All posts by Brad Grey

Biology Teamwork Assessment: Peers Evaluate Each Other!

Peer Collaboration Evaluation Tool

Using our “Peer Collaboration Evaluation Tool,”  you will be able to help students be more consciences of how well they work with other team members.

As part of a State wide STEM competition I had to take my student to a variety of local businesses, government agencies, hospitals and organizations to help gather some insight about the needs for the community.

As a result of that experience there was a common response  I receive to the question: What skills do you need our students to have when coming to you out of high school or college?

For every person I posed the question, all of their responses were:

“THEY NEED TO BE ABLE TO WORK WELL WITH THE TEAM”

Reflect on your grade book right know.

How are you assessing your student’s ability to work as team?

Do your students know they are not easy to work with?

Are they able to do almost no work and still get the same grade as the whole group because they are good at pretending to be involved?

Student can no longer sit back and let everyone else work for them!

Using this google form tool your student can now evaluate each other!

Here is a quick video that shows you what the tool can do!

 

The Google Form That Your Students Will See (Below)

 

The best part of this that the tool will keep track of all of the responses for as long as you want. You can even use it across disciplines.

The tool takes your students’ scores from their peers and automatically gives you the average of all of their scores as a percentage, average of  all of their total scores and the average of all of their individual scores.

All you need to do as a teacher, is set up a place for students to fill out the Peer Collaboration Evaluation Form using a computer, Ipad or other device with internet access.

How to Implement the Peer Collaboration Evaluation Tool  in the Classroom

This tool can be used with any type of partner, lab or  collaborative group work.

To use google forms you must first have a google account (gmail is a google account). Create one here if you do not have one yet.

You get free storage and a whole host of other excellent tools like forms and it is completely free.

Once you have an account and get logged in, click on the waffle (circled in red) on the top right of your screen.

Next, click on “Drive”. This takes you to your Google Drive . This is where your storage space is located and where your tool will be located after your receive it in your email and click “make a copy” (see below)

After clicking on make a copy, you will land on the screen pictured below.

This screen (above) is the raw calculations spreadsheet. This is were your data will populate as your students begin to rank each other.

To go to the live form, click on  “go to live form” under the “Form” menu. This will take you to the live form that can be shared with your students.

The best part of the forms is that it collects the data from all of your  students and puts it into a single spreadsheet that can then be sorted and easily added into your grade book.

Check out the video on how the use this tool!

 

 

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Evolution and Natural Selection Worksheets

Teaching evolution is can be a delicate matter depending on the dynamic of the classroom and the community. Try our approach.

Get your Peppered Moth Natural Selection Worksheet Below!

With our detailed lesson plans and tips on how to approach teaching evolution you should be able to manage getting through the unit confidently using our lesson plans, evolution worksheets, activities and labs.

When teaching evolution it is important for your student to understand:

  1. How it occurs.
  2. It is supported by a large body of evidence.

For students to understand how it occurs they need to understand that environmental pressure is a major factor in selection for specific traits that allow the organism to survive and reproduce.

Misconception: Individual organisms can evolve.

To introduce students to this concept, you can use our Fish Evolution Activity. Students love this activity and it helps them develop an understanding for how populations can evolve.

One of my go-to websites for teaching natural selection is  https://askabiologist.asu.edu/peppered-moths-game/.  I have created a worksheet that goes along nicely with this activity (see below to download it!).

Using the animation, students get to see how certain traits (color) allow the organisms to survive better depending on the environment.

Natural Selection Worksheet

Using our Full Biology Curriculum, you will have access to a variety of pre-made games such as Kahoot’s and Quizlet live that will engage your students and help them master the content.

Every unit in the USBT curriculum includes guided notes that will help your students follow along with the notes and highlight key points.

Evolution Notes

You will be able to move through the notes at reasonable pace instead of having to wait for your students to write down every single word.

In addition to the natural selection activity worksheet, your students will complete an adaptations lab, analyze the selection for tuskless elephants, discuss the adaptation and evolution of skin pigmentation and analyze bones to determine species relatedness.

If you want to save a ton of time, our Full Biology Curriculum is just what you need. EVERYTHING you need is all done and organized for you. Help your students achieve!

Here’s a recent message I received from a member inside the USBT community.

“Brad,

I purchased the USBT full year curriculum with some skepticism. I have spent money on other teaching aids and lesson plans only to receive the product and realize I had wasted my time and money. The USBT Biology Curriculum Far exceeds my greatest expectations. I have cut my prep time in half, have a better grasp of my content, and my students are more engaged than before. Thank you.

-Todd C.”

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#teachingevolution #naturalselection

“You are the product of 3.8 billion years of evolution, act like it.”

Mutations and Biotechnology Worksheets

Using our Biology Curriculum, your students will be introduced to mutations and biotechnology using a variety of activities and worksheets.

mutations worksheets

Download your mutations worksheet below!

Engage your students!

Students will be engaged with an interesting video on mutations. Students are always interested when mutations are mentioned. Aside from talking about reproduction, this topic tends to generate some of the best questions from students.

