Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!
Alignment of Activities with Next Generation Science Standards
Most of our activities for helping middle school and high school students learn life sciences are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS; http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards and http://www.nextgenscience.org/sites/default/files/HS%20LS%20topics%20combined%206.13.13.pdf). The attached tables summarize our activities that are explicitly aligned with NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas and Performance Expectations. These tables also summarize how each of these activities engages students in Scientific Practices and provides the opportunity to discuss Crosscutting Concepts. Brief descriptions of these activities are compiled at /exchange/bioactivities/NGSS/listing. The Teacher Notes for each activity provide additional information concerning alignment with the Next Generation Science Standards.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
NGSS alignment.docx | 67.12 KB |
NGSS alignment.pdf | 342.96 KB |
Download Minds-On Activities for Teaching Biology
Introduction and Activities Listing
Intro and Biological Molecules
- Characteristics of Life
- Levels of Organization in Biology (NGSS)
- Introduction to Proteins and DNA (NGSS)
- Enzymes Help Us Digest Food (NGSS; hands-on)
- A Scientific Investigation – What types of food contain starch and protein? (NGSS; hands-on)
- Coronaviruses – Introduction (NGSS)
- Who Took Jerell’s iPod? -- An Organic Compound Mystery (hands-on)
- Is Yeast Alive? (hands-on)
- Macromolecules Jeopardy
Cell Structure and Function
- Cell Structure and Function – Major Concepts and Learning Activities
- Cells – How do they carry out the activities of life? (NGSS)
- Why do some plants grow in odd shapes? (NGSS)
- Introduction to Osmosis (NGSS; hands-on)
- Cell Membrane Structure and Function (NGSS; hands-on)
- Cell Vocabulary Review Game
Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis
- Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis - Key Concepts and Activities
- How do organisms use energy? (NGSS)
- Using Models to Understand Cellular Respiration (NGSS)
- Using Models to Understand Photosynthesis (NGSS)
- Photosynthesis, Cellular Respiration and Plant Growth (NGSS; hands-on)
- Food, Physical Activity, and Body Weight (NGSS)
- How do muscles get the energy they need for athletic activity? (NGSS)
- Alcoholic Fermentation in Yeast – A Bioengineering Design Challenge (NGSS; hands-on)
- Plant Growth Puzzle (NGSS)
- Where does a tree’s mass come from? (NGSS)
- Photosynthesis Investigation (NGSS; hands-on)
Cell Division
- Mitosis and the Cell Cycle (NGSS; hands-on)
- Mitosis and the Cell Cycle (NGSS)
- Meiosis and Fertilization – Understanding How Genes Are Inherited (NGSS; hands-on)
- Understanding How Genes are Inherited via Meiosis and Fertilization (NGSS)
- Comparing Mitosis and Meiosis
- What causes melanoma and other types of cancer? (NGSS)
- Mistakes in Meiosis – Down Syndrome or Embryo Death (NGSS)
- Mitosis, Meiosis and Fertilization Vocabulary Review Game
Genetics
- Genetics Concepts and Activities (NGSS)
- Genetics (NGSS; hands-on)
- Genetics Intro – Family Members (NGSS)
- Genetics Sickle Cell Anemia and Trait (NGSS)
- Genetics Probability – Sex Ratios (NGSS)
- Mistake in copying DNA & Dwarfism (NGSS)
- Soap Opera Genetics (NGSS)
- Were the babies switched? The Genetics of Blood Types (NGSS; hands-on)
- Dragon Genetics I (hands-on)
- Dragon Genetics II (hands-on)
- Learning about Genetic Disorders
- Genetics Vocabulary Review Game
- Genetics Jeopardy
Molecular Biology
- Molecular Biology: Major Concepts and Learning Activities (NGSS)
- DNA (NGSS; hands-on)
- DNA Function, Structure and Replication (NGSS)
- How Genes Can Cause Disease - Introduction to Transcription and Translation (NGSS; hands-on)
- How Genes Can Cause Disease - Understanding Transcription and Translation (NGSS)
- UV, Mutations and DNA Repair (NGSS; hands-on)
- What types of mutations cause more vs. less severe muscular dystrophy? (NGSS)
- Making Red Blood Cells (NGSS)
- Genetic Engineering Challenge – Preventing Vitamin A Deficiency (NGSS)
- Gene Editing with CRISPR-Cas – Potential Sickle Cell Anemia Cure (NGSS)
