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The video explains why the Mars Rover Curiosity is searching for organic molecules on Mars.

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Organics are carbon-based molecules - key ingredients to life. If Curiosity finds organics in ancient rocks, there's a better chance Mars once had good conditions for small life forms called microbes.

But, finding organics is hard! That's because organics easily break down when exposed to harsh things like extreme radiation and chemical oxidants that gave the Martian surface its rusty color.

A great place to look for ancient organics today is in rock layers. Organics that were quickly trapped and buried in layers of mud or in sediments that sank to the bottom of a body of water could have an especially good chance of being preserved.

Scientists think Curiosity's landing site, Gale Crater, contains those special layers, created in ancient times when water was present. The water dried up long ago, but rock layers that remain today could still preserve organics inside.

If Curiosity finds organics, it wouldn't prove life existed, but it sure would improve the odds that Mars once had the right ingredients for life!

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Student Video: Mars in a Minute: Why is Curiosity Looking for Organics? | NASA/JPL Edu

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Has Mars ever had the right ingredients for life? What are organic molecules, and what can they tell us about the history of Mars? Learn more in this 60-second video.

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The simulation shows how an action potential changes over time as a neuron fires an impulse and releases neurotransmitters

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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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This simulation shows how different charges on atoms forming a molecule change the polarity and affect the interactions it has with other molecules.

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When is a molecule polar? Change the electronegativity of atoms in a molecule to see how it affects polarity. See how the molecule behaves in an electric field. Change the bond angle to see how shape affects polarity.

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This simulation shows how substances move from high concentrations to low concentrations without any energy. This is an important concept which will be seen throughout biology.

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Mix two gases to explore diffusion! Experiment with concentration, temperature, mass, and radius and determine how these factors affect the rate of diffusion.

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The simulation shows two concentrations of water separated by a semipermeable barrier representing the cell membrane. The students can make observations and ask questions about why the water molecules move to the side with higher solute concentration.

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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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Interactive click and learn that allows students to see inside of a cell and “build” proteins through the processes of transcription and translation

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Cell Transcription and Translation | PBS LearningMedia

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This interactive activity adapted from the University of Nebraska provides an overview of protein synthesis as well as a more detailed look at two critical phases of the process: transcription and translation. DNA provides the necessary instructions for life, and protein synthesis is the process by…

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TED-Ed video about the story of “HeLa” cells: the cell line wrongfully taken from an African American woman with Cervical cancer. Her cells are still used for cancer research today without her consent.

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Description: This TEDEd video written by Robin Bulleri details the story of Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa cell line. A more detailed account of this story can be found in Rebecca Skloot's book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. This story can be used to illustrate the role of cells in the proper functioning, growth, and reproduction of living organisms. It also can be used to explore ethics within scientific research.

Web Resources: HeLa - Wikipedia, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Amazon

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The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks - The Wonder of Science

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Description: This TEDEd video written by Robin Bulleri details the story of Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa cell line. A more detailed account of this story can be found in Rebecca Skloot's book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. This story can be used to illustrate the role of c

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This article describes the life and accomplishments of famed ecologist Dr. Jane Goodall, who researched animals in Africa and around the world.

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Dr. Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall, best known simply as Jane Goodall, was born in Bournemouth, England, on April 3, 1934, to Margaret (Vanne) Myfanwe Joseph and Mortimer (Mort) Herbert Morris-Goodall. As a child, she had a natural love for the outdoors and animals. She had a much-loved dog, Rusty, a pony, and a tortoise, to name a few of their family pets. When Jane was about eight she read the Tarzan and Dr. Dolittle series and, in love with Africa, dreamed of traveling to work with the animals featured in her favorite books.

Jane was unable to afford college after graduation and instead elected to attend secretarial school in South Kensington, where she perfected her typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping skills. She retained her dream of going to Africa to live among and learn from wild animals, and so she took on a few jobs including waitressing and working for a documentary film company, saving every penny she earned for her goal. At age 23, she left for Africa to visit a friend, whose family lived on a farm outside Nairobi, Kenya.

