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Palm Use in Biology
Students view bacteria through a microscope. They draw and label the bacteria using microbiology software loaded onto their Palms.
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Catalase Enzyme
Students design and conduct an experiment to test their ideas about how to speed up or slow down the rate of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction. They have access to an array of physical and chemical factors that might influence enzyme...
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Understanding Interactions Among Local Species and the Local Environment
Students examine the differences between biotic and abiotic factors, explain the difference between habitat and niche and compare how organisms get their nutritional needs. In this local environment instructional activity students...
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Who Took Jerell's iPod?
High schoolers investigate various substances to determine the perpetrator of a crime. In this biology lesson, students test for the presence of organic compounds in various samples. They identify an unknown substance based on its...
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Fungi
Students examine the characteristics of fungi. In this biology lesson, students investigate the factors needed for fungi growth. They collect data and observations and write a report about them.
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Classified Information - Part 1: Shapes
Third graders investigate how and why scientists use classification. They discuss classification strategies using animals, and as a class fill in a flowchart with their responses. Next, in small groups they cut out a variety of shapes...
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Termite Trails
Young scholars observe termite trail-following behavior. In this termite trails lesson, students draw a circle or other shape approximately eight inches across with a ball point pen. Teacher taps out termites into the circle...
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Point of View and Scientific Truth
Students investigate the mystery of the "destructive force." They explore the concepts of natural phenomena. Students discuss the limited aspects of natural phenomena and the "whole truth" to generate new hypotheses that can be tested.
National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
A Strange Fish Indeed
Communication is one of the most important aspects of science. In a two-day activity, your high school or college-level biologists will read excerpts from a fictional diary of Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, the woman who discovered the...
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Dinosaur and DNA Days
Biology stars extract DNA samples from beef thymus and then examine its properties. They use enzymes to digest the DNA samples, and then use electrophoresis to separate fragments. Finally, they discuss methods and principles of...
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What's The Big Deal About Accutane?
Young scholars take on the role of epidemiologists. They investigate an "outbreak" in serious birth defects that occur in infants born to teenage girls. students discover a link between the use of the acne drug called Accutane and birth...
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The Teaching of Biology and Difference
Seventh graders pretend they were Anton looking through the microscope for the first time. They describe the way he felt when he observed tiny moving objects in the sample of pond water. They look at their own samples of pond water,...
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Territorial Behavior in Crickets
Learners explore the behavior of crickets during courtship. They measure the number and types of interactions between household crickets. Students discriminate between quantitative and qualitative observations. They collect data to...
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Language Arts: Plot Summary
Eighth graders implement plot summary organizers to identify essential elements such as conflict and resolution in literature. In pairs, they retell fairy tales to each other and complete plot summaries about them. As students read new...
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DNA Fingerprinting
Students discuss methods used by forensic scientists and the basics of DNA and how it can be used to identify an individual after reading an article from The New York Times.
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Gravity Versus the Mighty Egg
Students design, revise and construct a method for protecting an egg from cracking when it is dropped from a height. They work in small groups to develop their protection method and then collect and analyze data as a class when each...
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Cells and the Cell Membrane
Students investigate the properties of cell membranes by isolating the membrane surrounding chicken eggs. They set up an experiment by placing eggs in a vinegar solution for three days. A powerpoint lecture emphasizes the structure of...
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Blood Typing Investigation
Students role-play a scenario in which a car crash patient is inadvertently given the wrong blood type during a transfusion. They perform blood typing and explore the genetics behind ABO and RH blood types using simulated blood.
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Who Done It?
Pick and choose which activities to include in this crime scene investigation. Junior detectives can examine fingerprints, DNA, blood samples, or bone structure. The plan suggests you have teams solve a mystery, but it does not...
Teach Engineering
Complex Networks and Graphs
Show your class how engineers use graphs to understand large and complex systems. The resource provides the beginnings of graph theory by introducing the class to set theory, graphs, and degree distributions of a graph.
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FLY HIGH!!!
Students create their own bird study in their own schoolyard using the scientific method (see Testing a Hypothesis in Join the Project). Students do research in the library, at a local college, or on the Internet to determine the...
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Radish Seed Garden
Fifth graders explore the effects of overpopulation in an ecosystem while applying the scientific method. They discuss overpopulation and its meaning. Students as an organism competes for space in an overpopulated area. They plant...
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Science: Trouble in the Troposphere
Students research a NASA Website and record information about an assigned city's tropospheric ozone residual monthly climate. In groups, they graph the information for the past year. They form new groups and compare their city's...
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Let's Grow Some Microbes!
Students investigate the effect that sterile and non-sterile environments have on growth of microbes. In this biology lesson, students observe the appearance of sample test tubes for 7 days. They explain why some test tubes' appearance...