Educator Guides
-
What Makes a Dinosaur?
This guide explores what it means to be a dinosaur, and features a classroom activity focused on real fossils. -
Rising Carbon Dioxide Threatens Lake Food Webs
Students will explore how rising carbon dioxide is threatening a lake food web, and will measure how the environment affects the heart rate of water fleas. -
Smartphones Overshare
This guide explores an increasingly ubiquitous technology: the smartphone. How do its sensors work, what data do they collect and how can we keep ourselves safe from its spying eyes? -
Galileo Experiment Re-created in Space
This guide explores the equivalence prinicple, a foundation of Einstein's general theory of relativity, and the effects of low-gravity space environments on materials and the human body. -
SN 2017 Year in Review
This guide reviews the Top 10 scientific discoveries from 2017, as reported by Science News, with a focus on key concepts covered across scientific disciplines. -
Gene Therapy Fixes Rare Skin Disease
This guide explores stem cells, gene therapy and related topics. Students can also measure the density of skin touch receptors in different areas of the human body. -
Mosses Tell Story of Retreating Ice
This guide connects the radioactive carbon-14 dating of newly exposed mosses in the Arctic to the bigger story of climate change. -
Neutron Star Crash Seen for First Time
This guide explores the recent discovery of a neutron star collision and encourages students to make connections to stellar evolution, gravitational waves and fusion reactions. -
Origami Outfits Help Bots Retool
This guide describes how origami robots can perform various tasks while being driven by a solenoid, and then asks students to make their own simple solenoids. -
SN 10: Scientists to Watch
Through the SN 10: Scientists to Watch list, this guide explores what it means to be a scientist and focuses on the plant-related work of two particular scientists on the list. -
Featured Activities
These activities cover a range of currently relevant scientific topics, and allow students to analyze data, review core concepts and design their own experiments. -
Genes Foretell Flu Shot Response
This guide focuses on the connections between genes and the immune response. Students will explore flu vaccines, how they are made and how the body responds to them.