All animals develop and grow over time. The animals in this video segment, however, undergo very dramatic changes on their way to adulthood -- a developmental process known as metamorphosis.

Deep underneath Mexico‰ŰŞs Yucatan peninsula, underground rivers wind their way to the sea. In some places, the forest floor has fallen in, leaving holes in the ground to access these mysterious underwater caves. The holes, called cenotes, were considered openings to the underworld by the ancient Mayans. In this video, Jonathan teams up with an expert cave diver to explore these spooky underground rivers. Please see the accompanying lesson plan for educational objectives, discussion points and classroom activities.

This video segment from NOVA: "The Mystery of Animal Pathfinders" explores the migratorial exploits of monarch butterflies.

The Student Handouts for these minds-on activities challenge students to actively develop their understanding of biological concepts and apply these concepts to the interpretation of scientific evidence and real-world situations. The Teacher Notes provide learning goals, instructional suggestions, relevant scientific background, and suggestions for preparatory and follow-up activities. Many of these activities are explicitly aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards.

This video segment, adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, introduces the latest research on a system of neurons that plays a part in how people relate to each other.

In this video segment adapted from Hope in a Changing Climate, learn how an environmentally devastated ecosystem has been restored, benefiting both the local economy and global efforts to fight climate change.

These teacher notes summarize important concepts for students to understand concerning mitosis and meiosis, including the principle that understanding meiosis and fertilization provides the basis for understanding the fundamentals of inheritance. The proposed sequence of learning activities will help students understand and learn these major concepts and progress beyond common misconceptions. This overview provides links to suggested activities which include a hands-on simulation of mitosis meiosis and fertilization, a card sort of activity, a vocabulary review game and discussion questions.

This game helps students to enjoy reviewing vocabulary related to mitosis, meiosis and fertilization. Each card in the deck has a target vocabulary word and two related taboo words that the student may not use when giving clues so the other students in his or her small group can guess the target word. Many students have trouble learning the substantial new vocabulary required for biology, and this game lets students have fun while reinforcing their understanding of key terms.

This minds-on activity is designed to help students review the processes of mitosis and meiosis and to ensure that students understand how chromosomes move during mitosis vs. meiosis. Students arrange the cards from a shuffled deck of the stages of mitosis and meiosis in the sequence of steps that occur during cell division by mitosis and another sequence of steps that occur during cell division by meiosis.

In this hands-on, minds-on activity students use model chromosomes and answer analysis and discussion questions to learn how the cell cycle produces genetically identical daughter cells. Students learn how DNA replication and mitosis ensure that each new cell gets a complete set of chromosomes with a complete set of genes. Students learn why each cell needs a complete set of genes and how genes influence phenotypic characteristics. Finally, students analyze exponential growth to understand how a single cell develops into the trillions of cells in a human body. This activity helps students meet the Next Generation Science Standards.

This is an online exhibit about color perception. Learners set a random background color and then try to mix red, blue, and green light to match. Although this is a perception activity, it also demonstrates the difference between mixing colors of light and mixing pigments. Why when mixing pigments does the color darken? How does this differ from mixing colored light? Find out here!

In this activity, student teams design small-scale physical models of hot and cold planets, (Venus and Mars), and learn that small scale models allow researchers to determine how much larger systems function. There is both a team challenge and competition built into this activity. Experimental findings are then used to support a discussion of human outposts on Mars. The resource includes an experimental design guide for students as well as a handout outlining a method for the design of controlled experiments, and student data sheets. Student questions and an essay assignment are provided as classroom assessments. This is Activity A in the second module, titled "Modeling hot and cold planets," of the resource, "Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate?" The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales.

In this activity, students pose several hypotheses for what will happen if you continue heating or supplying energy to the hot and cold planet models (Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Earth) and then test their hypotheses using a spreadsheet based radiation balance model. The activity supports investigation of a real world challenge, experimenting with life support conditions for Mars at an Arctic outpost. The interactive model runs are conducted using a Java applet. This resource includes student worksheets, assessment questions and a teacher's guide. This is Activity B in module 2, Modeling hot and cold planets, of the resource, Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate? The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales.

In this activity, students explore the importance of adequate sampling strategies when conducting a scientific investigation. They are tasked with determining the average temperature of the Earth, using data sets easily found on the Internet, and determine the kind and size of sample necessary to calculate a representative average. The resource includes a student data sheet and an authentic assessment for the module, where students discuss the establishment of a habitation site on Mars. This is Activity C in module 2, titled "Modeling Hot and Cold Planets," of the resource, Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate? The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales.

This initial module from the GENIQUEST project introduces the dragons and the inheritance of their traits, then delves into meiosis and its relationship to inherited traits. Students examine the effects of choosing different gametes on dragon offspring, and learn about genetic recombination by creating recombination events to generate specific offspring from two given parent dragons. Students learn about inbred strains and breed an inbred strain of dragons themselves.

Students design experiments to determine how substrate and environmental conditions influence growth of common molds. Students carry out their experiments, analyze and interpret their evidence, and prepare a report.

This overview reviews key concepts and learning activities to help students understand how genes influence our traits by molecular processes. Topics covered include basic understanding of the important roles of proteins and DNA; DNA structure, function and replication; the molecular biology of how genes influence traits, including transcription and translation; and the molecular biology of mutations. To help students understand the relevance of these molecular processes, the suggested learning activities link alleles of specific genes to human characteristics such as albinism, sickle cell anemia and muscular dystrophy. This overview provides links to suggested activities which include hands-on laboratory and simulation activities, web-based simulations, discussion activities and a vocabulary review game.

This game helps students to enjoy reviewing vocabulary related to molecular biology, including DNA and RNA structure and function, transcription and translation. Each card in the deck has a target vocabulary word and two related taboo words that the student may not use when giving clues so the other students in his or her small group can guess the target word. Many students have trouble learning the substantial new vocabulary required for biology, and this game lets students have fun while reinforcing their understanding of key terms.

In this mind-on analysis and discussion activity students explore the effects of different types of point mutations and deletion mutations and analyze the reasons why deletion mutations generally have more severe effects than point mutations. Students use their understanding of the molecular biology of mutations to analyze the genetic basis for the differences in severity of two types of muscular dystrophy. To maximize student participation and learning, I recommend that you have your students complete the questions individually or in pairs and then have a whole class discussion.

Small molecules are chemicals that can interact with proteins to affect their functions. Learn about the structure and biological functions of various small molecules like sugar and caffeine. Also featured on the HHMI DVD, Scanning Life's Matrix: Genes, Proteins, and Small Molecules. Available free from HHMI.