Bundled products
Cloning an Extinct Organism
$13.59
This digital, highly interactive google slides lesson teaches students about cloning by sending them back in time to collect cell samples from an incredible, real life extinct organism. They then use a DNA test to find a modern-day relative to their extinct species, then use those cell samples to perform somatic cell nuclear transfer and to create a brand new specimen of the organism of their choice! Student tasks are listed below.
1. Students review two types of natural cloning- identical twins and asexual reproduction.
2. Students read a short article about a scientific attempt to clone a woolly mammoth and answer questions.
3. Students are told that they will be going back in time to collect an extinct animal for a cloning experiment. They must choose which scientific instruments they will be bringing with them on their journey, and why.
4. Students choose a time period to journey to. Their choice will determine which extinct organism they will be cloning. Students who go to the Cenozoic will clone an Indricotherium. Students who go to the Mesozoic will clone a Tyrannosaurus Rex. And students who go to the Paleozoic will clone an Arthropleura.
5. Students collect blood samples from the animal that they discover, and then return to the present- and their science labs.
6. Students examine a gel electrophoresis test comparing their tissue samples to three extant organisms that could be close relatives to their extinct organism. They are told to choose the closest relative. If they read the DNA test incorrectly and choose the wrong organism, they are directed to a screen that tells them to try again. Once they choose correctly, they are led to the next step.
7. Students perform somatic cell nuclear transfer directly on their google slides.
8. Once they have successfully made a clone of their extinct species, they answer analysis questions concerning the technique, feasibility, and ethics of cloning.
Student skills required: The lesson assumes that students are familiar with identical vs. fraternal twins, as well as asexual reproduction. Students should know how to read a DNA gel electrophoresis test in order to determine which extant organism is most closely related to the extinct organism of their choice.
NOTE: You will need to replace my bitmoji with yours on slides 9, 11, and 13. I have left mine there so that you have a size reference. If you forget to do this, it's ok- your students will just have a random person's bitmoji there for a size comparison, instead of their teacher!
Determining Inheritance Patterns in Pedigree Charts
$8.59
In this interactive, google slides lesson, students learn how to recognize what inheritance pattern is being shown by a pedigree chart. The types of inheritance covered in this lesson are simple dominant traits, simple recessive traits, and sex-linked recessive traits. All of the traits discussed in this lesson are real human traits.
First, students learn about three human traits: ectrodactyly (a dominant trait), albinism (a recessive trait), and color blindness (a sex-linked recessive trait). Students drag arrows onto a pedigree chart to show what clues they can use in each to determine the inheritance pattern. Then, they use that knowledge to fill in a chart of clues- how can students determine the inheritance pattern in any pedigree chart just by asking themselves a few questions?
Once they have been given the tools they need to determine inheritance, students are presented with six more examples of pedigrees showing human traits. For each one, they must state what type of inheritance is being shown, as well as how they determined this.
Thank you, and happy teaching!
Living Environment Regents Review 10? Quiz Topic 8: Ecology
$1.00
When your students are reviewing for the Living Environment Regents, the only way to focus their studying is to give topic assessments to determine which areas they are struggling with. With this google forms quiz, I have done the work for you. This form includes 10 questions from past NY State Living Environment Regents related to the topic of ecology. When students take the quiz, the question order AND answer choice order are randomized each time- so don't worry, a good score really does mean that your students know the material! When I use this form, I allow my students to study and retake it if they don't like their score. You can easily do this too. Just make sure that you allow grade importing when you upload the quiz to google classroom. Then, after the quiz score is synced, you can just delete a student's response in order to allow them to take it again.
Living Environment Regents Review 10? Quiz Topic 7: Evolution
$1.00
When your students are reviewing for the Living Environment Regents, the only way to focus their studying is to give topic assessments to determine which areas they are struggling with. With this google forms quiz, I have done the work for you. This form includes 10 questions from past NY State Living Environment Regents related to the topic of evolution. When students take the quiz, the question order AND answer choice order are randomized each time- so don't worry, a good score really does mean that your students know the material! When I use this form, I allow my students to study and retake it if they don't like their score. You can easily do this too. Just make sure that you allow grade importing when you upload the quiz to google classroom. Then, after the quiz score is synced, you can just delete a student's response in order to allow them to take it again.
Living Environment Regents Review 10? Quiz Topic 6: Genetics
$1.00
When your students are reviewing for the Living Environment Regents, the only way to focus their studying is to give topic assessments to determine which areas they are struggling with. With this google forms quiz, I have done the work for you. This form includes 10 questions from past NY State Living Environment Regents related to the topic of genetics. When students take the quiz, the question order AND answer choice order are randomized each time- so don't worry, a good score really does mean that your students know the material! When I use this form, I allow my students to study and retake it if they don't like their score. You can easily do this too. Just make sure that you allow grade importing when you upload the quiz to google classroom. Then, after the quiz score is synced, you can just delete a student's response in order to allow them to take it again.
Living Environment Regents Review 10? Quiz Topic 5: Reproduction
$1.00
When your students are reviewing for the Living Environment Regents, the only way to focus their studying is to give topic assessments to determine which areas they are struggling with. With this google forms quiz, I have done the work for you. This form includes 10 questions from past NY State Living Environment Regents related to the topic of reproduction. (Asexual reproduction, mitosis, cancer, meiosis, reproductive organs, and fertilization and development.) When students take the quiz, the question order AND answer choice order are randomized each time- so don't worry, a good score really does mean that your students know the material! When I use this form, I allow my students to study and retake it if they don't like their score. You can easily do this too. Just make sure that you allow grade importing when you upload the quiz to google classroom. Then, after the quiz score is synced, you can just delete a student's response in order to allow them to take it again.
Living Environment Regents Review 10? Quiz Topic 4: Life Functions & Homeostasis
$1.00
When your students are reviewing for the Living Environment Regents, the only way to focus their studying is to give topic assessments to determine which areas they are struggling with. With this google forms quiz, I have done the work for you. This form includes 10 questions from past NY State Living Environment Regents related to the topic of life functions and homeostasis. When students take the quiz, the question order AND answer choice order are randomized each time- so don't worry, a good score really does mean that your students know the material! When I use this form, I allow my students to study and retake it if they don't like their score. You can easily do this too. Just make sure that you allow grade importing when you upload the quiz to google classroom. Then, after the quiz score is synced, you can just delete a student's response in order to allow them to take it again
Living Environment Regents Review 10? Quiz Topic 3: Cells
$1.00
When your students are reviewing for the Living Environment Regents, the only way to focus their studying is to give topic assessments to determine which areas they are struggling with. With this google forms quiz, I have done the work for you. This form includes 10 questions from past NY State Living Environment Regents related to the topic of cells. When students take the quiz, the question order AND answer choice order are randomized each time- so don't worry, a good score really does mean that your students know the material! When I use this form, I allow my students to study and retake it if they don't like their score. You can easily do this too. Just make sure that you allow grade importing when you upload the quiz to google classroom. Then, after the quiz score is synced, you can just delete a student's response in order to allow them to take it again.
Living Environment Regents Review 10? Quiz Topic 2: Biochemistry
$1.00
When your students are reviewing for the Living Environment Regents, the only way to focus their studying is to give topic assessments to determine which areas they are struggling with. With this google forms quiz, I have done the work for you. This form includes 10 questions from past NY State Living Environment Regents related to the topic of biochemistry. When students take the quiz, the question order AND answer choice order are randomized each time- so don't worry, a good score really does mean that your students know the material! When I use this form, I allow my students to study and retake it if they don't like their score. You can easily do this too. Just make sure that you allow grade importing when you upload the quiz to google classroom. Then, after the quiz score is synced, you can just delete a student's response in order to allow them to take it again.
Living Environment Regents Review 10? Quiz Topic 1: Experimentation
$1.00
When your students are reviewing for the Living Environment Regents, the only way to focus their studying is to give topic assessments to determine which areas they are struggling with. With this google forms quiz, I have done the work for you. This form includes 10 questions from past NY State Living Environment Regents related to the topic of experimentation. When students take the quiz, the question order AND answer choice order are randomized each time- so don't worry, a good score really does mean that your students know the material! When I use this form, I allow my students to study and retake it if they don't like their score. You can easily do this too. Just make sure that you allow grade importing when you upload the quiz to google classroom. Then, after the quiz score is synced, you can just delete a student's response in order to allow them to take it again.
Lab: Comparative Anatomy Simulation
$6.99
This year, during my evolution unit I taught comparative anatomy in a totally different way. My students loved it- and I know yours will too! All you will need to be successful with this activity is this document, and some junk from your house! (I used baby clothes hangers, plastic forks, and plastic cups. You can use whatever you want!)
My class was split into six lab groups. Two groups each came from three different "organism families" (the house junk. For my students, the families were: the baby clothes hanger family, the plastic fork family, and the plastic cups family.)
I told students that there was a natural disaster and a geographic barrier split the room in half suddenly. One half of the room was a flooded swamp, and the organisms would have to evolve to be able to float (for 30 seconds.) The other half of the room was a lava forest, and the organisms would have to evolve to be able to fly (across the room onto a lab table.) They were allowed to access shared materials (tape, glue, paper, rubber bands, etc) to "evolve" their creature. The only rule was that it had to include at least one item of their original family object in whole or part.
After students saw which organisms "survived" they answered questions. Which structures were homologous (the shared original items), which were analogous (the "floaters" or the "fliers"), and which were vestigial. (My favorite example was the little "18 month" tag that was left on a flier hanger.) They also had to make predictions about how evolution in the environments would continue based on which organisms survived. Finally, the students are asked to examine a weakness of the model (in the simulation, organisms can "choose to change.") Students are asked whose thinking this reflects (Lamarck's) and to explain how this would work differently in real life.
