Science 7 Units of Study

How can we search for evidence that other planets were once habitable? This is the question that you and your classmates will take on in your role as student planetary geologists. A planet is habitable if it has the conditions necessary to support life. Liquid water is one of those conditions; it is essential for life to exist.
In your search, you will focus on our neighboring planet, Mars. You will examine a particular landform on the surface of Mars to investigate whether it was formed by flowing water or flowing lava. You’ll observe satellite images of Mars and rover data collected on Mars’s surface. You will also get evidence from models and compare Mars images to images of landforms formed by flowing water and flowing lava on Earth’s surface.

Millions of years ago, a swamp-dwelling lizard lived on Earth. Known as Mesosaurus, this meter-long creature could not swim long distances. Today, Mesosaurus fossils have been discovered in South America and in Africa, almost 4,000 kilometers apart and separated by an ocean. You are a student geologist working as a consultant for a museum in Namibia. The museum is creating an exhibit about the Mesosaurus fossils found in southwestern Africa. You’ve been called in to investigate the land where these fossils have been found in order to solve the mystery of how the Mesosaurus fossils got so far away from each other. You’ll need to consider volcanoes, earthquakes, and the rock that lies deep below Earth’s surface in order to piece together as much of the story as you can.

What is the best system of sensors to use in a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean region? How can different sensors be used to detect changes in the environment and send a signal that gives people on land enough time to move to a safer location?

In this internship, you will take on the role of a geohazards engineering intern, working to apply your knowledge of Earth’s processes (like how movement at plate boundaries can result in earthquakes) to determine which earthquakes can result in tsunamis. You will learn about three sensor types—earthquake, deep water, and shallow water—and where to place them in the Indian Ocean region in order to send the people of Sri Lanka an accurate warning when a dangerous tsunami is traveling toward their shores. Your warning system must give people the greatest amount of time to move to safety, have few or no false alarms, and be low in cost.

How do rocks form and change? It might seem as if the rock that makes up mountains and cliffs, that covers Earth beneath the soil and the ocean, has always been as it is without changing. However, you will uncover the real story in this unit. In particular, you will investigate a geologic mystery that connects rock formations in the Great Plains with the rock formations in the Rocky Mountains. The Rocky Mountains are some of the highest, steepest mountains in North America while the Great Plains are a landscape of flat plains and rolling hills. The rocks you will investigate from these two locations look very different, but they are linked by their past—a past you will discover. Later in the unit, a second geologic mystery will take you beyond Earth to the surface of Venus. You will use the Rock Transformations Simulation and observe rocks, physical models, and photographs; you will read articles and watch videos to solve these mysteries.

In the Phase Change unit, you will investigate the mysterious disappearance of a lake on Titan, a large moon orbiting Saturn. Scientists believe the lake either evaporated or froze. To address this mystery, you will learn about the science behind phase change. You will begin your work at the macro scale, observing substances in different phases. You will then use a Simulation to explore different phases of a substance at the molecular scale. You will read an article on several surprising effects of water changing phase and communicate your understanding of the molecular scale through a dance and a visual model. You will learn about the roles of kinetic energy and molecular attraction in phase change by completing a hands-on activity, exploring in the Simulation, and watching a short video. Using the Simulation and a new article, you will uncover why Titan’s lake disappeared much later than your current model of phase change would have predicted. You will then apply your understanding of phase change at the molecular scale to explain several office mysteries. Finally, you will work with your fellow student chemists to understand why a machine used to make fuel for Titan’s lander mission is malfunctioning. You will evaluate evidence and determine the cause of the machine’s malfunction as well as possible ways it can be fixed.

What combination of materials can help keep a baby warm for a long time? What materials can hold thermal energy for a long time as they transfer that energy to the environment? That’s what you’ll figure out as you and your classmates take on the role of chemical engineering interns with Futura Engineering, a company specializing in designing solutions to the world’s problems. As an intern, you’ll help the Global Health Organization design a portable incubator to keep low-birthweight babies warm. You will apply your knowledge of phase change and thermal energy transfer to help these babies. You will learn about phase change materials, special substances that are
used to keep things warm for long periods of time. Using BabyWarmer, a digital tool, you will test how different combinations of phase change materials and insulating materials (like cotton or wool) affect a baby’s temperature over time. Your design must consider multiple criteria: keeping the baby’s average temperature close to 37°C, minimizing the time the baby spends outside the healthy temperature range, and keeping costs low. At the end of this internship, you will use your research and test results to argue for your best design in a Final Proposal.

A strange reddish-brown substance is coming out of the water pipes in the town of Westfield. What is this substance, and where did it come from? As a student chemist you will help Dr. Samara Yung’s chemistry lab to solve this mystery. Using a Simulation, science articles, videos, and models, you will investigate what the reddish-brown substance is and how it formed.

What caused the size of the moon jelly population in Glacier Sea to increase so much That’s what you will figure out as you and your classmates take on the role of student ecologists, analyzing population data and using a digital simulation of an ecosystem to discover what’s happening in the Glacier Sea ecosystem. Could the cause of the moon jelly population increase have to do with the leatherback sea turtles in Glacier Sea? The tiny algae? The sea urchins? The orca? The kelp? Or is it something else? By the end of this unit, you will have learned about the concept of Stability and Change in populations, eating relationships, energy, reproduction, and more. You will have gathered the evidence you’ll need to create an explanation for the moon jelly mystery, and you’ll discuss another population mystery—about endangered parrots on an island in the south pacific.

What caused the failure of the biodome? Five years ago, a local group called the Econauts began an ambitious project to determine if humans could survive on another planet. They constructed a biodome, an ecosystem inside a glass dome larger than a football field. The ecosystem was filled with plants, animals, and a volunteer group of eight humans. Recently, the group noticed a problem: animals were getting skinny, plants were not growing, and many organisms stopped reproducing. The organisms
were safely removed from the biodome, but the cause of these changes is still a mystery. You have been hired to join the team of expert ecologists to investigate the failed biodome and determine what went wrong. The team has already concluded that organisms ran out of the energy storage molecules they need for survival, but why? As a student ecologist working for the Biodome Investigation Team, it’s your job to find out what caused the biodome to fail so future biodome experiments can be more
successful.