This activity is designed to further develop students' understanding of the characteristics of insects. Students will be sorting insects from non-insects that they themselves find in a sample of pond water.

Through two lessons and five activities, students explore the structure and function of cell membranes. Specific transport functions, including active and passive transport, are presented. In the legacy cycle tradition, students are motivated with a Grand Challenge question. As they study the ingress and egress of particles through membranes, students learn about quantum dots and biotechnology through the concept of intracellular engineering.

Children will investigate leaves by observing, playing a game, sorting and journaling in a science notebook.

This course introduces experimental biochemical and molecular techniques from a quantitative engineering perspective. Experimental design, data analysis, and scientific communication form the underpinnings of this subject. Three discovery-based experimental modules focus on RNA engineering, protein engineering, and cell-biomaterial engineering.This OCW site is based on the source OpenWetWare class Wiki, 20.109(S10): Laboratory Fundamentals of Biological Engineering.

This activity is a classroom introduction to bird migration. Students will acquire new vocabulary, sharpen their map skills, and discover the scientific reasons some birds migrate.

"The mammalian brain easily outperforms any computer. It adapts and changes constantly. Most importantly, the brain enables us to continuously learn and remember. What are the molecular mechanisms that lead to learning and memory? What are the cellular roles that activity-regulated gene products play to implement changes in the brain?How do nerve cells, their connections (synapses), and brain circuits change over time to store information? We will discuss the molecular mechanisms of neuronal plasticity at the synaptic, cellular and circuit levels, especiallysynapse formation,synaptic growth and stabilization,synaptic transmission,axonal and dendritic outgrowth, andcircuit formationWe will learn about the roles of some activity-regulated genes as well as the tools and techniques employed in modern neuroscience. Our goal will be to understand molecular mechanisms the brain employs to accomplish learning and memory.This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an interest in using primary research literature to discuss and learn about current biological research in a highly interactive setting. Many instructors of the Advanced Undergraduate Seminars are postdoctoral scientists with a strong interest in teaching."

This activity is based on inquiry, guided discovery, observation and discussion to help students learn the objectives in learning more about a fish, labeling its body part and learning about its life cycle.

In this lesson, students will extend their knowledge of matter and energy cycles in an organism to engineering life cycle assessment of a product. Students will learn about product life cycle assessment and the flow of energy through the cycle, comparing it to the flow of nutrients and energy in the life cycle of an organism.

Fossils are a glimpse into the distant past and fascinate young and old alike. This unit will introduce you to the explosion of evolution that took place during the Palaeozoic era. You will look at the many different types of creatures that existed at that time and how they managed to evolve to exist on land.

David Attenborough looks at"life in the trees': examining how species have evolved to cope with arboreal living. You will learn how lemurs, anteaters, bears and many others have developed different methods to help movement and survival.

This 4th grade unit is designed to address the concept that organisms sense the environment in order to live. It is a far-ranging and comprehensive unit that is designed to address multiple NGSS performance expectations (4-LS1-2, 4LS1-2, 4-PS3-2, 4-PS4-2) in seven explorative sections, with an additional summative assessment step. STEP 1 - the structure of the unit is introduced and students complete a KWL-type activity. STEP 2 - students make observations outdoors and explore the meaning of alive, eventually developing a model of an environment for seeds, creating it and monitoring the growth of plants over the course of the unit. STEP 3 - students learn about the types of energy organisms perceive through a Reader's Theater activity with material at three differentiated reading levels. STEP 4 - students read about and construct 3-D models of how humans perceive sense information from the environment and convert that energy into a different form that the brain can process to make sense of and respond to stimuli. STEP 5 - students use text and math skills to develop an understanding of the brain's structure and function. STEP 6 - students explore environmental change and the interactions between those changes and the organisms within the environment, and then investigate the effects of varying the environment of the seeds they've been monitoring since being planted in Step 2. STEP 7 - students synthesize their understandings of the unit. They create a model of an imagined environment in small groups, and then construct and write a viable argument as to how their senses could help them survive within this imagined environment. STEP 8 (summative assessment) - students synthesize many of the ideas and practices they have explored during the unit. It is estimated to take at least 11 hours of instruction, although individual steps could be adapted, extended, or done separately to address specific standards.

This activity is a field investigation where students begin to generate ideas about what is living and nonliving by observing and recording what they see in a defined area outdoors and later sharing things that they think are living and why.

