Curated OER
Wacky Water Critters
Students visit a local creek or stream. They collect water samples from the creek and observe and sort the "water critters" they find in the sample, observing smaller organisms under a microscope if necessary. They identify each organism...
Curated OER
Science: Bees: An Interdisciplinary Approach
Students investigate the world of bees and describe their characteristics. by identifying the bees' parts, they demonstrate how these parts function. In the lab, students dissect bees and view the various parts under microscopes. ...
Curated OER
Polytene Chromosomes from Salivary Glands
High schoolers use this laboratory procedure to outline the mechanism by which salivary glands are removed and prepared so that the polytene chromosomes may be observed.Drosophila virilis is used instead of Drosophila melanogaster...
Curated OER
Honey Bee Anatomy and Identification
High schoolers examine and dissect a worker honey bee to analyze the structures and functions of honey bees. They draw the structures they see and compare/contrast them to drawings or electron micrographs.
Curated OER
Fish Parasite Survey
Students survey and dissect as many fish as possible. They count nematodes, cestodes and crustaceans on the fish, fill out autopsy reports, and transfer data to a chalkboard data table. Students graph the results of the entire class...
Curated OER
Are Fruits And Vegetables Really Made of Cells?
Learners design and carry out an exercise to determine if a given fruit or vegetable is composed of cells. They dissect out sections of the fruit or vegetable, prepare stained slides, and make observations under a compound microscope.
University of Minnesota
C. elegans and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life
Introduce the topic of astrobiology in a unit that's out of this world. Biology scholars examine the search for extraterrestrial life by culturing roundworms, a species that has been key in helping researchers understand the challenges...
Curated OER
Signs of Change: Tree Rings
Students identify and experiment with dendrochronology (the study of tree rings to answer ecological questions about the recent past) and come up with conclusions as to what possible climatic conditions might affect tree growth in their...
Chymist
Determination of the Volume of CO2 in Pop Rocks
Where does the pop in pop rocks come from? An engaging activity asks scholars to measure the amount of carbon dioxide in a package of Pop Rocks candy. Learners dissolve the candy in water and use the solubility of CO2 to determine its mass.
Curated OER
Root Caps and the Effect on Gravity Sensing
Students conduct an experiment to determine how the absence of a root cap affects a plant's ability to sense gravity. They make comparisons between capped and decapped roots.
Curated OER
Flour Beetle
Learners observe the life cycle of the common flour beetle and make observations of its life stages. They also design and implement an investigation on food preference for the beetle and record data over a period of several months....
Curated OER
Dissolved Oxygen in an Aquatic Ecosystem
Students explain why dissolved oxygen is important in aquatic ecosystems. They evaluate the optimal dissolved oxygen levels for living organisms.
Curated OER
Invertebrate Diversity
Students observe different animals with bilateral symmetry. In this biology lesson, students compare how these animals move. They discuss the evolutionary history of observed animals.
Curated OER
Biological Concepts
Students perform a transection of a redworm. They discuss spinal cord injuries in humans. Students compare the ability of the redworm to regenerate the ventral nerve cord with the inability of humans to repair damage to the dorsal nerve...
Curated OER
Temperature Affects The Heart Rate
Learners relate heart rate and development to environmental conditions through experiment. In cooperative groups, students record the heart rate in developing zebra fish. Groups create a standard curve to predict the temperature at...
Curated OER
Alfalfa Butterfly/Caterpillar Lifecycle Investigation
Students collect and record data. They model specimens. Students identify sex of butterflies. They analyze data. Students make conclusions based on collected data. They compare and contrast the different groups of insects such as...
Texas State University
Earth: Deposition and Lithification
Geology geniuses analyze sediment samples with a hand lens and sort according to physical characteristics. They also learn about the processes of cementation, compaction, and lithification within the rock cycle. The lesson plan is...
Curated OER
Black Death Biology
Learners in pairs explore the transmission of the Plague, through experimentation. Cooperative groups use the scientific method to solve the fictional problem of a bacteria spreading in the Amazon. Groups also create a vector to visually...
Curated OER
What's That Brown Fuzzy Stuff on My Plum?
Learners use Koch's Postulates to determine that a specific organism is the root cause of a specific disease and identify what Koch's Postulates are within a protocol. They describe symptoms and signs of diseased fruit and isolate fungal...
Curated OER
Ecosystem Damage from Household Cleaners
Third graders assess the damage done to various ecosystems by cleaning products and discover how scientists test water quality. Using stream water and common household cleaning agents, they work in groups to test for pH levels. Once...
Curated OER
Sediment Deposition Lab
Students set up a stream table, observe erosion, and record data on where various sizes of sediments settle. They draw conclusions as to what kind of sedimentary rock form in what locations.
Curated OER
Does the increased use of fertilizers effect biodiversity?
Students conduct a hands-on lab activity in which they analyze a sample of water from a local stream or pond. They introduce a fertilizer solution into the sample and analyze and describe their findings.
Curated OER
Does the Introduction of Pesticides and Fertilizers Alter an Aquatic Ecosystem?
Students conduct an experiment using a small sample from a local water source. They introduce fertilizers and pesticides, separately, and carefully examine the results in their simulated aquatic ecosystem.
Curated OER
Embryological Development Using Medaka Fish
Learners analyze and record major events that occur in the development of Medaka fish eggs from fertilization to hatching. In small group, students describe the processes involved, creating a timeline of the major events in the...