In March 1957 Jane boarded a ship called the Kenya Castle to visit her friend and her family. There, Jane met famed paleoanthropologist Dr. Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey, who offered her a job at the local natural history museum. She worked there for a time before Leakey decided to send her to the Gombe Stream Game Reserve (what is today Gombe Stream National Park) in Tanzania to study wild chimpanzees. He felt her passion for and knowledge of animals and nature, high energy, and fortitude made her a great candidate to study the chimpanzees. Leakey felt that Jane's lack of formal academic training was advantageous because she would not be biased by traditional thought and could study chimpanzees with an open mind. His hope was that by studying our closest living relatives (chimpanzees who share a common ancestor with humans) he could discover more about what early humans were like−things he could not learn from fossils alone. They just needed to secure funding for the project.

In December 1958, Jane returned home to England and Leakey began to make arrangements for the expedition, securing the appropriate permissions from the government and raising funds. To prepare for her upcoming expedition Jane moved to London to work in the film library of Granada Television's film library at the London Zoo where she spent her spare time studying the behavior of primates. In May 1960, Jane learned that Leakey had obtained funding from the Wilkie Brothers Foundation. Permits in hand, she boarded a plane to Nairobi.
Gombe Stream National Park
On July 14, 1960, Jane arrived by boat at the Gombe Stream Game Reserve on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika with her mother−local officials would not allow Jane to stay at Gombe without an escort−and a cook, Dominic.

The early weeks at Gombe were challenging. Jane developed a fever−likely malaria−that delayed the start of her work. Once recovered, the rugged terrain and thick vegetation made traversing the reserve a challenge and often she hiked miles without seeing a chimpanzee.

Finally, an older chimpanzee−whom Jane named David Greybeard, although the practice of naming one's study subjects was taboo in ethology−began to allow Jane to watch him. As a high ranking male of the chimpanzee community, his acceptance meant other group members also allowed Jane to observe. It was David Greybeard whom Jane first witnessed using tools. She spotted the chimpanzee sticking blades of stiff grass into termite holes to extract termites. Excited, she telegraphed Dr. Leakey about her groundbreaking observation. He wrote back, "Now we must redefine 'tool,' redefine 'man,' or accept chimpanzees as humans."

During the years she studied at Gombe Stream National Park, she made three observations that challenged conventional scientific ideas: (1) chimps are omnivores, not herbivores and even hunt for meat; (2) chimps use tools; and (3) chimps make their tools (a trait previously used to define humans). Beyond the significance of her discoveries, it was Jane's high standard for methods and ethics in behavioral studies may have had the greatest impact in the scientific community.

Jane continued to work in the field and, with Leakey's help, began her doctoral program without an undergraduate degree in 1962. At Cambridge University, she found herself at odds with senior scientists over the methods she used−how she had named the chimpanzees rather than using the more common numbering system, and for suggesting that the chimps have emotions and personalities. She further upset those in power at the university when she wrote her first book, 'My Friends, the Wild Chimpanzees,' published by National Geographic, aimed at the general public rather than an academic audience. The book was wildly popular, and her academic peers were outraged. Dr. Jane Goodall earned her Ph.D. on February 9, 1966, and continued to work at Gombe for the next twenty years.

Jane shifted from scientist to conservationist and activist after attending a primatology conference in 1986, where she noticed all the presenters mentioned deforestation at their study sites worldwide. Jane herself had noticed some signs of deforestation along Lake Tanganyika at Gombe Stream National Park, but nothing significant. Then, in the early 1990s, she flew in a small plane over the park and was shocked to see large-scale deforestation on the other side of the park where local villages were rapidly expanding. Miles of bare hills stretched where once untouched forests had stood. Jane knew that she had to take action to protect the forest and preserve the critical habitat of the chimpanzees.

