In this activity, students will explore the anatomy of a pumpkin though a dissection. Students will be measuring, preparing slides, staining cells, and using microscopes all while they explore the anatomy of a pumpkin.
Pumpkin Dissection Lab
NGSS Standards Covered
Standard Covered
HS-LS1-2. Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms. (primary standard covered)
HS-LS1-5. Use a model to illustrate how photosynthesis transforms light energy into stored chemical energy.
HS-LS3-2. Make and defend a claim based on evidence that inheritable genetic variations may result from (1) new genetic combinations through meiosis, (2) viable errors occurring during replication, and/or (3) mutations caused by environmental factors.
Pumpkin Dissection
Students start this activity by taking some measurements of their pumpkin’s circumference and the blossom end. As students complete the dissection they learn about the anatomy and development of the pumpkin.
What Will Students Learn About Pumpkins in This Lab?
Throughout the lab students will learn about how pumpkin reproduce sexually. They will learn about the male and female gametes and how they combine to form a zygote. Students will also learn about how pumpkin start off green and eventually become orange due to the chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments. Students will also learn about the basic part of the pumpkin like the stem, blossom end, ribs, fibrous strand, seeds and more.
What Will Students See Under the Microscope?
During the dissection, when using the microscope students will be able to see a variety of cell parts. For example, students will be able to see the transport vessels in the stem (figure 1).
Figure 1: Picture of the stem cross section using a dissection microscope.
Students will also create several wet mounts to explore the pumpkin skin cells and fibrous strands and be able to see a variety of cell parts and tissues like the cell wall, starch, xylem tissue, guard cells, stomata and more.
Pumpkin Xylem
Guard Cells and Stomata Found in the Pumpkin Skin Cell
Do Student Carve the Pumpkin in this Lab?
Whether or not you decide to let your students carve the pumpkin is up to you! The lab does not include instructions for carving however it does include some ideas if you do decide to let your student carve their pumpkins.
Ideas for Pumpkin Carving After the Dissection
If you decide that your student can safely carve the pumpkin after completing the dissection here are some tips.
Be sure you have the appropriate tools. Carving a pumpkin can be challenging and even dangerous without the proper tools. I recommend a pumpkin dissection kit for each group if you are confident your students can safely complete the activity.
Use the activity as a review. For example, have students carve cell organelles, a cell, or even their favorite macromolecule molecular structure!
Teaching students who are remote learners while you have students in the classroom
Due to COVID-19 many teachers are expected to teach in creative and challenging ways. Some students may not feel comfortable or safe enough to be in the classroom so teachers have to teach students who are in their class and at home at the same time. This situation offers many challenges for teachers like classroom management concerns, posting assignments online and making copies for in-person students and technology issues just to name a few. Read below to learn how I setup my classroom to teach students who are in class and remote at the same time.
Tools To Use for Teaching Students Remotely
To have a setup that allows you to easily manage your class and your remote learner you will need a few key tools that many teachers already have access to.
-SMART Board (Though is is optional, it is extremely useful to write on the board while screen sharing and your students at home can see you write)
-Wireless earbuds
-Computer and projector
-Ipad, tablet or phone as a secondary device with a stand to hold it up near you.
Wireless Earbuds
This Setup Puts Remote Students In Your Class
Now that you have the necessary items I will describe how this works and why it is so beneficial.
How does it work?
Using the smart board connected to the computer I can annotate from the board and it shows up on the screen. Having the annotations show up on screen is great for your remote learners who will be able to see everything you write via zoom screen share.
How will they see your annotation?
Using zoom you will simply be able to share the screen and students will be able to see everything you write. When doing this, use the computer to host the zoom session.
Next, you want to log into your zoom session using another device like an iPad , phone or another computer but you want this one to be close to the board so student can also see you when the zoom video is enabled.
Dealing with Audio Feedback for Remote Teaching
With two devices in the same room on zoom audio issues arise and feedback becomes a problem. To solve this you will connect wireless earbuds to the device at the board (Ipad, phone, tablet or another computer). When you do this the audio output is not picked up by your other device so feedback is eliminated.
When presenting with the main computer that is running the zoom session and screen sharing you will want the zoom mic muted as well as your speaker output.
