Search results for: “system”
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Muscles Labeling
This activity is aligned to my anatomy and physiology curriculum where students study the structure and function of muscle tissues. This has been a challenging topic to cover remotely because I can’t use traditional models. Typically, I would use straws and rubber bands to model fascicles and myofibrils. This activity is part of a unit…
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Case Study – Mitosis, Cancer, and the HPV Vaccine
Students in my anatomy class get a quick review of the cell and mitosis. This activity on HPV shows how the cell cycle relates to overall health. In fact, many of the chapters in anatomy have anchoring phenomena on diseases and health. For example, cystic fibrosis is a cellular transport problem, but has serious effects…
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Vaccines: Nasal or Shot?
Students read a short article about nasal vaccines and intramuscular vaccines with a focus on the development of a vaccine for coronavirus. Students can listen to or read the article on NPR: Shots about how a nasal vaccine might be more effective in preventing the spread of coronavirus. You can play the podcast version in…
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Medical Errors – Don’t Use Pure Water Intravenously
I created this mini case study from a story about a patient given sterile water instead of saline in an intravenous drip solution. Students should probably have a learned about tonicity (hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic) before attempting this activity. The worksheet describes a scenario where a patient was hyperglycemic and the doctor ordered water be…
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Case Study – Gluten
This case study was created for distance learning and is a short exploration of how celiac disease affects the digestive system. This is not a long case, and should probably only take 20-30 minutes to complete. I plan to use it with breakout groups working together over Zoom or Google Classroom. The activity is presented…
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My Remote Toolbox
My school announced that the fall school year will start as remote learning due to wide scale community spread of Covid-19. I would much rather teach and person, but I do understand the concerns of parents, teachers, staff, and other community stakeholders. Note: Many of the activities I created for remote learning I still use…
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Jim Allison: Breakthrough
The film, “Jim Allison: Breakthrough” can be streamed through online platforms, like PBS or from Amazon Prime Video. Teachers can sign up for a free license at https://www.breakthroughdoc.com/for-educators The film is 1 1/2 hours long, which is longer than most class periods, and many teen attention spans, so I split the worksheet into two halves.…
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Biome Viewer
This activity asks students to explore an interactive globe at HHMI . This interactive allows students to zoom in on areas of the globe and learn details about its climate and the types of animals that liver there. A button can be used to compare two biomes for features such as precipitation and temperature. The…
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Case Study: Diaper Drama
A case study on the urinary system. Students learn about a baby with recurring urinary tract infections due to a duplicate ureter.
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Investigation: Villi Height
Use a Netlogo simulation to observe how different heights of villi within the intestine affect absorption rate. Change the height of villi or size of food.
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Human Population Growth
This activity was designed for home school during the Covid-19 pandemic. Students were completing a unit on ecology and had already done activities on trophic cascades. In this activity, students explore an interactive map and timeline that showcases major events in human history that impacted human populations, events like plagues or the development of new…
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Saving a Fussy Predator, the Lynx
Read an article about the reintroduction of the lynx in Europe. A lynx is a type of feline. They are specialists, meaning that is has a very specific diet, the rabbit. Introducing the lynx poses challenges, but many people welcome its return. They are large cats, and can also pose a danger to livestock and…
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Predator Prey Simulation
Interactive program allows students to manipulate the type of organisms within a system and what they eat.
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Evolution of Caffeine
In this activity, students access a database called UniProt that provides information about protein sequences derived from genome sequencing. Students search for the protein sequences of three plants that produce caffeine, Camellia sinensis, Coffea arabica, and Theobroma cacao (tea, coffee, and cocoa). They compare the protein sequences to determine if the gene to create caffeine arose independently…
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Biological Magnification
This article discusses how toxic substances accumulate in top predators in an ecosystem, a phenomenon called biological magnification. This accumulation can have dire effects on those populations and can threaten the entire species with extinction. Students read background information on mercury and DDT and how those toxins are measured in PPM (parts per million). A…