Other project ideas from my GK12 experience this year:

In the Cell Biology/Genetics book:

• Forensics activity (purchased from Sargent-Welch)
• Microscope activities: animal vs. plant cells (tomato and onion skin, plant leaf, deli meat, cheek cells) and pond water
• Molecular modeling kits to model photosynthesis, DNA modeling kits
• Fermentation demonstration with yeast and sugar in test tubes, covered with a balloon that inflated
• Homemade play-doh and candy to make a model of an animal cell and its organelles
• Termite lab at the start of the school year to demonstrate scientific process and experimentation
• Plants were grown in different environments to test effects of removing a necessary element for photosynthesis (in the dark, one leaf covered in black paper, entire plant in plastic bag, no water, colored cellophane over plant light, etc)
• Measured soil nutrients and pH
• Mitosis and Meiosis skits using yarn
• Traits bingo
• Survival of the fittest game
• Studying fossils in their soil layers
• NSTA’s Darwin’s journal entries (were read in literature class)
• Timeline of Earth’s history – students added events around the classroom
• Hydrothermal vents – students were given materials and had to decide how to design an accurate, working model
• Classification of hardware activity to introduce cladogram
• Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species activities: color coded photos, visited websites on overhead projector to investigate classification (see animaldiversity.unmz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/chordata.html and www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/help/taxaform.html

In the Environmental Science Book:

• Students made their own food chains posters based on a chosen ecosystem and lists of animals, plants, etc. They also turned the food chains into a food web, and then an energy pyramid.
• Students created their own organism with unique adaptations, mechanisms of obtaining food, staying warm, reproducing, etc.
• Urban Water Testing (kit from LaMotte, Sargent-Welch)
• Water cycle model in a bottle terrarium
• Solar energy pizza-box oven

In the Human Body Book:

• Dissect a chicken leg to see body organization and structure
• Circulation activity with blood pressure cuffs and stethoscope, make blood with cornsyrup and candy to represent blood cells
• Lung model with soda bottle
• CO2 breath indicator
• Digestion skits, peristalsis demonstration
• Reflexes
• Vision and optical illusions
• Taste and smell activities
• Staying healthy activity: includes use of food pyramids and food labels

Links:

http://www.nsta.org/scilinks Links to textbook refs, Nat’l Sci. teacher assn.

http://www.teachersdomain.org/ WGBH, PBS

http://www.enc.org/weblinks/ ENC

http://www.neaq.org/scilearn/teachers/trc.html NE Aquarium

http://www.mos.org/doc/1068 Boston Museum of Science

http://www.bu.edu/lernet/GK12/ GK12 at BU

http://www.bu.edu/lernet/GK12/GK12%20Resources.htm

http://nsdl.org/ Nat’l Science Digital Library

http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/ AAAS netlinks

https://blackboard.neu.edu/webapps/login

http://www.bphc.org/ BAHEC

http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html

http://www.oir.uiuc.edu/did/docs/questioning.htm U. Illinois Cent. Teach. Excel.

http://www.envirothon.org/

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/renewable/wind.html

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/

http://www.microbiological-garden.net/

Energy

http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/projects/index.html

NCBI primer on cells:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/About/primer/genetics_cell.html

Energy Balance

http://www.exrx.net/FatLoss/EnergyBalance.html

The remarkable calorie

http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/remarkablecalorie.html

Calories, ATP, exercise,etc

http://www.dswfitness.com/products/index.cfm?action=oqcdetail&productID=473

cell respiration model

http://mvhs1.mbhs.edu/mvhsproj/CellResp/cell_modelB.html

Journey through the membrane:

www.chemsoc.org/exemplarchem/entries/2002/Tim_Smith

www.ionchannels.org

www.ebi.ac.uk/compneur-srv/LGICdb/LGICdb.php

Science movies

www.movingimage.us/science

Nanotech risks

Icon.rice.edu/research.cfm

Human gene mutation database:

www.hgmd.org/

Review of 3 Web Resources

Kristy Townsend, for GK12, 10/12/05

1. Life in a drop of pond water: http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?DocID=378

This website, sponsored by AAAS, contains many lesson plans for science. This particular lesson plan on pond water fit perfectly into our current plan for a lab on pond life, so I used it for additional ideas to supplement my lesson plan. I think the layout of this website’s lessons are easy to follow, thorough and relevant to the learning standards. I happened to use a lesson for grades 3-5, though it fit in with what we were doing. I additionally had students try to identify organisms using a black and white key they were given, and web photos I showed from another website (http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/wimsmall/smal1.html) to bring the lesson up to their grade level. This website can be searched by lesson, grade or benchmark. Each lesson plan has additional links to handouts and other resources. Great overall resource.

2. Bacteria is Everywhere:

http://www.bacteriamuseum.org/

This website can serve as a very thorough introduction to bacteria, and it also houses many interesting facts and microscope photos of different bacteria that can be used to “engage” students. There are special pages devoted to “good” bacteria, such as the various uses for bacteria in foods, as well as pages devoted to common pathogenic bacteria. The sections on “how we fight bacteria” are good additions, but I didn’t find any good links to visual websites that would be nice class demonstrations on how our body fights invaders.

3. The Cell:

http://www.cellsalive.com/

This website is not as easy to look at on an LCD projector as the others, due to a black background, but the interactive modules are great for class demonstrations. For example, the animal cell allows you to click on various organelles to learn their functions. The website also has quizzes, so it could also be a great tool for studying cell functions, if students had access to the internet. There are also photo and video galleries on the site.

Chemical Indicators:

• Fat: Is there grease left on a paper towel?
• Protein: Biuret’s solution turns pink/purple
• Starch: Iodine turns blue/black
• Sugar: benedicts sol’n: orange/red=glucose, green=sucrose
• Vitamin C: Indophenol turns colorless
• To test photosynthesis, use of CO2: test CO2 in water by change in pH: a decrease in carbonic acid (from dissolved CO2) causes a decrease in pH
• To change wavelength of light out of a lightbulb, cover with colored cellophane and place light 10cm from plant (normal light should be 50cm from plant).

Hierarchy of Biology:

Cell type	Function	DNA	mRNA	Proteins
Goblet cell	Produces mucus	Identical to zygote	Basic cell functions, and complex protein-carbohydrate molecules	Proteoglycans and glycoproteins for mucus
Cartilage cell	Builds cartilage	Identical to zygote	Basic cell functions, and codes for collagen	Collagen (the major protein in cartilage)
Muscle cell	contracts	Identical to zygote	Basic cell functions, codes for actin and myosin	Actin and myosin for muscles

How to start making observations:

Line, shape, space, form, texture, value, color

Testable questions: whether, when, where, what, how many, how much, how often

NOT: Why?