Hands-on Biology Activities

In this hands-on, minds-on activity, students investigate the effects of hypotonic and hypertonic solutions on eggs that have had their shells removed. As students interpret their results, they develop a basic understanding of the process of osmosis. As they answer additional analysis and discussion questions, students learn about the effects of osmosis on animal and plant cells and apply their understanding of osmosis to the interpretation of several “real-world” phenomena.   

Download Student Handout: PDF format or Word format

Download Teacher Preparation Notes: PDF format or Word format

The Teacher Preparation Notes provide instructional suggestions and background information and explain how this activity is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards.

In the lab, Who Took Jerell’s iPod? -- An Organic Compound Mystery, students learn how to test for triglycerides, glucose, starch, and protein and then use these tests to solve a mystery. The activity reinforces students understanding of the biological functions and food sources of these different types of organic compounds.

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In the lab, What Parts of a Plant Do We Eat?, Students review the structure of angiosperm plants and learn about the diversity of plant form by using evidence from examination of fruits and vegetables to identify which part of the plant each fruit or vegetable is.

Download Student Handout: PDF format or Word format

Download Teacher Preparation Notes: PDF format or Word format

Hands-on Activities for Teaching Biology to High School and Middle School Students provides hands-on, minds on activities to help students learn about:

• biological molecules
• cell structure and function
• cellular respiration and photosynthesis
• cell division and genetics
• molecular biology
• evolution and ecology
• human physiology.

The expression "hands-on, minds-on" summarizes the philosophy we have incorporated in these activities - namely, that students will learn best if they are actively engaged and if their activities are closely linked to understanding important biological concepts. 

Most of our activities support the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). 

This multi-part minds-on, hands-on activity helps students to understand both alcoholic fermentation and the engineering design process. Students begin by learning about alcoholic fermentation and yeast. To test whether grains of yeast can carry out alcoholic fermentation, students compare CO2 production by grains of yeast in sugar water vs. two controls.

Then, students are introduced to the bioengineering design challenge to find the optimum temperature and sucrose concentration to maximize rapid CO2 production. Students are guided through the basic engineering steps of applying the relevant scientific background to the design challenge, planning for systematic testing of possible design solutions, drawing tentative conclusions from the results of this testing, clarifying the criteria for an optimum design solution, and planning for further testing. In addition to the complete Student Handout, we offer a shorter Student Handout that omits this design challenge. 

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This is an archived page which is not being maintained. Many of the links in the Student Handout are broken.

This activity provides questions and Web sites to guide student investigation of birth control methods, fetal development, risks of alcohol and smoking during pregnancy, changes during puberty, and HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.  The first file has the student handout and the second file has teacher notes.

In this minds-on, hands-on activity, students learn how flavor perception depends on sensory input from taste and smell receptors.

Students develop their science practice skills by planning and carrying out an investigation and interpreting the results.

Students also learn that sensory input is processed by the brain to stimulate perception and behavior.

Download Student Handout: PDF format or Word format

Download Teacher Preparation Notes: PDF format or Word format

The Teacher Preparation Notes recommend supplies, provide instructional suggestions and background information, and explain how this activity is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards.

We invite your comments and questions. If you would prefer to send your comments or questions in a private message, please write Ingrid Waldron at iwaldron@upenn.edu. 

This minds-on, hands-on activity begins with an anchoring phenomenon, how a person’s breathing changes when he/she is re-breathing the air in a plastic bag. Students develop a negative feedback model of how the changes in breathing stabilize blood levels of O2 and CO2.

Then, students use a negative feedback model to understand temperature regulation, homeostasis, and how a change in setpoint can result in a fever.

Next, students analyze how failures of negative feedback regulation of blood glucose levels can result in diabetes.

Finally, students compare and contrast positive and negative feedback. Throughout this activity, students learn relevant human physiology.

An Appendix for the Teacher Preparation Notes suggests an optional activity in which each student group investigates a question or hypothesis concerning negative feedback, homeostasis and changes in breathing. 

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In the lab, Regulation of Human Heart Rate, students learn how to measure heart rate accurately. Then students design and carry out an experiment to test the effects of an activity or stimulus on heart rate, analyze and interpret the data, and present their experiments in a poster session. In this activity students learn about both cardiac physiology and scientific method.

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In the lab, Invertebrate Diversity, students compare the external anatomy and locomotion of earthworms, mealworms, crickets and crayfish, all of which can be purchased at low cost from local pet stores.  Discussion questions help students understand the evolutionary basis of observed similarities and differences. This activity can be used as an introduction to the Annelid and Arthropod phyla and the principle that form matches function.

Download Student Handout: PDF format or Word format