With the device at the board you will be able to hear your students using your wireless earbud and they will be able to hear you where ever you are located in the room because the wireless earbuds are also equippred with a mic.
Caution! Do not forget you have a mic on when walking are the room conversing with the students.
One way to be deal with this is to leave the mic on the “chalk tray” and tell your remote learning to use the raise hand function if they need you. When they raise their hand you will see a notification pop up on the screen.
I often use this strategy even if I am at the board because teaching with an earbud in your ear can make it difficult to hear the students in your class talk and you can’t read lips with their masks on!
Showing a Video Clip During a Presentation
It seems like an easy task but if you want to play a video clip from your computer it does require some quick adjustments. If you try to play the video from your computer that is running the zoom session you will get some feedback. To prevent this, you will need to mute your zoom mic with your device that is at the board and then allow speaker output from your computer and turn on the zoom mic so your at home learners can listen in. Undo the previous steps to go back to teaching mode.
Collaboration and Remote Learning
With tons of plexi glass, sanitizer and social distancing some schools allows us to still do collaborative activities and labs. Including remote learners is pretty easy. Simply, group your remote learners with an in class group and ask at least on of the group members in class to join the zoom session. Once they are in add you remote learner to and their lab partner to the breakout room.
When students sign into the zoom tell them to have their volume down because if they do not they will generate feedback. The feedback problem goes away when they are in a breakout room. I have my students use headphones if they have them.
Summary
Teaching remote students and an in-person class at the same time can be taxing on the brain. Even after doing this for almost an entire school year I rarely get through the week without messing up audio and getting feedback. It comes with the territory I suppose. To set this up, download the checklist . If you have any issues drop me an email (brad@usbiologyteaching.com) or leave a comment below and I will help you out.
Many teachers are now engaging in online instruction, below are some strategies and resources that will help you cope.
Tips for Transitioning to Online Teaching
First and foremost, you need to keep perspective. This is a unique time that has in many ways changed the way we are living. You need to keep the health (physical and mental) of you and your student the top priority.
Next, you need to understand that many of your students have taken on new roles in their household. The availability of resources and time ot do school work vary greatly between families.
Be sure you take these things into consideration prior to establishing your online learning expectations and determining what the workload will be. You know your students.
My thoughts on online assessments. Right now my school has put a moratorium on summative assessments. Although, it is possible to use them to get a feel for how students understand content it is not possible to ensure the assessments are completely valid.
How you treat assessments that are traditionally used in the classroom will definitely vary from teacher to teacher. It is important to keep in mind that they should no longer represent a large portion of their grade. Again, this will depend on your school’s newly adapted policies for assessment.
I am sure my students are celebrating this moratorium.
To assess students, I am grading more small items for accuracy after ensuring I have provided them with the necessary guidance. I am also relying heavily on the resources listed below to grade everything automatically! I have three kids too!
Need to give a make up test or are required to do an assessment? I have had a few students that needed to make up a test and I just couldn’t excuse them from it in fairness to the other students. Here is how I did it.
I am created an answer sheet for the students to fill in as I show the test using screen share via zoom. I slowly scrolled through the test and moved through it at their pace.
Is it perfect? No. But it still allows me the best opportunity to get the test to the students, maintain a fair and consistent grade book and protect my assessment. If you have a better way (without recreating an entire assessment to a digital version) let me know so I can share it.
Office Hours- I am making myself available to all of my students every Tuesday and Thursday via zoom for at least 30 minutes so they can come to the meeting and ask any questions they may have.
Many of you are probably struggling with this adjustment (I know I am) and so are your students. I am making sure that my students have an opportunity to work ahead so they can plan for anything they may have going on.
Considerations
As mentioned, many of your students have likely taken on new roles within the household. With that consideration, I have also reduced the work load for my students. This is a unique time and it requires compassion and understanding. When I polled my audience the weekly workload varied greatly by school. You will have to figure out what works best for you and your students.
Seven Online Teaching Resources You Must See
There are countless resources out there. If you are looking for something specific join our facebook group Biology Teachers and request a resource and our community will help you find what you need.
The list I am providing is intended to be more general website resources that provide more than just one activity. Feel free to add comments about your favorites.