Climate Change
$6.99
This remote-learning ready, google slides lesson begins by introducing students to the carbon-oxygen cycle. Students complete "notes" on this topic by dragging missing portions onto the interactive slides. After stating that humans are altering the carbon oxygen cycle by burning fossil fuels, students watch a short video that describes the differences between weather and climate, and then use a linked website to discover more about some of the major greenhouse gasses contributing to climate change. Finally, students examine 8 claims that have been made by various parties about climate change. Using what they have learned, as well as a linked NASA climate change website, students decide whether the claims are valid or invalid, and provide evidence and reasoning for their choices.
Two of the resource links in the product may be more tailored to middle school or lower level classes. I have included links to alternate, higher level resources on the first slide, so that you can easily swap them if you want something more challenging for your students.
Vaccines and Herd Immunity
$8.99
In this interactive digital lesson about a complex topic, students study vaccines and herd immunity by playing games. First, students roll dice to try to make antibodies and fight off an infection using luck alone. Then, they repeat the simulation with a vaccine or previous infection on their side.
After completing this activity, students watch a video on herd immunity, then complete a simulation to discover how herd immunity protects a population.
Finally, students make a claim on whether or not people should be vaccinated, and back it up with evidence from the lesson.
Scientific Investigations into the Origin of Life
$8.99
This beautiful, interactive Google slides lesson helps students to examine all aspects related to scientific inquiries into the origin of life. Student activities are listed below.
1. Students learn about spontaneous generation, and describe how ancient believers in spontaneous generation would explain 4 different real life scenarios. They then explain what is happening in these scenarios using modern knowledge.
2. Students learn about Francesco Redi's experiment and drag maggots and flies onto a model to represent where they would appear both if spontaneous generation were true and if spontaneous generation is false. By examining the actual results of the experiment, they determine that it is actually false.
3. Students examine John Needham's experiments, which purported to prove that spontaneous generation is true. They pick out flaws in the experiment and make suggestions for improvement.
4. Students learn about Louis Pasteur's experiment and drag rotten broth onto a model to represent where they would appear both if spontaneous generation were true and if spontaneous generation is false. By examining the actual results of the experiment, they determine that it is actually false.
5. Students begin to think about how life could have originated if spontaneous generation is false. They learn that we know that life is at least 3.5 billion years old, which we know from the discovery of fossil stromatolites.
6. Students examine three questions in turn: when exactly did life originate, where did life originate, and how did life originate?
7. To answer the question of when exactly life originated, students drag an origin of life icon onto a timeline to represent their guess as to when life originated.
8. To answer the question of where life originated, students examine a website from bioninja to learn about 4 possible origins. Then they vote for their favorite choice.
9. To answer the question of how life originated, students perform a mini web-quest in order to learn more one of three hypotheses for the mechanism of origin. These are: the heterotroph hypothesis, the RNA world hypothesis, and the metabolism-first hypothesis.
10. Finally, students examine Stanley Miller's experiment and state whether they find the results to be compelling or not.
Student Designed Enzyme Lab (In-Person and Digital Versions)
$13.99
This product, which contains both an in-person and digital, interactive version of a student designed enzyme lab, is possibly my favorite lab that I assign to students all year. This lab is challenging, interesting, and NGSS aligned. Forget ¨cook book¨ labs- this lab will make your students THINK and leave them truly understanding enzyme action!
The non-digital version of this lab begins with students reading some background information about enzymes and some related topics. They learn what jello is made of, how the process of canning works, and review what enzymes are. The background information also mentions three enzymes specifically- bromelain, an enzyme in pineapple that breaks down proteins, catalase, an enzyme in chicken liver that breaks down hydrogen peroxide, and amylase, an enzyme found in saliva that breaks down carbohydrates. After they read this background information, they design a lab that will allow them to study the effect of either temperature or pH on enzyme action. You will be there to provide prompts and assistance, but they are designing the lab themselves. After they have designed their lab, they fill out an “order request form” to tell you what items they specifically want in order to complete the lab the next day. Besides basic lab equipment, everything that you will need will be easily obtained in the grocery store or online. (This product includes a teacher shopping list, so that you can have all supplies on hand before your students do the lab.)
One thing that may be intimidating about having students design a lab from scratch is the question of what to do for student who are absent, and for students who are present but who don´t complete or understand the lab. For these situations, I have created a beautiful, interactive digital version of the lab. On the digital version of the lab, I used visual tricks to recreate six of the seven possible lab investigations. For example, to have students determine pH, they pull moveable pH strips out of the test tubes and compare them to a universal pH scale. Of course, the pH strip icons were colored in advance, and removing them from behind the test tube image simply reveals the color. Similarly, in the temperature investigations, three clipart thermometers reveal their preset temperatures when you pull them out from behind the test tube images.
With the combination of the in-person and digital versions of this inquiry rich investigation, you can confidently provide all of your students with a memorable, excellent experience acting as a true scientist- and not have to worry about hanging onto lab supplies once most of the students are done investigating.
Understanding Natural Selection
$8.59
This differentiated, interactive digital lesson introduces students to the five concepts of natural selection. The lesson would work perfectly following a lesson comparing the idea of natural selection with the idea of acquired characteristics.
Students review the five postulates of natural selection, then examine some real life scenarios of natural selection in terms of these criteria. The students have twelve choices of topics to analyze- four easy level tasks, four intermediate, and four challenging. Students are told that they can only complete up to two easy and up to two intermediate tasks.
Some of the easiest tasks come from an evolution worksheet that is widely available, including here. The intermediate and challenging tasks introduce students to more complex situations, including ring species, mimicry, coevolution, and shifting baseline theory.
After students complete the tasks of their choice, they use an online simulation to learn about the famous case study of evolution in action, the peppered moth. After completing the simulation game, students make a double line graph comparing the population of the two moth types. Finally, students examine the mutation that led to the dark form of the peppered moth and state what type of mutation it was.
Pedigree Charts- Assigning Genotypes & Making Predictions
$8.99
In this interactive, google slides lesson, students learn how to recognize and label genotypes of individuals in a pedigree chart. The types of inheritance covered in this lesson are simple dominant traits, simple recessive traits, and sex-linked recessive traits. All of the traits discussed in this lesson are real human traits.
First, students are guided through three pedigrees (one for a dominant trait, one for a recessive trait, and one for a sex-linked recessive trait.) Students are directed how to label the genotypes of all the individuals in each pedigree, while being provided with clues or hints they can use to ascertain genotypes in the future. Then, they are shown how to make predictions from a pedigree chart once genotypes have been assigned.
Once they have been given the tools they need to accomplish these tasks, students are presented with three practice problems in which they must assign genotypes and make predictions on their own.
Thank you, and happy teaching!
Introduction to Pedigree Charts
$7.99
This remote learning ready, interactive google slides lesson teaches students how to read the symbols and relationship lines on a pedigree chart. The lesson includes a vocabulary check in and optional, hyperlinked review. The order of activities is listed below.
1. Students review basic genetics vocabulary- gene vs. allele, genotype vs. phenotype, and homozygous vs. heterozygous.
2. Students self- assess their level of understanding of these vocabulary words. If students are struggling with them, an optional hyperlinked review slide gives them fun extra practice with three online games. (Memory match, a quizlet set, and a vortex game.)
3. Students learn the new word "carrier" and explain why carriers must always be heterozygous.
4. Students learn the symbols that are found on a pedigree chart, and immediately apply the new knowledge to associated questions
5. Students learn how relationships are represented on a pedigree chart, and immediately apply the new knowledge to a pedigree chart
6. Students apply their new knowledge of pedigree charts to a real life historic case. They read an article to learn that Charles II of Spain was the last of his line due to extensive health problems caused by inbreeding. Then, they examine his actual pedigree chart to determine how many of the marriages in his family before his birth were incestuous. This high interest, cross curricular activity gives students a lot of practice with genetics vocabulary and concepts as well as with pedigree charts.
Limiting Factors and Carrying Capacity
$9.59
Do your students struggle with the complex ways that limiting factors interact to determine carrying capacity? This digital, interactive google slides lesson starts by breaking these concepts down to their most simple form, then allow students to build the concepts back up in a differentiated way.
Student tasks are listed below
1. The lesson starts with some basic notes- students look at carrying capacity graphs, learn about logistic and exponential growth, name some possible limiting factors, and see the four ways that a population can level out after it exceeds carrying capacity.
2. Students study an alien ecosystem that contains orange aliens. The aliens need a habitat (a hole), some food (a carnivorous plant) and some pink water in order to survive. Students pull the resources over to the aliens until they run out- this tells them which resource is the limiting factor, and what the carrying capacity for the ecosystem is.
3. Next, students make a graph of the aliens' population on a new planet for twenty years. They analyze the graph to determine the carrying capacity, and answer other thoughtful questions.
4. Students choose a final task based on how comfortable they felt with the material so far. See these choices below!
Differentiated student tasks
Green circle task (easiest): If students struggled with the content, they can choose to do another practice set. This time, teenagers die of embarrassment if they don't have all of the resources that they need to be cool- a cell phone, a bag of takis, and a Monster Energy Drink. Students then graph how the teenage population grows in an unpopulated high school, with so many abundant resources that the teens invite their friends!
Blue square task (intermediate): Students read a comic about St. Matthew Island, where the US Coast Guard released 29 reindeer in 1944. With no predators and abundant resources, the population ballooned to 6000 reindeer before a population crash led to their complete local extinction. Students will analyze what led to the tragedy, and make connections to how this may apply to humans.
Black diamond task (challenging): Students manipulate different limiting factors to see how they affect the tuna population in a simulation. Finally, students design an experiment that they will test using the simulation, to make a conclusion regarding how one limiting factor can change population growth.
Internal vs. External Fertilization and Development
$8.59
This remote learning ready, interactive google slides lesson teaches students to classify and evaluate different types of reproductive strategies found in nature. The order of student activities are listed below.
1. Students are given or define vocabulary words (internal, external, fertilization, and development)
2. Students examine the reproductive strategies of four organisms (mallard duck, gastric brooding frog, human, and moon jellyfish.) They then drag and drop the organisms onto a graphic organizer which describes the four types of reproductive strategies.
