Experiments
Tryscience in the Curriculum: Teacher Contest Submissions
Presentations
Research Projects
Tryscience in the Curriculum: Interactive Programs

One of the easiest ways to use TryScience in the classroom is to perform one of the activities as a demonstration or in a group. Below are just some of the great activities that teachers have used in their classrooms successfully.

Downloading and Installation--
These experiments were designed specifically for use with the Windows operating system. Right click on the file, and when prompted, save the file to your desktop. Double-click any installer files (ones with .exe extension) on your desktop to open them, and follow the prompts to install the experiment on your workstation. The experiments run in Internet Explorer version 5 (or higher) only. For best results, your screen resolution needs to be set to at least 1024x768.You will need the Flash (version 5 or higher) and Shockwave (version 8.5) plug-ins. The first time you run the experiment after installing it, you will be prompted to download these plug-ins if you do not already have them. Be sure you can successfully run the experiment on your workstation before attempting to present it.

Speed, Eggs and Slam!-Save the egg! Protect your 'passenger' from Newton's First Law with an egg, a toy truck, a brick, cotton balls, rubber bands and a Styrofoam cup.

  Speed, Eggs and Slam Teacher Cue Card (Adobe PDF, 207 kb)

  Speed, Eggs and Slam Experiment Installer (EXE file 4.8 megs)

A-Mazing Robots-How A-Mazing are you? Program your robot to pick up and dispose of some toxic waste using as few simple commands as possible.

  A-Mazing Robots Teacher Cue Card (Adobe PDF, 202 kb)

  A-Mazing Robots Experiment Installer (Application Installer, 4.4 megs)

Suspect Sketcher-What kind of eyewitness are you? You'll see an image of the suspect -remember the details! Sketch the suspect, compare it with the original image, and discover the science behind the detective work.

  Suspect Sketcher Teacher Cue Card (Adobe PDF, 213 kb)

  Suspect Sketcher Experiment Installer (Application Installer, 4.6 megs)

These activities require common materials and are performed away from the computer. For each experiment, download the student handout (experiment instructions), and the Teacher Cue Card, which provides teacher tips and background information.

Spaghetti Bridge-Play with your food! How strong is your spaghetti structure? Find out with some marshmallows, raw spaghetti, raw linguine and some coins.

  Spaghetti Bridge Teacher Cue Card (Adobe PDF, 202 kb)

  Spaghetti Bridge Student Handout (Adobe PDF, 105 kb)

Nosedive-Will you take a nosedive? All you need to find out is a sheet of paper! Fold a Navy Jet and experiment with lift and drag to make it go left, right and loop de loop.

  Nosedive Teacher Cue Card (Adobe PDF, 221 kb)

  Nosedive Student Handout (Adobe PDF, 123 kb)

Lung Capacity-Find out how much hot air you have! Measure your lung capacity-how much air your lungs can hold-by making a spirometer out of a plastic bottle, a pan of water, and some flexible tubing.

  Lung Capacity Teacher Cue Card (Adobe PDF, 198 kb)

  Lung Capacity Student Handout (Adobe PDF, 105 kb)

The TryScience Teacher Contest, sponsored by IBM and held in the fall of 2003, asked teachers to "Design a TryScience Challenge" using a minimum of two TryScience activities. Read the contest details and official rules, then check out some of the creative classroom ideas that were submitted.

TryScience Travel Challenge Assuming the role of traveling scientists, students will define four ecosystems and explore possible means of protecting these environments. Grade: 1

Exploring Habitats Students will explore several different types of ecosystems and habitats through virtual exploration of these systems through the Internet. Grade: 2

How Sharp Are Your Senses? Students will participate in a number of stations to investigate how well they can use their senses to determine unknown substances. Grade: 3

Butterfly Festival Students will research the basic needs and dependencies between caterpillars, butterflies and flowers to design an interactive game about butterflies as pollinators. Grade: 4

Clean It Up! Students will create a Public Service Announcement video using the knowledge acquired on the TryScience website and their research to encourage others to keep our water pollution free. Grade: 4

Earth Science Jeopardy Based on their exploration of various TryScience.org activities, students will work in groups to create 12 questions and answers for a Power Point jeopardy competition. Grade: 4

Homemade Habitats The students will learn to recognize the various habitats of animals found around their homes. They will identify what an anole needs to survive and its relationship to the region. Upon completion the students will be able to construct a habitat complete with their very own anole, cricket and red worms. They will then complete a writing assignment to present their research on the findings and present a power piont to the class. Grade: 4

Bridge Building Competition Students will research bridge design, construct a bridge with given specifications, and maintain and balance a project budget. Grade: 5

Crimes and Mysteries Students will learn how detectives use science to solve crimes. Grade: 5

May the Force be with You: Exploring the Integration of Science, Math and Technology/Engineering in Bridge Design Students will engage in an Internet-based inquiry to develop an understanding of bridge design and construction. Students will apply their knowledge to design and build a bridge out of toothpicks. Each bridge will be tested to determine the amount of weight it will hold. Grade: 5

An Egg's Perspective: How the Laws of Motion are Used in Designing Safety Equipment Students will research the laws of motion and how they are used in creating and testing safety equipment. Grade: 6

Inventor's Convention Using at least one simple machine, students will design a tool to do work to make a task easier or solve a problem for someone else. Grade: 6