Her first mission was to improve the conditions for chimpanzees held at medical research facilities. Jane helped set up several refuges for chimps freed from these facilities or those orphaned by the bushmeat trade. She established the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) in 1977, a global community-centered conservation organization, and JGI's program Roots & Shoots in 1991, which encourages young people around the world to be agents of change by participating in projects that protect the environment, wildlife, or their communities. She met with anyone she felt could be key to protecting places like Gombe Stream National Park and species such as her beloved chimpanzees and has been an advocate for protecting animals, spreading peace, and living in harmony with the environment.

Jane is still hard at work today raising awareness and money to protect the chimpanzees, their habitats, and the planet we all share. She travels about 300 days a year giving speeches, talking to government officials and business people around the world encouraging them to support wildlife conservation and protect critical habitats.

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Ethologist and conservationist Jane Goodall redefined what it means to be human and set the standard for how behavioral studies are conducted through her work with wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania.

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How do Small Changes Lead to Big Impacts?

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How do Small Changes Lead to Big Impacts?

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This storyline follows a graph showing the skyrocketing population of buffalo in the Serengeti.

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Synopsis

In this first part of a two-part high school ecosystems unit, students start out examining data of the buffalo population in the Serengeti over the past fifty years. Competing ideas for why the population skyrocketed in a short period of time and then collapsed sometime later motivates students to investigate a variety of additional data sources. Exploration of each new data source raises further questions, and more potential suspects to investigate. As each new suspect is tracked down (resource competition, climate change, seasonal rainfall patterns, predators, disease, and fire), students incrementally develop a more and more complex ecosystem model that accounts for why some populations grow, some collapse, and others remain stable in the same ecosystem.

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How Do Small Changes Make Big Impacts on Ecosystems? (Part 1) - Next Generation science storylines

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In this first part of a two-part high school ecosystems unit, students start out examining data of the buffalo population in the Serengeti over the past fifty years. Competing ideas for why the population skyrocketed in a short period of time and then collapsed sometime later motivates students to investigate a variety of additional data sources.

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Students learn about the use of GMOs in our food products and debate the ethics and safety of using these products.

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Genetically Modified Food | Retro Report | PBS LearningMedia

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This 11-minute video explores how the rise of genetically modified foods has given rise to fears about food safety while transforming agricultural production processes. Focusing on the rise and fall of the genetically modified tomato, the video shows students how GMO food products have emerged as a convenience to many farmers, and a source of confusion for many consumers.

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The Potential and Ethics of Gene Editing

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The Potential and Ethics of Gene Editing

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This video describes the ethics and uses of CRISPR which students can then discuss and argue the pros and cons of using it.

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Description: CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. It is an immune system in bacteria that has been co-opted by scientists to create a powerful DNA editing tool. It is a powerful tool that can be used in research and may eventually eliminate certain diseases. However it also could allow humans to create designer babies and through the use of gene drives eliminate certain problem species (like mosquitoes) forever. CRISPR, as a new technology, can be used to give meaning to a unit on inheritance and variation.

Web Resources: CRISPR - Wikipedia, The Ethics of CRISPR - Fast Company

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The Potential And Ethics Of CRISPR - The Wonder of Science

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Description: CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. It is an immune system in bacteria that has been co-opted by scientists to create a powerful DNA editing tool. It is a powerful tool that can be used in research and may eventually eliminate certain d

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BioInteractive video showing the molecular structure of red-blood-cells with correct DNA sequence and mutated DNA.

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Description: Sickle-cell anemia is caused by a single nucleotide mutation in the β-globin gene of red blood cells. This creates incorrectly structured proteins and red blood cells with a characteristic "sickle" shape. This harmful mutation does not affect carriers of the disease. However this mutation can be beneficial in certain areas because it offers protection from malarial infections. This phenomenon can be used in a unit on genetics or evolution.

Web Resources: The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection in Humans - HHMI, Sickle-cell Disease - Wikipedia

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Malaria and Sickle Cell Anemia - The Wonder of Science

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Description: Sickle-cell anemia is caused by a single nucleotide mutation in the β-globin gene of red blood cells. This creates incorrectly structured proteins and red blood cells with a characteristic "sickle" shape. This harmful mutation does not affect carriers of th

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60 Minutes video showing research of wolves evolving a friendly characteristic, which led to the evolution of dogs.

