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In this activity, learners receive a labeled plastic film canister containing a material representing a pollutant (i.e. pencil shavings = a beaver's wood chips).

In this outdoor activity, learners simulate an oil spill using popcorn (both oil and popcorn float on water), and estimate the spill's impact on the environment.

Visitors mix water and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) in a large flask. They then add citric acid to the mixture and stopper the flask. The resulting reaction creates carbon dioxide gas.

In this ecology activity, learners make a model water-based ecosystem called a terraqua column. The column (in a large soda bottle) includes pond water, duckweed, sand or gravel, and small snails.

In this activity, learners use a laser pointer to project a microscopic image of a liquid sample suspended from the tip of a syringe.

Visitors separate a mixture of pebbles, salt crystals, and wood shavings by adding water and pouring the mixture through a strainer.

Learners compare the properties and solubilities of Styrofoam (TM), ecofoam packing peanuts, and popcorn. First, the solubility of each substance is tested in water.

Visitors mix urea with water in one flask and mix calcium chloride with water in another flask. They observe that the urea flask gets cold and the calcium chloride flask gets hot.

In this activity, learners create a soil and water model of a single-cell life environment and study living microorganisms.

Visitors prepare six solutions combining vinegar and ammonia that range incrementally from acid (all vinegar) to base (all ammonia).

In this outdoor activity, learners race small boats, made of cork, balsa wood, popsicle sticks etc., to investigate the rate and direction of currents in a stream or creek.

In this outdoor/indoor activity, learners collect ants and dirt to create an ant farm in a cup that they can observe over time.

Visitors observe a bottle with a balloon attached around the mouth. The bottle contains a solution of yeast, sugar, and water.

Visitors test solutions of water, sugar, salt, and hydrochloric acid and the solids salt and sugar. They clip leads from the hand generator to wires immersed in each substance.

In this activity, learners model, on a human-sized board game, how changes in water temperature may affect fish distributions and, ultimately, fisheries.

In this activity, learners will explore vegetative propagation while preparing food scraps to grow into plants.

Learners use a universal indicator to test the amount of sodium hydroxide needed to change the pH of plain water compared with the amount needed to change the pH of gelatin.

In this activity, learners examine the properties of different seaweeds, investigate what happens when powdered seaweed (alginate) is added to water, and learn about food products made with seaweed.

In this activity, learners observe tide pool animals in a touch tank to consider how they survive.

This lesson (on pages 15-24 of PDF) explores how sound is caused by vibrating objects. It explains that we hear by feeling vibrations passing through the air.