Category: Worksheets
-
Evolution and the Rock Pocket Mouse (HHMI)
This activity was modified from the HHMI Activity on color variation in the rock pocket mouse which illustrates evolutionary concepts such as fitness, natural selection, and mutation.
-
Mitosis Coloring
Students read about each of the phases of the cell cycle and label and color a diagram that shows details of interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. Students must also label cell structures like the centrioles, aster, spindle, and nuclear membrane. This worksheet can be used as reinforcement for a lesson on mitosis and…
-
How Mitochondria Produce Energy for the Cell
This worksheet is intended for basic biology students to learn how cellular respiration provides energy for the cell. Students color a mitochondrion which shows how the inner membrane is folded into cristae and indicates that mitochondria are organelles that have their own DNA. Finally, students examine the equation for respiration and compare it to…
-
Photosynthesis Lab – How Light Color Affects Growth
A virtual simulator that shows how plant growth changes in response to the color of light. Students measure the heights of plants grown under different colors.
-
How Does Photosynthesis Work?
This handout can be used with a lecture on photosynthesis, where students label the main features of the light-dependent reaction and the Calvin cycle.
-
Investigation: Observing Diffusion & Semi-Permeable Membranes
Units on the cell will also include lessons about how the cell transports materials across the membrane. For beginning biology students who don’t have a strong foundation in physical science, the ideas of entropy, solutions, and concentrations can be overwhelming. Diffusion is easy to explain with a perfume bottle or food coloring. …
-
Toxicology Resources for the Biology Class
Resources for investigating how poison affects animal physiology. Students can read the “Poisoner’s Handbook” and perform experiments on worms.
-
A Simple Demonstration for the Scientific Method
A simple demonstration using bromothymol blue to show students how the scientific method can be incorporated to determine why the chemical changed color after you blow into it with a straw.
-
Case Study: John Snow and the Origin of Epidemiology
This case study explores a time before the Germ Theory when doctors were uncertain how disease was spread. Current models, such as the humoral or miasma model could not fully explain how cholera infected some households, but not others. This case story explores London, England in 1854 after an outbreak of cholera which had…
-
Investigation: Cellular Respiration
Students set up respirometers to measure the oxygen consumption of germinating peas in cold and warm water, and compared to a living organism.
-
Case Study – Are Nanobacteria Alive?
In this case study, students review the evidence of scientists on both sides of the controversy questioning whether nanobacteria are living organisms.
-
Quiz: The Science of Biology
This practice quiz aligns with chapter 1 of biology textbook where concepts such as the nature of science and the scientific method are discussed.
-
Investigation: Osmosis and Water Potential
Students models osmosis using dialysis tubes that contain different concentrations of sucrose. The tubes will gain water dependent upon the molarity of solution they are placed in. You can make sucrose solutions with table sugar, and instructions are included in the teacher’s guide to the lab. The second part of the investigation determine the…
-
First Day Activity: Student Inventory
The first day of class is often very chaotic as you are taking roll, talking to students about classroom rules and beginning to learn their names. For my classes, I also like to make notes about students on the seating chart about personal details of students, mainly because this makes it easier to learn…
-
Investigation: What Factors Affect the Heart Rate of Daphnia
This investigation starts with a guided procedure where students gather data on the heart rate of daphnia when the organism is exposed to 1% ethanol. Daphnia are tiny crustaceans that are visible with the naked eye, though a microscope or stereoscope will be needed to see their heart rate.