Students synthesize their knowledge to participate in a structured debate about the future of wildlife restoration.

Students analyze the differing viewpoints of ranchers, environmentalists, and local communities regarding predator reintroduction.

Students explore the scientific history of wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone and investigate the concept of trophic cascades and ecosystem engineering.

An exploration of the rock cycle's dynamic processes, from the fiery birth of igneous rocks to the transformative heat and pressure of metamorphism. Students will learn how Earth constantly recycles its crust through physical and chemical changes.

Students identify various landforms and apply their knowledge of geological processes to design their own island ecosystem in a culminating project.

A deep dive into the forces of weathering and erosion using mechanical simulations to observe how rocks break down and move over time.

Students explore the three main types of rocks and the processes that transform them through a hands-on simulation using crayons to represent the rock cycle.

Explore how ecosystems respond to disturbances through primary and secondary succession, and analyze the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem stability.

Students act as 'Marine Bio-Engineers' to design and build artificial reef structures that support a healthy ecosystem on Mystery Island's coast, focusing on biotic and abiotic interactions.

Students design and build 'Food Web Restoration' models to visualize and explain the flow of energy from producers to multiple consumers on Mystery Island.

Students design and build 'Weather Shields' to protect a model plant from extreme temperature and precipitation changes on Mystery Island, exploring how environmental factors affect organisms.

Students act as 'Botanical Engineers' to design and build seed models that can travel through the air to reach new parts of Mystery Island, focusing on seed dispersal methods.

Students design external structures for a 'Mystery Organism' to help it meet its basic needs (food, water, shelter) on Mystery Island, focusing on the link between structure and function.

Students investigate radioactive decay in rocks from Afar to determine their age, using mathematical modeling and simulations to reconstruct the region's geologic history.

A 40-minute exploration into how radioactive decay in Earth's core provides the thermal energy necessary to change mantle density, creating the buoyancy shifts that drive convection currents.

A lesson exploring how radioactive decay in Earth's mantle generates heat, driving the convection currents that move tectonic plates. Students will trace the energy path from atomic nuclei to the movement of continents.