Pumpkin Chemistry and The Haunted Library

What do you get when you cross the following: anatomy and physiology students, chemistry students, the school library, Halloween, the science club, and the Make-A Wish Foundation?

Just complete science FUN!!

Each year at our school, our students who are enrolled in either Anatomy and Physiology or Chemistry are required to carve a pumpkin with a theme that corresponds to the class that are taking.  As you would expect, some of the students go all out and bring in some really amazing creations, while others just do the bare minimum.  But, it always turns out to be a great day, and all involved have a lot of fun.

The library transformed!

All members of the science club stay after school one day and transform the library into "The Haunted Library"!!

The librarian is a great sport to allow us to do this to her library!

After the library has been decorated, all of the participating students bring in their carved pumpkins to put on display.  Next, you turn on the creepy music and turn on the ghosts that fly across the room, and you have a haunted library!

What did they do to my skeleton?

During the day, all students in our school are given the opportunity to visit our haunted library.  Each student pays $1.00 for admission.  And since the students are allowed to leave class (with teacher permission) to visit the library, you can well imagine that every kid in school is begging their teacher to take them to the library.  All of the money we raise goes to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  I am proud that this year we were able to donate over $1000 to this wonderful organization!

Here are some of the pumpkins that were created for this year's haunted library.  I saved my favorites for the very last!

I will start with the one that my own daughter created!  Have you seen the movie, "Up"?  She carved the house from the movie into the bottom pumpkin, and add three helium balloon pumpkins on top.  On the left, is the pumpkin with the info from the periodic table about helium.

This one was created by an anatomy student.  Each bone in the hand and arm was clearly and correctly labeled.  Very cute!

This student did a great job carving a brain!

It's water with a bat-smile!

With my flash....

In the dark....

A model of an atom....

Carbon Dioxide....

We had two 

Einsteins!

 

A few of our special effects....

I loved this "ScArDy" Cat!

Very clever!

This student carved a pretty good heart!

And now for my very favorite!  This student did an amazing job carving a human fetus, and then placed it inside Mom's tummy!

I hope you have enjoyed this post.  It takes an incredible amount of work to pull this off, but the students loved it, and we raised so much money for a very worthy cause!  Win/win for all involved!

Happy Teaching!!

Discovery Education

I have spent the first part of this morning looking at the Discovery Education web site.  If you have never seen this site, and you teach school, you should head there right now!  It has free lessons and teaching materials for all subject areas and all grade levels.  Of course, I spent my time perusing the science section for grades 6 - 8 and 9 - 12.

Each lesson includes the following:  Objectives, Materials, Procedures, Discussion Questions, Evaluation, Extensions, Suggested Readings, Links, Vocabulary, and Standards.  Wow!!  Everything the teacher needs!

Here are some of the lessons I really liked for middle school students:

Robots:  The lesson centers around how robots will improve life for humans, especially those that have disabilities.

Transition Metals:  Students will identify and describe transition metals, discuss alloys and their benefits, and research one common alloy, its composition, properties, and uses.






Here are some of the lessons I really liked for high school students:

Underwater Forensics:  Students will discover how a team of scientists uncover the facts about a shipwreck, describe the roles of scientists and technicians on an underwater forensics team,  research a shipwreck, and demonstrate understanding of why such incidents occur.

Galileo's Dialogue:  Students will understand the following:

•	Galileo's conclusions about the position of Earth in the solar system raised objections from the Church.
•	Galileo lived at the beginning of a period in which scientific inquiry flourished.

As you can see, there are some really great activities on this site.  I hope you will find some useful lessons for your particular teaching situation.  Happy Teaching!!

Lab: Gas Exchange in Respiration

Gas Exchange in Respiration:

Qualitative Observation of Carbon Dioxide Release

It is the time of year for teaching photosynthesis and respiration to my biology students.  I think that all biology teachers will agree that these are difficult concepts to teach to our students.  Other than genetics, I think that the topics of photosynthesis and respiration may be my favorite topics to teach.  I enjoy the chemistry aspects, and I especially enjoy sitting back and marveling at how beautiful these two processes are.  I really get excited in my classroom and can often be heard saying, "Isn't it cool how this works?!"

