Next Generation Science Standards - Activity LIsting

To begin this analysis and discussion activity, students review what happens to the atoms in the nearly 2000 pounds of food the average American eats each year. This provides a context for students to figure out why the rate of biomass production is higher for the producers than for the primary consumers in an ecosystem.

Then, students construct and analyze trophic pyramids. Finally, they apply what they have learned to understanding why more resources are needed to produce meat than to produce an equivalent amount of plant food.

 In this minds-on activity, students answer analysis and discussion questions to learn how a child inherits one copy of each gene from each parent via the processes of meiosis and fertilization. They analyze how the processes of meiosis and fertilization result in the alternation between diploid and haploid cells in the human lifecycle.

To learn how meiosis produces genetically diverse gametes, students analyze the results of crossing over and independent assortment.

Then, students follow the alleles of a human gene from the parents' body cells through gametes and zygote to a child’s cells. They learn how the outcomes of meiosis and fertilization can be represented in a Punnett square.

A brief final section contrasts sexual reproduction with asexual reproduction. 

This activity can be used to introduce meiosis and fertilization or to review these processes. A hands-on version of this activity is available as “Meiosis and Fertilization – Understanding How Genes Are Inherited”.

In this analysis and discussion activity, students develop their understanding of photosynthesis by answering questions about three different models of photosynthesis.

These models are a chemical equation, a flowchart that shows changes in energy and matter, and a diagram that shows the basic processes in a chloroplast. Students use a drawing of a plant to create another model of photosynthesis.

Finally, students evaluate the advantages of each type of model for understanding photosynthesis; this helps them to appreciate the role of scientific models.

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. (For additional information, 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.

Students learn about the effects of UV light, mutations and DNA repair on the survival of prokaryotes and the risk of skin cancer. In the first experiment, students evaluate the effects of different durations of UV exposure on survival and population growth of Haloferax volcanii. This experiment also tests for photorepair of DNA damage. Students design the second experiment, which evaluates the effectiveness of sunscreen. In addition, students answer analysis and discussion questions that promote their understanding of molecular biology, cancer, and the interpretation of experimental results. 

This minds-on, analysis and discussion activity introduces students to basic cancer biology, somatic mutations, and regulation of the cell cycle.

Students view an introductory video about a teen with melanoma and then complete six sections: “What is melanoma?”, “How does a melanoma develop?”, “Why do melanoma cells divide too much?”, “Environment and inherited genes influence your risk of melanoma.”, “Different Types of Cancer”, and “Research Challenge”.

Concepts covered include cell cycle checkpoints, somatic mutations, and DNA repair enzymes

This minds-on, analysis and discussion activity introduces students to the process of natural selection, including key concepts and vocabulary.

In addition, students analyze several examples to learn about the conditions that are needed for natural selection to occur.

(This activity is an expanded version of the first section of the hands-on activity Evolution by Natural Selection.)

Students analyze evidence to evaluate four hypotheses about where a tree’s mass comes from. For example, students analyze Helmont’s classic experiment and evaluate whether his interpretation was supported by his evidence.

Thus, students engage in scientific practices as they learn that trees consist mainly of water and organic molecules and most of the mass of the organic molecules consists of carbon and oxygen atoms that came from carbon dioxide molecules in the air. (NGSS)

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. (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.