This book introduces students to some of the most unusual places in our galaxy outside of our solar system. Answering the question, "How many stars are in the sky?" introduces students to basic counting, tallying, and grouping techniques, as well as allowing for the use of simple proportions.

As science extension activities, this book of problems introduces students to mapping the shape of the Milky Way galaxy, and how to identify the various kinds of galaxies in our universe. Students also learn about the shapes and sizes of other galaxies in our universe as they learn how to classify them. The math problems cover basic scientific notation skills and how they apply to working with astronomically large numbers. It also provides exercises in plotting points on a Cartesian plane to map the various features of our Milky Way.

These assignments represent scaffolding for a self-directed final project.

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Ligers exist! But, why does a liger look like a mystical creature? Students will design a simulated genetically engineered animal for a biotechnology engineering firm, which creates newanimals.

This geotechnical project allows the student to become familiar with laboratory soil report and construction site maps. Student gain insight to the responsibilities of a Geotechnical Soil Scientist through determining the best use of soils and location for building structures and retention ponds.
The student is the on-site soil scientist/engineer for a construction project. The project is to build a local farm stand. Three site maps are provided: a topographic map of the site, a topographic map showing the location of the building pad and boreholes; a site map showing the topography after the construction is complete. The building pad will be at 27' and be the foundation for the farm stand. In this lab, students will solve problems that typically arise during the design and construction phase of a project. To help complete the lab, students need to create a soil laboratory report (see my activity: Soils as Construction Materials).

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In this lesson, students will observe, compare different objects, and be able to identify the properties of specific materials.

This activity is a field investigation or bio-blitz where students are collecting as many different types of insects as they can. Back in the lab, they will record their findings, sort and classify the insects found. This will lead into a class discussion on biodiversity and the importance of insects and their benefits all living things.

This project is a way to assemble information about geology, hydrogeology, and soils into a coherent whole in a way that may otherwise not happen in any one class. The "critical zone" concept ties the pieces together. This project is not tied to a course but I have used it as a component of a senior assessment for geology students.

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Students will use knowledge of ecosystems and living and non-living things to classify objects they find outdoors and create simple food chains.

6.0002 is the continuation of 6.0001 Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python and is intended for students with little or no programming experience. It aims to provide students with an understanding of the role computation can play in solving problems and to help students, regardless of their major, feel justifiably confident of their ability to write small programs that allow them to accomplish useful goals. The class uses the Python 3.5 programming language.

This activity is a lab where students learn to classify objects that are similar into groups and technically describe their classifications. Introduction to dichotomous keys.

This activity is an inquiry and field study based. Students will be trying to observe, document, compare, contrast, and communicate what information they were able to gather. The will use this information to make in inference about the organisms they have found and classify them as either an insect or not an insect.

The main goal of this multi-part field and lab exercise is to introduce students to practical aspects of soil and water geochemistry. Some of the analyses for this lab are conducted in the field using field analytical instruments and rest of the analyses is conducted in a wet chemistry/geochemistry lab. There are several objectives:
1. Learn how to sample water and soil samples in a safe and effective manner
2. Collect basic aqueous chemical parameters in the field
3. Compare field collected data with that obtained using advanced instruments in the laboratory
4. Determine bulk physical and chemical properties of the soils in the lab
5. Determine trace and major element concentrations of the soils in the laboratory
At the end of this exercise students will gain a better appreciation for how soil and water quality is assessed in multiple ways. They are also introduced to basic "tools-of-the-trade" in the environmental geochemistry and also using Excel to make simple and advanced calculations as well as for plotting data. During preparation of lab reports, they are introduced to basic elements of an effective data-based technical paper.

Key words: urban watershed, soil chemistry, water chemistry, aqueous geochemistry, field analysis, analytical chemistry

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Students will investigate the organization of all living things through and learn how to classify through process of classifying their own shoes. Students will complete the classification of a Jaguar and write their own pneumonic device to remember the order of biological classification. (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species)

This activity is an interactive game that helps students learn that vertebrates are classified into five groups and that each group has common characteristics that distinguish the animal group from other respective groups.

This activity is a field collection investigation where students gather earth materials and make observations about their collection that leads them to discuss the nature of Earth surface and how it is changing.

This activity is a field investigation where students use a dichotomous key to properly identify trees in our schools nature center.

This activity is a field investigation where students explore different types of trees and identify them using leaves and classification tools.

This activity will help students classify objects together that are similar by one attribute. It will reveal if students understand what a pattern is and how to make one using real objects and record it with pattern block stickers.