Tom, I just wanted to refer you to a website that I learned about at one of my summer professional development classes that I took this summer for my endorsements. It is http://t4.jordan.k12.ut.us/teacher_resources/science/modelclassroomroot/index.html and that is a _ between the teacher and the resources. If you click on the "model classroom" link there is a list of subjects with a lot of great ideas for teaching most of the science areas. I have used ideas from the earth systems and chemistry links that are great.

One that I used this year was an inquiry lab for reviewing the scientific method. In the lab I bought four different types of toilet paper and the students had to figure out which type was the best. They had to figure out 3 expermints on their own and determine the parameters for what made toilet paper the best. Then they had to measure data for those experiments and show their data in graph form on the board, explaining their conclusions for the class. It took about an hour or so and it was amazing to see the creativity that the students came up with. Some added pencils or rulers to the paper to see how strong it was before it broke, others got it wet and measured the area that it soaked up to test absorbancy, and one group even tested it to see how well it could hold marbles when it was wet!, among other ideas. It was great fun and it came from the website - I only had to modify it a little bit to make it better for my classes. Good luck!