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At Heath Scientific, we’re all about hands-on learning. And what better way to learn than to participate in actual, cutting-edge science inquiries?
Citizen science allows ordinary people–like you, me, and our kids–to participate in science. For example, The Lost Ladybug Project asks people to find and photograph ladybugs, in an attempt to find rare ladybug species. A 10 and 11 year-old boy and girl made the first major breakthrough in the project when they found a rare 9-spotted ladybug–the first seen in the eastern United States in 14 years!
Can you imagine the power behind citizen science? Students aren’t just learning about science, they’re participating in it! They are making science happen. Along the way, they’ll learn observational skills and apply the scientific method, as a matter of course. They’ll also learn about the topic at hand, whether it’s neutron stars or backyard birds.
Are you ready? These fantastic websites have curated lists of citizen science projects for you to participate in!
Cool Cat Teacher lists 17 citizen science projects for schools, teachers, and parents
Hack Education describes 5 apps that encourage citizen science
The Daily Green has a slideshow of 25 citizen science projects
SciStarter indexes hundreds of projects including Moon Zoo and a DIY Laser Harp
We’ve also made a Pinterest board tracking citizen science opportunities.
Launching your lessons with a hands-on activity is a great way to get kids re-engaged in your classroom after Spring Break!
Our most popular items for your students’ return are bugs and critters. Kids of all ages love exploring the world of creepy crawly bugs. Explore metamorphosis! Or teach about the critters’ roles in the ecosystem. Gather a variety of critters and host a bug show.
If you prefer to not have live critters, consider life cycle models for a hands-on, but not creepy-crawly, way to explore the life cycle of insects.
We also provide classroom and individual student kits
Harvester ants are HUGE and easy to observe. Keep them contained in a habitat.
Don’t forget a habitat!
We also provide a growing kit with food, burlap, mealworms, pupae, and beetles; as well as an experiment kit to explore the mealworms’ sensitivity to light.
These harmless roly poly bugs are a great choice for those of us who might be a tad bit squeamish about other bugs.
Shh, here’s a secret: Sea-Monkeys are actually brine shrimp.
What are your students’ favorite critters to explore?
These resources, sorted by students’ ages, may help you in teaching about ants in your classroom or homeschool.
Ant unit: pre-writing, graphing, counting, craft, the letter A, patterns, and the ant life cycle
Explore ants in the salt tray, Hey Little Ant story, ant snack, and the ant life cycle
Ant zoom gallery: see an ant up close
Behavior of Ants 4-week lesson series
AntWeb: database of ant images and specimen records
Of course, one of the best ways to teach about ants is to allow students to experience ants hands-on in an ant farm or ant hill.
Sticky feet: how ants walk
Fire ants making a living raft in water
Ants herding other bugs
Excavating a colony
Underwater ant nest
Death spiral
Do you have any great resources for teaching about ants in your classroom or homeschool? Share them in the comments!
This post is part of a series on ants. Join us here and on Pinterest and Twitter to learn more about these fascinating creatures!
To start, we need to define current and voltage:
We are going to start with the simple circuit we created in a previous post (connect the alligator clip to negative side of battery, then connect to knife switch, knife switch to lamp holder, lamp holder to positive side of battery).
Now let’s make some modifications and create a parallel circuit. In a parallel circuit, the voltage stays constant in each branch of the circuit.
Creating a Parallel Circuit
Using our simple circuit with the knife switch in the upright position, we are going to add another load (light) and create a parallel circuit.
In a parallel circuit, the voltage stays constant in each branch of the circuit. So, using a 1.5V battery, both bulbs are receiving 1.5V of electricity. This is the reason both light bulbs have the same brightness. If you measured the current, you will find that the current is divided into each branch. Therefore, if 10 amps of current were flowing through the circuit, each light (or branch of the parallel circuit) would be receiving 5 amps of electricity. Adding the amount of current in each branch together, will give the total amount of current introduced into the circuit.
Heath Scientific has a kit called “Making Circuits Simple.” This kit has all you need to complete this experiment.