Earth Systems: Fun Science Experiments

Earth Systems: Fun Science Experiments

NGSS Aligned for Grades K-6

Published by Science Connected, Inc.

Curriculum designer: Dr. Jonathan Trinastic

Project manager: Dr. Jonathan Trinastic

Production editor: Shayna Keyles

Copyeditor: Sabrina Leroe

Writers: Kelly Derham, Maggie Gaddis, Neha Jain, Shayna Keyles, and Emily Rhode

Cover art: Raychelle Anne Ignacio, Marketplace Designers

© 2019 by Science Connected

PO Box 190213

San Francisco, CA 94119 USA

www.scienceconnected.org

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This book is independently authored and published and no sponsorship or endorsement of this book by, and no affiliation with, any trademarked product mentioned or pictured within is claimed or suggested. All trademarks that appear in the text, illustrations or photographs in this book belong to their respective owners and are used here for informational purposes only. Science experiments should only be carried out with robust safety precautions and adult supervision.

This book mentions the Next Generation Science Standards, a registered trademark of Achieve. Neither Achieve nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.

Contents

Introduction

Beans and Jumping Jacks as a Model for Environmental Change

Create Your Own Mini-Biomes

Explore the Composition and Structure of the Earth’s Interior

From Small to Big: How Do Cells, Tissues, and Organs Help Us?

Heating the Surface of the Earth

How Water Affects the World: Modeling a Watershed and the Water Cycle

Migrating Continents

Take a Walk Through the Solar System

Looking Inside of a Plant Cell

Making Versus Breaking Sugars

About Science Connected

More from Science Connected

Introduction

What Is the Scientific Method?

The scientific method is a process that scientists use to investigate and understand our world. You can use this method every day. In fact, you’ve probably used it before.

Here is how the process works: First, look around and observe something. Next, ask yourself some questions about your observation. Gather information about what you observed. Then use that information to form a hypothesis—one possible explanation. Now you can make some predictions based on your hypothesis.

But that’s just the beginning. You must test your hypothesis. Make a prediction based on your hypothesis and gather data to test it out. Was your prediction right or wrong? If it was wrong, then you have gained new data. This is excellent! Use your new data to change your hypothesis, then test it again.

Remember, do not try to prove your hypothesis. To do good science, try as hard as you can to disprove your hypothesis. Get someone to help you try to disprove it. Keep testing and modifying your hypothesis until you are able to consistently predict the outcome of your experiment.

Now, at last, you can use what you’ve learned to develop a working theory. You have increased your understanding of how the world works and you may have generated new scientific knowledge to share.

The Scientific Method is an ongoing process—it keeps going and going. As we learn more about our world, our hypothesis, theories, and scientific laws can change based on new evidence.

Scientific Hypothesis, Theory, and Law with Joe Hanson

In this video, Dr. Joe Hanson explains what scientific hypotheses, theories, and laws are and how they work: https://magazine.scienceconnected.org/2015/10/theory-vs-hypothesis-vs-law-explained.

A Note on Next Generation Science Standards

This collection of experiments is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards, or NGSS. NGSS were developed by educators and scientists across the United States to improve science education for K-12 students. Each experiment in this guide identifies the standard(s) it is designed to meet.

Stand Back, We’re Going to Do Science!

When doing the experiments in this book, use the scientific method to observe, question, hypothesize, test, gather evidence, and learn. Enjoy the process!

Beans and Jumping Jacks as a Model for Environmental Change

Suggested Ages: 5-9

NGSS Standards: K-ESS3

What You Will Learn

Have you ever wondered how animals and plants survive in a changing environment? Organisms can deal with a certain amount of change (for example, hotter or colder than normal temperatures), but if there is too much change too quickly, the organism might not be able to keep up.

In this activity, you will pretend you are an animal foraging for food and see if you are able to survive in a changing