3. Students interpret the data they just observed in order to answer five related questions
4. Students determine which reproductive methods are most and least dangerous for offspring based on data
5. Students determine which reproductive methods require most and least parental effort based on data
6. Students describe the advantages and disadvantages of each reproductive method
7. Students examine 4 very unusual organisms, whose reproductive strategies may not be easily classifiable. In partners or groups, they debate how they should classify these unusual organisms.
Is there Hope for Environmental Change?
$13.99
Studying complex environmental problems can be frightening and discouraging. I like to remind students that crises are only discussed while they are a problem- if they are solved, people tend to forget that they ever happened. For this assignment, students have the opportunity to learn about SIX huge environmental problems that we have partially or completely solved. In my classroom, I tell students that they must choose three of the six to study- but this is easily edited to be any number you'd like, depending on the time you have and on the skill level of your students. By watching videos, listening to audio files, reading articles and book excerpts, analyzing infographics, responding to pictures, interpreting graphs, manipulating interactive elements, and more- your students will learn what caused these major environmental catastrophes, and how they were fixed (or, how they are BEING fixed).
The six environmental problems discussed are:
1. Lead pollution
2. The ozone hole
3. Water and air pollution
4. Acid rain
5. DDT
6. Habitat destruction
Don't leave your students hopeless and helpless. Show them that one person (or one small group of people) absolutely can solve major environmental crises, and have done so multiple times in the recent past.
Living Environment Regents Review 10? Quiz Topic 9: Human Impact
$1.00
When your students are reviewing for the Living Environment Regents, the only way to focus their studying is to give topic assessments to determine which areas they are struggling with. With this google forms quiz, I have done the work for you. This form includes 10 questions from past NY State Living Environment Regents related to the topic of human impact. When students take the quiz, the question order AND answer choice order are randomized each time- so don't worry, a good score really does mean that your students know the material! When I use this form, I allow my students to study and retake it if they don't like their score. You can easily do this too. Just make sure that you allow grade importing when you upload the quiz to google classroom. Then, after the quiz score is synced, you can just delete a student's response in order to allow them to take it again.
DNA Mutations
$8.99
This remote learning ready, google slides lesson introduces students to the concepts of codons, mutations, and mutagens. Students learn about the four basic types of mutations (point, frameshift insertion, frameshift deletion, and inversion) and how to recognize them. Students separate a DNA strand into codons, then perform the task again while determining what DNA mutation has occurred between the first and second iteration of a strand. Students then are introduced to mutagens and follow the mutations in a human cell belonging to a man named "Bob" who keeps making poor health choices.
Finally, students research a real human genetic disease and report back on what type of mutation is (usually) responsible for causing it.
Alien Explorer- Dichotomous keys and food webs
$15.99
This remote learning ready, google slides lesson, which is modeling-inspired, introduces students to dichotomous keys and food webs by having them act as real scientists. Students are told that they are part of a crew of expert alien ecologists that is exploring a newly discovered planet, New Pamishan. (Please note: your students must be familiar with gel electrophoresis tests in order to complete this lesson.
The steps of this lesson, which should take about 3 days to complete, are listed below.
1. Students complete a dichotomous key that asks them to name simple shapes, and then explain to their crewmates how to use a dichotomous key.
2. Students become more familiar with dichotomous keys by creating one of their own. They sort 8 New Pamishan creature cards into separate categories while recording what differences they used to distinguish them. (This could easily be modified by reducing the number of cards.)
3. Students then practice their skills with a dichotomous key by naming 20 creatures from New Pamishan. These two slides are adapted from the free activity that can be found a number of places, including here: https://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/pamishan.html
4. Students are told that they will be responsible for creating a food web for New Pamishan by examining the stomach contents of some of the creatures. However, in order to do this, they must be familiar with all of the rules of food webs. They will review these rules by examining their notes from their trip to another alien planet, "Earth."
5. Students complete 12 slides explaining food webs. (You could alter the number of slides here if your students are already familiar with food webs.) The slides cover basic ecology vocabulary, which way the arrows point in a food web, gathering information from a food web, and creating a food web from information given in a table.
6. Students are told that, in addition to the Pamishan creatures, their alien crew members have discovered four alien species of plants on the planet. A gel electrophoresis test has been done on these four species.
7. Students are given 5 creatures to "dissect." First, they identify the creature itself (using the same dichotomous key as before.) Then, they open the stomach to examine the contents within. Some stomachs contain DNA test results, while others contain partially digested alien creature bodies. (Actually pictures of the other creatures that have been split into a small number of pieces.) Students must examine the gel electrophoresis results and/or reassemble the alien creature bodies and identify them using the dichotomous key. They record what food(s) they discover in each alien stomach onto a table, and determine whether the alien that they dissected was an herbivore, a carnivore, or an omnivore.
8. Using the table that they made, students create a food web showing the feeding relationships of the creatures from New Pamishan. Then, they pull a food chain out of their food web, and make a prediction using their food web.
Living Environment Regents Review for Students
$19.64
Forget boring, one note Regents Review. This hyperlinked google slides document contains the resources split into nine topics. (Experimentation, biochemistry, cells, life functions and homeostasis, reproduction, genetics, evolution, ecology, and human impact.)
- One 24 page "Biology Survival Guide"
- Twelve You-tube videos
- Eleven interactive online activities
- Twenty-three Quizlets
- Nine Kahoot games
- THIRTY free online educational games
- Four "State Lab Boot Camps" that review the NY State Required Labs
- Archived Regents exams
Additionally, this document encourages students to read the textbook (the page numbers listed in this document refer to Miller and Levine Biology, but are easily editable), review old classwork and exams, ask a classmate who did well to help them review, review their notes. As they work through the review, draggable checkmarks, a slide to keep track of their grades, and intradocument hyperlinks help them easily keep track of what they've done, track their score, and find their way around the assignment.
In my class, this is a large, 120 point assignment that counts as a test. I ask them to take a 10 point quiz on the topic as a pre-assessment, to review only those topics that they struggled with, and then to take the 10 point topic quiz again. If you would like my to use my quizzes, they are available for purchase separately.
Natural Selection Stations (Inquiry Based Evolution Investigations)
$13.99
This remote-learning ready, google slides lesson teaches students all about real-life natural selection examples in interesting, challenging ways. Your students should ALREADY be comfortable with the basics of natural selection before you ask them to complete these more advanced examples. This lesson teaches students about natural selection in a student centered way that involves genuine thoughtfulness and problem solving.
Station One: Students use a video and various text documents to understand why humans evolved a diversity of skin colors. In addition to being truly interesting, this station is a great way to teach students why racial prejudice and colorism are absolutely non-sensical. (In addition to being abhorrent.)
Station Two: Students examine unlabeled skulls and record their similarities and differences. After their initial examination, they learn that the skulls actually belong to a marsupial wolf and a gray wolf, two very distantly related species. They then watch a video explaining the differences between divergent evolution, and explain WHY the marsupial wolf and gray wolf looked so similar, despite their distant relation.
Station Three: Students explain how Darwin and Wallace were able to predict the existence of a moth with a 10 inch long tongue simply by examining an orchid. Then, they examine four additional real life examples of coevolution, explaining in each situation how one species affected the evolution of the other.
Station Four: Students read a comic called "Survival of the Sneakiest" (Not made by me! Can be found for free online here https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/sneakermales_01 ) and explain how natural selection has led to two distinct but successful mating behaviors in male crickets.
Station Five: Students examine documents related to a deadly genetic disease and explain why, even though the disease is deadly, it has persisted in the human population. (Students may choose to examine sickle cell anemia, which has persisted because it confers protection from malaria, or to examine cystic fibrosis, which has persisted because it confers protection from cholera.)
How do cells communicate? (Intro to Nervous and Endocrine Systems)
$8.99
This differentiated interactive lesson introduces students to slow and rapid cellular communication. All students in the class begin by completing some notes about the endocrine and nervous systems, and by labeling diagrams by dragging vocabulary words onto anatomical diagrams with missing labels. After reviewing the introductory material, students are offered six task choices- three relating to the nervous system, and three relating to the endocrine system. The tasks are leveled using ski hill ratings, with green circles representing the easiest tasks, blue squares representing intermediate tasks, and black diamonds representing the most challenging tasks. Students must choose one task from the nervous system choices, and one from the endocrine system choices!
The nervous system tasks:
Green circle (easiest) task choice: Students make a mad, mad neuron and post a screenshot of their successful completion of the task.
Blue square (intermediate) task choice: Students answer questions while completing an online interactive on the mechanism of THC
Black square (most challenging) task choice: Students answer questions while completing an online lesson on action potentials.
The endocrine system tasks:
Green circle (easiest) task choice: Students draw the missing binding sites on hormone receptors to match the corresponding hormone shape. They answer questions about which cell(s) can respond to specific hormones based on receptor shape.
Blue square (intermediate) task choice: Students answer questions while completing an online game called Endocrine Ed
Black square (most challenging) task choice: Students examine descriptions of real human diseases and, based on symptoms and other clues, determine whether the disease is caused by a missing hormone, or by a missing or malfunctioning hormone receptor.
Digital Learning: Mitosis
$6.99
This remote learning ready, google slides lesson has two parts. In the first part, a major misconception of mitosis is addressed at length. This misconception is the fact that the word "chromosome" may refer both to an unreplicated DNA strand and to a replicated DNA strand. After students learn about the origins of the name "chromosome", they practice distinguishing between replicated and unreplicated chromosomes by describing drawings of chromosomes, making drawings of chromosomes themselves, describing drawings of mitosis, and making drawings of mitosis themselves. Addressing this misconception right out the gate has made a major difference for my students' understanding of both mitosis and meiosis.
The second part of the lesson is a more standard mitosis stage practice.
Thank you, and happy teaching!
Taxonomy- How do we organize living things?
$8.99
Instead of relegating your students’ cell phones to simply being the utter bane of your existence, consider instead that you can use them in creative ways to have your students do truly incredible work.
I had this realization for myself last summer on a hike with my family, when I was geeking out using a free phone app called Seek. This app identifies organisms using your camera. You simply need to point your camera at whatever plant, fungus, or critter you have in front of you, and, with luck, the app will identify the organism, tell you its kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, tell you whether it is native or invasive, give you a range map, tell you how many other users have identified the organism on Seek and when, and link you to the wikipedia page about the organism.
