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Students investigate impacts of plastics on different marine organisms. Includes 3 activities (one of them is a culminating project)

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Plastics in the Plankton, Plastics on Your Plate

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Students investigate the impacts of plastics on marine organisms in different marine ecosystems. They construct a food web for an assigned ecosystem, using it to illustrate the principle of biomagnification visually. Students draw on evidence presented in this lesson and in the previous lesson, Plastics, Plastics, Everywhere, to justify an argument about whether plastic pollution affects humans as well.

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interactive game allows students to solve the cause or an outbreak.

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Page with menu-only navigation example description goes here

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A interactive resource allowing students to investigate how enzymes function.

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Enzymes are proteins that increase the rate of biological reactions. This simulation can be used to test how factors such as temperature, pH, and concentrations affect the reaction rates of two different enzymes in a biochemical pathway. In the simulation, amylase catalyzes the breakdown of a simplified starch molecule into maltose. Maltase catalyzes the conversion of maltose to glucose. For more information, see the . Virtual lab worksheet options are available in Google Drive.

To run the simulation, set the variables and click "Run Simulation." When ready to start a new run, click the "Reset" button.

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Enzymes are proteins that increase the rate of biological reactions. This simulation can be used to test how factors such as temperature, pH, and concentrations affect the reaction rates of two different enzymes in a biochemical pathway.

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Videos, readings and discussion questions about hormone regulation and many other biology topics.

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This interactive game takes the students through the steps of cellular respiration- Glycolysis, krebs cycle and electron transport chain.  It demonstrates how ATP is made.

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Respiration Interactive (and Video Tutorials)

You are using the Free Version of this Game (with ads). If you want to use the Ad-Free Member Version, click the button below. Please note: This will open in a new tab/window! Please save your progress before proceeding!

Topics Covered: Aerobic respiration, glycolysis, the link reaction (pyruvate oxidation), the Krebs cycle, the Electron Transport Chain, ATP, ATP synthase, metabolism, cellular energy, glucose breakdown and oxidation, chemiosmosis, oxidative phosphorylation.

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Video computer games, virtual labs and activities for learning and reviewing biology content. Great for students and teachers.

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Investigate how biomolecules are used in cellular respiration.

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Model the cause and effect of ocean acidification using egg and vinegar.  They can make predictions and observations and relate this to what is happening to the ocean pH as a result of increase in CO2.

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Vinegar is to an Eggshell What Ocean Acidification is to Marine Ecosystems? - Science On a Sphere

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As CO 2 levels in the ocean rise, the pH of the seawater decreases, which can have a "dissolving" effect on some animals-such as coral-similar to the way vinegar dissolves an eggshell.

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This simulation allows you to explore the effects of climate change on increasing Sea Levels.  The app focuses on the southern coastal US region.

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Coastline Retreat From Sea-Level Rise Simulation | Sea Level | VESL | JPL | NASA

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This model quantifies the impact of Antarctica and Greenland melt on the coastlines of several states in the US assuming the so-called bath-tub model (sea level is evenly distributed over the entire oceans as though Earth is a nongravitating, nonrotating, rigid planet).

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Nova has various missions to explore climate change and effects in the polar regions.

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"If there's one thing I've learned from talking to dozens of scientists while working on Polar Extremes, it's this: If you want to understand what's going on with Earth's climate, the poles are the key. At any time in the last half-billion years, look to the poles and they'll tell you what's going on."

- Caitlin Saks, co-host of NOVA's digital series Antarctic Extremes and host of the Polar Lab

Since NOVA started producing interactive Labs back in 2012, more than six million students have used them to get involved in science by collecting and analyzing data to solve real-world problems. From designing renewable energy systems with weather data to folding RNA molecules that might help researchers develop lifesaving drugs, playing the collection of NOVA Labs gives young people a virtual window into the lives of scientists-and a taste of what it might be like to do science themselves.

If you think that's cool, you're really going to like the Polar Lab. Why? Because it's the first Lab we've produced in conjunction with a major NOVA documentary: Polar Extremes, a two-hour adventure that tells the extraordinary story of Earth's poles and the key role they play in determining its climate. Tapping into this amazing trove of footage, characters, and scientific data-with even more material from our ten-part digital series Antarctic Extremes -has allowed us to take the whole "walk in the shoes of scientists" thing to new heights in the Polar Lab.

