Author: Shannan Muskopf
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Digestive Concept Map
Students use this concept map to reinforce their understanding of the digestive system and how structures within that system are related. The mouth is where food is chewed and mixed with saliva. Saliva contains enzymes that start to break down food. The esophagus is a muscular tube that connects the mouth to the stomach. The…
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Investigation: Esophagus
This activity was designed for high school anatomy students, though it could easily be used in biology or even elementary school classes. The goal is for students to determine if water moves down the esophagus by gravity or by the action of the muscles, peristalsis. First, students measure the length of the esophagus with ruler…
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Reinforcement: Biomolecules
This worksheet is used with a unit on biological molecules in an introductory biology class. Students match definitions or descriptions to words provided in a word bank. The anchoring phenomenon in this unit is hagfish slime, which explains the inclusion of this concept in the list. Google Slides and Student Notes for the unit are…
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StoryLab: How Enzymes Work
This story lab aligns to an investigations students do with enzymes where they put hydrogen peroxide on liver and observe bubbles produced from the reaction with catalase. This investigation has several versions for different levels of biology (regular track, intro, and AP) though the story lab was intended for the intro track students who do…
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Reinforcement: Cell Transport
This reinforcement worksheet was designed for introductory biology, to help students learn concepts related to cell transport across the membrane. Words include osmosis, diffusion, hypertonic, and hypotonic, semipermeable, and active and passive transport. The exercise has vocabulary terms and a list of sentences or definitions for students to match to the words. I use google…
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Cell Membrane Coloring
Color the cell membrane with a focus on diffusion, osmosis and transport proteins. Students color the structures of a cell membrane according to the directions. Then they answer questions about cell transport. I designed this worksheet for an introductory biology course to reinforce concepts related to cell transport. An image shows the phospholipid bilayer with…
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Genetics of Chicken Combs
The combs of chickens are controlled by four alleles, which interact to produce four distinct phenotypes: single, rose, pea, and walnut. In this exercise, students predict the outcomes of chicken crosses. Ideally, students should already know how to do crosses that involve two traits, the mechanisms for solving these problems are similar. My honors biology…
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Anatomy of the Heart by Number
In this exercise, read about the structures of the heart and how blood flows through the systemic and pulmonary circuit. The text describes each structure (by number), you label with the names of the vessels and chambers of the heart. Use arrows to trace the flow of blood from the body, to the heart, then…
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Learn the Animal Cell
This animal cell coloring worksheet can be used with freshman biology for years as a supplemental way to learn the parts of the cell. I assign it as a review or reinforcement exercise. It’s also a good activity for rainy days and sub days. This version of the cell coloring includes a cell diagram that…
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Independent & Dependent Variables Practice
Students reach short scenarios about scientific experiments. They identify the controls and variables in each story.
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The Lion in Your Living Room
This film was based on a book “The Lion in Your Living Room“, which I had read last year, so I was really excited to watch the film version. The pace was good and included interesting animations, like showing what happens when a cat falls and must twist its body to land on its feet.…
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Phylogenetic Tree – Canines
Students examine a phylogenetic tree which has questions for them to discover how the tree is organized. Students will learn what a node is, and how branches on the tree represent descendants from a common ancestor.
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Reinforcement: Chromosomes
Helpful review on chromosomes which focuses on terms such as diploid and haploid, mitosis and meiosis, and zygote versus gamete. Students also practice chromosome math using chickens as a model, which have 78 chromosomes in body cells. Worksheet is intended as a review for basic level biology students.
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How Do Bunny Populations Change Over Time?
A set of images show how rabbits change over time as a result of selective pressure from wolf predation. Students match each graphic with one of the four steps of evolution on the VIDA chart: variation, inheritance, differential survival, and adaptation.