All of a sudden it hit me- why am I not using this incredible tool in my classroom?
In an instant, I threw out my old lesson materials and made this lesson.
To start, students look at a few introduction slides about taxonomy, and practice separating organisms into the 4 eukaryotic kingdoms. Then, they look up the full taxonomic classification for humans.
Then, they use a qr code to download the free Seek app onto their phones. After that, the kids head outside and try to find at least five organisms. Back in the classroom, they use the information from the app to complete 5 (or more) additional slides, describing everything they found!
Was every single one of my students thrilled to be outside, exposed to mud, bugs, sun, air, and potentially fatal teenaged humiliation? Maybe not. But it was different, it was memorable, and it brought another science topic to life. I had students reporting months later that they were still using the Seek app, and that it had made them notice and think about the natural world in a different way. If that´s not a win, I don't know what is!
State Lab Boot Camp: Relationships and Biodiversity
$0.00
Use this comprehensive and cute review to help your students review the NY State required lab "Relationships and Biodiversity.' After reviewing content, answering questions, and completing activities, they will be ready to answer all of the questions in part D of the Living Environment exam! Item is sourced from old Regents exams, other teachers online, and original material.
State Lab Boot Camp: Making Connections
$0.00
Use this comprehensive and cute review to help your students review the NY State required lab "Making Connections.' After reviewing content, answering questions, and completing activities, they will be ready to answer all of the questions in part D of the Living Environment exam! Item is sourced from old Regents exams, other teachers online, and original material.
Growth vs Fixed Mindset- Examining Claims
$3.59
This remote learning ready, differentiated google slides lesson is an excellent way to begin the year. This lesson introduces students to the C-E-R (claim-evidence-reasoning) style of modeling while also showing them that scientific evidence supports growth mindset over fixed mindset.
Students examine four separate pieces of scientific evidence, and have to decide whether each one supports the claims of fixed mindset (intelligence is inborn and unchangeable) or growth mindset (intelligence can be altered by the environment.) The lesson actually includes seven separate pieces of evidence, so students can choose which they examine based on difficulty and interest. After students have determined which claim is supported, they need to articulate the evidence and reasoning for their choice.
The Immune System
$8.99
This interactive, differentiated google slides lesson introduces the immune system to students in a fun, visual, interesting way.
Students begin the lesson by reviewing the immune system´s first line of defense. Next, they write down five facts that they learn by watching this very interesting Youtube video, which describes the immune system using colorful cartoons.
Since the video is (understandably) still quite complex, students then learn about antibody specificity. They practice matching antigens with the antigen binding sites of antibodies, and determine which individual human would be protected from a bacterium based on the shapes of their antibodies. Finally, they review some functions of white blood cells.
Students then decide which one of three tasks they would like to complete in order to study the immune system in further detail. These high interest tasks are differentiated.
The easiest task asks students to examine allergies through memes. Students examine three memes about allergies, then choose one to explain in scientific detail. Finally, students design their own meme about allergies from a number of blank meme templates.
The intermediate task asks students to examine HIV and AIDS through infographics. Students examine two infographics about HIV, then choose one to explain in scientific detail. Finally, students design their own infographic about HIV using a number of provided icons. (They can also add their own.)
The challenging task asks students to examine how the bubonic plague altered the immune system through reading short articles. Students choose one of three articles about plague and evolution to read and summarize. Finally, students write their own short article describing how the plague changed immunity in some human populations.
3 Digital Meiosis Lessons: Intro, independent assortment, & crossing over
$23.99
These remote learning ready, google slides lessons address one of the most difficult topics to teach in biology in a scaffolded, fun, and interactive way. Teaching meiosis this way has made a major difference in my students' understanding of this tricky concept.
Lesson One
In lesson one, a major misconception of cell division is addressed. This misconception is the fact that the word "chromosome" may refer both to an unreplicated DNA strand and to a replicated DNA strand. After reviewing the origins of the name "chromosome", students practice distinguishing between replicated and unreplicated chromosomes by describing drawings of chromosomes, making drawings of chromosomes themselves. Students then comfortable with the concept of homologous chromosomes. Students practice this concept by stating whether pairs of chromosomes are homologous or not. Sex determination and sex chromosomes are also addressed. Next, students become more familiar with the concepts of haploid and diploid cells by determining the number of chromosomes in haploid and diploid cells of various species. Finally, students are asked to apply their new knowledge by labeling cells undergoing meiosis and then by drawing their own.
Lesson Two
Students begin by contrasting mitosis and meiosis, and then reviewing the concepts of homologous chromosomes, diploid cells, and haploid cells. Students are then asked to rate their comfort with these concepts before they move on. If they are comfortable, they then draw pictures of tetrads to make sure that they understand this new vocabulary word. They watch a short (less than 2 minutes) video and explain independent assortment in their own words.
The main activity of the lesson asks them to make sperm inside of a fruit fly. They decide which trait goes into which sperm cell by flipping a coin. Finally, they practice determining how much variation can be produced by independent assortment alone.
Lesson Three- (Note: this lesson takes my students 2 days.)
Students begin by examining a picture of and video about crossing over, then describing it in their own words. Next, they color code chromosomes based on whether they are maternal or paternal.
As in lesson one, the main activity of the lesson asks them to make sperm inside of a fruit fly. This time, crossing over and independent assortment are BOTH represented in the simulation. Students flip coins to sort chromosomes, then flip them again to determine if the sister chromatids cross over or not, as well as where the crossing over occurs. Once this is determined by chance, they complete meiosis with their own unique cell. Finally, they answer analysis questions related to the activity and perform a concept check in.
Making and Reading Evolutionary Trees
$13.59
This remote learning ready, google slides lesson teaches students how to read evolutionary trees, and how to make the most parsimonious evolutionary tree possible using a data set. Student tasks are listed below.
1. Students learn how evolutionary trees are just like family trees, and answer some questions about a four generation family tree.
2. Students learn how all living things are related, and learn some additional rules and conventions about evolutionary trees.
3. Students watch a short video about using gene trees to determine when polar bears and brown bears diverged.
4. Students learn that evolutionary trees need to be parsimonious, and drag and drop labels onto two sets of trees to determine which is the most parsimonious, and therefore correct.
5. Students make a tree by filling out a chart of features from real organisms and placing these organisms onto a tree in the most parsimonious way. (I do this task as a class.)
6. Students make a tree for a set of 5 fictional organisms ("squidgens") by comparing features and deciding which tree is the most parsimonious (I have students complete this one on their own.)
7. Students learn that molecular evidence has sometimes led scientists to surprising conclusions about the real relationships among living organisms. Students choose one set of organisms (out of TEN sets) to analyze. They guess which organisms are most closely related based on appearance alone, and then learn the real relationships by reading a gel electrophoresis result and making a parsimonious tree from the appearance of the DNA bands. If I have time, I like to have my students do this task in groups, and then have the groups share their discoveries with the whole class. The organism sets are:
1. Camels, whales, hippos, pigs
2. Rhinoceroses, rock hyraxes, wombats, elephants
3. Douglas fir tree, daisy, oak tree, moss
4. Palm tree, cycad, orchid, grass
5. Tortoise, common grackle (a bird), bearded dragon, alligator
6. Chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, human
7. Pill bug/roly poly, spider, Japanese beetle, lobster
8. Fly amanita (a mushroom), coral cactus (a plant), amoeba, cheetah
9. Barnacle, clam, octopus, sponge
10. Paramecium, E. coli bacteria, myxozoa, giraffe
Reading Karyotypes
$11.99
This remote learning ready, google slides lesson has students examine sources of error during meiosis, then challenges them to examine karyotypes and determine what syndromes can result from unusual arrangements of chromosomes.
Students begin by illustrating a complete model of meiosis, including independent assortment and crossing over. Students are then asked to rate their comfort with these concepts before they move on. If they are comfortable, they then draw pictures of what meiosis would look like if non-disjunction errors occurred during division 1 or division 2 of meiosis, and read about what mistakes can happen during crossing over.
Students next examine 7 different karyotypes (2 healthy and 5 from individuals with chromosomal syndromes.) Students examine the chromosomes to determine what is unusual. By doing this, they make themselves a "karyotype key."
Once the key is completed, students examine amniocentesis results in order to determine if 6 pregnancies are healthy.
Thank you, and happy teaching!
State Lab Boot Camp: Diffusion through a Membrane
$0.00
Use this comprehensive and cute review to help your students review the NY State required lab "Diffusion through a Membrane.' After reviewing content, answering questions, and completing activities, they will be ready to answer all of the questions in part D of the Living Environment exam! Item is sourced from old Regents exams, other teachers online, and original material.
State Lab Boot Camp: Beaks of Finches
$0.00
Use this comprehensive and cute review to help your students review the NY State required lab "Beaks of Finches.' After reviewing content, answering questions, and completing activities, they will be ready to answer all of the questions in part D of the Living Environment exam! Item is sourced from old Regents exams, other teachers online, and original material.
How does life change through time? (Lamarck, Darwin, & Intelligent Design)
$8.99
This remote learning ready, google slides lesson is meant to be an introduction lesson to an evolution chapter, but should be given AFTER any lessons you plan to give about evidence for evolution. This lesson asks students to think about the philosophy of science and to examine evidence themselves, so that they come to the conclusion that, of Lamarckism, natural selection, and intelligent design, ONLY natural selection is a scientific idea that is supported by evidence. The order of activities are listed below.
1. Students see a notes slide that explains that an idea only qualifies as science if it uses testable ideas, and if it relies on evidence. With this in mind, students examine four (true) statements and decide which of the statements qualify as science, and which do not.
2. Students list some pieces of evidence that shows that evolution (change through time) has occurred. (This knowledge should come from previous lessons or outside materials.)
3. Students learn about the claims made by Jean Baptiste Lamarck, Charles Darwin, and Michael Behe, and describe how each of these three people may have explained why giraffes have long necks.