This course will touch upon a number of different subfields of biological study within the context of the ocean environment. The course will begin by studying the geologic and meteorologic processes that create the oceans and affect their environment, including the specific environmental challenges facing marine life. Also taking a broad look at oceanic biodiversity before examining the interconnections between species in marine communities, the course will conclude with a quick look at current research in Marine Biology. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: compare and contrast ocean and terrestrial environments, and describe the properties of the marine environment that are associated with specific marine adaptations; list the members of marine food webs and, based on descriptions of specific species, identify their roles within food webs and the effects of changes in their abundance on overall food-web dynamics; describe the difference between various life-history types (e.g. gonochoristic species vs. sex changers vs. simultaneous hermaphrodites; complex vs. simple life history), and identify the physiological and ecological conditions under which certain life-history traits are considered to be advantageous over others; list and identify phyla/species of marine organisms, and describe their taxonomic relationships and the fundamental characteristics of their groups; distinguish between different marine zones in terms of their biotic and abiotic characteristics and the factors that affect their communities; design a marine-protected area based on the organisms or region in need of protection; explain the major types, causes, and effects of marine threats such as pollution, overfishing, global warming and ocean acidification, and invasive species, as well as describe the consequences of these threats for marine communities and organisms; analyze current research in marine biology, evaluating the interpretation and results of these experiments. (Biology 308)

This Unit looks at how units if inheritance are transmitted from one generation to the next. First you will look at what happens to the chromosomes of animals and plants during the process of sexual reproduction Then you will examine how genes are transmitted in particular patterns from generation to generation. These two approaches combine to illustrate how the patterns of inheritance can be explained by the behavior of chromosomes during sexual reproduction.

This site dissects a sheep brain to show us the anatomy of memory. See works of an artist who paints entirely from memory. (Compare his paintings to photos of places.) Play interactive games that test your memory -- learn ways to improve it. Discover why some things are easier to remember than others (droodles game). Which facial features help us remember a face? Which image of the penny is correct? Try a mnemonic device called elaborative encoding.

This Protein Purification video lesson is intended to give students some insight into the process and tools that scientists and engineers use to explore proteins. It is designed to extend the knowledge of students who are already somewhat sophisticated and who have a good understanding of basic biology. The question that motivates this lesson is, ''what makes two cell types different?'' and this question is posed in several ways. Such scientific reasoning raises the experimental question: how could you study just a subset of specialized proteins that distinguish one cell type from another? Two techniques useful in this regard are considered in the lesson.

This course will cover a range of diverse areas of microbiology, including virology, bacteriology, and even applied microbiology. This course will focus on the medical aspects of microbiology, as medical research has been the primary motivator in microbiology research. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: explain how organisms are classified using taxonomy, focusing on the domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya; describe the chemical building blocks and metabolic processes important to sustain microbial life; identify the major principles of microbiology and describe the relationship between microbes and other living organisms; discuss pathogenic microbes and their epidemiology; differentiate between microorganisms based on their shape, size, arrangement, staining, and culture characteristics; outline antimicrobial methods including antibiotic use; explain how the human body protects itself; list uses for microbiology in food and beverage preparation and industry. (Biology 307)

In this course, the student will study microscopic anatomy. The course begins with an overview of basic cell structure follow by an explanation of how single cells come together to make up tissues. The student will then study each of the organ systems in the body, understanding how these tissues fit together structurally to form organs and organ systems that carry out specific functions. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: differentiate among the types of microscopy and describe the importance of microscopes in microscopic anatomy; correctly use the compound light microscope with a working knowledge of the function of each part; identify the organelles within a eukaryotic cell and list the basic function of each; compare and contrast meiosis and mitosis, identifying the steps of each in microscopic images; outline what makes each epithelial, connective, nervous, and muscle tissue unique, where each is found within the body, and how each interacts with other tissue types; point out circulatory system features, including intercalated disks and valves, as well as the differences among different vessel types; identify the cells found in blood and the role of each; define how the tissues and anatomical features that make up the gastrointestinal and respiratory systems come together structurally to support the function of these organ systems; identify the features of the epidermis and dermis of the skin, including the cells, layers, glands, and other features of each layer; explain how the structural arrangement of the lymphatic system and lymph node supports its physiological role of filtering; compare and contrast the structural arrangement of spongy and compact bone; map out the path of plasma filtrate as it moves through the neuron and into the ureter, bladder, and urethra, identifying what types of cells are located in each part; describe the basic structure of endocrine organs, including the reproductive organs; identify what features make special senses tissue unique. (Biology 406)

This activity is a classroom and field investigation where students will group Minnsota fish families and create their own pop can fishing rods.

This activity is a classroom guided inquiry lesson where the student will sort, identify, and classify Minnesota fish.