Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities

This analysis and discussion activity begins with an introduction to vitamin A deficiency and a review of transcription, translation, and the universal genetic code.

Several questions challenge students to design a basic plan that could produce a genetically engineered rice plant that makes rice grains that contain pro-vitamin A. Subsequent information and questions guide students as they learn how scientists use bacteria to insert desired genes, together with an appropriate promoter, in the DNA of plant cells.

In a final optional section, students evaluate the pro and con arguments in the controversy concerning Golden Rice.

This analysis and discussion activity focuses on two questions. How could something as complex as the human eye or the octopus eye have evolved by natural selection? How can scientists learn about the evolution of eyes, given that there is very little fossil evidence?

To answer these questions, students analyze evidence from comparative anatomy, mathematical modeling, and molecular biology. Students interpret this evidence to understand a likely sequence of intermediate steps in the evolution of complex eye and how each intermediate step contributed to increased survival and reproduction.

The Teacher Notes suggest additions to the Student Handout that can be used to introduce concepts such as the role of gene duplication in evolution and/or homology and analogy. 

The Student Handout is available in the first two attached files. 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 and the Common Core State Standards.

In this activity, students analyze examples of adaptations, including camouflage, mimicry of an inedible object, and phenotypic plasticity. Phenotypic plasticity means that a single genotype can develop different phenotypes in different environments.

Phenotypic plasticity allows an individual organism to adapt to different environments during its lifetime. Natural selection for an adaptation allows a population of organisms to adapt to different environments over time.

The Student Handout is available in the first two attached files and as a Google doc designed for use in online instruction and distance learning. The Teacher Notes, available in the last attached file, provide instructional suggestions and background information and explain how this activity is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. The last attached file is a Powerpoint of the figures so you can show your students the color camouflage.

In this analysis and discussion activity, students develop their understanding of the exponential and logistic population growth models by analyzing the recovery of endangered species and growth of bacterial populations.

Students learn about the processes that cause exponential or logistic population growth, interpret data from several investigations, and apply their understanding to policy questions.

Next, students analyze examples where the trends in population size do not match the predictions of the exponential or logistic population growth models. They learn that models are based on simplifying assumptions and a model’s predictions are only accurate when the simplifying assumptions are true for the population studied.

In the last section, students analyze trends in the number of people on the earth and analyze one of the factors that affect the earth’s carrying capacity for people.

One version of the Student Handout includes mathematical equations, which are omitted from the other version. These versions of the Student Handout will be suitable for most high school students. I have also prepared a simpler Student Handout, which will be suitable for most middle school students.This simpler version is called “Population Growth – Effects of the Environment” (https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/bioactivities/popgr).

In this minds-on analysis and discussion activity, students learn how a mistake in meiosis can result in Down syndrome. Students also analyze karyotypes to learn how other mistakes in meiosis can result in the death of an embryo. Finally, students consider how a health problem can be genetic, but not inherited.

The Student Handout is available in the first two attached files and as a Google doc designed for use in online instruction and distance learning. The Teacher Notes, available in the last two attached files, provide instructional suggestions and background information and explain how this activity supports the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

This analysis and discussion activity begins with a brief video presenting the anchoring phenomenon – a teenager who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Then, students investigate the types of deletion mutation that cause the more severe Duchenne muscular dystrophy vs. the milder Becker muscular dystrophy. During this analysis, students review transcription and translation, learn how to use a codon wheel, and analyze the molecular effects of different types of deletion and point mutations.

Finally, students investigate X-linked recessive mutations to understand why almost all Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients are male.

The Student Handout is available in the first two attached files and as a Google doc designed for use in online instruction and distance learning. (For additional instructions, see https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/bioactivities/Googledocs, especially item 7.) 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 (NGSS).

In this analysis and discussion activity, students learn that the sequence of nucleotides in a gene in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids in a protein, which determines the structure and function of the protein. Different versions of a gene give the instructions to make different versions of a protein, which can result in different characteristics.

Since many different proteins are needed for a cell to be alive, each cell needs a complete copy of the DNA with all of the genes. Therefore, before a cell divides, it needs to make a copy of all its DNA. Students analyze DNA replication to understand how the double helix structure of DNA and the base-pairing rules work together to produce two identical copies of the original DNA molecule.

The Student Handout is available in the first two attached files. 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 (NGSS). 

This analysis and discussion activity introduces students to the basic principles of how organisms use energy.

Students learn that, in cellular respiration, glucose is one input for reactions that provide the energy to make ATP. The hydrolysis of ATP provides the energy for many cellular processes.

Students apply the principles of conservation of energy and conservation of matter to avoid common errors and correct common misconceptions.

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 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.

This activity provides brief instructions and recommended reliable sources for students to investigate and report on a genetic disorder of their choice. The Student Handout is available in the first two attached files and as a Google doc designed for use in online instruction and distance learning.The Teacher Notes, available in the last two attached files, provide instructional suggestions and background information.

This analysis and discussion activity contains three "soap opera" episodes that help students to understand the principles of inheritance and the relevance of genetics to everyday life. In the first episode, students answer the probing questions of a skeptical father who wants to know how his baby could have albinism when neither he nor his wife have albinism.

The second episode, "Were the babies switched?", covers the concepts of codominance, incomplete dominance, and polygenic inheritance, and reinforces student understanding that the alleles of a gene give the instructions for making different versions of a protein.

In the third episode, students analyze sex-linked inheritance. Each episode can be used separately or with other episodes, depending on your teaching goals.

The Student Handout is available in the first two attached files. 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.