Humans are social animals; social demands, both cooperative and competitive, structure our development, our brain and our mind. This course covers social development, social behaviour, social cognition and social neuroscience, in both human and non-human social animals. Topics include altruism, empathy, communication, theory of mind, aggression, power, groups, mating, and morality. Methods include evolutionary biology, neuroscience, cognitive science, social psychology and anthropology.

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, scientists search for carbonized remains of plants preserved in lava flows to find out how long it has taken rain forests on Hawaii to regenerate after a volcanic eruption.

Without the work of decomposers, living organisms would eventually use up all the raw materials in the environment, and dead organisms and wastes would pile up. This video segment from Interactive NOVA: "Earth" describes the role of decomposers as the earth's great recyclers.

In this lesson, students will use an existing compost pile to make observations that will help them better understand the decomposition process.

In this visualization adapted from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, discover the role that dengue viral proteins play in a human cell as the virus prepares to replicate.

Why do objects like wood float in water? Does it depend on size? Create a custom object to explore the effects of mass and volume on density. Can you discover the relationship? Use the scale to measure the mass of an object, then hold the object under water to measure its volume. Can you identify all the mystery objects?

Concluding a two-part lab activity, students use triple balance beams and graduated cylinders to take measurements and calculate densities of several household liquids and compare them to the densities of irregularly shaped objects (as determined in Part 1). Then they create density columns with the three liquids and four solid items to test their calculations and predictions of the different densities. Once their density columns are complete, students determine the effect of adding detergent to the columns. After this activity, present the associated Density & Miscibility lesson for a discussion about why the column layers do not mix.

In this lab activity, students determine density differences of water samples with varying temperature and salinity levels. Students synthesize information to predict the effects of oil in given water samples.

This is an integration of science leaf observations with musical composition for early elementary students.

This video segment from NOVA: A Desert Place describes the physical characteristics and organisms that define the desert biome.

This video segment from Outdoor Nevada examines threats to the desert tortoise population.

This activity is a lab where students will design an experiment dealing with one of the five senses. Students will collect data outside of class, write a formal lab write up as well as a group presentation on their findings.

This activity is a lab where students design an experiment to test the rate of photosynthesis. Students will analyze data,write a report using the scientific method, and apply results to current environmental issues.

This video from Nature offers a description of desirable traits in beef and dairy cattle.

Spanish translation of CK-12 Conceptos de Ciencias de la Vida - Grados 6-8 - en Español. This segment describes the destruction of habits. The following concepts are evident: participles used as adjectives, present perfect, impersonal se, use of mente to create adverbs. Vocabulary used includes scientific cognates and ecology.

In this video segment from Nature, scientists question how animals mysteriously survive natural disasters.

In this activity, students will investigate how much chlorophyll is in olive oil using a Varnier Spectrometer. Students will measure and analyze the visible light absorbance spectra of three standard olive oils obtained from any supermarket: extra virgin, regular, and light.

In this deterministic cellular automata model, interactions between neighboring automata are described using a prisoner's dilemma. Limiting dispersal of seeds of annual plants can permit heterogeneous co-existence, whereas thorough mixing instead allows one subpopulation to dominate quickly.

During this unit, students will extend their understanding of opinion texts by using them as a basis to form an
opinion and write about it. Students closely read texts for literal comprehension and to connect ideas within and across texts to help them become informed readers. Students will decipher authors’ stance toward a topic and use their research to form their own opinion about the topic. With this informed point of view as readers and writers, students will be able to engage in persuasive literacy, discussions, and opinion writing. Throughout the unit, scaffolds and structures are embedded to support English Language learners. This unit is recommended to be taught after students have had experience with 3 rd grade Narrative and Informational writing.

This video segment from Greater Boston examines whether environmental toxins may be to blame for a rare skin disease.