Stepping Out for Science Inquiry
Las Cruces Public Schools • 7th Grade Science • 2012-2013
The Asombro Institute for Science Education and Las Cruces Public Schools are pleased
to announce that every seventh-grade science class in the district will receive a free, dynamic,
standards-based program from the Asombro Institute this school year. Asombro staff will lead a
program of teachers’ choosing, and all materials will be provided free of charge. In addition, we
will offer eight full-day field trips (up to 60 7th graders from each school) to Asombro’s
Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park. Buses and students fees are covered (see below for application).
Teachers may choose one of three hands-on classroom programs designed to engage
students while they learn challenging concepts. Please look over the three program descriptions
below and decide which program you would like us to bring to your seventh-grade classroom.
Schedule your free classroom program today by calling 575-­524-­3334 or emailing: Executive Director Stephanie Bestelmeyer, Ph.D.: [email protected] Program Coordinator Rink Somerday: [email protected] Classroom Program Option 1:
Carbon Cycle in the Chihuahuan Desert: Carbon Goes Around and Comes Around
Are you looking for a more exciting way to engage students with the carbon cycle? Let us teach
it using state-of-the-art technology, fun, and games! Students explore the exchange of carbon
between respiring animals and photosynthesizing terrestrial plants in investigations using their
own breath, plants, carbon dioxide sensors, and data loggers. Students use hand-held digital data
loggers and sensors to measure, record, and analyze the amount of CO2 in a chamber under
different conditions. They then participate in a fun, bean-bag carbon cycle game in which
groups play the role of carbon sources and sinks in the Chihuahuan Desert.
NM 7th Grade Science Standards (Strand – Standard – Benchmark – Performance Standard)
1-1-1-2
1-1-2-3
1-1-3-1
1-1-3-2
2-1-1-1
2-1-1-2
2-2-1-5
Use models to explain the relationships between variables being investigated.
Analyze and evaluate scientific explanations.
Understand that the number of data (sample size) influences that reliability of a
prediction.
Use mathematical expressions to represent data and observations collected in scientific
investigations.
Explain how matter is transferred from one organism to another and between organisms
and their environment (e.g., consumption, the water cycle, the carbon cycle, the nitrogen
cycle).
Know that the total amount of matter (mass) remains constant although its form,
location, and properties may change (e.g., matter in the food web).
Describe how the availability of resources and physical factors limit growth (e.g.,
quantity of light and water, range of temperature, composition of soil) and how the
water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles contribute to the availability of those resources to
support living systems.
Turn Over
Classroom Program Option 2:
Wildlife CSI: Solve an Endangered Species Crime in New Mexico
Are you limited by a lack of equipment and supplies when teaching about genetics? Let us put
real molecular genetics equipment into the hands of your students! Students play the role of US
Fish and Wildlife Forensics Lab employees, using DNA evidence to solve the crime of a
poached endangered species in New Mexico. Students will learn about DNA and genes as they
conduct gel electrophoresis to create and analyze a DNA fingerprint.
NM 7th Grade Science Standards (Strand – Standard – Benchmark – Performance Standard)
1-1-2-3
1-1-3-1
2-2-2-5
2-2-2-6
Analyze and evaluate scientific explanations.
Understand that the number of data (sample size) influences the reliability of a
prediction.
Understand that some characteristics are passed from parent to offspring as inherited
traits and others are acquired from interactions with the environment.
Know that hereditary information is contained in genes that are located in chromosomes,
including
• Determination of traits by genes
• Traits determined by one or many genes
• More than one trait is sometimes influenced by a single gene
Classroom Program Option 3:
Ecosystems and Microclimates: Explore Your Schoolyard
Do your students only learn about ecosystems while sitting in their desks in the classroom? Let
us get them outside! Students learn about living and nonliving components of ecosystems and
then go outside to find them in their schoolyard. In addition, students use the scientific process
and scientific instruments to test hypotheses about microclimate differences. Using a plastic
lizard as a location indicator, students hypothesize where the hottest and coldest microclimates in
their schoolyard may be.
NM 7th Grade Science Standards (Strand – Standard – Benchmark – Performance Standard)
1-1-2-2
1-1-2-3
1-1-3-1
1-1-3-1
2-1-2-1
Critique procedures used to investigate a hypothesis.
Analyze and evaluate scientific explanations.
Understand that the number of data (sample size) influences the reliability of a prediction.
Select and use an appropriate model to examine a phenomenon.
Know how various forms of energy are transformed through organisms and ecosystems, including: sunlight
and photosynthesis.
2-2-1-1 Identify the living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem and describe the relationships among these
components.
2-2-1-3 Explain how individuals of species that exist together interact with their environment to create an
ecosystem (e.g., populations, communities, niches, habitats, food webs).
2-3-1-2 Explain how energy from the sun supports life on Earth.
Field Trip to the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park
In addition to the classroom science programs for all 7th graders, we have an opportunity for
60 7th graders from each middle school to participate in a full day field trip to Asombro’s
Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park (located 4 miles north of Mesa Middle School on Jornada
Road). Students will engage in authentic ecological studies to deepen their knowledge of
desert ecosystems. Field trips will take place from December 2012 – May 2013.
Applications for field trips (attached) must be received by December 7.
Application for Field Trip to
Asombro’s Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park
School ____________________________________________________
Teacher Name ______________________________________________
Phone: ___________________ E-mail: _________________________
Number of students you teach science: _____________________
Number of students you would bring on field trip (maximum 60): _____
If chosen for a field trip, are you willing to host Asombro staff in your classroom
for a post-field trip science activity with all your science classes?
In a few sentences, please describe why you would like to bring students on a field
trip to the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park:
If chosen, do you have preferred dates (or weeks or even months) when you would
like to schedule your field trip? If so, when?
You will be contacted by e-mail if you have been selected for a field trip.
E-mail application to [email protected] OR fax the application to 575-646-2315.
Applications due by December 7!