Which do you teach first?  Personally, I like to teach respiration first.  After 28 years of teaching, I find that this approach works best for me.  I have tried it both ways, and now I always start with respiration.

It is so important to make sure that the students first have a firm grasp on the "big picture".  Emphasize the reactants and the products.  Make sure the students understand what the end result will be.  Then start adding in the details of the chemical reactions.  Once the student has a basic understanding of the relationship between these two processes, you can begin to add the details just like hanging ornaments on a Christmas tree.  As I move into the more complicated aspects of these chemical reactions, my students become more and more excited.  They quickly realize that they can really "see" the chemistry that is taking place.  

Unfortunately, I have found it very difficult to find good labs to reinforce the concepts of respiration.  I find photosynthesis labs to be more more effective.  At any rate, today I did this lab with my students:  Gas Exchange in Respiration.  The basic idea is to show students that living organisms give off carbon dioxide.  In the test tubes shown in the picture above, a small amount of phenol red has been added to each tube.  Glass beads are added to provide a barrier between the phenol red and the specimens that will be added to each tube.  As you look at the picture, the tube to the far left contains a piece of paper toweling that was dipped in a boiled yeast solution.  Tube 2 has paper toweling that was dipped into a fresh yeast solution.  Tube three contains 5-10 germinated seeds.  Tube four contains 5-10 dry seeds.  And tube 5 contains only the phenol red and no additional materials.  If the organism gives off carbon dioxide it will cause the phenol red to change from red to orange or yellow.  The tubes containing boiled yeasts and dry seeds will not show any change in the phenol red.  Fresh yeast and germinated seeds are actively respiring and will quickly cause a color change in the phenol red.

If you have great lab ideas for respiration, I would love to hear them!  Happy Teaching!

Gas Exchange in Respiration:

Qualitative Observation of Carbon Dioxide Release

Pinterest - The Latest Craze!

Are you a Pinterest addict yet?

If you have not taken a look at this site yet, then don't delay!  Head that way right now.  Pinterest is the latest craze and people are pinning like mad.  What are they pinning?  Just everything under the sun, from recipes, to clothes, to science products (!), to favorite books and movies.  Pinterest is like a huge bulletin board.  If you have something you like, you can pin it to a board that you have created.

I hope that you will check out all of my boards.  So far, I have created 34 boards.  Most of my boards are related to teaching science and you will find some great teaching materials there.  I have also found some terrific recipes on Pinterest and have pinned them to my "recipe" board.  The chocolate souffle recipe I found is to die for!

Check out my pin boards here:  Science Stuff on Pinterest!  I would love for you to become one of my Pinterest followers.

Happy pinning!

Science Skills: Let the Student Design the Experiment!

In my many years of teaching, I have discovered that my students do not truly understand how to apply the scientific method.  When they reach my high school biology class, they can recite the steps to the scientific method, but few can actually design a controlled experiment.   Most science teachers (me included!) have our students complete “cookbook” labs in which the student follows a list of steps and hopefully reaches the desired outcome or conclusion.    I am trying to move away from this approach and make my labs more inquiry driven.  This is no easy task!!  Due to overloaded classes, time constraints  and nonexistent budgets, few science teachers can take a class to the lab and turn them lose for independent lab work.