- Molecular Biology Vocabulary Review Game
Evolution
- Resources for Teaching and Learning about Evolution
- Evolution by Natural Selection (NGSS; hands-on)
- What is natural selection? (NGSS)
- Natural Selection and the Peppered Moth (NGSS)
- How have mutations and natural selection affected fur color in mice? (NGSS)
- How Whales Evolved (NGSS)
- How Eyes Evolved – Analyzing the Evidence (NGSS)
- How does evolution result in similarities and differences? (NGSS; hands-on)
- What is a species? (NGSS)
- Coronavirus Evolution and the COVID-19 Pandemic (NGSS)
- Evolution and Adaptations (NGSS)
Ecology
- Ecology Concepts and Learning Activities (NGSS)
- Exponential and Logistic Population Growth Models vs. Complex Reality (NGSS)
- Some Similarities between the Spread of Infectious Disease and Population Growth (NGSS; hands-on)
- Stability and Change in Biological Communities (NGSS)
- Food Webs, Energy Flow, Carbon Cycle and Trophic Pyramids (NGSS)
- Food Webs (NGSS)
- Carbon Cycles and Energy Flow through Ecosystems (NGSS)
- Trophic Pyramids (NGSS)
- Introduction to Global Warming (NGSS)
- Food and Climate Change – How can we feed a growing world population without increasing global warming? (NGSS)
- Coral Bleaching (NGSS)
- Global Warming (NGSS) (NGSS)
- Resources for Teaching about Climate Change
- The Ecology of Lyme Disease (NGSS)
Human Physiology and Health
- Negative Feedback, Homeostasis, and Positive Feedback, with Breathing Experiment (NGSS; hands-on)
- Homeostasis, Negative Feedback, and Positive Feedback (NGSS)
- How do food molecules reach our muscles? (NGSS)
- How do we Sense the Flavors of Food? (NGSS; hands-on)
- COVID-19 Vaccines (NGSS)
- Molecular and Evolutionary Biology of HIV/AIDS and Treatment (NGSS)
- Resources for Teaching Cancer Biology
- Carbohydrate Consumption, Athletics, Health – Using Science Process Skills
- Vitamins and Health – Why Experts Disagree
- Regulation of Human Heart Rate (hands-on)
- Should You Drink Sports Drinks? When? Why?
Subscribe
Subscribe to our listserv to receive notices when we post new activities or significant revisions or when we offer an online professional development.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To preserve the value of these learning activities for other teachers, please do not post keys for any questions from any of these activities!
Authors
Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities
Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities has 50 remote-ready activities, which work for either your classroom or remote teaching.
What's New? Subscribe to Serendip Studio
A Random Walk
New Topics
-
1 week 4 days ago
-
1 week 4 days ago
-
1 week 4 days ago
-
7 weeks 14 hours ago
-
7 weeks 3 days ago
Comments
New York State and NGSS
I was wondering if any New York State teachers are using any of the Serendipity NGSS lessons and if so, how they correlate to the NYSSLS?
New York State and NGSS
I don't know if any New York State teachers are using the Serendip NGSS lessons. However, I have checked the New York State standards (http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/programs/curriculum-instruction/p-12-science-learning-standards.pdf) and many of the high school standards related to life-sciences appear to be quoted directly from the NGSS. I think it should be relatively easy to determine equivalence by comparing the New York State standards and the NGSS standards quoted in the Teacher Notes for each activity.
Good luck!
Ingrid
NYSSLS and NGSS
This link is a great resource to see the differences between NYSSLS and NGSS
http://www.ocmboces.org/tfiles/folder2919/Draft%20NYSSLS%20and%20NGSS%20Performance%20Expectations%20Only%20with%20DCI%20notes%20only%20for%20changes%20-%20all%20grades.pdf
Thank you
Thank you for the helpful link to the informative resource.
Ingrid
NY State NGSS
Thank you so much for your reply; I appreciate it very much!
-Katie C.
2022 revision
I have updated the tables to include all the new NGSS activities as of March 2022.
Ingrid
2021 revision
I have updated the tables to include all the new NGSS activities as of March 2021.
Ingrid
Life Science 7th Grade
This information is very, very useful.
Thanks,
Maurice Srephenson
Post new comment