4. Students learn to distinguish these three ideas by examining how each idea might explain four additional real life adaptations. (Cheetah speed, sperm whale lung capacity, butterfly spots, and octopus intelligence.)
5. Students examine evidence and decide whether each supports or refutes Lamarck's claims. For each, they must explain their reasoning. Afterwards, they decide whether Lamarck's ideas are scientific or not.
6. Students examine evidence and decide whether each supports or refutes Darwin's claims. For each, they must explain their reasoning. Afterwards, they decide whether Darwin's ideas are scientific or not.
7. Students examine evidence and decide whether each supports or refutes Behe's claims concerning intelligent design. For each, they must explain their reasoning. Afterwards, they decide whether Behe's ideas are scientific or not.
8. In conclusion, students state that only Darwin's ideas are, in fact, scientific.
Speciation (How does one species become two?)
$0.00
This remote learning ready, google slides lesson teaches students how speciation can occur, using many different real life examples. The lesson incorporates student choice by allowing students to choose 2 of 4 leveled activities as an introduction to the topic of speciation. Afterwards, all students study the speciation event of apple flies and hawthorn flies, but once again students have a choice- they can study one of three aspects of this speciation event in detail.
I am offering this product for free because all of the source material for this interactive lesson was borrowed from the University of Utah's fabulous website. The source material is available for free here: https://teach.genetics.utah.edu/content/evolution/speciation/
If you enjoy the formatting of this lesson, with its built in student choice and interactivity, then you may enjoy my other remote learning products. Please check out my store for more!
How do Mutations Affect Protein Synthesis?
$10.99
This remote learning ready, google slides lesson assumes that your students are already familiar with both DNA mutations and protein synthesis. This visually appealing and interactive lesson is challenging and interesting, and I have always found in my classroom that it goes a long way towards reinforcing genetics concepts.
In the lesson, students study four well known genetic diseases (Tay-Sachs, Sickle Cell Anemia, Hemophilia, and Cystic Fibrosis.) Students begin their examination by comparing the relevant proteins from a healthy and an afflicted individual. Once they decide whose protein is non-functional (or missing,) they examine strands of DNA from both individuals. Using their assessment of who was afflicted and who was healthy, they determine which DNA strand is mutated, and what the mutation is. (Side note: although most of these conditions can be caused by multiple mutations, I did make sure that the mutation types that students get on this assignment are true to life at least some of the time.)
Finally, students have to relate the mutated protein's shape back to symptoms of the disease. I have really enjoyed using this lesson in my classroom, and I hope that it helps your students as much as it has helped mine.
Homeostasis
$8.99
This remote learning ready, interactive google slides lesson introduces students to the concept of homeostasis. The lesson includes student choice. The order of activities is listed below.
1. Four notes slides introduce students to the concept of homeostasis. Homeostasis in the body is compared to a weather report in which the weather inside of the body is always the same.
2. Students read and respond to a short article regarding negative and positive feedback loops. Students compare homeostasis in the body to a driver in a car trying to maintain a steady speed.
3. Students name three ways that a steady temperature is maintained in the body. If students are unsure, they can click an icon for help. This link leads to a screencastify recording that names and illustrates temperature regulatory functions.
4. Two notes slides explain to students how disease and stress affect homeostasis. Students learn about the specific example of diabetes.
5. Students examine two graphs of blood sugar levels. Using the information they just learned, they decide which graph shows a person with uncontrolled diabetes, and which shows a healthy person. Students explain their reasoning.
6. Students follow a link to maintain homeostasis in a virtual person on the PBS learning website. Once they have done so in three scenarios, they explain what they have learned from the activity.
7. Students complete a "homeostasis hero" activity. They decide whether they would rather learn more about organ systems or cell organelles. Either way, they will examine five real human diseases and decide which cell organelle or organ system is affected, and explain how they know.
8. Students complete a long answer NY State Living Environment Regents Exam question directly related to the study topic that they chose in activity 7.
Discovering DNA
$12.99
In this remote learning ready, google slides lesson, students examine a series of experiments that led to the knowledge that DNA is the molecule of heredity and to the structure of DNA.
This lesson is differentiated and written in modeling/inquiry style. Students examine 4 real experiments in order to determine what the experiments showed. The 4 experiments that students study are Griffith's 1928 experiment, Avery MacLeod, and McCarty's 1944 experiment, Hershey and Chase's 1952 experiment, and Chargaff's 1949 experiment. For each, students make a claim evidence reasoning (CER) by examining data from the experiment or a summary of the experiment. This lesson portion is differentiated. Students may choose to complete the CER without help (hardest difficulty), to complete the CER with a major hint about the claim (medium difficulty), or to get a visual hint about what was happening in the experiment. (easiest level).
Next, students read an article about Watson, Crick, Wilkins, and Rosalind Franklin. They state what each scientist contributed to the discovery of DNA, and state whether they think it was fair that the first three received a Nobel Prize while Franklin did not.
Digital Lab: Genetics of Fruit Flies
$10.99
This digital lab, made on google slides, asks students to determine the inheritance pattern of a fruit fly trait by performing genetic crosses (using an online simulator.) The lab has built in student choice and student directed differentiation. The order of student tasks is listed below.
1. Students complete a background reading and answer questions
2. Students decide whether they would rather study a trait that has an easily discernable inheritance pattern, a medium difficulty inheritance pattern, or a challenging inheritance pattern. These options are presented using ski trail ratings. (Green circle = beginner, blue square = intermediate, black diamond = expert.) They click on the shape corresponding to their choice, which leads to a set of traits. Of these, students decide which trait they are most interested in studying.
3. Students complete a pre-lab to decide in advance what question(s) they are seeking to answer, and what crosses will help them to determine the answer(s).
4. Students perform test crosses on fruit flies using an online simulator. While doing so, they record their results in an included lab notebook.
5. Students write a lab report. A scaffolded report helps them to get started, with pre-made headings and suggestions (written in purple) that they can use and then delete.
Thank you for your purchase, and happy teaching!
Using Punnett Squares to Determine Genetic Ratios
$8.99
This remote learning ready, google slides lesson introduces students to basic genetics vocabulary, then shows them how to complete and analyze Punnett Squares. The order of student tasks in this lesson are listed below.
1. Students define 6 genetics vocabulary words
2. Students name the gene associated with 9 sets of alleles
3. Student label pictures to differentiate "phenotype" from "genotype"
4. Students state whether specific genotypes are homozygous or heterozygous
5. Students determine phenotypes from genotypes and vice versa
6. Students complete Punnett Squares to represent Mendel's first and second sets of experiments, then complete Punnett Squares in which parental genotypes are determined by a coin flip
7. Students analyze why Mendel got the results that he did, then use additional practice Punnett squares to determine phenotypic ratios in offspring.
Introduction to Genetics (Reasoning through Mendel's Experiments)
$8.99
This remote learning ready, interactive google slides lesson introduces students to the genetics in a way that is both easy to follow and which fosters deep thinking. Your students will leave this lesson with a true and lasting understanding of Gregor Mendel's experiments- and they will discover it every step of the way all by themselves. (Well, with just a little bit of help!)
This lesson begins by asking students to ponder an analogy. Are genetic traits more similar to paint, or are they more similar to playing cards? After they make their hypothesis, students ponder four real life examples of genetic inheritance in humans and try to reason if the inheritance observed could be explained by "paint genes", "card genes", or both.
Next, students read about Mendel's experimental methods, and demonstrate their understanding by "cutting" the stamens off of a hermaphroditic flower. (Students drag scissor icons to show where he would have cut them.)
Students then examine Mendel's first experiment in respect to pea plant height. They are asked what Mendel should have expected his results to be according to the diluted blending theory commonly accepted at the time. After they discover the actual result of the first experiment, they check in with their understanding. At this point, do they think that genetic traits are more like paint or like cards? Have they changed their minds?
Students then examine evidence from Mendel's second experiment, when he crossed the heterozygous offspring from his first experiment and obtained a 3-1 ratio of phenotypic traits in his offspring. Using these experimental results, they complete a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (C-E-R) diagram explaining what Mendel discovered. If students are struggling, they can click a hyperlink to access six support slides to help them complete the CER.
Students are then asked to make a connection to meiosis (a topic that they would have already studied in my class.) They learn that Mendel actually discovered the law of Independent Assortment, and the "cards" that we were comparing genetic traits to earlier have a name that they already know ... chromosomes!
Finally, students examine their own traits for some human traits that show Simple/Mendelian inheritance (or pretty close to Simple/Mendelian inheritance) and determine if they have the dominant or recessive trait for each. One of the traits students examine is the ability to taste phenylthiocarbamide (PTC). If you want them to study this trait, you will need some PTC paper. =)
Performing Gel Electrophoresis DNA Tests
$8.99
In this remote learning ready, google slides lesson, students learn how to make and read gel electrophoresis tests in an interactive, inquiry inspired way. The steps of the lesson are listed below.
1. Students watch a video about how PCR is performed and describe it.
2. Students perform "PCR" by writing in the complementary strand to each side of a split DNA.
3. Students use "restriction enzymes" to cut a DNA strand and count the number of nucleotides in each piece.
4. Students drag "bands" to the proper spot on a gel based on their results in step 3.
5. Students examine gel results from a crime scene, from a paternity test, and from an evolutionary study. In each case, students are told what the "answer" is and have to explain how the gel results show this answer. In this way, they discover how to read gel electrophoresis results on their own rather than being told how to.
6. Students practice their skills with five practice problems.
7. Students perform a gel electrophoresis test on the RNA found in COVID 19 to discover which species the virus came from.
Introduction to Protein Synthesis
$8.99
This remote learning ready, interactive google slides lesson teaches students all about protein synthesis. The order of student activities are listed below.
1. After being given textbook/internet definitions, students define DNA replication, transcription, and translation in using their own words and a picture or drawing.
