Curated OER
Predicting the Growth of Microorganisms
Students determine where microorganisms might be found around their school. In this scientific investigation lesson, students collect cultures from various locations and place these in petri dishes. They incubate the cultures to see if...
Curated OER
Don’t Cry Over Spoiled Milk!
Seventh graders explore how milk spoils over time. In this biology lesson, 7th graders discover how pH changes as microorganisms enter the food and multiply. They explain the benefits of pasteurization process.
Curated OER
Vision Disorder
Young scholars design a morning routine for a 60 year old female senior with vision disorder. For this biology lesson, students collaborate with their team to come up with possible solutions. They present at least two ideas of their...
Curated OER
Elegant Embryology
High schoolers observe embryogenesis in action through early stages of development of eggs. They observe cultures with dissecting and compound microscopes. They draw their egg, record any details and observe for changes. They compare...
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Bacteria Pool Party
Students investigate the organisms of bacteria. They are given a culture of bacteria that can be observed under a microscope. The students make observations that are recorded. The activity includes the mention of specific safety...
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Development in Drosophila melanogaster
Students study the least familiar aspect of development in Drosophila melanogaster; the development of the pupa. Students isolate and culture "First-day" pupae. They are dissected daily to study the progressive developmental changes.
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Modeling African American Scientist Ernest Just's Experiment on Parthenogenesis
A multicultural science lesson, students read a brief biography of Ernest Just and create a talk show in which they will perform an experiment after Just's work. With this lesson, students are taught to appreciate the contributions made...
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
Introductory Microbiology
Students view a Reading Rainbow video on germs and discuss microbial diseases. They grow cultures of Staphylococcus aureus and then estimate and graph the count for their own bodies and those of the class.
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Down, Dung and Dirty
Students investigate the stages of succession in animal dung communities. They create a dung culture using fresh cow, goat or horse dung then record data on the fungal species that appear over a two week period.
Curated OER
Drosophila Melanogaster
Student manipulate flies, examine their external anatomy, begin a fly journal and make cultures of wild type flies. Students cross wild type flies and mutants, both purchased from a biological supply house (Carolina Biological Supply...
Curated OER
Cloning And b-Galactosidase
Young scholars investigate cloning using E coli cultures. Through laboratory exercise, they determine if E coli cells contain b - galactosidase.
Curated OER
Watch the Screen!
Students explore screening processes for biological activity. In this deep sea lesson students complete a lab activity.
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Biotechnology
Students explore biotechnology through various activities. In this biology lesson, students analyze its pros and cons. They study and read informative articles about biotechnology.
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Integrated Pest Management
Students investigate the different methods used in integrated pest management. In this biology lesson, students evaluate experiments and case studies on IPM. They discuss the pros and cons of using this method.
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The Raven: Creator of the Universe?
Learners explore biology by researching birds in class. In this raven identification lesson, students utilize the Internet to identify the anatomy, habits and habitat of ravens. Learners write descriptive paragraphs about ravens and read...
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Anatomy and Physiology
Students explore anatomy and physiology using various activities. In this biology lesson, students reasearch about medical radiation and its applications. They study cell cycle, cell division and other processes that sustain life.
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Culturing Plants from Embryonic Plant Tissue
Student groups use lima beans to represent dicots and corn to represent monocots, soak the seeds, and separate the embryos from the cotyledons. They then place the seeds in Petri dishes in agar and observe for at least one week recording...
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Feeding Paramecia
Young scholars prepare a slide of Paramecium cultures and observe (through a microscope) the organism's thin transparent membrane and what happens as they "feed" them stained yeast cells. They sketch the path the ingested yeast takes as...
Curated OER
Bacterial Transformation
Students explore DNA recombination. In this biology lesson, students observe the growth of microscopic species. They predict the phenotype of the transformed colonies.
Curated OER
Mosquito Life Cycles
Students gather mosquito eggs to record the mosquito life cycle using drawings, descriptions, and any other appropriate means. In small groups, they analyze and describe the process of complete metamorphosis. They classify mosquitoes...
Curated OER
Bacteria Buddies
Tenth graders grow two different bacteria cultures. They count the colonies, and then use graphing calculators to predict the number of colonies that are going to appear. Students answer questions from their worksheet after completing...
Curated OER
Multiplying Microbes
Students examine environmental conditions that effect bacteria growth. They culture bacteria, design and conduct an experiment, and identify the conditions that effected the bacteria growth using the scientific method.
Curated OER
Selecting Soil Organisms in Compost
Students conduct an experiment to demonstrate that many of the enzyme systems needed to break down society's wastes exist in nature among the decomposers in a compost pile. They culture compost bacteria on starch agar to examine the...