To prepare students to think about the data, assumptions, and interpretations that are part of a phylogenetic analysis. This exercise comes in five parts. The first part is all of the data -- all specimens and age dates for all specimens. This simulates the impossible -- a complete fossil record. The second part has 10% of the specimens randomly removed (an imperfect fossil record), but all age information is provided for the 90% given. Similarly, the third and fourth parts have 20% (different 20%s) of the data randomly removed, and all information is provided for the 80% of remaining specimens (a more imperfect fossil record). The fifth part has dates only for the modern forms -- all other dates are removed. This simulates the situation for a group lacking a fossil record or a situation where the fossil record is ignored.

Depending on the class size, students either individually or in groups develop a phylogeny from their data prior to class time. In class we lay everything out on tables and compare and contrast the various phylogenies and in the process discuss many of the basic assumptions, practices, biases, etc. of phylogenetic reconstruction.

You could make this more complex and have students code things into MacClade, Paup, etc.; however, I use this for the concepts of phylogenetic reconstruction only.

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Diseñe una búsqueda del tesoro para una caminata familiar.Actividad de Bolsa de STEM Semanal. Agentes de Colorado Americorp en los condados de Araphahoe, Denver, Garfield, Larimer y Weld. Trabajo apoyado por la Corporación para el Servicio Nacional y Comunitario bajo el número de subvención 18AFHCO0010008 de Americorps. Las opiniones o puntos de vista expresados en esta lección pertenecen a los autores y no representan necesariamente la posición oficial o una posición respaldada por la Corporación o el programa Americorps.

Make campfire smores trail mix. Activity from Weekly STEM in a Bag. Colorado Americorp agents in Araphahoe, Denver, Garfield, Larimer, and Weld Counties. Work supported by the Corporation for National and Community Service under Americorps grant number 18AFHCO0010008. Opinions or points of view expressed in this lesson are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of or a position that is endorsed by the Corporation or the Americorps program. This resource is also available in Spanish in the linked file.

Create a Camping Safety Whistle. Activity from Weekly STEM in a Bag. Colorado Americorp agents in Araphahoe, Denver, Garfield, Larimer, and Weld Counties. Work supported by the Corporation for National and Community Service under Americorps grant number 18AFHCO0010008. Opinions or points of view expressed in this lesson are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of or a position that is endorsed by the Corporation or the Americorps program. This resource is also available in Spanish in the linked file.

Students explore a range of resources on fair use and copyright then design their own audio public service announcements & PSA to be broadcast over the school's public address system.

In this part of the MRE scenario, students measure the enthalpy of a reaction.

In this part of the MRE scenario, students determine change in the enthalpy of a reaction as the concentration of reactants are varied.

This activity is a chance for students to apply the diffraction grating equation m*Λ/d = Θ to solve a real life problem: find the wavelength of given source of light. It is also useful for them to apply trigonometry to real life scenarios.

In this activity, students have an opportunity to learn about the geomorphology and soils of your campus. Within a team, students collect soils information and use it to construct of stratigraphic cross-section and outline major geologic events in the history of a given site.

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Students are asked to design and conduct an archaeological survey of the modern college campus, focusing on the provenience of litter and other trash, which is collected, sorted, and analyzed. Students develop a research question about college culture, waste management practices, and/or sustainability more generally and prepare an academic poster presenting their results.

Students conduct a greenhouse gas emission inventory for their college or university as a required part of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.

Students are given an outline map of the campus with no scale indicated. They are to work in small groups to determine the scale. Although rules and tape measures are provided, students are given no instruction on how to best determine the scale and are tasked with devising their own methodology. Students write their scales on the blackboard and we finish the class with a discussion of their various methodologies, sources of error, and why there is some variation among their results.

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Reading and constructing geologic maps is one skill that every geologists has to master. Initially, this means that we have to understand the symbols that are used on geologic maps. Once we know the general meaning of these symbols, we will have to learn how to measure and plot them. The measuring is generally done using a magnetic compass. Finally, we have to plot the data on a map so that others understand the geology based on our mapping.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Students use GPS units and record the location of some feature of interest on the campus. A shapefile is created from data recorded in an Excel file. This data is incorporated into a map which includes shapefiles and imagery for various campus features.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

After completing the associated lesson and its first associated activity, students are familiar with the 20 major bones in the human body knowing their locations and relative densities. When those bones break, lose their densities or are destroyed, we look to biomedical engineers to provide replacements. In this activity, student pairs are challenged to choose materials and create prototypes that could replace specific bones. They follow the steps of the engineering design process, researching, brainstorming, prototyping and testing to find bone replacement solutions. Specifically, they focus on identifying substances that when combined into a creative design might provide the same density (and thus strength and support) as their natural counterparts. After iterations to improve their designs, they present their bone alternative solutions to the rest of the class. They refer to the measured and calculated densities for fabricated human bones calculated in the previous activity, and conduct Internet research to learn the densities of given fabrication materials (or measure/calculate those densities if not found online).

Students construct three-dimensional models of water catchment basins using everyday objects to form hills, mountains, valleys and water sources. They experiment to see where rain travels and collects, and survey water pathways to see how they can be altered by natural and human activities. Students discuss how engineers design structures that impact water collection, as well as systems that clean and distribute water.

Students drop marbles into holes cut into shoebox lids and listen carefully to try to determine the materials inside the box that the marbles fall onto, illustrating the importance of surface composition on dolphins' abilities to sense materials, depth and texture using echolocation. This activity builds on what students learned in the associated lesson about bycatching by fisheries and how it affects marine habitats and species, especially dolphins. Students learn how echolocation works, why certain animals use it to determine the size, shape and distance of objects, and how people can take advantage of dolphins' echolocation ability when developing bycatch avoidance methods.

Students apply their knowledge of linear regression and design to solve a real-world challenge to create a better packing solution for shipping cell phones. They use different materials, such as cardboard, fabric, plastic, and rubber bands to create new “composite material” packaging containers. Teams each create four prototypes made of the same materials and constructed in the same way, with the only difference being their weights, so each one is fabricated with a different amount of material. They test the three heavier prototype packages by dropping them from different heights to see how well they protect a piece of glass inside (similar in size to iPhone 6). Then students use linear regression to predict from what height they can drop the fourth/final prototype of known mass without the “phone” breaking. Success is not breaking the glass but not underestimating the height by too much either, which means using math to accurately predict the optimum drop height.

This lab demonstrates Ohm's law as students set up simple circuits each composed of a battery, lamp and resistor. Students calculate the current flowing through the circuits they create by solving linear equations. After solving for the current, I, for each set resistance value, students plot the three points on a Cartesian plane and note the line that is formed. They also see the direct correlation between the amount of current flowing through the lamp and its brightness.

This lesson introduces students to the concept of air pressure. Students will explore how air pressure creates force on an object. They will study the relationship between air pressure and the velocity of moving air.