Grade 4-6 Description (B1)

Lab 1

A lost puppy has been found wandering alone - how will you figure out which dog is its mom so that they can be reunited? Learn how DNA encodes traits of living creatures, extract your own DNA, and use forensic techniques to match up the puppy with the correct mother dog!

September 21, 2024
AM: 10:00am to 12:00pm
PM: 2:00pm to 4:00pm

Lab 2

How do plants provide us with the oxygen we need to breathe? This mission takes an up-close look at photosynthesis and the organelle where it all takes place - the chloroplast! Design an experiment to see photosynthesis in action, isolate the pigments responsible, and build a plant cell snow globe filled with chloroplasts!

October 19, 2024
AM: 10:00am to 12:00pm
PM: 2:00pm to 4:00pm

Lab 3

What makes a bug an insect? Are spiders insects? Do all insects look the same? It’s time to dive into the world of entomology! Examine the wide range of characteristics of insect heads, thoraxes, and abdomens. Learn the different strategies insects use to grow and change over time. Create your own field guide to insects complete with a key to identify them. Make sure you stay until the end for a special surprise/challenge!

November 16, 2024
AM: 10:00am to 12:00pm
PM: 2:00pm to 4:00pm

Lab 4

Biotechnology (biology + technology) is part of our daily lives. This mission will focus on two fun examples of biotechnology: cloning living things and observing real glowing fish! Learn about what makes biotechnology, what is possible, what problems it can solve in the world, and also what ethical issues scientists should consider to avoid becoming MAD SCIENTISTS!

December 7, 2024
AM: 10:00am to 12:00pm
PM: 2:00pm to 4:00pm

Lab 5

There has been a break-in at a candy store! The suspects all look suspicious - how will we find out who the criminal is? Learn different ways of finding and lifting fingerprints from a crime scene, observe your own hair under a microscope and make hair scale casts before analyzing hair found at the scene, and finally build off of the DNA skills you developed in Mission 1 to create DNA fingerprints of the suspects!

January 18, 2025
AM: 10:00am to 12:00pm
PM: 2:00pm to 4:00pm

Lab 6

You eat food EVERY DAY! What is that food doing inside of your body? How do the choices you make about which foods to eat affect your life? Discover what calories are and conduct an experiment to determine the calories in different snack foods. Create a device to measure the sugar content in different beverages and learn what different kinds of food are used for in your body!

February 8, 2025
AM: 10:00am to 12:00pm
PM: 2:00pm to 4:00pm

Lab 7

What do we know about dinosaurs? What can we know? Learn about different kinds of fossil evidence and what each can and cannot tell us about extinct animals. Examine tooth and skull features of extant (the opposite of extinct) animals and apply that knowledge to dinosaur skulls. Make footprints and analyze real tracks left by dinosaurs. Assemble fossils, solve unknown dinosaur mysteries, and learn about how dinosaurs evolved with an original board game you get to take home!

March 8, 2025
AM: 10:00am to 12:00pm
PM: 2:00pm to 4:00pm

Lab 8

Weather and climate are sometimes hard to separate. This mission will help you investigate different kinds of climates and changes that are occurring on our planet. Learn where the different climate zones are on Earth - which parts of the planet are most similar to each other? Why? Design an experiment to test the funny-sounding “albedo effect” and learn why it’s important. Investigate the effects of different wind speeds and temperatures on growing plants. And finally, learn about what you can do to help the planet and make a recycled planter to take home!

April 5, 2025
AM: 10:00am to 12:00pm
PM: 2:00pm to 4:00pm

Lab 9

It’s not just animals that can adapt - plants have to do it too! Just think about all of the different kinds of plants in the world! In this mission learn the different parts of a flower, and the crazy variety possible. Some plants need insects to pollinate them - learn how to match flowers to pollinators! Some plants make chemicals that repel or even kill insects! Use those to make your own natural insect repellent! And finally, use your knowledge of climate zones from Mission 8 to make the most perfectly adapted plant for each biome!

May 3, 2025
AM: 10:00am to 12:00pm
PM: 2:00pm to 4:00pm