Search results for: “Search”
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High School Students Doing Field Biology
If you are fortunate enough to teach near a university, there is a very good chance that programs at the college are in place to help high school teachers. For years, I have been able to borrow equipment from Southern Illinois University and Washington University to alleviate the costs of buying the equipment for…
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Precision Versus Accuracy
I was in the market for a new digital scale, mainly for the osmosis experiment where students must weigh dialysis tubes. I found that my one digital scale just wasn’t enough for 20 students to gather data. Unfortunately, digital scales you buy from scientific suppliers are often very expensive and I really don’t need the…
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Teaching Evolution Using Animal Models
Most evolution units start with a history of evolutionary thought, where scientists of the past, like Darwin, Linnaeus, Larmarke, and Wallace, are discussed with regard to their contributions to evolutionary theory. If you’re not careful, you can end up spending too much time on the history, talking about the Voyage of the Beagle and the…
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Your Inner Fish – Video from HHMI
At the NSTA Conference in Chicago last year, I had the pleasure of meeting (at least from a distance) Neil Shubin, who is a fish paleontologist. We watched one of the newer movies, were treated to refreshments and popcorn and were given a t-shirt and a DVD copy of “Your Inner Fish.” This amazing…
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Analyzing and Interpreting data with Graphs
NGSS and AP Biology resources for interpreting data exercises in the classroom. Turn graphs into discussions and mysteries.
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Can Bacteria Be Designed to Create Gasoline?
I’ve heard the term “biofuel” before, and that usually conjures up images of corn fields and ethanol. I recently attended a lecture at Washington University presented by Fuzhong Zhang. The title of the workshop was quite intimidating: “Synthetic Regulatory Systems for Dynamic Metabolic Pathways.” Teachers don’t just spend our summers lazing about at the pool!…
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Is Group Work Really Effective?
I was out for a day last week and left a case study for my anatomy students. The case was about six pages long and starts with a doctor examining a pregnant woman and hearing what he thought was a heart murmur in the fetus. The pages build upon each other, asking students to…
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Guide to Explanatory Writing in Science
I have written before about the value of having students write as a learning tool. In “Writing to Learn” I made some suggestions for ways you could incorporate writing into you daily lessons. I did not at that time include concrete strategies for helping students actually complete writing assignments. Strategies to help students…
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How to Raise Isopods (Pillbugs) for Your Classroom
How to keep isopods, or pillbugs, in the classroom. Use a plastic container with soil, water beads, and a place to hide!
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Top 5 Online Quiz Makers
List of apps that can be used to help student learn content. Practice quizzes can be shared across social media or LMS. Best quiz apps include quizziz, quizalize, and quizlet.
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Using Infographics for Projects and Learning
Use infographics in your lessons to help students understand concepts. Students analyze graphics or create their own!
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Improve Student Writing in Science – A Guide
Ways to incorporate writing strategies into a science curriculum for writing and science literacy.
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Three Elements of Authentic Learning Projects
One movement in education is to increase the number of AUTHENTIC learning modules, where students look at real-world problems, and work out solutions. This is often done in a collaborative environment where students work in small groups to produce an artifact or presentation that demonstrates their mastery of the topic.
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Finding Images for Your Projects and Classroom
One of the most common searches I do on Google is for images. I may need images for a cell unit. I might want a simple diagram of the heart. Google makes it very easy to add images to your slides and documents. There is a built-in image tool! If you are just searching on…
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Video Worksheets on Animals and Biology
These are videos that I show in class, either in their entirety of just clips. The worksheets simply ask questions that can be answered as the movie progress, which helps keep students focused.