Gender-Inclusive Biology Curriculum (with Lewis Steller and River Suh)
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Environmental Pathogens LabMy 9th grade Biology students learn about cells through a thematic unit on Infectious Disease. To address the core ideas and science practices of the Next-Generation Science Standards, I developed a lab experiment in which students swabbed surfaces and observed the growth of pathogens on an agar place over two weeks.
Students saw bacteria with their own eyes for the first time. They explained factors affecting the growth of cells. Each group formulates their own testable question and hypothesis, chooses surfaces to swab, and summarizes their findings by writing a conclusion in the Claim-Evidence Reasoning (CER) format. |
Termite Trails LabMy 9th grade Biology students, like most, begin their year by learning the Scientific Method. I like to keep them on their toes by working with live animals within the first week. Students designed an experiment to determine the behavior of a termite when faced with a choice of paths—several trails drawn with different writing implements or in different colors.
Students practiced the scientific method from start to finish by formulating a hypothesis, collecting data, and writing a conclusion with reference to scientific readings. I developed Termite Trails as a first lab for freshmen that would evoke curiosity and immediately clarify the distinction between independent, dependent, and control variables.. |
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3D Printed Fossil InquiryTo master the standards of our Evolution unit, students must become proficient at recognizing adaptations and how they help a species to survive and reproduce. I developed a guided inquiry lesson that challenges students to find evolutionary meaning from 3D printed fossils.
Students examine the jaws, teeth, brow ridges, and profile of a set of hominid skulls and a set of canine skulls. This morphology is directly connected to diet, behavior, and the evolutionary relationships between specimens in the set. Students practiced writing and using evidence as they justified their predictions about when each specimen lived and how it survived and reproduced. |
Cross-Curricular Content
I love opportunities to connect science to other parts of my students' lives. Below, I give a guest lecture on growing cell lines for a 10th grade English class reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and I get our students excited and prepared to view the August 2017 solar eclipse.
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HIV Probability Case StudyThe spread of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) over the last half-century has entangled science, mathematics, and society in fascinating ways. As an Algebra teacher, I created a case study that challenged students to understand the probabilistic and social aspects of the virus through the eyes of a fictional college student getting his first HIV test.
Students considered the cost of health care, the risk of HIV transmission through different activities, survivorship curves, drug trial recruitment, and diagnostic test sensitivity and specificity. Along the way, students practiced computations with two-way frequency tables, conditional probabilities, permutations and combinations, and financial math. To conclude the case study, students summarized the information provided and made recommendations for the college student's next steps. Student Materials for HIV Probability Case Study |