cellular respiration
a. Cards with the reaction and products, students place them in order, have races (Jacki Clark)
16)http://mrsclarksscience.webs.com/
a. Lots of resources
b. Tic Tac Toe
17)Brain Pop
a. Heritage, eagles
18)Teachers Pay Teachers
19) www.thelearningodyssey.com
20) https://www.khanacademy.org/
a. Video and explanation, see biology or chemistry for 8th grade topics
21)http://sciencespot.net/
a. Various lessons on science
22)Story of Stuff
a. http://www.storyofstuff.org/