You and your students can investigate some of the interesting properties of polymers while working on six polymer and polarized light activities. Create a spider habitat. Recycle 2-liter bottles. Over 20 constructions include a decomposition column, fermentation chamber, and bottle cap garden. Grown under lights, the plants serve as living models for studies in plant growth, life spirals, inheritance ecology, and plant biotechnology.
Fast plants integrates science with math, social studies, and language.
Topics include food webs, decomposition, and nutrient cycling. Modules can be used as several grades. Students get hands-on experience making aspirin and learning sophisticated chemial techniques like gel filtration. The chemistry of lipids shows students that fats are used for much more than food. Activities include identification of plastics, rubber band stretch, making polyester, making rubber bands, painting with elastomers, needle through a balloon, water-soluble plastics, and the stretch test.