Skip to Content

Maintaining a Balance

Create Equilibrium in an Environment

students demonstrating maintaining a balance
triangles

In this design challenge, students will discuss ecosystems and take part in a species survival demonstration. This demonstration will challenge students to remove as many species from the environment as possible within one minute and discuss their results.  The students will then be presented with the following problem: “Our ecosystem’s population balance has gone out of control. We need to fix our ecosystem to make sure there is equilibrium amongst the species.”  The students will put on their engineering hats to assist in maintaining species populations within an ecosystem. The teams will have an opportunity to design a tool to remove the invasive species and restore balance to the ecosystem.

Standards Alignment + Connections


  • Keep Going! Your Students May Also Enjoy...

    Making Medicine
    Chemist reviews tube

    Making Medicine

    Students will perform protein purification using column chromatography to gain a greater understanding of the biomanufacturing process of going from a cell to a protein to a product.

    Grade Level: High School (9 - 12)

    Subject: Biology and Life Sciences , Chemistry

    Curriculum Unit: From Molecules to Organisms , Matter and its Interactions

    The Sweet Spot
    Two girls holding their successful titration

    The Sweet Spot

    Students practice the process of titration as they test drink samples to ensure the citric acid concentrations meet quality control standards.

    Grade Level: High School (9 - 12)

    Subject: Chemistry

    Curriculum Unit: Matter and its Interactions

    Operation Polar Eye: Think Like a Drone
    polar bear

    Operation Polar Eye: Think Like a Drone

    In this activity, students will use computational thinking to write a code sequence for a drone to survey an arctic map. This activity is based on the work done by Northrop Grumman in Operation Polar Eye.

    Grade Level: High School (9 - 12)

    How Did It Go? Send Us Feedback (or Pics)!

    Join the Mission