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.

Students develop their understanding of the exponential and logistic population growth models by analyzing food poisoning and the recovery of endangered species. Then, students analyze examples where the trends in population size do not match the predictions of the exponential or logistic population growth models because the simplifying assumptions for these models are not true for the population studied. In the final section, students analyze trends in human population size and some factors that have affected and will affect these trends. This activity helps students meet the Next Generation Science Standards.

Students learn how to measure heart rate accurately. Then students design and carry out an experiment to test the effects of an activity or stimulus on heart rate, analyze and interpret the data, and present their experiments in a poster session. In this activity students learn about both cardiac physiology and experimental method.

This annotated compilation of some of the best resources for teaching and learning about evolution includes activities, videos and articles. In the attached file, the first section provides general and introductory resources and the second section provides resources for understanding and analyzing the evidence.

This analysis and discussion activity is designed to develop students' understanding of the scientific process by having them design an experiment to test a hypothesis, compare their experimental design with the design of a research study that tested the same hypothesis, evaluate research evidence concerning two hypothesized effects of carbohydrate consumption, evaluate the pros and cons of experimental vs. observational research studies, and finally use what they have learned to revise a standard diagram of the scientific method to make it more accurate, complete and realistic. The specific effects analyzed in this activity are the effects of carbohydrate consumption on athletic performance and the effects of low-carbohydrate diets on health.

Students learn about scientific investigation by carrying out key components of the scientific method, including developing experimental methods, generating hypotheses, designing and carrying out experiments to test these hypotheses and, if appropriate, using experimental results to revise the hypotheses. Students design and carry out two experiments which test whether starch and protein are found in some or all foods derived from animals or plants or both.

The questions in this activity help students to understand the effects of consuming sports drinks and when and how the consumption of sports drinks can be beneficial or harmful. This activity provides the opportunity to review some basic concepts related to osmosis, cellular respiration, mammalian temperature regulation, and how our different body systems cooperate to maintain homeostasis.

This analysis and discussion activity contains three "soap opera" episodes that contribute to student understanding of the principles of inheritance and the relevance of genetics to everyday life. In the first episode, students explain the relevant biology to answer the probing questions of a skeptical father who wants to know how his baby could be albino when neither he nor his wife are albino. The second episode, "Were the babies switched?" covers the concepts of co-dominance, incomplete dominance, polygenic inheritance, and the combined effects of genes and the environment on phenotypic characteristics. In the third episode, students analyze sex-linked inheritance.  This activity is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards.

First, students analyze a hypothetical example of exponential growth in the number of infected individuals. Then, a class simulation of the spread of an infectious disease shows a trend that approximates logistic growth. Next, students analyze examples of exponential and logistic population growth and learn about the biological processes that result in exponential or logistic population growth. Finally, students analyze how changes in the biotic or abiotic environment can affect population size; these examples illustrate the limitations of the exponential and logistic population growth models. This activity helps students meet the Next Generation Science Standards.

In this analysis and discussion activity, students learn how the function of cells, organs and organ systems is related to structure (including shape, constituent components, and relationships between components). Students analyze multiple examples of the relationship between structure and function in diverse eukaryotic cells and in the digestive system. In addition, students learn that cells are dynamic structures with constant activity and they learn how body systems interact to accomplish important functions.

This analysis and discussion activity introduces students to the molecular and cellular biology of cancer, including the important contributions of mutations in genes that code for proteins involved in regulating the rate of cell division. The questions in this activity challenge students to interpret the information presented in prose, tables and diagrams and apply their knowledge of basic molecular and cellular biology in order to understand multiple aspects of the biology of cancer, including the contributions of a variety of environmental exposures to increased risk for different types of cancer and the long lag between exposure to carcinogens and the diagnosis of cancer.

This overview provides a sequence of learning activities to help students understand that proteins and DNA are not just abstract concepts in biology textbooks, but rather crucial components of our bodies that affect functions and characteristics that students are familiar with. Students learn about how proteins contribute to the digestion of food and to characteristics such as albinism, sickle cell anemia and hemophilia. Then, students learn about the relationship between the genetic information in DNA and the different versions of these proteins. The discussion, web-based, and hands-on learning activities presented are appropriate for an introductory unit on biological molecules or as an introduction to a unit on molecular biology.

In this analysis and discussion activity, students develop their understanding of photosynthesis by answering questions about three different models of photosynthesis. These models are a chemical equation, a flowchart that shows changes in energy and matter, and a diagram that shows the basic processes in a chloroplast. Students learn about the role of scientific models by evaluating the advantages of each of these models for understanding the process of photosynthesis. This activity helps students meet the Next Generation Science Standards.

In this analysis and discussion activity, research concerning the health effects of vitamin E is used as a case study to help students understand why different research studies may find seemingly opposite results. Students learn useful approaches for evaluating and synthesizing conflicting research results, with a major focus on understanding the strengths and weaknesses of different types of studies (laboratory experiments, observational studies, and clinical trials). Students also learn that the results of any single study should be interpreted with caution, since results of similar studies vary (due to random variation and differences in specific study characteristics).

Students learn the genetics of the ABO blood type system and use simple chemicals to simulate blood type tests. Then they carry out genetic analyses to determine whether hospital staff accidentally switched two babies born on the same day. Students learn about Punnett squares, codominance, and multiple alleles of a single gene. This activity helps students meet the Next Generation Science Standards.

Students analyze evidence to evaluate four hypotheses about where a plant’s mass comes from. For example, students analyze Helmont’s classic experiment, and evaluate whether his interpretation was supported by his evidence. Thus, students engage in scientific practices as they learn that plants consist mainly of water and organic molecules and most of the mass of organic molecules consists of carbon and oxygen atoms originally contained in carbon dioxide molecules from the air. This activity is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards.

In this activity, students learn how to test for triglycerides, glucose, starch, and protein and then use these tests to solve a mystery. The activity reinforces students understanding of the biological functions and food sources of these different types of organic compounds.