Mapping a London Epidemic

 Here is a National Geographic activity, a study of a cholera epidemic.  My Bio class has begun a study of diseases.  After two years of the Pandemic, the topic of diseases and disease transmission is germane.  I’m still avoiding COVID-19, which has been so politicized.  The kids are giving presentations on their assigned diseases this week.  I’ll start delivering more content about diseases, immunity, and the difference between innate and adaptive immunity.

Biology Valentines!

 I saw these Valentines on social media and made a copy to give to my Biology class Tuesday! Update: My kids loved the valentines and skittles.  I’m doing science valentines next year, too!  Funny, right?  Just added another example!

Immunity

Update: The Homeschool Scientist has 22 Immune System Activities for Kids.  I’m using this tutorial with a host of hand-outs for the kids to use to define types of immunity.

 I just prepared materials for a unit on Immunity.  Apologia Biology doesn’t have much information on diseases.  So I’m adding a unit with one glaring omission: COVID-19.  We are all sick of the topic.  Here is the slideshow.  Here is the vocabulary and questions.  Here is the chapter the kids will read about immunity.  I’m using this slideshow, too.  Here is the source for the macrophage images below.  Hope  this is helpful!  

Catalase and Hydrogen Peroxide Lab

 One student entered late to Co-op Biology.  She has nearly completed everything.  We just redid Catalase Lab.  Here is the original post.  Here is the fall post.  We made mixtures of sodium alginate, calcium lactate, and yeast, using 2.5 grams of each dissolved separately in 20-25 mL of water.  The yeast solution is mixed with the sodium alginate solution and dropped as small spheres, which are tested in hydrogen peroxide.  Take a look!

Karyotyping

 The Bio class worked on this Human Karyotyping Lab today in class.  We did a brief review with this slideshow.  Each lab group did two Karyotyping, one normal, one unknown.  There are two normal sets of karyotypes, one male and one female.  There are four different sets of unknowns to distribute to different lab groups.  Take a look!

Instagram Templates

I ran across an idea on social media, called Istagerms.  The idea is to assign a germ or disease and create one word, hash tags for the disease.  Here is a free Instagram template to use to adapt this project.  Here is the TPT link to Instagerms, with instructions.  Below is the image the teacher posted on social media.  Take a look!  

Sidewalk Science

 Instagram has a cool idea, Sidewalk Science at #teaching.guys: a chalk skeleton labeled.  You could trace your body and make a skeleton overlay to label, too.  Make your own sidewalk chalk.  Plaster of Paris has calcium carbonate, which makes a softer chalk than dust-free chalk, which contains magnesium carbonate.  I like to blend different colors using tempera paint.  I just though this was a fun idea!

Karyotype

The kids completed work on pedigrees.  The kids researched the case study for Woody Guthrie and Huntington disease to create his family’s pedigree, based on Woody Guthrie’s tragic family life.  It helps to do Punnett Square.  The kids are doing this Karyotype activity, Thursday to complete Genetics.  Finally.  Some of the kids had completed all of the work and spent class researching different diseases with my assorted collection of iPads and Chromebooks—which requires Google verification endlessly.  The kids seldom remember their passwords or cannot verify their logins.  Aaaarrrrrrggggghhhh!

Adopt a Disease

 The kids are going to research diseases.  Here is the grading rubric I’m using.  The Biology Corner has this COVID, Infectious Disease Project.  Frankly, COVID is fairly divisive and has been highly politicized.  After nearly two years of COVID, I believe the kids are tired of hearing about COVID.  Here is an A-Z list of diseases for the kids to choose.  (We do not include sexually transmitted diseases in our study.)   Take a look at the information about Plague, my favorite disease.  I’ll post projects.

Mole Olympics!

 In honor of the Olympics, let’s do Mole Olympics!  Basically, these are mole lab stations.  Here is a post about weighing moles.  Take a look!

Here is a plug for Chemmatters!

One of my favorite resources is  Chemmatters, a magazine sponsored by the American Chemistry Society, for high school students.  This month there is an article, What’s in a Marshmallow?, which is germane to Biology and Chemistry.  Here are free articles available digitally, and organized by topic.   The Teacher’s Guides have questions and answers for students.  The articles and questions are great as supplemental reading assignments. I’ve subscribed to Chemmatters for years.   Take a look!