Category: AP Biology
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Bullfrog Dissection for AP Biology Students
Dissections have long been a cornerstone of biology education because they provide students with a unique opportunity to explore the structure and function of living organisms in a hands-on way. While diagrams and models are valuable learning tools, nothing compares to observing actual organs, tissues, and body systems as they are arranged within an organism.…
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Investigation – Amylase and Carbohydrates
Are you looking for a way to give students a hands-on activity on biological macromolecules? This unit can be daunting for biology students because there is so much chemistry. This activity gives students a break from the vocabulary emphasis of the chapter and gets them into the lab and working with carbohydrates. Though I don’t…
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Biomolecules – Guided Learning
This lesson was inspired by a POGIL lesson on proteins. Like other process oriented guided learning activities, students examine graphics and information. Then they perform tasks to build their knowledge and understanding of the topic. The slides start with the basic structure of an amino acid, where students identify the carboxyl and amine groups. Then…
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Pedigree Analysis – AP Bio
Designed for biology students studying genetics. Determine the inheritance pattern for human disorders, like Tay-Sachs or Marfan Syndrome.
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Falling Cats – CER
Students practice Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning (CER) while examining the relationship between falling height and cat injuries. The graphs show that cats who fall 2-7 stories often suffer more injuries than cats who fall from greater distances. Not much information is given about how the data was collected, though the original source is included, I…
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DataClassroom
High school biology classrooms often lack the time and resources to do long term studies and data collection that researchers engage in. Luckily for us, many projects make their data available for use by schools. Organizations like HHMI and Data Nuggets have created student resources that focus on analyzing real scientific data. One of these…
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OpenStax Reading Guides
I use Openstax Biology 2e as a textbook for my AP Bio and dual credit class. Students can download this text for free, view it on their devices and print it out. You can even purchase a bound copy from Amazon for around $60, which is very reasonable for a textbook. This is the book…
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The Tardigrade Project
This project was created for AP Biology students where they scrape lichens from trees near campus and filter them over night so that tardigrades and other microorganisms can be collected from the water.
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Create a Concept Map of Biomolecules
This activity asks students to work in groups to create a concept map (graphic organizer) on the biological macromolecules: carbohydrates, lipids, fats, and nucleic acids. Students are given brief instructions and a sample map to get them started, but they are responsible for determining what details are important in each section.