The result is an immersive, multimedia experience that brings players on a deep dive into key sequences and major science themes covered in the documentary and digital series. Using a combination of clickable 360 landscapes, 2D and 3D videos, animations, interviews with scientists, and mini-games, the Polar Lab takes players onto the ice and into the lab in search of evidence to answer big questions about Earth's climate-past, present, and future. It also puts them in the driver's seat, as they work with host Caitlin at "Polar Lab HQ" to collect data from the field, answer questions, and play games to keep the story moving through three action-packed missions...and what a story it is. Here's a quick preview:

In Mission 1, players explore the rugged landscape of Ellesmere Island, just 800 miles from the North Pole. With help from Caitlin and scientists Jim Basinger and Jaelyn Eberle, they search for plant and animal fossils that can reveal what this Arctic environment was like 50 million years ago. The results of this field work offer quite a surprise and a window into the power of exploring "deep time."

In Mission 2, we focus on the more recent past-the last million or so years-and investigate the variations in Earth's climate within the current "icehouse" cycle, when the planet has been cool enough to sustain ice year-round at the poles. This time, the clues lie in two kinds of drill cores that act as time capsules for exploring the past: mud cores from the bottom of a very special lake in Northern Siberia which hold clues about the plants and animals that have lived in the area; and ice cores that trap tiny bubbles of ancient atmosphere-including a very special molecule, CO₂, that plays a key role in setting Earth's global thermostat.

Mission 3 brings us to the present day, as players work with scientists at both poles trying to understand what's happening to our rapidly warming planet. In Greenland, we join David Holland as he tracks and tries to understand what's causing the rapid retreat of the massive Jakobshavn Glacier. And in Antarctica, we join Caitlin and scientist Jay Rotella, who studies seals to better understand how changing ice conditions may affect them and other animals exquisitely adapted to life in the coldest corner of the globe.

Upon completing each mission, players will unlock bonus content, including 360 videos about the largest dinosaur ever to roam the planet (including Antarctica) and a tour of a spectacular ice cave in the Canadian Rockies as it teeters on the brink of melting

Like the documentary and digital series on which it's based, the NOVA Polar Lab shows that Earth's distant past is directly relevant to our collective future. "Humans are geology, and we are impacting this planet," says Polar Extremes host Kirk Johnson, Sant Director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. "This is the first time that a mammal has actually changed the composition of the Earth's atmosphere and driven a dramatic change in the Earth's climate. The question is, are we clever enough and forward-thinking enough to flip that switch back?"

The stakes couldn't be higher. We all need to understand what's happening to our planet. Play the Polar Lab, join the scientists on the front lines, and find out for yourself...

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"If there's one thing I've learned from talking to dozens of scientists while working on Polar Extremes, it's this: If you want to understand what's going on with Earth's climate, the poles are the key. At any time in the last half-billion years, look to the poles and they'll tell you what's going on."

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Observe various parts of the digestive system. Rather than just models or drawings, this simulation has actual endoscope footage to observe inside the digestive organs.

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Simulates the population of rabbits in the ecosystem. Analyze how adaptations may influence population size.

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Stimulate a neuron and monitor what happens. Pause, rewind, and move forward in time in order to observe the ions as they move across the neuron membrane.

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Use a simulation to see how molecules diffuse across a membrane

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Watch the water molecules move in this osmosis simulation. By modeling ions in water as solvation complexes, this simulation shows why there is a net flow of water through a semi-permeable membrane from the side with a low solute concentration to the side with a high solute concentration.

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Reading, videos and questions that allow the students to investigate the impacts of an invasive species on an ecosystem

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Saving Crystal River | PBS LearningMedia

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Explore the effects that an invasive species can have on the environment. In this interactive lesson, students learn how Lyngbya, a destructive form of algae, is creating environmental problems for the plants and wildlife in the Crystal River and Kings Bay areas of West Central Florida.

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Analyze human impacts on the environment and ecosystems with this resource.

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The distribution of plants and animals around the world is anything but random. Instead, it is a result of the interplay of individual environmental tolerances of species and the environmental conditions, especially variations in temperature and precipitation. These interactions result in biomes, the categories into which ecologists organize similar communities of plants, animals, and the environmental conditions in which they live.

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This is an interactive lesson that studies the historical  record of evolution. There are video with questions and several missions to accomplish

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Evolution Lab | Interactive Lesson | Mission 2 | PBS LearningMedia

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Explore the evidence of evolution with this interactive worksheet based off of NOVA's Evolution Lab. This resource is designed to be completed while playing through the Evolution Lab game and contains multiple choice and free response questions and covers Mission 2 of the Evolution Lab game with embedded videos.

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This lab investigates similarities in DNA in whale and common ancestors. It also uses fossil evidence to compare anatomy

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6th-12th grade

Evolution Lab Standards Alignment Guide (102.5 KB)

Below is a support guide for the Evolution Lab that includes an overview of technology requirements and instructions for playing through Build A Tree and navigating Deep Tree.

