Fellow Frugal Biology Teachers: It Is Yard Sale Season!
The school year is coming to an end and now is a great time to look around your classroom and determine what your NEEDS are for next year.
After determining your needs, it is time to head out and find those items.
Tip: When shopping, let the people who are selling their stuff know you are a teacher. It makes bargaining a lot easier and in some cases they just give you the stuff.
Here is a checklist to get help you out. Print it out now and look around your classroom. Cross off the stuff you have or do not need. Add stuff that you do need but do not see on the list.
Using our Biology Scope and Sequence you will be able to present Biology content to your students in a logical manner.
Why is the Scope and Sequence arranged the way it is?
We are Biology teachers who have taught this course with well over 100 years of combined experience. We have debated, discussed and tweaked this order so it can be presented in a manner that we have found to be most successful.
Why doesn’t the Scope and Sequence include 180 days of instruction?
When you look at the total number of days that are written into the curriculum your will see two difference numbers (139/81).
One hundred and thirty nine days are planned out in our Full Biology Curriculum using (50) minute periods and eighty one days using (90 minute blocks).
As a team we discussed that we want to arrange the curriculum so that it could be flexible for teachers.
We wanted to save you time for reteaching, going over assessments, dealing with school-wide interruptions like large field trips, assemblies, school wide initiatives and local testing.
We also understand that every class is different and so is their pacing. With this flexibility you can take the extra time you need where you need it and still run a rigorous Biology Curriculum.
What if my state does not require everything that is in the USBT Curriculum?
In our Full Biology Curriculum detailed lesson plans, there are specific notes about areas that can be cut out or extended depending on your state’s requirements. For example, our Evolution unit includes speciation.
We know some states do not assess students on the speciation terminology so we created two separate assessments.
One assessment does not include speciation while the other does. There are also notes in the presentation to help guide the teacher so they know where the evolution assessment content ends and the speciation assessed content begins.
Materials List is Included
For our current members and future members we wanted to create a list of consumable materials that are used in each section of the curriculum. This list does not include general Biology lab supplies like microscopes, test tubes, beakers, pipettes ect.
When designing the Biology Curriculum we tried to make it economical yet engaging and hands-on. We assumed the teacher would only have access to a small budget for materials.
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.
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:
How it occurs.
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.
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.
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.”
#teachingevolution #naturalselection
“You are the product of 3.8 billion years of evolution, act like it.”
Using our Biology Curriculum, your students will be introduced to mutations and biotechnology using a variety of activities and 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.
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.
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.
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!