Micro Gravity Frisbee Students will use the TryScience Web site to facilitate understanding of gas properties, and to develop a hypothesis for the correct proportion of gases mixed to "float" a mylar balloon in space. Grade: 6

Virus Mania Students will identify the structure, movement and effects of viruses on lung capacity using structured lab activities. Grade: 7

Fast and Clean Students are introduced to hydrology by visiting a local river each week for a period of at least 6 weeks. They make general observations about the river environment and they collect water samples to look at water quality indicators including turbidity. Grade: 8

Survival of the Diverse - Board Game Students will construct and play a board game in which players move through the earth's different biomes. Players must answer questions to earn adaptations to allow them to pass safely through each biome. Grade: 8

The Ins and Outs of Protein Folding Students will investigate protein structure and function, and will develop an interactive flashcard-style activity to present to classmates. Grade: 10

Don't Force the Eggs Students will use Internet resources to develop an understanding of how forces and acceleration are related through Newton's laws of motion. Students will apply their knowledge by designing a device to prevent a raw egg from breaking when dropped from a specified height. Grade: 11

Mummy Dearest Students will research and apply the biological and chemical processes involved in natural and artificial preservation of living tissue. Grade: 12

These presentations were developed for the IBM On Demand Community program to engage three different audiences in science and inform them about science resources on the Internet and at science museums worldwide. They are most effective when presented using a projection system. For each presentation, download the presentation installer and the sample script.

Downloading and Installation-
These presentations were designed specifically for use with the Windows operating system. Right click on the file, and when prompted, save the file to your desktop. Double-click any installer files (ones with .exe extension) on your desktop to open them, and follow the prompts to install the presentation on your workstation. The presentations run in Internet Explorer version 5 (or higher) only. For best results, your screen resolution needs to be set to at least 1024x768.You will need the Flash (version 5 or higher) and Shockwave (version 8.5) plug-ins. The first time you run the presentation after installing it, you will be prompted to download these plug-ins if you do not already have them. Be sure you can successfully run the presentation on your workstation before attempting to present it to your audience.

Teacher Presentation
The Teacher Presentation provides a brief overview of www.tryscience.org, a best practice sample of how a teacher can use TryScience activities in an engaging way in the classroom, and a list of teacher-specific FAQs. The best practice sample, called "Designing Homes for Earthquake Survival," uses three TryScience activities tied to standards as the basis for one classroom design project targeted to a middle-school level.

Download the Presentation Installer  (Application Installer, 4.6 megs)

Print out the Sample Script  (Adobe PDF, 2.2 megs)

Print out the Best Practices Example  (Adobe PDF, 89 kb)

Adult Presentation
The Adult Presentation provides a brief TryScience overview and background, as well as an interactive demonstration of a few features from www.tryscience.org. The goal with this presentation is to provide a taste of what TryScience has to offer as an online science resource by actively engaging the audience. If your audience includes parents, you can use the optional Parent screens that include more parent-specific information about why they should encourage their kids to use TryScience.

Download the Presentation Installer  (Application Installer, 10 megs)

Print out the Sample Script  (Adobe PDF, 1 meg)

Kids Presentation
The Kids Presentation provides an energetic, interactive demonstration of www.tryscience.org, with the audience shouting out answers as you walk through select activities. The goal with this presentation is to get the audience excited and engaged in what TryScience has to offer as an online science resource, with a "show, don't tell" attitude - instead of talking "at" the kids about what they can find, literally show them how much fun (and educational) TryScience activities are.

Download the Presentation Installer  (Application Installer, 9.4 megs)

Print out the Sample Script (Adobe PDF, 3.5 megs)

These "best practices" are aligned with current U.S. national science education standards and use activities from TryScience in a classroom project. Typically, the student conducts a Web-inquiry and completes several TryScience activities to develop an understanding of background subject matter, then applies this knowledge to solve a larger design problem.

Designing Homes for Earthquake Survival (Earth Science)  (Adobe PDF, 69 kb)

Design a Healthy Workout (Life Sciences)  (Adobe PDF, 71 kb) 

These creative programs provide inventive ways to use several TryScience activities to engage students in science. Options vary according to audience size and the time allotted for the program. Activities can include experiments performed with or without a computer, or a combination of both. Each program is summarized below, while the program details provide more specific instructions and links to everything needed for the program.

TryScience Survivor
This program integrates two to three TryScience experiments in an interactive live game show program, loosely based on the "Survivor" reality TV show: two teams of audience volunteers compete in an activity; the rest of the audience "votes off" one team; the remaining team is split into two to compete in the next activity; the audience votes off a team; the remaining team is divided up for the final activity to determine the sole TryScience Survivor.

Survivor Program Details  (Adobe PDF, 161 kb)

TryScience Experiment Challenge
Teams compete in an Experiment Challenge, going head to head when completing a TryScience experiment. The competitive edge creates a hook for participants to get involved and stay interested in the experiment.

Experiment Challenge Details (Adobe PDF, 165 kb)

TryScience Around the World
The Around the World Experiments uses two or more TryScience experiments. This program gets everyone involved -stations are set up for each chosen experiment and participants move from one station to the next until they have traveled "Around the World."

Around the World Details (Adobe PDF, 163 kb)