PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: Commitment to Recovery
Recovery from substance addiction is an ongoing process. The final lesson in a series about painkiller abuse and addiction prompts learners to research various recovery options before writing a short story about a character who is going...
PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: Decisions and Consequences
Teach young learners that most drug addictions end in one of three outcomes: treatment, jail, or death. After watching a short video segment on the consequences of drug abuse, class members discuss what they viewed and consider what...
PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: The Brain on Autopilot
For some people, the force of addiction can be as biologically compelling as the drive for food or water. High schoolers watch a video segment about Ryan, a recovering addict, and learn more about how opioids and other drugs can affect...
PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Campaign
The I-STOP law was designed to regulate the distribution and tracking of prescription drugs. After reading an article about its signing and implementation, middle and high schoolers work together to come up with their own ideas for an...
PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: Contemplating Nature vs. Nurture
Does having an addict in your family make it more likely to become one yourself? Explore the genetic risk factors, as well as the prominent environmental influences, for substance addiction in a lesson that encourages awareness and open...
Concord Consortium
3D Exploration of Bound Antibody and Antigen
Our body manufactures antibodies that are the exact shape for the antigens it encounters. The simulation shows a 3-D model of an antibody and antigen pairing. It allows young scientists to explore the complementary shapes.
Concord Consortium
Protein Folding Exploring
The potential energy of peptides varies over time as they fold. An exploratory simulation encourages pupils to play with various strands of amino acids to observe the folding and potential energy levels. Young scientists generate all...
Concord Consortium
Protein Folding
Long strings of amino acids fold themselves into stable peptides. The simulation allows scholars to observe the process in multiple ways. Using hydrophobic, hydrophilic, or a combination of proteins in three different solutions, the...
Concord Consortium
DNA: The Double Helix
Picture a double helix as a twisted ladder. Scholars see this image through a simulation that allows young scientists to observe a small fragment of DNA in many different formats. They compare the models, colors, bonds, and strands as...
Concord Consortium
Mutations
Are some mutations more damaging than others? An engaging simulation encourages scholars to alter DNA through insertion, deletion, and substitution. It then forms resulting amino acids—or not—and the resulting protein—or not—depending on...
Concord Consortium
Modeling Transcription
Transcription makes copies of the instructions inside all living things. Scholars use the simulation to separate DNA and transcribe the RNA. They see a demonstration of the nucleotide pairings as well as the start and stop instructions.
Concord Consortium
DNA to Protein
Starting from a view of cells, a constructive simulation shows every step of building a new protein. It walks through transcription, translation, building amino acids, and folding the protein. Viewers control if it plays as a video or...
Concord Consortium
Diffusion Across a Permeable Membrane
Oxygen and carbon dioxide freely cross cell membranes. The simulation demonstrates the diffusion of these across a permeable membrane. To create a great visual for users, it graphs the balance of molecules as it changes throughout the...
Concord Consortium
DIffusion and Molecular Mass
Does molecular mass affect the rate of diffusion? The simulation allows scholars to experiment with diffusion while varying the molecular mass and temperature. The timer automatically stops when a certain point is reached, making it easy...
Concord Consortium
Diffusion and Temperature
Diffusion rates change with differences in temperature. See it happen through a simulation that allows scholars to explore the rates of diffusion at five different temperatures. It also allows young scientists to trace the movement of a...
Concord Consortium
Molecular Sorting
Can scientists sort molecules based on their interaction with oil and water? The simulation demonstrates how this is possible. Pupils decide when to insert a molecule and observe how they sort themselves based on polarity.
Concord Consortium
Micelles
Micelles consist of an aggregate of molecules in a colloidal solution. The simulation presents two different ways the molecules assemble into micelles based on the polarity of the solution in which they are placed. Scholars can set the...
Concord Consortium
Polar and Non-Polar Interface
Why is there so much frozen water at Earth's poles? Because water is a polar molecule! Young scientists observe polar molecules moving in a mixture of oil and water. They see the changes in potential energy in the hydrophilic and...
Concord Consortium
Hydrogen Bonds: A Special Type of Attraction
How does hydrogen bonding explain ice crystals? An engaging interactive answers just that. Scholars explore how polar molecules interact and observe the changes as temperature fluctuates as well as the hydrogen bond attraction.
Concord Consortium
Modeling Translation
An mRNA sequences make proteins, the most common molecules in cells. Young scientists observe translation of mRNA on ribosomes. They view them forming amino acids. Finally, the amino acids curl into proteins.
Concord Consortium
Diffusion Across Semipermeable Membranes
Mitochondria use two semipermeable membranes to work properly. Young scientists adjust the pore size for two membranes. They then observe the diffusion of two different sizes of molecules.
Concord Consortium
Aquapores
Aquapores allow water to travel through cell membranes while keeping other molecules out. The animation offers an up-close look at these parts of the cell membrane. It explores multiple vantage points and shows the importance of these...
Concord Consortium
Diffusion Across a Semipermeable Membrane
Semipermeable membranes allow water to go through—but not larger molecules. The simulation encourages pupils to adjust the membrane pore size to understand how this works. It also provides a way to trace the movement of a single molecule.
Concord Consortium
Diffusion of a Drop
Trying to learn through diffusion rather than simply studying the material rarely works for scholars. This simulation helps make learning diffusion fun. Pupils add a drop of dye to water and observe the diffusion as the molecules bounce...