After watching the video students will use their guided notes to follow along with a few PPT slides that introduce students to various mutations. Students will then complete a mutations worksheet prior to exiting the class.

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Never Plan Again! We have done it for you!

Throughout all the USBT curriculum student a given a variety of NGSS aligned activities each class period. These activities only scratch the surface of what you get in our Mutations and Biotechnology unit as a USBT member.

karyotyping worksheet

Over the course of the unit students explore karyotyping using our karyotyping worksheets and activities. Students also use gel electrophoresis to identify suspects from a crime scene!

Download your DNA Gel Electrophoresis Worksheet Below!

Do not worry if you do not have access to all the equipment to perform the lab. The USBT lesson plans have alternatives such as online simulations with worksheets already done for you.

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In addition, your students will learn about the most recent biotechnological advancements as they work through our Full Biology Curriculum.  The will explore biotechnology like CRISPR cas9 and PCR’s.

If you like the activities we have shared here, you will love our Full Biology Curriculum. This is just a small sample of what is available to you!

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#mutationworksheet #karyotypingworksheet #gelelectrophoresisworksheet #biotechnologyactivity

Genetics Worksheets and Activities

Using our Biology Curriculum, your students will be introduced to genetics using a variety of activities and worksheets. This is one of my favorite topics to teach students.

Download your Punnett Square worksheet below!

Students will be engaged with a fun classroom trait survey. Students really love doing the trait survey and learning how unique they are.

After completing the trait survey your students will complete their guided notes that go along with all our USBT presentations.

Engage your students!

The presentations are designed in a way that will allow you to instruct at a reasonable pace while highlighting key points the key point they will need for their state assessment.

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You won’t be waiting for your students to write down every word on the slide, so they can spend more time listening and you can cover content at a faster pace.

After getting introduced to the key vocabulary terms your students will complete our Punnett square worksheet that will ease your students into completing Punnett squares.

Using our beach ball activity, your student will have fun and get lots of repetition on the key vocabulary terms.

Punnett Square Worksheet

As students gain confidence using exit activities and bell ringer worksheets student are introduced to our incomplete dominance, complete dominance worksheets and even dihybrid cross worksheets.

Prior to their assessment students will complete a series of worksheets that increase in difficulty as they try to be the first group to the finish the Punnett Square Competition. The first group done can be rewarded with a homework pass.

If you like the activities we have shared here you will love our Full Biology Curriculum.

Our Full Biology Curriculum includes the following for every unit:

  • Bell Ringers
  • Daily Agenda PowerPoint
  • Detailed PowerPoint Notes with Guided Notes for Students
  • All the necessary worksheets, labs and activities with rubrics included
  • Multiple versions of assessments that are aligned with the content
  • Modified Assessment for you IEP students
  • Quizlets that have all the vocabulary, so your student can study the terms with ease
  • Exit activities for each day
  • Lesson extensions
  • Detailed lesson plans with instructional recommendations, classroom management tips and step by step instructions for successfully implementing the curriculum.

Click here to learn more about our Full Biology Curriculum.

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#punnettsquares #genetics #pedigree

DNA Replication and Protein Synthesis Worksheets

 

Using our Full Biology Curriculum, your students will be introduced to DNA replication and protein synthesis. Through the curriculum you will use a variety of DNA replication worksheets, protein synthesis worksheets, labs and activities to help them learn these processes.

Engage your students!

Students will be engaged with an excellent video that shows these cellular processes at the molecular level. The video shows the processes occurring in real time!

Explore with a DNA Extraction!

After getting a basic understanding of the DNA replication and protein synthesis your students will use their understanding of the cell and DNA to complete a DNA extraction.

Your student will love this! Seeing the DNA is something they will remember forever.

For practice your students will complete the DNA replication worksheet to help them process their learning.
Once your students have a basic understanding of DNA replication they will move on to protein synthesis.

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Protein Synthesis Skit

Your students will put their creative ability to work by creating a skit on protein synthesis.  Using our rubric, you will be able to quickly and easily grade your student’s skits. Your students will also know exactly what the expectations are for the skit.

After completing their skit, your students will move on to our protein synthesis worksheet to further demonstrate their understanding of protein synthesis and transcription and translation.
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The DNA replication and protein synthesis lesson plan outlined here only scratches the surface of what you get with our Full Biology Curriculum.

Our Full Biology Curriculum includes the following for every unit:

  • Bell Ringers
  • Daily Agenda PowerPoint
  • Detailed PowerPoint Notes with Guided Notes for Students
  • All the necessary worksheets, labs and activities with rubrics included
  • Multiple versions of assessments that are aligned with the content
  • Modified Assessment for you IEP students
  • Quizlets that have all the vocabulary, so your student can study the terms with ease
  • Exit activities for each day
  • Lesson extensions
  • Detailed lesson plans with instructional recommendations, classroom management tips and step by step instructions for successfully implementing the curriculum.

 

Click here to learn more about our Full Biology Curriculum.

 

 

 

#DNAreplicationworksheet #Proteinsynthesisworksheet

#biologycurriculum