Evolution Lab Support Guide (3.8 MB)

These worksheets contain questions for each level and video of the Evolution Lab and provide assessment on topics like cladograms, fossil evidence of evolution, DNA and genetics, biogeography, applications of phylogeny to health, and human evolution. The worksheets are divided into missions and are designed to be completed while playing through the game. The worksheets feature multiple choice questions, short response questions, and cladogram drawings.

Evolution Lab Worksheets (4.1 MB)

Lesson Plan

This lesson plan was written in the 5-E format, a lesson plan model for guided inquiry in science classrooms.

Engage (15 min): Introductory activity that poses a question or calls upon prior knowledge

Before launching the Evolution Lab, present students with a selection of seven widely different species, including a plant, a fungus, two mammals, a reptile, a bird, and a dinosaur. Choose these species from the "Species" tab in Deep Tree. Instruct students to independently answer these questions:

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

If you were to categorize these organisms into a family tree, what methods would you use to categorize them?

Can you provide some examples of traits that you would use to categorize the organisms?

Encourage students to share their responses in a group discussion.

Prompt students to think about how we organize the biodiversity that exists on Earth and how we make connections between all the species that have ever lived on Earth. Show the following video:

VIDEO

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

What are the two key ingredients for natural selection?

Why does survival of the fittest not mean that the strongest or biggest survive? Can you think of examples where not being strong and big is an advantage?

Explore (60-90 minutes minimum): Students explore a hypothesis and collect data

Instruct students to complete the six missions of the Build A Tree game. Inform students that they will explore the evidence for evolution and how we can use phylogeny to understand the relationships between species.

ACTIVITY

Instruct students to complete the Evolution Lab worksheets or interactive lessons as they play through the Build A Tree game. NOTE: The interactive lessons are online versions of the worksheets and contain the same questions.

These worksheets and interactive lessons are designed to be completed while playing through the Evolution Lab game and contain multiple choice and free response questions for each video and level of the game. Instruct students to read the instructions for every page and answer the questions after watching the video or completing that specific level of the Build A Tree game.

Students will have to refer to the completed tree and the species comparison tab of every level when answering all of the questions, so remind them to keep the level open while answering the questions.

Explain (15 min): Direct instruction and content delivery

Summarize the evidence for evolution via a lecture, class discussion, and/or analysis of case studies. For example:

LECTURE OR CLASS DISCUSSION

Natural selection - explore case studies of adaptations produced by natural selection, such as camouflage and mimicry

Fossils - explore the process of radiometric dating and Earth's evolutionary history timeline

DNA - explain the source of genetic variation and mutation in organisms, how that affects morphology, and how we can use clues in embryology to understand evolutionary history

Biogeography - describe how processes like gene flow and genetic drift can drive speciation

Elaborate (25 min): Direct instruction and content delivery

Instruct students to use Deep Tree to create a phylogenetic tree poster or digital presentation for the seven species that you presented in the introductory activity.

ACTIVITY

Instruct students to use the "Relate" functionality of Deep Tree to identify the shared traits of the seven different species and build a phylogenetic tree that highlights their relationships to each other. This activity should culminate in a poster board presentation of the phylogenetic tree or a digital presentation in the form of a PowerPoint. This activity can also be completed as a homework assignment or a scaffolded as a longer independent project if students analyze additional species.

Scaffold the activity for younger or lower performing students by instructing them to work collaboratively to build their phylogenetic tree. Feel free to modify the number of species that students use to create their phylogenetic tree poster or digital presentation.

Evaluate (20 min): Formal assessment (independent practice)

This part of the lesson can be integrated into the completion of the Evolution Lab worksheets while students are playing through the game. Students can also complete the video quizzes for a quick overview of the content. The Lab Report functionality (located on the upper right corner of the page if students are logged in) allows students to track their completion of the video quizzes and print out a record of it.

Educators should also use this opportunity to assess student learning with short response or essay questions summarizing the evidence for evolution and analyzing phylogenetic trees.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Outline how natural selection is a driving force of evolution in the example of the polar bear.

Summarize Darwin's contributions to our current understanding of evolution.

How does the use of DNA analysis help us better understand evolutionary history?

Describe some applications of phylogenetics to health and medicine.

Why is the tree of life a useful analogy to understand the history of life on Earth?

Teacher Tips for Using the Evolution Lab

The Evolution Lab is a great resource for educators who are beginning an evolution unit because it addresses the mechanisms of evolution and teaches students how to build and read phylogenetic trees. Here are some suggestions for effectively using it in the classroom:

Encourage students to create a NOVA Labs account before they start the Evolution Lab for at-home or in-class completion. With an account, students will be able to save their progress in the Lab and also generate a Lab Report that tracks their completion of the game and video quizzes.

