The internet is full of science lessons, but how do you know what’s worth using? The “Educating with Excellence: Build GrowNextGen into your lesson planning” webinar featured Real Teachers (who are also GrowNextGen teacher leaders!) talking about some of their favorite GNG lessons. They explained how they’ve implemented these in their classrooms, connecting with state standards and making them their own.

Erin Molden of Kettering Fairmont High School shared about the Making biodiesel from soybeans lesson. She first encountered this lesson in the Ag Biotech Academy workshop. In this lab activity, students make biofuel and then test it using putt-putt boats.

Jennifer Foudray of Miami Valley CTC encouraged teachers to try the What is Bioinformatics? It’s a BLAST lesson. Developed by GNG industry leader Zack Bateson, this unit shows what biotech scientists do AFTER DNA extraction. Students learn how to use the NCBI database to identify a pathogen from a sequence of DNA.

John Thomas of Fairbanks High School said he’s found the Hello, my name is….GMO unit helpful for students to understand what a GMO is and to correct some misinformation they’ve encountered.

Rachel Sanders teaches at Global Impact STEM Academy. She’s contributed many lessons to GrowNextGen, and she talked about the development of the Soy beautiful: applied chemistry lesson. This lesson shows students how to use SLOPs to create soy-based beauty products. “It’s a way to tie in a lot of science lab skills,” Sanders said. She did one of the activities as an outreach at the state fair, where a group of girls made and gave out over 1000 tubes of soy lip balm.

Finally, Trevor Horn of Reynoldsburg talked about his appreciation for GrowNextGen. “It’s so important for students to understand where their food comes from, and how we can work on feeding a growing population.”

Check out these great lessons, and watch for new ones! We are constantly adding new things to support you in the classroom!