Students reinforce an antenna tower made from foam insulation so that it can withstand a 480 N-cm bending moment (torque) and a 280 N-cm twisting moment (torque) with minimal deflection. During one class period, students discuss the problem, run the initial bending and torsion tests and graph the results. During the following class periods, students design, construct and test sturdier towers, and graph the results.

Global wind patterns are dictated by the movement of the Earth on its axis and are significant factors in determining the climate for regions of the planet. Students learn how the Coriolis effect and Hadley convection cells determine the location of deserts on Earth. They manipulate inflated plastic globes to discover how the Coriolis effect drives wind clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. Then they incorporate latitudinal differences onto this modeling exercise to understand why deserts form at 30 degrees north and south of the equator. Once students understand the importance of global winds, they discuss hydropower in the desert. They compare and contrast two case studies: China’s Three Gorges Dam, and Chile’s proposed plant in the Atacama Desert that would creatively use solar power to move seawater up to the top of a mountain so that it can flow back down and generate power. Students note the economic, environmental, cultural and social impacts, issues and benefits of both power plants. Then they reflect, write, debate and discuss their ideas and opinions using evidence from the case studies and their own research.

This activity is a gentle introduction to modeling via differential equations. The students will model the rate at which the word jumbo has propagated through English language texts over time.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"While indigestible to us, dietary fiber feeds the trillions of microbes that inhabit our gastrointestinal tract. So low fiber in the diet can spell trouble for gut health. To clarify the effects of low fiber, researchers monitored microbial communities in pigs fed a fiber-free diet. The similarity between humans and pigs in terms of gut ecosystem and fiber breakdown makes pigs a useful model for studying fiber intake. Within 1 week, fiber deprivation led to the gradual extinction of “good” bacteria such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, which are found in certain fermented foods. A diet rich in xylan, a natural plant fiber, was found to promote gut balance versus a fiber-free diet, largely by promoting the gut-friendly bacterium Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum and boosting the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which fuel microbial activity..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.