1. USBiologyTeaching.Com -A Full Biology Curriculum with the following resources integrated and aligned!
Of course I have to start with the site that I think will save you the most time! Right here we offer a ton of free resources by search our blog or
HHMI offers some really amazing resources for teaching Biology and includes supporting resources like videos and worksheets. Some people do complain that the answer keys are readily available but I am not worried about it. I can assess their understanding in a variety of ways.
This website allows teachers to use videos and integrate questions within the videos that students must answer to move on. The best part is that there are already tons of video done by other teachers with the question check points already integrated.
Teachers can access pre-made quizzes or make their own using the question banks and their own questions. You can customize how many times students can take the quiz, how long it lasts and what types of feedback they get. We have linked quizzes that align with each unit.
Socrative allow users to create quizzes, play a space race game or do quick exit quizzes/polls. You can create a free account and copy the quizzes that have already been made. In our Full Biology Curriculum you will have access to five to ten questions mini quizzes (checks for understanding) for each unit.
Quizlet is one of my all time favorites. I like Quizlet because it offers flexibility with a variety of options for students to learn. Students can do flashcards, learn, write out answers, spell, test and play games like Gravity, Matching and one of my favorites, Quizlet Live. Though this platform is designed as a learning tool and not an assessment tool you can print quizzes and tests that use the content from the flash cards. Check out my post and video on how to do this: "Why I Love Quizlet"
7. GoFormative-Easily Convert Your Current Paper Tests to Digital Test with Retyping!
I was turned onto this website when I received email from one of my followers. I am so grateful. I heard of it before but did not explore it until now. I am so grateful. GoFormative can help you convert your .doc or .pdf file into an online test that automatically grades your student's responses. I am still learning this one but I am happy with it so far. The best part is not having to retype everything into yet another platform. Simply upload your documents and start clicking and checking off the correct answers.
Do you have one you love that isn't lsited? Drop it in the Comments!
If you are reading this post you are either using our full biology curriculum or thinking about using it. The
Tips and Tricks for Using the Biology Curriculum
Tip #1-Read the Lesson Plans
Be sure you are looking over the lesson plans to see how the plans and activities are used. You will find tips throughout the plans that are specific to the activities, classroom management, differentiation, grouping and activity instructions.
Tip # 2 -Differentiate
In the lesson plans, there is a section at the bottom designated for some suggested differentiation approaches and additional activity extension ideas.
The best part of using this curriculum is that it allows you to easily differentiated and make adjustments if you desire! How?Using this biology curriculum gives you time! Time, you are now able to use to hone in on YOUR students and find what works best for YOUR class and students.
Making adjustments and spending time to add the extra touches that suite your class are now done without the stress of worrying about having a plan in place. You have a plan. Now, instead of building or finding resources that are aligned you can differentiate your instruction to better meet the needs of your students.
Tip # 3 -Review Assessments Prior to the Unit
If you intend to use the assessments provided ensure that you preview them prior to teaching the unit and revisit the assessment regularly throughout instruction (especially direct instruction) to ensure you are better able to help your students hone in on the information you will be assessing/find most important.
Tip # 4-There is Wiggle Room
Do not be afraid to shorten or lengthen the time frames that are given. When looking at the Scope and Sequence you can see there is time built in for reteaching and regular school interruptions. Also, take a look at your state standards to see exactly what topics need to be covered. Some Units are included in this curriculum because they were requested and may fit one states standards but not yours. For example, Classification is not part of my states standards. It is included. It is also organised so it reviews previously covered content while teaching new content. In short, there is wiggle room. Look at the Scope and Sequence and see where you can buy time if you need to.
Tip # 5- Enthusiasm = Engagement from Students
Regardless of how amazing a lesson is if you are not prepared, organized and excited to deliver it, it is unlikely your students will be excited to learn it. Enthusiasm for the content (even if it isn’t your favorite topic) goes a long way at drawing your students in. You are on stage everyday. Have fun with your job. If you are having fun and are happy, your students will be too. I understand it is not easy to maintain a high level of enthusiasm 100 percent of the time but dig deep and try to as much as possible.
Tip # 6- Use the Community of Teachers!
