We designed two NGSS-aligned middle school classroom experiments to investigate the effects of biochar on plant growth and soil respiration. Biochar is a carbon-rich material, produced by heating organic matter under limited oxygen, that is added to soils to improve fertility, to promote plant growth, and as one possible strategy to help mitigate climate change. The experiments offer an ideal case study for students learning fundamentals of soil and plant interactions. Soils and biochar are accessible, are connected to global issues such as agriculture and climate change, and are the focus of ongoing research in soil science. These classroom experiments promote authentic science because students design replicated experiments, collect and analyze data, discuss variability in the data, and interpret their results in the context of recent research.

Territoriality and the factors that influence the outcome of animal contests are easy to study in a lab using convict cichlid fish (Archocentrus nigrofasciatus) . I present a two-week laboratory experiment suitable for high school and college students. In the first week, students observe resident and intruder convict cichlids interacting in the presence of flowerpot territories, allowing them to develop hypotheses about factors that might determine the outcome of contests over resources, including relative size of competitors (“resource holding potential” hypothesis) and ownership (“resource value” hypothesis). They then work with their teacher to design and set up an experiment to test these two hypotheses, providing specific predictions that would support each hypothesis. In the second week, students observe contests between each owner and a larger or smaller intruder. The winner is defined as the individual that spends the most time in the pot and bites more. Students graph their data and decide what statistics are most appropriate for analyzing their results. They determine which hypothesis is supported by their findings and present their findings in scientific paper format.

Tribolium castanaeum is a widespread insect in temperate regions. Because of its short generation time and easy handling, it serves as a model organism for various scientific questions. However, T. castanaeum, or its larger-sized relative Tenebrio molitor, can also be used at a school or college level to foster students' experimentation skills. We present a set of inquiry tasks that build stepwise on one another, using T. castanaeum or T. molitor as the model. The students will learn not only about insect ecology, but also about the influence of nutrition on several fitness parameters, such as development time and offspring number.