2. Students read and complete a few interactive notes slides.
a. Students place their three new vocabulary words onto a diagram of the "central dogma of biology"
b. Students review where DNA is stored and where proteins are made in a cell
c. Students read an overview of protein synthesis. Then they learn about how RNA is different from DNA, which is reinforced by asking them to complete a table comparing these two biomolecules
d. Students learn that adenine pairs with uracil during transcription, and practice transcribing short strands of DNA
e. Students label a picture with "transcription" and "translation."
3. Students use a modified amino acid conversion chart to crack a secret "code" that translates to an English sentence.
4. Students who are struggling to read the conversion chart view an animated, highly colorful slide in present mode to learn how this chart works.
5. Students transcribe and translate actual amino acids
6. Students are introduced to how mutations in DNA can change a protein.
Genetics: See, Think, Find Out
$6.99
This highly engaging first day activity will leave your students extremely excited to learn more about genetics. One at a time, students delete a grey text box to see a person or organism with an unusual genetic condition. I then time my students and give them a few minutes to fill out the first two columns of a chart, stating what they see, and what they think is going on. After sharing these responses, I then allow students to google search and find out what condition or conditions the person or organism has. (It's even more fun if you make finding the correct answer a race.)
I have included a teacher key with plenty of information about the correct answer for each, with links to articles explaining more. I also made this document editable throughout so that you can take out examples that are less interesting to you and/or add your own.
My students LOVE this activity, and I hope that yours do too!
Abiotic and Biotic Factors: Looking at Interactions
$10.49
As a science teacher, have you ever found yourself with so much content to teach that you don't know how to fit it all in? What if you could teach two concepts at once? What if you could do that AND give your students choice AND have them participate in civic engagement by acting as real researchers and scientists? Well, then, this is the lesson for you!
In this introductory ecology activity, students will learn what abiotic and biotic factors interact in an ecosystem. But that is NOT ALL. This interactive digital lesson starts with students playing online games to practice skills. Next, they choose one of FIVE compromised ecosystems in the United States. Each of these ecosystems has been affected by a different human action (overharvesting, industrial pollution, removal of an apex predator, invasive species, and climate change.) Students will research various sources (videos, original google slides presentations, and articles) to discover what abiotic and biotic factors are present in the ecosystem, how these factors interact, and how the human action has altered the ecosystem. Next, they research the names of the government officials for the state that contains their ecosystem, and make a policy proposal for the state's legislative body. Finally, they think critically about what people or groups may be OPPOSED to their policy proposal, and why.
DNA Structure and Replication
$8.99
This remote learning ready, google slides lesson introduces students to the structure of DNA and then asks them to describe how DNA replication occurs. The order of student tasks in this lesson are listed below.
1. Students label the structure of a nucleotide and answer some basic questions about the differences between DNA and RNA. (A clickable link helps them with their task if needed.)
2. Students construct a DNA strand from draggable nucleotide "puzzle pieces"
3. Students read notes about hydrogen bonding and base pairing, then apply that knowledge by dragging nucleotide letters to form a complementary strand to a shown DNA strand
4. Students manipulate a detailed 3D model of a DNA strand and describe what they learned
5. Students practice the skill of writing a complementary strand of DNA again
6. Students examine the famous Meselson and Stahl experiment which addressed the question of how DNA replicates. First, they read a description of the experiment methodology and results. Second, they explain what the results show, using both short descriptions and pictures. Finally, they complete a CER (claim evidence reasoning) describing how the experiment led to the claim that DNA replication is semi-conservative. If students are stuck, there is a link to a youtube video that describes the experiment.
7. Students learn about three enzymes involved in DNA replication (helicase, polymerase, and ligase) and perform a simple chant and "dance" to help them remember the order of DNA replication. Students drag pictures of the enzymes to descriptions of their functions.
8. After looking at descriptions and pictures that describe replication forks, students examine and explain what they are seeing in an electron micrograph.
9. Students respond to an incredible video showing an overview of DNA replication, made by Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Digital Learning: Blood Types
$8.99
This remote learning ready, interactive google slides lesson teaches students all about blood types. After completing this lesson, students will understand what causes blood types, be able to read a blood type testing result, be able to describe what antigen proteins are present on a red blood cell of any given blood type, and be able to ascertain which blood type(s) are safe to give to a patient who has any blood type. The order of student activities are listed below.
1. Students name the components of blood (plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets) and match them to their function
2. After learning that the presence or absence of antigen proteins determine a person's blood type, students illustrate their understanding of ABO blood types by dragging antigens onto blank red blood cells
3. Students examine ABO red blood cell types to determine which type is the universal donor, and which is the universal receiver
4. Students watch a short video describing the science, history, and geography of blood types
5. Students learn about Rh+ and Rh- blood types, and illustrate their understanding of these blood types by dragging antigens onto blank red blood cells
6. Students learn how to read a blood type testing result
7. Students perform digital blood typing tests by dragging clipart pipettes over pictures of blood samples. After performing each test, they can check their result using a mini-key on the slide itself. Then they illustrate their understanding further by dragging antigens onto blank red blood cells
8. Students examine a pie chart to answer questions about the frequency of specific blood types in the US
9. Students determine which blood type(s) can donate to each other using pictures of red blood cells
10. Students play the blood typing game available on the Nobel Prize website.
Making Recombinant DNA
$7.59
Have you had trouble finding a lesson on recombinant DNA that you love? I always found that either animations did all of the work for students, or else I had to choose between cumbersome and messy paper activities or boring worksheets. So I made this interactive google slides lesson to solve this problem! Please note that students should be comfortable with completing protein synthesis in order to be able to complete this lesson.
In this lesson, students begin by researching some of the medicines that are made by recombinant DNA technology, and what diseases these treat. Students then complete a 7 part interactive diagram, where they manipulate the pieces to simulate making recombinant DNA. Then, they perform protein synthesis on a section of DNA code using a codon conversion chart that leads to English letters instead of amino acids. By doing so, they will see that the message that has been given to the bacterial cell reads, "Make human insulin."
Finally, students review the concepts they have learned by completing 5 New York State Living Environment Regents Exam questions.
Double Lesson: Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration
$11.99
These remote learning ready, google slides lessons are designed to focus on student modeling. They are engaging and visually appealing.
In the photosynthesis portion, students start by watching a short demonstration video which shows that bromothymol blue (BTB) turns from blue to yellow in the presence of carbon dioxide. Using this information, they next examine an experiment to see what happens to BTB in test tubes placed in the dark and test tubes placed in light for 24 hours. The test tubes set ups are: tap water alone (dark and light), soda water alone (dark and light), elodea in tap water (dark and light), and elodea in soda water (dark and light). It is the elodea in soda water left in the light that yields an interesting result related to photosynthesis. (This is indicated with an arrow for students.) Because this test tube turns from yellow to blue after 24 hours, the experiment shows that photosynthesis needs both light and CO2 to occur. Students use this result to write a C-E-R (claim evidence reasoning). Next, they learn some scientific history by examining the experiments done in the 1800's which showed that photosynthesis takes place in the chloroplast. This knowledge is reinforced by having students drag an arrow to the chloroplast in a plant cell diagram. Lastly, they use pictures of molecules to visually represent the photosynthesis equation.
In the cellular respiration portion, students start by students start by reviewing the fact that bromothymol blue (BTB) turns from blue to yellow in the presence of carbon dioxide. Using this information, they hypothesize what is going to happen to 4 experimental set-ups after 24 hours. (Water + BTB alone, water + BTB + snail, water + BTB + elodea, and water + BTB + snail + elodea.) After making their hypotheses, they examine and explain the actual results. Students then use these results to write a C-E-R (claim evidence reasoning) about cellular respiration. Next, they learn some scientific history by examining the experiments done by Dr. Krebs which showed that cellular respiration takes place in the mitochondria. This knowledge is reinforced by having students drag an arrow to the mitochondria in plant and animal cell diagrams. Then they use pictures of molecules to visually represent the cellular respiration equation. Finally, they compare the photosynthesis and cellular respiration equations, to determine that they are opposites of each other.
Thank you for your purchase, and happy teaching!
Active Transport
$8.99
This remote learning ready, google slides lesson is both differentiated and allows for student choice. In my lesson series, it takes place after students study the cell membrane and passive transport (simple diffusion, facilitated diffusion, and osmosis.) Student knowledge of these phenomena is assumed.
Students start by reading a short section easy to understand, interesting notes. These notes include 2 pictures and 3 gif animations to aid in understanding. Students then compare concentration gradients to hills in order to help them to understand why moving in one direction requires energy, while moving in the other direction does not. Students then complete a table comparing the processes of diffusion, facilitated diffusion, osmosis, and active transport.
In the next portion of the lesson, students are offered 5 real life examples of active transport. The examples are sorted by difficulty. The two easiest examples (root hair cells and sugars in fruit) involve active transport only. The two intermediate examples (contractile vacuoles in freshwater organisms and mitochondria making ATP) involve active transport plus one type of passive transport. The one advanced example (plant stomata opening and closing) involve active transport and two types of passive transport. Students need to examine and analyze three of the five examples in order to complete the assignment.
Thank you for your purchase, and happy teaching!
Human Reproduction and Development
$8.99
In this interactive, google slides lesson, students learn about fertilization, embryonic development, differentiation, and stages of pregnancy. Special emphasis is placed on diffusion across the placenta. The order of specific student tasks are listed below.
1. Students state whether gametes are diploid or haploid, and how many chromosomes are present in them (in a human.) Then, they simulate fertilization with a drag and drop sperm icon with a removeable nucleus. Finally, the state whether a zygote is diploid or haploid, and how many chromosomes are present in it (in a human.)
2. Students simulate cell division from the zygote to morula stages of development by deleting icons on slides
3. Students read notes slides about how the blastula becomes a gastrula through gastrulation.
4. Students read about differentiation, and complete an analogy comparing gene regulation to choosing what to read in a large library.
5. Students simulate differentiation by picking colored messages out from a string of garbled letters. A hyperlinked support document offers colorblind or visually impaired students a chance to see the messages in bold and underlined.
6. Students learn the difference between identical and fraternal twins.
7. Students see notes slides about the trimesters of pregnancy and the stages of birth.
8. Students learn about the placenta. Students state which direction molecules would diffuse across a placenta based on high and low concentrations.