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Survival of the friendliest: How dogs evolved to be man’s best friend | 60 Minutes

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Why don't Antibiotics Work like they Used to?

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Why don't Antibiotics Work like they Used to?

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This storyline follows the story of a little girl named Addie, who developed a rare infection of pan-resistant bacteria.

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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.

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Students will learn and debate the pros and cons of using CRISPR gene editing tools to eradicate virus-carrying mosquitos from the world.

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Gross Science | Could We Rid the World of Mosquitoes? | PBS LearningMedia

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Learn about the pros and cons of eradicating mosquitoes, in this episode of Gross Science from NOVA. Mosquitoes can transmit many diseases, including the Zika virus, which is correlated with birth defects in babies. Genetic technology, such as the CRISPR gene drive, has the potential to keep mosquitoes from spreading disease.

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Students learn about how and why animals migrate and then take a deep dive into the migratory patterns of species that are impacted in a certain geographic area. This teaches them about animal behaviors and the evolutionary advantages/benefits they pose.

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This lists the logos of programs or partners of NG Education which have provided or contributed the content on this page. In collaboration with

Directions Objectives Preparation Background & Vocabulary

Students explore different types of animal migration and apply new vocabulary to examples of animal migrations.

DIRECTIONS

1. Introduce students to different types of animal migration.

Set the stage for this activity by explaining to students that there are different types of animal migration. In the Intersecting Actions activity, students learned about elk migration. Animals migrate for different reasons, across different distances, to different places. Learning about different types of migration will contribute to better game designs.

With students in their unit working groups, distribute a copy of the Animal Migration Vocabulary handout and scissors to each group. Have students work together in their groups to cut out the squares and match each vocabulary word to its definition.

Provide support to students in identifying root words and using context clues to understand the definitions.

2. Engage students in a matching activity to learn key animal migration concepts.

Distribute the Match the Animal to its Type of Migration handout to each student. Have students read through the directions and work together in their groups to match each animal in the second column to the migration type in the first column.

After students have completed the handout, review the answers as a class: (1. c; 2. f; 3. b; 4. h; 5. g; 6. e; 7. d; 8. a) and answer any lingering questions.

Ask students: How could human activity interfere with one of these types of migrations?

3. Guide students to brainstorm whyanimals migrate by connecting animals' basic needs to migration.

Have students use the matching exercise from Step 2 to think about different types of migration. Ask: What are some reasons animals migrate from one place to another? [Possible answers: food, reproduction (breeding/nesting areas), climate (needs warmer or cooler climate depending on seasons)].

Record responses on a chart paper for students to refer back to later in the unit.

Debrief the activity by discussing as a class how what they have learned so far in this unit will inform their board game creation. Ask: Your unit project is to create a board game about animal migration. What have you learned so far that will help you to create your game? (Possible answers: board game base map, human impact cards)

Explain that the next step is for students to include migratory animals in their board game and that they will use aspects of migration discussed in this activity, such as type and motivating factors, related to the migratory animals in their game.

Informal Assessment

Match the Animal to its Type of Migration: Students apply new vocabulary to descriptions of migratory behavior.

Students consider how games can be designed to raise awareness and inspire action, then research three assigned species from a geographic area to identify migration patterns. They create critter cards and migratory route maps for their animals.

DIRECTIONS

1. Prepare students to think like game designers.

As a class, revisit the goals of the final project: creating a tabletop game that will raise awareness about animal migration and inspire people to care about human impacts on migratory routes. Ask students: What have we created so far that can be used for your game? (Answers: Human impact cards, the start to a geographic game board map, and a description of the setting).

In this activity, students create critter cards that can be the characters in their game and a map of each critter's migratory route that will go with their setting descriptions. These maps will inform stylized sections on students' game boards.

For example, migratory routes might be portrayed as a series of spaces for pieces to move along.

