Nemours KidsHealth
Food Safety: Grades 9-12
Food poisoning, salmonellosis, E. Coli, shigellosis, tapeworms—all these words can strike fear into eaters. Alas, the five-second rule is not necessarily true! Two activities teach teens safety rules for food purchasing, preparation,...
American Museum of Natural History
What do You Know About Life on Earth?
Humans have only inhabited the earth for a fraction of the time that life has existed. Young scientists explore the facts about the emergence of life on Earth with an interactive resource. While highlighting different types of life, the...
American Museum of Natural History
Bio-Benefits
Kick-start a discussion of the importance of biodiversity with a colorful resource that touts the benefits of maintaining healthy ecosystems. The images stress the interdependence of all the elements of an ecosystem.
Radford University
Are You Faster than Bacteria?
Just how fast does bacteria grow? Over the course of three lessons, pupils investigate exponential growth with the use of bacteria growth. During the lesson, bacteria from a cell phone is grown to make a connection to real life. Using...
Radford University
Transformational Graphing in the Real World: Bacteria – Growth or Decay?
Grow—not decay—your knowledge of exponential functions. Young mathematicians graph exponential functions and explore how transformations affect the graphs. They decide whether the functions represent growth or decay in the context of...
Learning Games Lab
Understanding Water Activity
How does water activity play a role in food spoilage? First, the learners think about which types of foods would be best to take on a backpacking trip based on the water activity of different foods. It then walks through why water...
Learning Games Lab
Controlling Water Activity in Food
Food storage matters! Scholars learn how the amount of water in corn can affect its rate of spoilage. They create a control group, then test three corn samples stored in three different locations for water activity. As a result of the...
Learning Games Lab
How to Use Oil Immersion Microscope
Teach the class how to use a microscope to identify bacteria in food. Scholars explore the different parts of the microscope and learn how to determine total magnification. They walk step-by-step through the procedure of preparing slides...
Learning Games Lab
Gram Staining
Scholars use a lab simulation to test contaminated yogurt for bacteria by gram staining. They learn proper lab procedures for handling bacteria and for sterilizing equipment, and then walk through the process on their own to try gram...
Learning Games Lab
Bacteria Sampling
Scholars explore the procedure for bacteria sampling in a virtual lab by first walking through a detailed step-by-step procedure of preparing the samples of raw milk and pasteurized milk, growing the bacteria, and comparing results....
College Board
2013 AP® Biology Free-Response Questions
AP® free-response questions are often challenging for scholars. Give them practice writing free-response questions using former questions from the AP® Biology exam on topics such as genetic mutations, cellular respiration, evolution, and...
Purdue University
Getting the Dirt on Decomposition
Sometimes science requires getting a little dirty. A hands-on lesson explores the idea of decomposition by building a compost structure. Using red worms and dirt, individuals build and collect data on the rate of decomposition. The STEM...
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Genes Can Be Turned On and Off
Regulations exist in many places from business to schools, but what about in our genes? Learn about gene regulation with an online interactive. It uses an animation to introduce the topic, many photographs of the scientists best known...
College Board
2016 AP® Biology Free-Response Questions
A remarkably high number of scholars passed the AP Biology exam in 2016 with over 61 percent earning college credit. The College Board released the entire free-response section for future scholars to study. After answering the eight...
College Board
2017 AP® Biology Free-Response Questions
With AP Biology remaining the most popular AP science exam, many teachers need help preparing. The College Board offers the actual free-response questions from the 2017 test covering pollination, germination, and more. Scholars learn the...
College Board
2018 AP® Biology Free-Response Questions
The average AP Biology score dropped in 2018 with the addition of more data tables and graphs. Offer additional practice free-response questions by using the questions from the 2018 AP exam covering phylogenetic trees, cell structure and...
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
A Gene Is Made of DNA
Does a protein or DNA store genetic instructions for life? Follow the research from the 1920's experiments on mice through the 1940's experiments on bacteria to learn the answer to the difficult question. Scholars use an online...
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Bacteria and Viruses Have DNA Too
In the 1940s, scientists discovered bacteria conjugation, the process of DNA transfer or bacterial sex. The discovery proved that bacteria and viruses contain DNA and led to a Nobel prize. Interested individuals learn about the...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Bacterial Quorum Sensing
The marine bacteria vibrio harveyi helps with DNA repair in humans. Understanding how to manipulate and genetically mutate this bacteria fascinates researchers. Young scientists observe two different mutations, predict the resulting...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Test Your Knowledge of Microbes
How much do you know about microbes and our understanding of pathogens? A quick 15-question quiz tests a broad range of information related to microbes. The interactive presents a score at the end, providing a great opportunity to review...
Nuffield Foundation
Following Gene Transfer by Conjugation in Bacteria
After the lab, you'll be able to solve this analogy: Natural selection is to vertical transfer of genes as ___ is to the horizontal transfer of genes. Young biologists conduct an experiment on E. coli bacteria to explore the process of...
Nuffield Foundation
Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria in Root Nodules of Leguminous Plants
Fixin' to add a great resource to your plans? Scholars perform an experiment to investigate nitrogen-fixing bacteria from plant roots. Along the way, they learn about the concepts of symbiosis and mutualism.
Nuffield Foundation
Maintaining and Preparing Cultures of Bacteria and Yeasts
Don't let your bacteria go to waste. A tutorial explains how to properly store and maintain bacterial stock cultures. It describes the purpose and preparation of a permanent stock, as well as a working stock for use in experiments.
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
Silver Nanoparticle Synthesis and Spectroscopy
Certain materials do not always maintain the same physical properties when they exist in the nanoscale. Help your classes to explore this idea through an experimental lesson plan. Scholars use spectroscopy with samples of silver solution...