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Coronaviruses – What They Are and How They Can Make You Sick
In the shorter version of the Student Handout, students learn how coronaviruses are replicated inside our cells, how white blood cells fight a coronavirus infection, and how a coronavirus infection can cause you to feel sick.
In the longer version of the Student Handout, students also learn how the respiratory and circulatory systems work together to provide oxygen to the body’s cells, and they learn how a coronavirus infection can interfere with oxygen delivery, which can result in severe disease.
The shorter version of the Student Handout is available in the first two attached files and as a Google doc designed for use in distance learning and online instruction.The longer version of the Student Handout is available in the third and fourth attached files and as a Google doc designed for use in distance learning and online instruction. The Teacher Notes, available in the last two attached files, provide instructional suggestions and background information and explain how this activity is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| coronavirus intro SH shorter.docx | 1.76 MB |
| coronavirus intro SH shorter.pdf | 327.08 KB |
| coronavirus intro SH longer.docx | 3.69 MB |
| coronavirus intro SH longer.pdf | 658.47 KB |
| coronavirus intro TN.docx | 3.19 MB |
| coronavirus intro TN.pdf | 1.21 MB |
Download Minds-On Activities for Teaching Biology
Introduction and Activities Listing
Intro and Biological Molecules
- Characteristics of Life
- Levels of Organization in Biology (NGSS)
- Introduction to Proteins and DNA (NGSS)
- Enzymes Help Us Digest Food (NGSS; hands-on)
- A Scientific Investigation – What types of food contain starch and protein? (NGSS; hands-on)
- Coronaviruses – Introduction (NGSS)
- Who Took Jerell’s iPod? -- An Organic Compound Mystery (hands-on)
- Is Yeast Alive? (hands-on)
- Macromolecules Jeopardy
Cell Structure and Function
- Cell Structure and Function – Major Concepts and Learning Activities
- Cells – How do they carry out the activities of life? (NGSS)
- Why do some plants grow in odd shapes? (NGSS)
- Introduction to Osmosis (NGSS; hands-on)
- Cell Membrane Structure and Function (NGSS; hands-on)
- Cell Vocabulary Review Game
Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis
- Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis - Key Concepts and Activities
- How do organisms use energy? (NGSS)
- Using Models to Understand Cellular Respiration (NGSS)
- Using Models to Understand Photosynthesis (NGSS)
- Photosynthesis, Cellular Respiration and Plant Growth (NGSS; hands-on)
- Food, Physical Activity, and Body Weight (NGSS)
- How do muscles get the energy they need for athletic activity? (NGSS)
- Alcoholic Fermentation in Yeast – A Bioengineering Design Challenge (NGSS; hands-on)
- Plant Growth Puzzle (NGSS)
- Where does a tree’s mass come from? (NGSS)
- Photosynthesis Investigation (NGSS; hands-on)
Cell Division
- Mitosis and the Cell Cycle (NGSS; hands-on)
- Mitosis and the Cell Cycle (NGSS)
- Meiosis and Fertilization – Understanding How Genes Are Inherited (NGSS; hands-on)
- Understanding How Genes are Inherited via Meiosis and Fertilization (NGSS)
- Comparing Mitosis and Meiosis
- What causes melanoma and other types of cancer? (NGSS)
- Mistakes in Meiosis – Down Syndrome or Embryo Death (NGSS)
- Mitosis, Meiosis and Fertilization Vocabulary Review Game
Genetics
- Genetics Concepts and Activities (NGSS)
- Genetics (NGSS; hands-on)
- Genetics Intro – Family Members (NGSS)
- Genetics Sickle Cell Anemia and Trait (NGSS)
- Genetics Probability – Sex Ratios (NGSS)
- Mistake in copying DNA & Dwarfism (NGSS)
- Soap Opera Genetics (NGSS)
- Were the babies switched? The Genetics of Blood Types (NGSS; hands-on)
- Dragon Genetics I (hands-on)
- Dragon Genetics II (hands-on)
- Learning about Genetic Disorders
- Genetics Vocabulary Review Game
- Genetics Jeopardy
Molecular Biology
- Molecular Biology: Major Concepts and Learning Activities (NGSS)
- DNA (NGSS; hands-on)
