Natural Selection

Evolution Activity

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Teaching evolution is a difficult topic for a variety of reasons however, this is one activity that my students truly enjoy.

To begin the class period, I give the students each several pieces of printer paper. I keep them in suspense about what they are actually going to do with it.

After all the students are ready I reveal my “artistic” rendition of a fish by revealing a PPT slide with my drawing on it like the one below.

 

 

 

 

 

After 60 seconds (formally 90 seconds. 60s gives more variation)  of drawing students are instructed to put their pencils down and tape their fish to the board.

I explain to them that the fish they drew represents it’s offspring and as they can see there are variations between them.

I continue to explain that though the differences in our fish are quite exaggerated, in sexually reproducing organisms variations exist. I then mention that environmental pressures also exist.

I ask the students to share some thoughts about what type of environmental pressures exist.

After the students identify the types of environmental pressure I then take the role of environmental pressure and start ripping their “beautiful” fish drawings off of the board to indicate that they have died and are not able to  reproduce.

In the end, 2 fish remain and the original female fish dies (old age or eaten by predator). At this stage, I ask the students to look at the two drawings and create an offspring fish drawing from the 2 parents. Students are given 90 seconds to complete their drawing. Again, they tape it to the board.

For round 2 of environmental pressure I include students as predators and also mention that some fish just die from freak accidents. This is done until only  2 fish remain. Sometimes I stop here and already have enough substantial structural differences in the fish to show how organisms change over time as a result of environmental pressure.

If more generations are needed and time permits the students will want to continue.

Students love this activity and you (teacher) will always have something to reference as you continue the discussion on how organisms change over time (evolve).

I start the class with this quick five question kahoot that touches on different pieces of evidence for evolution.

 

 

 

Food Web

Food Web Activity

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Food Web Activity

In this hands-on food web activity, students use manipulative to correctly arrange the food web using the descriptions of the organisms provided.

After students correctly arrange the food web they have to identify the trophic levels and the energy levels based on the given energy units.

In addition, I have students identify the carnivores, omnivore, herbivores, parasites, consumers and heterotrophs.

This activity is great for a review or teaching the content to them the first time. There is a worksheet that goes along with it. It is amazing how much students do not remember even though they have had this concept in the middle school.

All of the misconceptions are exposed during this activity. Check out the video I use below to introduce the topic and engage my students. It is incredible.

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Organisms have been update to color!

Battle at Kruger

Each year I use this video to introduce ecology. It definitely is one of the most engaging videos I show. Watch it all the way through. So much happens!

Cells, Plants vs. Animals, Rubrics

Cell Sidewalk Chalk Activity

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Last week the weather broke and we had near record high temperatures for February. I decided to do an impromptu outdoor Cell Sidewalk Chalk Activity.  The students really enjoyed having the opportunity to get outside and so did I. They created some beautiful cell drawings (I am slightly bias) and labeled the functions using a color coded key. You can get a copy of the handout I created here. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prefixes and Suffixes

Prefixes and Suffixes with 9 Quizzes

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Improve Academic Vocabulary

Use these prefixes and suffixes to help your students with vocabulary. One of the biggest struggles for students in Biology and Science is vocabulary.

To help your students learn the foundations of the “big words” used in Biology, introduce them to these 90 prefixes and suffixes.

Get Access Below To:

  • Master List of Words
  • All Quizzes with the Modified Version
  • Quizlets for Each Set

I give the students 10 words each week. Depending on the class, I either assign them to learn on their own with a weekly quiz or we go over a few terms each day after the bell ringer and then quiz weekly.

After we get through all 90 words, I give them a quiz with 10 words chosen randomly from the first 45 words and another quiz the following week with 10 randomly chosen the remaining 45 words.

 

 

 

 

 

scientific method

Mealworm Inquiry Lab

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 Mealworm Inquiry Lab

This week my students have been working on the Mealworm Inquiry Lab. In this lab, students apply everything they have learned about experimental design by creating their own experiment using mealworms (Superworms actually).

 

Superworms can be purchased at the local pet store and are great for this activity. The Superworms do not jump on the kids and they move slow enough to easily control.

They also have an interesting life cycle that the students learn about in their research.  In this inquiry lab, students make observations, conduct research, develop a question, identify variables, create a hypothesis, create procedures,  create choice chambers for their experiment, collect data, analyse data and draw a conclusion based on their results.

GET YOUR COPY HERE

Here are some example of their set up:

Note: About 40% of the students in this class have an IEP. The experiments were not perfectly controlled but this lab offers so much opportunity to address their weakness through questioning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have the students create a lab report when they are finished using my lab report rubric and guide

If you like this activity, you will love our Full Biology Curriculum. Check it out here.

Biology Curriculum

 

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