Middle School, grades 6 through 8

Middle School Engineering Design

Algae do more than half of Earth's photosynthesis. Bring them into your classroom.

Middle school engineering asks students to define what a good test needs and to compare ways of doing it. Algae and brine shrimp are cheap, fast and forgiving, so a class can try two methods for measuring the same thing, see which one held up, and explain why.

Buy the Brainy Briny kit Back to Middle School

2 of 4 NGSS middle school engineering standards targeted

1 Subject in this discipline

Any kit Every lab here can be redesigned by students

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Pick your lessons by the standard

Engineering design subjects

Each card is one NGSS standard. Open it to see how it can be taught. Pick your state and the codes update for Texas or Florida.

Show standards for

Grades 6-8

Design and Evaluate an Experiment

Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

MS-ETS1-1

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Which kit are you teaching with?

BB Brainy Briny AB Algae Beads MP Microplastics

Kits for these lessons

Brainy Briny's in a Beaker Bag kit with instructions, one beaker bag of algae, one beaker bag of algae and brine shrimp, salts, nutrients, a Secchi stick, a pipette, and a bag of brine shrimp cysts

Algae Research Supply

Brainy Briny's in a Beaker Bag: Algae and Brine Shrimp Growing Kit. (K-12, HS, AP-Bio, AP-ES)

From $ 19.95

Brainy Briny Fake Fluorescent Food kit contents: brine shrimp, fluorescent microplastics, three small petri dishes, three keychain UV black lights, two 50 mL tissue culture flasks, a magnifying lens, and a pipette

Algae Research Supply

Brainy Briny Fake Fluorescent Food: Microplastic zooplankton bioaccumulation using brine shrimp

$ 29.95