Why are living things different from one another? This unit on genetics starts out with students noticing and wondering about photos of two cattle, one of whom has significantly more muscle than the other. Students figure out how muscles typically develop as a result of environmental factors such as exercise and diet. Then, they work with cattle pedigrees, including data about chromosomes and proteins, to figure out genetic factors that influence the heavily muscled phenotype and explore selective breeding in cattle.

This unit is part of the OpenSciEd core instructional materials for middle school.

Antibiotics save people’s lives...and make bacteria stronger and more likely to kill us.  What is the best practice to balance these conflicting issues? In this problem-based learning module, the students will be evaluating real-life medical situations in conjunction with actual staff at those institutions and offering action plans to be ‘implemented’ there.  In order to accomplish this, the science unit will be interlocking with social studies and a language arts unit that will have them identifying target audiences and sculpting a way to present their findings.  This unit has the potential to be a full problem-based unit as well as highly interdisciplinary--it’s connected to full units in social studies and language arts which stand alone but can be fully integrated if desired.

This book is intended for use by future teachers, written from the perspective of students who have taken Science Methods II. The student authors gathered and created resources to help prospective elementary cience teachers better understand science and feel confident in your abilities as a future teacher.
This book is divided into five parts which align with the Science Methods II course:

Physics
Space Science
Earth Science
Climate Science
Course Materials and Pedagogy

Within each part, the material is broken down into smaller chapters. Here you will find written explanations, video links, glossary terms, key takeaways, and practice quizzes to help you understand the material. This book is designed to be a flexible resource; use it as much or as little as you need throughout the course.

Student teams learn about engineering design of green fluorescent proteins (GFPs) and their use in medical research, including stem cell research. They simulate the use of GFPs by adding fluorescent dye to water and letting a flower or plant to transport the dye throughout its structure. Students apply their knowledge of GFPs to engineering applications in the medical, environmental and space exploration fields. Due to the fluorescing nature of the dye, plant life of any color, light or dark, can be used unlike dyes that can only be seen in visible light.

This lesson plan, from the University of Wisconsin-Madisons Wisconsin Fast Plants, is for a high school biology investigation into evolution and artificial selection while using Fast Plants polycot seeds. The lesson plan describes student science performance for in-classroom learning as well as distance learning, and assessment for student learning. Additionally, this resource includes a sample calendar to demonstrate how educators can implement this investigation into their classroom. This resource is related to Evidence of Natural Selection Activities and Investigating Selection with New Polycots Fast Plants, which are available to view separately.

This investigation begins with a phenomenon that is evidenced in most every produce aisle: Many of the vegetables that botanists classify as Brassica look and taste different. This investigation aligns with middle and high school Next Generation Science Standards as well as with agricultural science Plant Career Path Standards. Provided as an Open Source Lesson in Gather-Reason-Communicate format, this investigation supports teachers as students learn about the life cycle of flowering plants, how environmental and genetic factors influence an organisms's growth, how humans influence plants through plant breeding, and how scientists can use classification as a tool for understanding relatedness among organisms. This includes a lesson plan and supporting resources including videos, an interview, readings, and protocols.

You are part of the NASA design crew and your task is to design a suit to keep the human body safe from the hazards of deep space. Are you up to the challenge? This is an ADA compliant document.

Living and working in space presents many challenges for humans. Use this ADA Compliant student guide to explore what many of those challenges are as well as possible solutions.

While living in space can seem like nothing but exciting, astronauts encounter many physical, biological, and psychological hazards. Use this guide to explore more about living and working in space.

In this easy-to-do activity you will simulate the fluid shift felt by astronauts upon entering space.

Have you ever dreamed of becoming an astronaut? Use this slide show presentation as an introduction to the many challenges of living and working in space.

Living and working in space presents many challenges for humans. Use this student guide to explore what many of those challenges are as well as possible solutions.

Hundreds of scientific articles. Written for middle and high school students. Approved by scientists. Free.

Student teams learn about and devise technical presentations on four reproductive technology topics pregnancy ultrasound, amniocentesis, in-vitro fertilization or labor anesthetics. Each team acts as a panel of engineers asked to make a presentation to a group of students unfamiliar with the reproductive technology. Each group incorporates non-lecture elements into its presentation for greater effectiveness. As students learn about the technologies, by creating a presentation and listening to other groups' presentations, they also learn more about the valuable skill of technical communications.