Ask: What other components are often included in tabletop games besides a board, cards, and a setting? (Possible answers: dice, spinner, player pieces)

Encourage students to think about what else will help create an engaging and inspiring game.

2. Guide student research of migratory species in each group's focal geographic area.

Distribute a copy of the Creating the Critter Cards handout to each group and have each group create a set of three critter cards that relate to their geographic area.

Prepare the class for the research process by first reading the directions on Creating the Critter Cards together.

Support students in starting their online research by giving them suggestions for search terms from the critter card directions (see "Tips" section for additional support for research).

Introduce students to the National Geographic Photo Ark and model how to search for an animal, such as the Atlantic loggerhead turtle, and use the information provided to develop a critter card (note: not all animals listed will be found in the Photo Ark).

Each group will be researching three species; ask groups: What will be the best collaborative approach to accomplish this task?

As students are creating their critter cards, circulate to remind groups of the required project components and encourage students to make connections by using the following prompts:

Prompt for animal and regional habitat description: Tell me a little about your animal and where it lives.

Prompt for explanations of why and how their animal migrates: Why does your animal need to migrate? How do they get from point A to point B and back again?

Additional questions to ask students:

What are some of the biggest human threats to your animal? Why?

What is the status of the species? Are there healthy populations or is the species endangered? Why?

At the end of the activity, collect the student-created critter cards for informal assessment.

3. Guide groups to create a migratory route map for each animal.

Distribute a copy of the Migration Route Map to each group. This initial migratory mapping will lead to the future design of each group's game board.

Have each group use their research findings to draw and label the migratory route of each of their focal species on the map. Each migration route should include:

Starting point, labeled with when the migration begins.

Path of migration, labeled with the animal, the type of migration, and reason for migration.

Ending point, labeled with when the migration ends.

4. Revisit the class Know and Need to Know chart.

Discuss the following questions as a class:

What answers were we able to find today?

What new questions do we have based on what we learned?

Explain that in the next activity students will be applying their research to their game designs.

Informal Assessment

Critter Cards: Review completed critter cards and maps to ensure groups have acquired complete and accurate information.

Groups use their research on migratory species to design game boards that reflect their focal animals' migratory routes. Students consider how to design persuasive and creative game boards, and receive peer feedback through a gallery walk.

DIRECTIONS

Remind students they will be using what they have learned about their focal animals and geographic area to create a game that inspires people to understand and care about animal migration.

As a class, watch Butterfly Surveillance. Pause the video at 0:47 to bring students' attention to the migratory map in the video and connect with their game boards. Ask students to discuss with a neighbor:

What do you notice about the monarch butterfly's migration route (Possible answers: it spreads out as it goes north, it crosses many regions, it crosses national borders, there are a lot of opportunities for human interruption).

Watch the rest of the video as a class. Then, have student discuss with a neighbor:

How does this video make you hopeful about people supporting monarch butterfly migration?

In this activity, students add the animals' migratory routes to their game boards. Encourage a persuasive and strategic mindset by discussing the following question as a class:

What strategies can you use in your game design to convince people to care about the migrating animals in your region? (Possible answers: players take on roles of migrating species, give the animals feelings, have people's survival depend on the animal's ability to successfully migrate)

2. Student groups add the migratory routes of their species to their game boards.

Have students discuss how they want to use the migratory routes in their games. Have groups discuss the following questions and share out their decisions with the class:

Will the routes be spaces that animals move along?

How will you balance accurate representation of migratory routes with the way the game is played? (For example, will players have to complete a full life cycle or simply arrive at one destination?)

How will you make sure that human impacts disrupt or support animal migration in the game?

Next, have students review their findings from the Researching a Region's Migratory Animals activity and have each group decide how to represent their species' migratory routes on their game boards. Routes may be fully contained within the area, or they may begin, end, or cross through the area.

Encourage students to be creative! By thinking about how the migratory routes will be used, they are really thinking about some integral structures for their games.