Use the Evolution Lab video quizzes as a formative or summative assessment to gauge student understanding of the content.

After completing the Build A Tree game, facilitate an in-class discussion with students about the content and address any questions or confusion they may have about evolutionary concepts.

Encourage students to use Deep Tree as a research tool throughout your evolution unit. In your lessons, try to incorporate examples and case studies using organisms that appear in Deep Tree and encourage students to use the Relate function to trace shared ancestry of the organisms.

Additional Resources
NOVA's Resources
NOVA Evolution

NOVA's collection of evolution resources includes free episodes, articles, and interactives that cover numerous evolution topics. Watch the "Becoming Human" mini-series, explore the human evolution timeline, and read articles about interesting evolution case studies.

PBS Evolution

This classic collection of resources covers the big ideas of Darwin, change, extinction, survival, sex, humans, and religion with videos, interactives, and interviews.
External Resources
Understanding Evolution

Understanding Evolution is your one-stop shop for teaching and learning about evolution from kindergarten through college. Get friendly, clear background information as well as animations, comics, interactive investigations, news briefs, research profiles, and a database of free, vetted lessons for your classroom.

Understanding Evolution

The National Center for Science Education is the only national organization devoted to defending the teaching of evolution in public schools. NCSE's Evolution Primers are written by NCSE's scientific staff to explain key concepts or findings in evolution that are frequently misrepresented by creationists.

Shape of Life

Shape of Life is a series of short classroom videos that depict evolution of the animal kingdom on Earth. Shape of Life focuses on biodiversity, adaptability, body structure, design, behaviors, and the innovative scientists who explore these creatures. Shape of Life includes videos, lesson plans, readings aligned with the Common Core, illustrations, and relevant resources.

Birds-of-Paradise Project

The birds-of-paradise are among the most beautiful creatures on earth-and an extraordinary example of evolutionary adaptation. On this site you can find what few have witnessed in the wild: the displays of color, sound, and motion that make these birds so remarkable. Then you can delve deeper, examining the principles that guided their evolution and the epic adventure it took to bring us all 39 species. There are also free lesson plans that explore the topics of the scientific process, natural and sexual selection, behavior, and heritability through hands-on activities and lively discussions: http://www.birdsleuth.org/paradise/.

All About Fancy Males

All About Fancy Males is an eight section online interactive developed to accompany one of the most respected introductory evolution courses in the country-Cornell University's Evolution and Biology and Diversity. This interactive allows students and the general public to develop a solid understanding of fundamental concepts in evolution while exploring rare behavioral clips and engaging animations.

Speciation: An Illustrated Introduction

There is a dizzying diversity of species on our planet. From genetic evidence we know that all of those species evolved from a single ancient ancestor. But how does one species split into many? Through the evolutionary process of speciation-which begins when populations become isolated by changes in geography or by shifts in behavior so that they no longer interbreed. The speciation process is the basis of earth's biodiversity.

Natural & Sexual Selection: An Illustrated Introduction

How does evolution happen? Through a gradual process called selection. Individuals that are better equipped to survive and reproduce pass those traits to their offspring. These "selected" changes accumulate over thousands of years. We tend to think of natural selection-"survival of the fittest"-but sexual selection works the same way and can be just as strong in shaping how species look and act.

An award-winning source for standards-based classroom resources in science, technology, and engineering.

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6th-12th grade Evolution Lab Standards Alignment Guide (102.5 KB) Below is a support guide for the Evolution Lab that includes an overview of technology requirements and instructions for playing through Build A Tree and navigating Deep Tree.

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Video show ancestor of modern whale which lived on land and water.

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When Whales Walked: Journeys in Deep Time | Walking Whale Ancestor | PBS

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Blue whales are the biggest creatures ever. But how did they get so big?

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Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration 

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Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration 

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Activity shows the interactions between elodea and a snail to illustrate the chemical reaction of photosynthesis and cellular respiration.

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Antibiotics Don't Work Like They Used To

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Antibiotics Don't Work Like They Used To

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Lessons for students to investigate the question why don't antibiotics work like they used to.  Provides a story line with activities for students

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Why Don't Antibiotics Work Like They Used To? - Next Generation Science Storylines

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This high school unit on natural selection and evolution starts out with students exploring the case of a young girl with a life-threatening infection of pan-resistant bacteria. This case sparks questions that lead them to investigate the growing prevalence of such cases and discrepancies between antibiotic use in their communities and CDC recommendations.