- DNA Function, Structure and Replication (NGSS)
- How Genes Can Cause Disease - Introduction to Transcription and Translation (NGSS; hands-on)
- How Genes Can Cause Disease - Understanding Transcription and Translation (NGSS)
- UV, Mutations and DNA Repair (NGSS; hands-on)
- What types of mutations cause more vs. less severe muscular dystrophy? (NGSS)
- Making Red Blood Cells (NGSS)
- Genetic Engineering Challenge – Preventing Vitamin A Deficiency (NGSS)
- Gene Editing with CRISPR-Cas – Potential Sickle Cell Anemia Cure (NGSS)
- Molecular Biology Vocabulary Review Game
Evolution
- Resources for Teaching and Learning about Evolution
- Evolution by Natural Selection (NGSS; hands-on)
- What is natural selection? (NGSS)
- Natural Selection and the Peppered Moth (NGSS)
- How have mutations and natural selection affected fur color in mice? (NGSS)
- How Whales Evolved (NGSS)
- How Eyes Evolved – Analyzing the Evidence (NGSS)
- How does evolution result in similarities and differences? (NGSS; hands-on)
- What is a species? (NGSS)
- Coronavirus Evolution and the COVID-19 Pandemic (NGSS)
- Evolution and Adaptations (NGSS)
Ecology
- Ecology Concepts and Learning Activities (NGSS)
- Exponential and Logistic Population Growth Models vs. Complex Reality (NGSS)
- Some Similarities between the Spread of Infectious Disease and Population Growth (NGSS; hands-on)
- Stability and Change in Biological Communities (NGSS)
- Food Webs, Energy Flow, Carbon Cycle and Trophic Pyramids (NGSS)
- Food Webs (NGSS)
- Carbon Cycles and Energy Flow through Ecosystems (NGSS)
- Trophic Pyramids (NGSS)
- Introduction to Global Warming (NGSS)
- Food and Climate Change – How can we feed a growing world population without increasing global warming? (NGSS)
- Coral Bleaching (NGSS)
- Global Warming (NGSS) (NGSS)
- Resources for Teaching about Climate Change
- The Ecology of Lyme Disease (NGSS)
Human Physiology and Health
- Negative Feedback, Homeostasis, and Positive Feedback, with Breathing Experiment (NGSS; hands-on)
- Homeostasis, Negative Feedback, and Positive Feedback (NGSS)
- How do food molecules reach our muscles? (NGSS)
- How do we Sense the Flavors of Food? (NGSS; hands-on)
- COVID-19 Vaccines (NGSS)
- Molecular and Evolutionary Biology of HIV/AIDS and Treatment (NGSS)
- Resources for Teaching Cancer Biology
- Carbohydrate Consumption, Athletics, Health – Using Science Process Skills
- Vitamins and Health – Why Experts Disagree
- Regulation of Human Heart Rate (hands-on)
- Should You Drink Sports Drinks? When? Why?
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To preserve the value of these learning activities for other teachers, please do not post keys for any questions from any of these activities!
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Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities
Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities has 50 remote-ready activities, which work for either your classroom or remote teaching.
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Comments
Absolutely beautiful
Absolutely beautiful resource. I was just looking for simple resources for my biology summer class and this is gold. Thank you for sharing it with us. The kids are gonna love this!
Thank you!
I'm grateful for your very positive feedback. I hope this activity will work well in your summer biology class.
Ingrid
September 2021 revision
The Student Handout and Teacher Notes have been substantially revised to reflect new research findings.
Ingrid
2021 revision
The longer version of the Student Handout has been expanded to provide a more complete explanation of how the immune system fights a coronavirus infection and how the infection and immune system response can result in illness and even death. The shorter version of the Student Handout provides a concise prerequisite for COVID-19 Vaccines – How do they work? The Student Handouts and Teacher Notes incorporate recent research findings (as of mid-January 2021) concerning the rapidly evolving understanding of coronavirus infection.
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