This year, my school will be expanding the number of students who will be instructed in the NYS Regents Living Environment curriculum. The course requires weekly lab activities that enrich the course content, and my students couldn't be more excited! For most of them, this is going to be the first time they will do extensive lab investigations.
My eighth grade students can't wait to start investigating the natural world or "living environment" through a series of hands on, minds on lab activities.
My Project
In the Relationships and Biodiversity lab kit, students investigate the fictitious organism "Botana curus" and possible related species. This plant contains a substance that can cure certain types of cancer- but it grows very slowly. Throughout the activity, my students will investigate the dangers caused when overuse of a natural resource leads to its potential extinction. Using this kit, they will make structural and molecular comparisons between different plant species and "Botana curus". They will also complete a series of chemical tests to better see similarities and differences between the different plant types.
This lab kit will help my students to understand why the over harvesting of “Botana curus” caused it to become an endangered species.
They will conduct a series of tests that will help them "discover" a plant that can serve as a possible substitute by gathering structural and molecular evidence to determine which plant species is most closely related to the hypothetical species, Botana curus. In addition, they will use this evidence to decide which plant species is could possibly serve as a source of the important "cancer cure", Curol. Finally, they will learn how plant and animal species are being lost at a rate that is unprecedented, leading to a critical loss of biodiversity.
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