9. Students label an anatomy diagram of a pregnant woman's abdomen.
10. Students complete a "mini web-quest." Going to four trusted, linked sources, they discover what happens to the pregnant person's body and to the developing fetus in the first, second, and third trimesters.
Thank you, and happy teaching!
Living versus Non-Living Things
$6.79
In this remote learning ready google slides assignment, students examine 8 objects (a snail, a green plant, a branch, seeds, fire, a "mysterious brown powder" (yeast), a virus, and a misfolded prion protein. For each object, they must claim whether the object is living or non-living, and then provide evidence and reasoning to justify their choice.
After this activity, students will make a list of the criteria that they determine MUST apply to an object in order for it to be considered alive. Then they will find perform research using three different scientific sources to discover if scientists agree with them about the characteristics of life (or if they agree with each other!)
The Mutation that Changed History: Hemophilia and the Fall of Russia
$12.99
In this interactive google slides station lesson, which takes my students 2 to 3 class periods to complete, students learn about the end of the Romanov dynasty from a scientific perspective. One of my favorite things about this lesson is the fact that it grabs the attention of my students who like history more than they like science, and that I often hear my students exclaim, "We just learned about this in Global!"
This lesson consists of 6 stations. My students take between 10-15 minutes to complete each one.
At station 1, students learn about the symptoms and treatment of hemophilia. They answer questions by examining infographics about bleeding disorders and the components of blood, by reading a short article from the Mayo Clinic about the symptoms of hemophilia, and by watching a short interview with two young men with hemophilia. All resources are provided for students through hyperlinks.
At station 2, students watch two short National Geographic videos (2 to 3 minutes each) about the Romanov family and the events leading up to their execution.
At station 3, students use a royal pedigree and two Punnett squares to answer questions about the probabilities of phenotypic results in real-life Historic marriages. They complete the Punnett Squares by dragging alleles, genotypes, and phenotypes onto an immovable background.
At station 4, students examine pictures and a timeline of events leading to the Russian Revolution to answer questions about the causes of this complex event. They also consider what would have happened if Anastasia had actually survived the execution of her family, and examine forensic evidence to determine the validity of Anna Anderson's claims that she was the missing princess.
At station 5, students put events related to the history of hemophilia into a line and see if they can correctly make a timeline. ONLY AFTER they have placed the events in a line, they will delete a textbox and see if their timeline is correct.
At station 6, students exhume skeletons from the mass grave that the Romanovs were buried in. By examining certain details of the skeletons, they determine which people are missing. This activity is designed from the activity at this website. I recreated it using an interactive google slides format because, although the activity is excellent, it can be hard for students to navigate. Additionally, many students were getting messages that stated that the website wasn´t secure.
Finally, students summarize their learning by determining what type of inheritance hemophilia has, stating what Victoria´s genotype must have been. Finally, they explain what factor or factors they think were most responsible for the fall of Russia, and why they think so.
Thank you for your purchase, and happy teaching!
Scientific Language
$4.59
Are you looking for a fun way to get your students more comfortable with scientific language? This digital, remote learning ready assignment is really fun and will get your students thinking. First, students brainstorm some reasons that scientists would use unusual words and speak in a passive voice. Then, they will use scientific prefixes and suffixes to break scientific words apart and translate them into their regular English meanings. Finally, students translate 10 complex scientific sentences back into regular English- and discover that they are all lines from nursery rhymes.
Osmosis
$10.59
This remote learning ready, google slides lesson features extensive modeling and student choice. The lesson begins by having students define words related to osmosis using the internet, a textbook, or prior knowledge. After they become comfortable with their new vocabulary, they apply their knowledge by labeling pictures and answering questions about where the water would flow in different examples.
The next portion of the assignment asks students to apply what they know to model what would happen in real life situations involving osmosis. Students are offered 8 topic choices divided into two sets. Set 1 features situations in which an organism's cells have been place in (or the organism is actively avoiding) hypertonic environments. Set 2 features situations in which an organism's cells have been place in (or the organism is actively avoiding) hypotonic environments. Students must choose one phenomenon from each set to examine in more detail. Regardless of the choices they make, students end the task by drawing what would happen to the organism's cells before and after being placed in the environment.
The examples in set 1 are: What happens when you put salt on a slug?
Why do fish in the ocean pee all the time? Do marine iguanas have a cold? and
Why was the Ancient Mariner so thirsty?
The examples in set 2 are: Why did Jennifer Strange die? Why do fish in lakes and rivers pee all the time? Why does a paramecium have a special cell organelle? and
Do I have to throw out these vegetables?
Diffusion Across a Membrane
$8.59
In this remote-learning ready, google slides lesson, students use evidence to determine the nature of the cell membrane, discover how diffusion works, and then apply that knowledge to real life examples that occur in the human body. I have listed the specific student tasks included in this lesson below.
1. Students examine a phospholipid molecule to determine which end is hydrophilic, and which is hydrophobic
2. Students examine the actual data from Gorter and Grendel's 1920's experiment to show that the cell membrane is composed of two layers
3. Students perform two simple experiments involving diffusion (spraying perfume in a room and dropping food coloring in a cup) and draw models to explain what the molecules are doing in each example. (For remote learning, I tell my students that they may perform the investigation at home, or they may use their prior experience and imaginations to create their drawings.)
4. Students learn that while molecules diffuse from a high to a low concentration across a membrane, large molecules may be blocked. This is reinforced by a silly example- students are asked which animals (out of the choices of a mouse, a dog, and an elephant) can fit through a door.
5. Students apply their knowledge to 10 independent work problems regarding diffusion across a membrane. Gas exchange and digestion are used as examples.
Thank you for your purchase, and happy teaching!
Student centered cell organelle stations
$14.99
This remote-learning ready, google slides lesson teaches students all about cell organelles in interesting, challenging ways.
Cell organelle function was a topic that I struggled to make interesting for years. So many cell organelle lessons involve a lecture style lesson or rote memorization. This lesson solves that. It is the first time that I have seen cell organelles taught in a student centered way that involves genuine thoughtfulness and problem solving. I wrote each of these station components separately as different ideas came to me, and ended up with a lesson that I am truly proud to be able to share with you.
Station One: Students use reading comprehension to compare viruses, prokaryotes, and eukaryotes
Station Two: Students are given a reference sheet with all the organelles and functions. They choose whether they would rather work with genetic diseases or poisons for this station. For each, they look at symptoms of the disease or symptoms of the poisoning, and have to state which cell organelle is malfunctioning, and how they know that.
Station Three: Students work with a fairly common cell organelle analogy- which organelles function in a similar way to which organs? This activity is interactive, as they are playing a "memory" type card game to solve the analogy.
Station Four: Students are presented with unusual organisms, such as parasitic plants. They have to make a claim about how the strange organisms' cells would look different than the cells of closely related organisms.
Station Five: Students are presented with the original scientific experiments that were used to discover some organelles’ functions. They will have to match these experiments with the organelles they described, and explain the reasoning behind the experiments.
PH Scale Acids and Bases
$8.99
In this remote learning ready google slides assignment, students learn about acids, bases, and the pH scale by first examining a water molecule. After they pull a water molecule apart to make a hydrogen and a hydroxide ion, they will pull other molecules apart to decide if they will make acids or bases. Students then examine the pH scale, demonstrating understanding of its logarithmic nature by answering questions and dragging pictures onto a parabola representation of the scale. Finally, students will head to the alien juice bar and complete all three associated activities.
When FLASH died, so did Alien Juice Bar. I have recreated this activity as an interactive google slides assignment. FInd this for free using the link below. On slide 8, I instruct your students to access “the other document that has been assigned to them.” I am referring to this document.
https://classful.com/product/gems-alien-juice-bar-clickable-interactive/
GEMS Alien Juice Bar Clickable Interactive
$0.00
I know I can't be the only science teacher that was devastated by the death of FLASH. So many cute activities, GONE! For me, the one that I could not get over was Gems Alien Juice Bar. For me, there was just no better introductory lesson for teaching students about acids and bases. I spent a year checking back every few weeks- had Alien Juice Bar been converted?
Alas. This game was OLD. I knew that it was never coming back.
I became obsessed with the idea that I could recreate the experience of Alien Juice Bar as a clickable interactive google slides assignment if I only had a video recording of it. The problem with this was that I didn't have a recording. I searched YouTube and discovered that some other teachers had made recordings, but none of them had gone back and killed the aliens in the end by choosing the wrong answers, (Let's be honest- that's the best part.) I had to get the Alien Juice Bar to open its doors just once more!
I called in Jeremy Pokela, who used his extensive tech knowledge to temporarily revive FLASH. Using the resulting video recording, I have made a clickable, interactive experience with gifs and animations that I sincerely hope will be just as enjoyable for your students as the original game had always been for mine. When assigning, make sure that you give each student their own copy, as students will alter the document as they complete the activity.
Enzymes
$8.99
In this remote-learning ready, google slides assignment, students learn all about enzymes. The lesson begins with two short readings and comprehension questions related to activation energy, active sites, and substrate specificity. Students then demonstrate their understanding of enzyme specificity by dragging and dropping substrates to their matching enzymes, and then drawing the active site into an enzyme to match a pictured substrate. Next, they label pictures with appropriate vocabulary words, and examine graphs to determine environmental variables that affect enzyme speed.
Real world connections are made by having students examine the organs of the digestive system and determine which nutrient molecules are digested in each. Finally, students research a genetic disease caused by a missing or malformed enzyme, and describe it.
Introduction to Organic Molecules: Proteins
$6.99
This remote-learning-ready, google slides lesson introduces students to the structure and function of proteins. Students examine pictures of representations of proteins to determine that amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, that proteins have four levels of complexity, and that protein molecules look like a complex bundle of coils and loops. Then they read a one page article to determine whether proteins are enzymes or structural proteins, where they are found in nature, and their function, as well as describing hydrolysis and dehydration synthesis of proteins. Finally, students separate pictures of objects and pictures of molecules into categories, deciding whether they are examples of proteins, a different type of organic molecule, or an inorganic molecule.
