This lesson plan demonstrates how microorganisms normally found in environments, such as the bottom of warm freshwater ponds and lakes can cause illness when they enter the human body. Students engaged in this lesson plan will learn about N. fowleri (the scientific name of the brain-eating ameba), where it lives, how it can cause infection, and how persons can protect themselves from this infection.Students will also have the opportunity to identify other organisms living in local freshwater reservoirs, such as ponds and lakes. At the end of the lesson, students should have an enhanced understanding of the environment's role in disease transmission and ways to reduce the risk for contracting waterborne infections.

This brief video lesson discusses bioluminescence as an adaptation for survival, hunting, and mating. Discussion/assessment questions and suggested supplemental resources are also included.

This online tutorial covers transport mechanisms, including endocytosis and exosytosis, phagocytosis, pinocytosis, and receptor-mediated endocytosis.

Submitted as part of the California Learning Resource Network (CLRN) Phase 3 Digital Textbook Initiative (CA DTI3), CK-12 Foundation's high school Biology FlexBook covers cell biology, genetics, evolution, ecology, botany, zoology, and physiology. This digital textbook was reviewed for its alignment with California content standards.

CK-12's Life Science delivers a full course of study in the life sciences for the middle school student, relating an understanding of the history, disciplines, tools, and modern techniques of science to the exploration of cell biology, molecular biology, genetics, evolution, prokaryotes, protists,fungi, plants, animals, invertebrates, vertebrates, human biology, and ecology. This digital textbook was reviewed for its alignment with California content standards.

CK-12's Life Science delivers a full course of study in the life sciences for the middle school student, relating an understanding of the history, disciplines, tools, and modern techniques of science to the exploration of cell biology, genetics, evolution, prokaryotes, protists, fungi, plants, the animal kingdom, the human body, and ecology. This digital textbook was reviewed for its alignment with California content standards.

Students will research and evaluate an environmental issue, considering multiple perspectives and historical precedent. Using the provided list, they will select an issue that is of particular interest to them, research its components, and develop a blog post, podcast, or presentation that aims to educate other students about the issue at hand.

This brief video lesson discusses how animals are adapting to climate change through evolutionary selection. Discussion/assessment questions and suggested supplemental resources are also included.

In this lesson, students learn about the concept of carrying capacity by looking at the factors that allow animals to thrive in some areas, but not in others.

This brief video lesson discusses cell membranes and how they work. Discussion/assessment questions and suggested supplemental resources are also included.

Students complete a graphic organizer to explore the characteristics of normal and cancerous cells.

Students watch the video "Chordates: We're All Family" and answer a series of questions about adaptations and evolution.

In this lesson, students will research a variety of chromosomal abnormalities and resulting syndromes to determine risk factors and contributors of the abnormality, and characteristics of the syndromes.

This lesson emphasizes the relationship between DNA sequences, mutations in DNA and the change in the resulting protein structure and function. Hemophilia A will be used as a real life example of how a mutation in DNA results in a change in a protein's structure and resulting ability to function. In order to complete these activities, the students should have prior knowledge in DNA structure and mutations, protein synthesis, Mendelian genetics and sex-linked traits.

Students are introduced to the concept of taxonomy, and categorization of organisms based on Carl Linnaeus' system of classification. The class watches the Taxonomy video from shapeoflife.org and reviews the concept of classification. Students then "classify" themselves. Then, the class is divided into groups to begin classifying themselves. Along the way, students are researching their classification level, and recording derived characteristics that separate them from other groups within that level.

This online book evaluates the current understanding of the linkages among climate, ecosystems, and infectious disease. It outlines the research needed to improve the understanding of these linkages and examines the potential for using climate forecasts and ecological observations to help predict infectious disease outbreaks. The entire book may be read online in HTML or PDF formats, and hard copies may be ordered from the site.

In this lesson, students will participate in a natural selection simulation, flipping pennies to mimic the probability of passing on certain traits. The traits are the three genes for color-vision, found on the X chromosome. In the simulation, students will simulate six generations of primates, and track how the gene pool changes over time. The activity loosely mimics some of the mechanisms that led to the evolution of our own improved color vision.

This hands-on activity supports the HHMI short film The Guide and the 2015 Holiday Lectures on Science: Patterns and Processes in Ecology. Students will identify producers and consumers in the savanna ecosystem of Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. Using a set of “Gorongosa cards,” they create food chains to show the flow of energy in the system, introduce an ecological force or disturbance (e.g., fire), and predict how that force would impact animals in the chain. Lastly, students will construct a more complex model of the flow of energy by depicting multiple relationships in a food web and again make a prediction about the impact of introducing an ecological force.

In this lesson, students learn how to make a karyotype, learn how to read a karyotype, and be able to identify conditions and syndromes exhibited by a karyotype. In addition, students will be able to describe symptoms that might be exhibited by these conditions or syndromes.