This lesson compares and contrasts prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and examines the form and function of the plasmid found in prokaryotic cells. Students will then use these principles to simulate how a desirable gene can be isolated and inserted into a plasmid as one step in the process of creating a bioengineered (GMO) plant variety.
Students evaluate the growth of human populations across time, analyze graphic data to make predictions about future population growth, research country statistics to evaluate demographic transition, and participate in a simulation of a village reliant on subsistence farming. Students begin to develop a sense for the Earth's carrying capacity and how humans have impacted it.
Students investigate potato varieties, explore potato plants, determine how potatoes grow, and make a potato recipe.
Students observe a potato grow with and without soil, chart potato geography on a world map, and hold a potato dress up contest.
Students will expand their knowledge of microbial growth and scientific food preservation methods to learn how honey can serve as an antibacterial agent. Students will learn how honey may be used as a preservative of milk in areas without access to electricity or refrigeration and how this preservation method relies on elements found specifically in honey that cannot be replicated with other sources of sugar.
Students preserve peppers to create their own probiotic food, observe properties of preserved foods and states of matter changes that occur, and discover the health benefits of probiotics.
Students discover that different soils have different characteristics, examine different types of soil, investigate soil components, and observe how air space allows soils to hold and transmit water.
Students examine the components of different soils and recognize how sand, silt, and clay particles affect air space and water absorption.
Students examine different types of soil that have been mixed with water and allowed to settle. Next, they work with a soil model to investigate its components (sand, silt, and clay) and learn how the properties of these components affect the passage or retention of water through the soil and the amount of air in the soil.
Students estimate the size and weight of pumpkins, sprout pumpkin seeds, and make pumpkin pie in a bag.
Students estimate the size and weight of pumpkins, sprout pumpkin seeds, and make pumpkin pie in a bag.
Students read Right This Very Minute—a table-to-farm book about food production and farming—and diagram the path of production for a processed product, study a map to discover where different commodities are grown, and write a thank-you letter to farmers in their local community.