We live during an amazing time. I recall teachers having to keep track of their grades by penciling them into their paper grade books. Technological advancements now allow us to collaborate with each other from all around the world. You have access to tons of teachers who are all using the same curriculum! Reach out, share and grow as a professional!
Before discussing reteaching strategies for biology it is important for you to understand that there is not a “silver bullet.”
Do not let that deter you from trying to find what works best for YOU and YOUR students.
There are several factors to consider when deciding on how to reteach your students.
Finding time for reteaching
When will the reteaching take place?
Are you willing to come in early or stay late? (It is okay if you are not able to)
Is there a time period during the day that is designated for this within your schedule?
Can you reteach students during your lunch period? (not ideal, but could be an option)
Is your school/district willing to compensate you for arranging sessions after school or during the evening?
Some unique ways to find time:
In school blitz sessions. Depending on your school, their flexibility and emphasis on test scores this idea may or may not go over. I have seen this be fairly successful for second time test takers. The day of the test students do not report to class at all. Instead, they report to a morning blitz sessions where one or several biology teachers rotate students through hands on stations that refresh their memory on specific content standards. Student then eat lunch and take the state test.
If you research podcasts (Bozeman, CrashCourse, Khan Academy, Amoeba Sisters) and have students complete assignment on their own to earn something (examples below). This is not the ideal circumstance since it is kind of like homework and it is likely these students were not doing their homework.
Strategies for Reteaching Students for the Sake of Meeting the State Biology Testing Requirements
I hate even writing the line above but the reality is that states require students to pass exams for graduation. With that, it is your job to help them be as successful as possible even when the students are brought to tears by the thought of taking the biology test. (I have witnessed this on many occasions)
How can you possibly do this effectively?
The first thing you need is a “carrot” or something to make the students want to come and learn and not just because they have to pass the test. I know what some of you are thinking. How can I offer these kids a “carrot” and reward these students who are not getting it right the first time?
I understand the perspective but we have to look at the situation through a different lens.
Not all student have an affinity for science, biology or even school for that matter.
Not all student are coming to you from the a world of love, support, structure and some may even be battling health and family issues you are not aware of. Learning does not coming easy to all students.
Motivational Ideas for Students Who Attend and Participate FULLY
The ideas below I have used in the past that have worked well. They were all funded and supported by the school/district and not the teachers.
Offer points to students just for attending and participating in the sessions.
Create punch cards with your states or the NGSS standards on them. Each sessions student attend they get their card punched. If they complete all of their sessions they get something (examples below).
Pizza Party for “X” number of sessions attended
Graduation fees waived
2 extra graduation tickets for family (if your school does this)
Each session attended is an entry into a drawing for a gift card
Each session attended could increase their test/ class grade by “X points/%”
Attend “X” number of sessions and get to go on the Gaming Truck. Yes, that is a tractor trail truck that has video games systems in tow in addition to sumo suits! This happened. The students were humble and grateful.
Reach out to local businesses and ask for support (gift cards and even free passes)
Reteaching Biology Content
When it comes to reteaching the content, especially for the sake of passing the state assessment, less is more.
Cut out anything that goes beyond the state standards and hone in on only what the students will need to know.
Try a different approach. The first time did not work so well. Do something new. Aim for hands-on activities and get the student to talk about what they are doing.
Strategies
Vocabulary
Hit the vocabulary hard. Have students use the key terms.
Use Quizlet Live to help students practice vocabulary.
Scripted Teaching with a Diagram
Provide diagrams and a script of a processes (protein synthesis, photosynthesis, cellular respiration ect..) and have student read the script of the process while using their finger to follow the process on the diagram. Have students teach each other the processes in the same manner. Start will a script and then take the script away.
Use small group or one on one direct instruction to get started.
Set up stations that cover content standard or topics and rotate students through the stations.
Questions Review
Print sample constructed response questions with the answers. Each students gets a different question. Have students partner up with each other and ask each other questions on their cards. If the students do not know the answer the other student reads the answer and then asks the student again. When they are done the find someone with a different questions. Student do this until the have rotated through each question. They will then have had exposure to a whole bunch of different questions and answers. This strategy works well for helping students understand what the answers for constructed responses should sound like.