Then, have students add the migratory route of their species to their game board that they created in the Map That Game Board activity. Provide materials for creating and illustrating game boards, such as cardboard, colored paper, markers, colored pencils, scissors, and glue.

As groups are working, circulate to ensure that human developments on their game board contact, or potentially contact, the migratory route of their species.

3. Lead students in a gallery walk of game boards for peer feedback.

Begin by having groups display their game boards and migratory route maps from the activity Researching a Region's Migratory Animals for students to see as they walk around the room. Before beginning the gallery walk, have each group briefly share the way that migratory routes will be used in their game.

Then, have students walk around the room providing feedback on sticky notes to each group in response to one or two of the following questions:

What challenges to the migrations do you predict will result from human developments and geographical features on the game board?

What geographical information is clearly communicated through the game board about the region? Which features are missing or could be more clearly communicated?

How clear is the game's focus on migration? What additions would help clarify the focus?

After the gallery walk is complete, have groups read through the sticky notes left by their peers in order to refine their design and game play for their final game design.

Informal Assessment

Assess group game boards for accurate representation of a close-up section of the migratory routes that are in the focal geographic area.

Subjects & Disciplines

Conservation

Geography

Social Studies

Storytelling

Objectives

Students will:

Identify the reasons that animals migrate.

Create maps of migratory routes for particular species.

Understand and map the migratory routes of particular species.

Design a functional game board that represents migratory routes in a specific geographic area.

Research and describe migratory patterns and geographic range of specific species.

Define different forms of migration.

Identify migration characteristics of different species.

Identify the reasons that animals migrate.

Research and describe migratory patterns and geographic ranges of specific species.

Teaching Methods

Brainstorming

Cooperative learning

Discussions

Hands-on learning

Multimedia instruction

Research

Self-directed learning

Skills Summary

This lesson targets the following skills:

21st Century Student Outcomes
Learning and Innovation Skills

21st Century Themes

Critical Thinking Skills

Analyzing

Applying

Creating

Evaluating

Remembering

Understanding

Geographic Skills

Connections to National Standards, Principles, and Practices

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.The College, Career & Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards D2.Geo.1.6-8.: Construct maps to represent and explain the spatial patterns of cultural and environmental characteristics. D2.Geo.3.6-8: Use paper-based and electronic mapping and graphing techniques to represent and analyze spatial patterns of different environmental and cultural characteristics.

What You'll Need

Required Technology

Internet Access: Required

Internet access: Required

Tech Setup: 1 computer per classroom, 1 computer per learner, Color printer, Monitor/screen, Printer, Projector

Physical Space

Setup

Students will need to have chairs and desks/tables that can be easily rearranged into small groups.

Grouping

Homogeneous grouping

Large-group instruction

Large-group learning

Small-group learning

Small-group work

Accessibility Notes

Background Information

Animal migration is characterized by the movement of animals, often over long distances. In the course of these daily, seasonally, or yearly migrations, animals can interact with human barriers and activities, often to devastating effect. Not all species are migratory, but those that do migrate include mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, crustaceans, and insects.

Human activities such as developing cities, agricultural use of land, and energy production are some of the biggest factors affecting animal migration, and being able to map movement using regional geography helps reveal the impact of these actions.

Scientists use a wide range of technology to help track these migratory patterns, and that data is used to learn how to support animal populations impacted by humans. Their results are often shared using the principles of regional geography, which provide a fuller ecological and social lens. Creating maps and narratives of migratory routes for particular species helps highlight the challenges the animals face in their journeys. Sharing these discoveries through a game increases both interest and its resulting citizen action from understanding these migration challenges.

This lesson is part of the Interrupted Migrations unit.

Recommended Prior Lessons

Vocabulary

For Further Exploration

Articles & Profiles

Images

Instructional Content

Websites

Tip

Step 2: If students struggle with thinking about how to use the migratory routes, encourage them to think about board games they have played and how players moved around the board.