With all of that in mind, I have written this “Student Designed Experiment” that has worked very well for me.  Here are the main points:

• In this activity, all students will be designing a lab on the same topic and using the same simple materials. This is essential when you first begin to teach your students how to design an experiment.  On the first attempt, you do NOT want your students going in a million different directions.  If all students are working on the same topic, they can help and guide one another, and it allows you, as the instructor, to better assist the struggling students.
• In the activity that I use, students are asked to design an experiment to determine how various quantities of water will affect the germination of seeds.  It is a very simple topic.  I don't want my students getting bogged down in the subject matter.  I just want them to focus on the steps of the scientific method and how to design an experiment.
• There are only a very few ways in how to design this experiment.   Perfect! This keeps all of the students moving in the same direction.  This makes your role as facilitator easier, especially if the class size is large.  If this is the first time your students have tried to design their own experiment, the limited possibilities in experimental design will help your students learn the process with less frustration.
• This requires very simple materials:  Petri dishes or other similar container, radish seeds, graduated cylinder, and water.
• In this activity, students are asked to identify the independent and the dependent variables.  They must also describe their experimental group and their control group.
• Students must design a data table and construct a graph of the data they collect.
• The handouts that I have developed for this activity can be used over and over.  If you have another idea for a ”student designed experiment”, you can have your students use these same handouts.
• If time allows, you might want to have your students design a second experiment that tests a different variable, such as the effect of temperature on seed germination or the effect of pH on seed germination. 

The process of teaching the "student-designed experiment" is somewhat time consuming, but in my opinion, is well worth the time and effort. This lesson cannot be completed in one class period. I require that students first submit their experimental design to me for approval. I make suggestions, and have the students refine their experiment. Next, students are in the lab to actually carry out their experiment. Students must return to the lab at different time intervals to count their germinated seeds. Students must analyze their data, graph the results, reach a conclusion, and turn in their final packet of work. As you can see, this cannot be done in a 50-minute class period. However, when your students have completed the activity, they should have a firm and concrete grasp on the scientific method and how to design a controlled experiment.

You can find the lab handouts that I use with my students in my TpT store by clicking on the red links.  There are two sets of handouts included.  The first set is used to carry out the seed germination experiment.  The second set can be used all year long as your students continue to design and carry out experiments on topics of their choice.

 Scientific Method Lab: The Student-Designed Experiment

Enjoy!  (...and Good Luck!!)

New FREE Item: Chart of Amino Acids and Codons

If you are a biology or life science teacher, I believe that you will be able to use this!

As you know, there are 20 amino acids that are used to build all the various proteins in living systems.  When teaching about protein synthesis, I like to have my students work out this process.  I give them the DNA sequence of a particular gene, and ask them to determine the mRNA sequence, the tRNA sequence, and the amino acid sequence of the protein.  In order to determine the amino acid sequence, the students need a chart in order to look up the mRNA codons.

I have used this chart for some time and I like it best of all the ones I have used.

Here is a link to this FREE product:  Chart of Codons and Amino Acids.  I hope that you find this "freebie" useful.

Also related:  Determining the Traits of a Mystery Organism Organism Through Protein Synthesis.

Science Skills: Comparing and Contrasting

I am back on my "science skills" kick!!  

I spent most of my summer refining the ways that I teach the important skills in science:  critical thinking, problem solving, graphing, metric measurements, the scientific method, etc.  In this technological age, teaching science has become much less about the "facts" and much more about the "skills".  The facts are at our fingertips....we only have to push a few buttons on our computer and the facts coming flying out at us.  Don't misunderstand, though.  I still teach a fairly traditional biology class and I make sure I cover what needs to be covered.

So what has changed in my class?  I am making much more of an effort to included activities, worksheets, and labs that are not as much "content based" as they are "skills based".  The science portion of the ACT test is now called "Science Reasoning".  The AP Biology curriculum is being changed next year in favor of an inquiry approach to biology.  These changes are good.  The message to science teachers is "Teach your students how to THINK!"

Most science teachers would agree that students who have developed good "science skills" will be far more successful in a science class than those students who simply memorize a laundry list of science facts.   In my attempt to include more problem solving activities, I wrote this lesson (see link below) and just tried it out in my Biology I classes today.  It was a lesson (or a review) in "comparing and contrasting" for the science student.

I began the lesson with a short PowerPoint presentation.  I wanted my students to understand what it means to "compare and contrast".  During the Powerpoint presentation, students were asked to compare two living organisms.  The students made a list of the similarities and differences between these two organisms.  After comparing and contrasting the two organisms, I had the students determine why these similarities and differences are important to these organisms.