Introduction to Organic Molecules: Nucleic Acids
$6.99
This remote-learning-ready, google slides lesson introduces students to the structure and function of nucleic acids. Students examine pictures of representations of DNA to determine that nucleotides are the building blocks of DNA and that DNA molecules are a double helix. Then they read a one page article to describe the chemical structure of nucleic acids, to determine the complementary strand of four DNA molecules, to distinguish a nucleotide, an RNA molecule, and a DNA molecule by pictures, and to describe hydrolysis and dehydration synthesis of nucleic acids. Finally, students separate pictures of objects and pictures of molecules into categories, deciding whether they are examples of nucleic acids, a different type of organic molecule, or an inorganic molecule.
Introduction to Organic Molecules: Lipids
$6.99
This remote-learning-ready, google slides lesson introduces students to the structure and function of lipids. Students examine pictures of representations of lipids to determine that fatty acids and glycerol are the building blocks of lipids and that lipid molecules look like a capital letter E. Then they read a one page article to determine the chemical and structural differences between saturated fats, unsaturated fats, and trans fats, and to describe hydrolysis and dehydration synthesis of lipids. Finally, students separate pictures of objects and pictures of molecules into categories, deciding whether they are examples of lipids, a different type of organic molecule, or an inorganic molecule. They also separate fats into saturated or unsaturated fats.
Introduction to Organic Molecules: Carbohydrates
$6.99
This remote-learning-ready, google slides lesson introduces students to the structure and function of carbohydrates. Students examine pictures of representations of lipids to determine that simple sugars are the building blocks of carbohydrates and that carbohydrate molecules look like a string of hexagons. Then they read a one page article to determine whether molecules are monosaccharides, disaccharides, or polysaccharides, where they are found in nature, and their function, as well as describing hydrolysis and dehydration synthesis of carbohydrates. Finally, students separate pictures of objects and pictures of molecules into categories, deciding whether they are examples of carbohydrates, a different type of organic molecule, or an inorganic molecule.
Intro to Organic Molecules: What do "organic" & "inorganic" mean
$6.99
This remote-learning-ready, google slides lesson, students learn the differences between the scientific use of the word "organic" and the colloquial use of the word "organic". They then learn the differences between organic molecules and inorganic molecules.
Lesson parts
Organic vs organic
Organic vs inorganic
During part 1, I make students aware that there are two definitions of the word “organic.” One of these, the grocery store definition, they have probably encountered before. The other, the science class definition, they may have not. During this section, I begin by asking students if they have heard the word “organic” before. Invariably, at least a few students have. I ask one of them to define it for us. I usually get an answer such as “natural” or “healthy”, or perhaps even “grown without pesticides.” I tell them that these definitions are correct- in the grocery store. I then explain that the word “organic” was co-opted by certain groups in the 1960’s to describe food that was grown in a certain way, but that that definition won’t be useful in science class. Students then practice discerning these two definitions by deciding which way “organic” is being used in some sample sentences. When they finish this, I encourage them to begin the graphic organizer on the next slide, which asks students to compare the grocery store definition with the science class definition. At this point, most students realize that we haven’t defined the word “organic” in a scientific way and ask me for a definition. I explain that I’m not going to tell them- rather, they have to figure it out themselves.
When the class has made substantial progress on these first activities, I direct students to go to the next slide. Students have to classify the objects on this slide as organic or inorganic. If they ask, “How?” I tell them to guess. I tell them that once they have guessed, I will tell them how many of their objects are in the wrong column. I will not tell them which objects are in the wrong column.
At this point I let students struggle. I like to listen in to the different hypotheses students come up with, and may pipe in with “interesting,” but nothing more. After a group has incorrectly divided the objects a few times and is beginning to experience frustration, I come over to them again. “Ok, ok.” I say. “Forget ‘organic’ and ‘inorganic.’ If I just asked you to separate these objects into two groups, what groups would you choose?” At this point, at least one student in a group will usually say, “Food and not food.”
“Ok.” I instruct. “Try that.” As students separate the objects into ‘food’ and ‘not food,’ they almost always put all of the organic objects on one side and all the inorganic objects on the other side, with one exception. The exception is extracted DNA. (Occasionally groups doing this will also misclassify salt or water.) When they next call me over, I announce, “Perfect! You only have one wrong.” When they groan, I remind them that we aren’t separating ‘food’ from ‘not food’; we are separating ‘organic’ from ‘inorganic.’ Then I ask them what types of things all food comes from. In this way, I am able to lead them to the idea that foods all come from living things. “Ok,” I say. “Do you see an object in your inorganic column, that actually comes from a living thing?” At least one student will point out the extracted DNA in triumph. I tell them to move it over. “Congratulations! Now try the molecules.”
Students usually groan, and start placing the molecules in the columns, seemingly randomly. Once again, I allow them to struggle and debate, and offer them no other information than the number of molecules they have in the wrong column. When a group of students has genuinely attempted a few times, or if they are visibly experiencing frustration, I step in. “You already know where two of these molecules belong FOR A FACT.” When they are surprised, I remind them that two of the molecules, DNA and water, were also two of their objects. I prompt them to recall that they already know that DNA is organic, and that water is inorganic. We sweep away all the other molecules and put these two at the top of their respective columns. I then say, “Ok, as you are classifying the rest of these molecules, compare them to the ones that you know are correct. Call me back over when you’re ready to show me.” At this point, most student groups are able to classify the molecules, with possibly one or two errors, which they can correct when prompted.
How to Complete a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning Diagram (CER)
$10.99
This remote learning ready, interactive google slides lesson teaches students to complete a claim-evidence-reasoning diagram (CER). Student choice and self-selected differentiation are featured throughout. The order of activities is listed below.
1. Students are provided with a digital classroom space with a bookshelf full of clickable useful tools that can help them with the reading tasks in this assignment. (You can insert your bitmoji onto this slide if you wish.) Tools include: google translate, rewordify, which will change high-level vocabulary to more simple forms, natural readers, which will read text aloud to students AND can change text font to a font that is more dyslexia friendly, an article about how to increase reading skills, and a science dictionary.
2. Students learn the differences between a claim, evidence, and reasoning.
3. Students practice with a simple CER, looking at a picture.
4. Students practice constructing reasoning (the most difficult part of a CER) by examining two true but silly scientific experiments. The C and E portions of these CERs are complete, and they have to fill in the R´s.
5. Students complete a CER table by filling in which evidence and reasoning from a set of choices support each of 4 claims. There are two levels of CER table available to students. They can choose to complete the simpler or more complex version. (For easier grading for the teacher, both tables end up with the same letter answers.)
6. Students choose one of three articles (easier, medium, or harder) to read and complete a CER on.
7. Students find and define 5 vocabulary words from their chosen article
8. Students write a 100 word summary on their article. (This task may be deleted from the assignment if you wish to make the assignment shorter)
9. Students complete a CER for their chosen article.
Any Subject Super Useful Tools
$0.00
Give this document to students to use in any academic subject. The hyperlinked tools included are:
Google translate will translate from one language to another for you
Speechnotes will type what you say
Natural Readers can change text to a font that is easier for folks with dyslexia to read. It can also read text aloud to you.
Rewordify can change difficult text with advanced vocabulary into simpler text
Easybib will create research citations for you, so that you can properly credit resources that you used and/or create a bibliography.
Wordcounter will count words in a text that you copy/paste into it. It will also let you know if your writing has spelling and grammar errors.
Differentiated Double Lesson: Scientific Method
$14.99
We’ve all been there- half our class is lost, half our class is bored. How can we plan for this situation?
When I was preparing to teach scientific method, I was interested in teaching this topic using modeling style instruction. But I wasn't sure if the whole class could “handle it.” So I split the class in half and taught the same content two ways. The result is this differentiated double lesson, made using beautiful, hyperlinked google slides. This product will be used and valued in your classroom for years to come, and will help you teach scientific method to all of the students in your room, regardless of skill level. This lesson could be taught by co-teachers, or it could be taught by a solo teacher. A solo teacher would need to divide the class in half and teach the lesson over two days- one day a group works on an independent task, and the other day they are taught.
In the lesson, students who are "researchers" determine six scientific method rules by looking at beautiful notes pages. Students who are "on the committee" determine six scientific method rules by examining different experimental designs and determining which researchers deserve the committee's funds, and why. Researchers and committee members end up determining the same (or nearly the same) six rules. Practice sets are included for every rule, so that students must apply and practice the rules that they just discovered.
How does comparative anatomy provide evidence of change through time?
$6.59
This interactive digital lesson introduces students to the three main types of comparative anatomy- homologous structures, analogous structures, and vestigial structures.
1. Homologous structures: Students see a quick overview of whale evolution to begin to understand why very different organisms may share homologous structures. Next they complete a picture puzzle showing the homologous bones in the front limbs of various organisms. They state the function of each, thereby seeing that homologous structures may be used for very different functions. They then examine the front limbs of some very ancient organisms to determine which one may be our common ancestor.
2. Analogous structures: Students compare analogous structures (wings) in four distantly related organisms, and state which bones function in each.
3. Vestigial structures: Students examine a chart of various vestigial structures in a human body. Using reasoning and the chart, they fill in a table stating the vestigial structures found in humans, what our ancestors may have used each for, and why it is no longer functional or necessary.
Students then complete an online activity that uses anatomy comparisons to show that modern birds are dinosaurs, and then complete a C-E-R (claim, evidence, reasoning) statement describing how comparative anatomy provides evidence for evolution.
Details
Grade
9th, 10th, 11th, 12th
Resource Type
Curriculum, Lesson Plans
Pages
99+ Pages
Product
Digital
Subject
Science, Biology
Languages
English
Standard
Next Generation Science Standards
Description
This bundle includes all of my remote learning ready, google slides lessons. Since I will keep adding to this bundle as I upload additional products, purchasing this bundle now will save you lots of money! Happy teaching!
5.0 (1) | @thelessonlaboratory Reviews
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