Credits

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Students learn about how and why animals migrate and then take a deep dive into the migratory patterns of species that are impacted in a certain geographic area. After researching three specific migratory animals, students map their migratory routes on their game boards.

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The simulation shows students a population of bunnies with varying numbers of white and brown fur. As generations pass, the number of bunnies with brown fur increases because they live in a dark environment and aren’t spotted by predators. Students can change the number of predators, frequency of mating, and physical traits like ear size/etc. to simulate natural selection.

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Explore how organisms with different traits survive various selection agents within the environment.

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This shows how a cell uses different organic molecules to express genes by building proteins from a DNA code.

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Express yourself through your genes! See if you can generate and collect three types of protein, then move on to explore the factors that affect protein synthesis in a cell.

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Students collaboratively investigate our planet’s five mass extinctions and the possibility of a sixth mass extinction. Then, students explore the Anthropocene Epoch’s cultural and environmental complexities and impacts before selecting a biome and endangered species that exist within it to be the focus of their research throughout the rest of the unit. They predict how human activity has impacted these biomes and species.

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Students collaboratively investigate our planet’s five mass extinctions and the possibility of a sixth mass extinction. Then, students explore the Anthropocene Epoch’s cultural and environmental complexities and impacts before selecting a biome and endangered species that exist within it to be the focus of their research throughout the rest of the unit.

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Virtual interactive lab explores the various techniques used to identify different types of bacteria based on their DNA sequences.

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In this lab, students prepare and analyze a virtual bacterial DNA sample. In the process, they learn about several common molecular biology methods, including DNA extraction, PCR, gel electrophoresis, and DNA sequencing and analysis. These methods are applicable in a wide variety of settings, including scientific research and forensic labs.

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Students play a game simulating a global pathogenic outbreak and working to stop the spread. The virus evolves from mutations and must be stopped.

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Plastics in the Plankton, Plastics on Your Plate

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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.

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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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This includes images and articles discussing how the food on our planet is affected by human activities and brings up debates on how we should produce food for all people.

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These maps show where crop production could be intensified using technological solutions. Another option would be to increase natural and environmentally friendly agriculture practices in areas where yield is already high.

For SOSx use Agriculture: Cropland Intensity.

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How Do We Feed Nine Billion People (Or 7.6 for that Matter)? - Science On a Sphere

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Despite the fact that enough food is produced every year to feed 10 billion people around 11 percent of the Earth's population goes hungry.

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Coral and Algae Relationship Status: It's Complicated

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Coral and Algae Relationship Status: It's Complicated

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The image and articles included teach about the relationships between coral and algae in the oceans and how human impacts have affected their habitats.

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Coral and Algae Relationship Status: It's Complicated - Science On a Sphere

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Tiny algae called "zooxanthellae" live inside some coral and feed it sugars through photosynthesis in exchange they are protected by coral from the open ocean.

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This simulation shows students why our emissions of fossil fuels release gasses into the atmosphere that trap heat on our planet.

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How do greenhouse gases affect the climate? Explore the atmosphere during the ice age and today. What happens when you add clouds? Change the greenhouse gas concentration and see how the temperature changes.

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Students will learn about a food waste plant that optimizes the breakdown of organic matter, to recycle nutrients back to the environment.

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Solutions to Food Waste | Unit 4: Segment C | Let's Go Enviro | PBS LearningMedia

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Learn how the decomposition of organic matter is a crucial part of the flow of energy, but it requires a very specific balance of chemicals and often takes a very long time. At the Truly Living Well Farm in Atlanta, Khari Diop and his team have optimized the process to create an efficient system for the disposal and repurposing of food waste.

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Students will learn how the introduction of a non-native species to the Atlantic Ocean completely changed the food chains and hurt populations of native species.

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Lionfish Invasion | Ocean Invaders | PBS LearningMedia

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Learn how the lionfish has disrupted ecosystems of the Atlantic Ocean in this video from NOVA: Ocean Invaders. Use this resource to highlight how the introduction of an invasive species can lead to changes that disrupt an entire ecosystem and threaten the survival of other species.