The PowerPoint presentation was followed up by 5 page student worksheet.  This worksheet made the students practice over and over the skills of comparing and contrasting.  The questions were thought provoking and required problem solving and critical thinking skills.

This lesson can be used at different times of the year.  Next year, I plan to use it at the beginning of the school year to get my students "thinking like a scientist".  Today, I used this Powerpoint and worksheet to introduce a unit on classification and taxonomy.  This lesson would also work extremely well when teaching a unit on Evolution.

I think this approach to teaching science will really pay off for my students as they take the ACT and AP exams.  As they were moaning and groaning over today's assignment, I reminded them, "No pain, no gain!!"

Here is a link to the product, if you are interested.

Science Skills Worksheet and PowerPoint:  Comparing and Contrasting

The Best Osmosis and Diffusion Lab for High School Biology

The Best Osmosis and Diffusion Lab for High School Biology: Engaging, Visual, and Data-Driven

Looking for the perfect biology lab to teach osmosis and diffusion?
This hands-on lab activity combines visual learning with measurable results. And, best of all, it’s easy to set up, uses common lab materials, and reinforces essential biology concepts like plasmolysis, hypotonic vs. hypertonic solutions, active vs. passive transport, and water movement across cell membranes.

✅ Minimal prep
✅ Simple materials
✅ Microscopy, graphing, and calculations—all in one lab!

Why Every Biology Teacher Needs This Osmosis and Diffusion Lab:

When it comes to teaching cell transport processes like osmosis, diffusion, and plasmolysis, it’s critical to move beyond definitions and diagrams. Students need to see it. They need to measure it. They need to analyze it.

That’s why this osmosis and diffusion lab activity has become a staple in my high school biology classroom. It checks every box:

• Reinforces microscope skills
• Visualizes plasmolysis in plant cells
• Engages students in weighing, measuring, and calculating
• Requires a hand-drawn graph
• Promotes data analysis and critical thinking
• Illustrates real-world application of scientific method

A Timeless Biology Lab That Just Works

Osmosis and diffusion are cornerstones of any cell structure and function unit. While there are many labs available on this topic, this one stands out. I’ve used countless variations over the years, and this two-part lab consistently generates the strongest student engagement and understanding.

When students literally say, “Whoa, that’s so cool!” as they watch plasmolysis unfold under the microscope—that’s a teaching win.

Part A: Observing Plasmolysis in Real Time (Qualitative)

In the first part of the lab, students observe osmosis in plant cells using a microscope. Start with a thin layer of red onion skin or a leaf from an Elodea (Anacharis) plant. Students first examine the cells in distilled water, sketch the cells, and note the position of the cytoplasm and vacuole.

Next comes the wow moment: swap the distilled water for a 15% salt solution. The plasmolysis is immediate and dramatic. Students watch as the cell membrane pulls away from the cell wall due to water loss. It’s the perfect visual demonstration of hypertonic solutions in action.

Part B: Measuring Osmosis in Potato Cores (Quantitative)

The second half of the lab brings in data analysis and graphing practice—making it ideal for reinforcing both science content and scientific skills.

Here’s how it works:

1.     Use a cork borer to create uniform potato cores.

2.     Mass the cores in groups of four and record the initial weight.

3.     Place each group in a different sucrose solution of known molarity.

4.     Let them sit overnight.

5.     Re-mass the cores the next day and calculate the percent change in mass.

6.     Plot the data to determine the solute concentration of the potato tissue.

7.     Analyze whether each solution was hypotonic, hypertonic, or isotonic.

The beauty of this activity? It reinforces the concepts of osmotic pressure, solute concentration, and equilibrium, all while helping students master graphing and data interpretation.

Looking for a ready-to-use resource that includes  student instructions, answer keys, and editable versions? Check out my Osmosis and Diffusion Lab on Teachers Pay Teachers! It's classroom-tested, student-approved, and designed to make your job easier.