Wildlife

Capybara - The World's Largest Rodent
Leaf Cutter Ants in the Peruvian Amazon

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The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology

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This video uses the Flash Animation " DNA Workshop " from PBS to illustrate the central dogma of molecular biology.  The video supports NGSS HS-LS1-1 . The central dogma explains how stored genetic information (genes) is retrieved and used by cells to produce proteins that are responsible for an organisms traits.  It can be summarized as follows: Attribution:  Dhorspool at en.wikipedia [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
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NGSS HS-PS2-4 :  Use mathematical representations of Newton’s Law of Gravitation and Coulomb’s Law to describe and predict the gravitational and electrostatic forces between objects. Class started by trying to identify Cause and Effect relationships in the video below. Our next activity was an in class demonstration using a balloon, cloth and small pieces of paper.  The goal of the demo was to jump start thinking about how gravity and electrostatic forces can be compared to each other. Students completed a jig-saw activity to compile notes for Newton's Law of Gravitation and Coulomb's Law. I took pictures for each class and will share in their stream on Google Classroom.
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NGSS HS-LS2-5 Photosynthesis

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One of the really important HS-LS2-5 performance expectations is that students know the inputs and outputs of photosynthesis.  The video below shows a lab I've used for years with my biology students to teach this concept. The word equation for photosynthesis is summarized below. carbon dioxide  +  water  +  light  ->  glucose (sugar)  +  oxygen Students test plants (anarcharis or elodea) in three different types of water. 1. tap water = medium CO2 2. tap water boiled one day before the lab = low CO2 3. tap water with added baking soda = high CO2 The lab also provides an opportunity to introduce (or review) the concept of a limiting reactant since the level of carbon dioxide determines how much oxygen the plants will make as they carry out the light reaction of photosynthesis.
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