Big Idea 14: Organization and Development of Living Organisms

This site includes a tutorial and follow-up interactive review game on the structures of each of three cell types: animal, plant, and bacterial.

Type: Educational Game

In MedMyst: Original students use the scientific method and science process skills to investigate infectious disease outbreaks. In Mission One: Orientation At O.R.B., students get an introduction to infectious diseases and pathogens. In Mission Two: Peril in Prokaryon, students learn about infectious pathogens and epidemiology while investigating a cholera outbreak. In Mission Three: Nemesis in Neuropolis, students learn about viruses and vaccines while investigating a smallpox case. In Mission Four: Malady in Mabuufo, students learn about malaria, the history of malaria research, and disease vectors. In Mission Five: Zero Hour Zoonoses, students learn about zoonotic pathogens and the diseases they cause, while trying to prevent a bioterror attack. All five missions have a teacher's guide with worksheets and additional activities.

Type: Educational Game

The students will be able to identify one or more infectious diseases and their cause(s). The students will be able to list at least 3 ways that infectious diseases can be prevented.

Type: Educational Game

Lung's use of alveoli to maintain homeostasis

structure and function

concepts - surface area

Type: Lesson Plan

The student will create explanations that fit evidence in science relating to how the human body maintains homeostasis. Students will discover body system interactions and how the organ systems work together to maintain homeostasis.

Type: Lesson Plan

The teacher will open with a Predict, Observe, and Explain (P.O.E) scenario by asking students the following question: "What will happen to your body temperature as you play outside on a hot summer day, or a cold winter day?" (depending on the weather for that day). Students will write their responses on a sheet of paper and after about 5 minutes the teacher should allow the students to share out. After hearing student responses, the teacher will present the attached PowerPoint on the human body systems. While the instructor uses the PowerPoint to explain each human body system, students will fill in the guided notes worksheet that is attached. Once the PowerPoint is complete students will be able to start the interactive activity called "Inside the Human Body."

For the activity "Inside the Human Body," the teacher should already have the classroom set up like the human body (directions on how to do this are attached). The directions for completing the interactive "Inside the Human Body" activity are also attached.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text intended to support reading in the content area. Cell biologist, Yoshinori Ohsumi, won the Nobel Prize for medicine for his research of how cells recycle unused materials in order to maintain homeostasis. The text describes his research and contains statements from other scientists supporting Ohsumi as the right choice for the award. This lesson includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys and a writing rubric.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explore the excretory system through a variety of activities that include an inquiry lab, a reading excerpt, an engineering design challenge, and creating an infomercial. Students will build a simulated kidney and explore what factors improve the filtering ability. Students will analyze the data and formulate findings.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is inquiry-based and is centered around the 5-E Model. This lesson allows students to see that all living things have cells. Students will be able to use microscopes to determine whether something is alive or not. This lesson only addresses the idea that living things are made of cells. 

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that describes the spread of the Zika virus through the Americas and its arrival in the United States. The text describes how the virus is carried by specific species of mosquitoes that are common in Florida and other warmer areas of the United States. An added concern with Zika is the link to microcephaly, a neurological disorder affecting fetuses and infants from infected mothers. The text also describes other viruses in the larger group that Zika belongs to and how these viruses affect the human body. This lesson is designed to support reading in the content area. The lesson plan includes a reading guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Options to extend the lesson are also included.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will begin with a presentation to discuss the major differences between hypotheses, theories and laws in science and society and identify several examples of laws and theories. The students will then go outside and make/write down/photograph examples of nature supporting these laws/theories.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that addresses organelles in terms of their size, characteristics, and functions. This article, designed to support reading in the content area, "shrinks" the student to put the size of certain organelles in perspective with familiar objects/places. It also describes the characteristics and functions of the nucleus, certain membranes, endoplasmic reticulum, ribosomes, Golgi apparatus, and the mitochondria. This lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Numerous options to extend the lesson are also included.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson begins with a presentation and vocabulary building component. After becoming familiar with the terms, the students get into groups (acting as cells) and use their vocabulary knowledge to survive various environmental changes.

Type: Lesson Plan

Through a variety of hands-on and visual manipulatives, students will discover the building process from a single atom to a complete, independently functioning organism. Students will start with the smallest component and work their way up to the largest and most complex.

Type: Lesson Plan

STEM-u-lating science! What are living things composed of? Students will dig deeper into the building blocks of life by researching, designing, and creating a layered transparency book.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will observe, explore, and create a story about the main structures of the female/male reproductive systems, describing how these systems interact during the process of fertilization to a create human being.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is a digital resource in which students will be able to choose three activities to demonstrate their mastery of cell theory.

Type: Lesson Plan

The cell theory has had a major impact on modern science, from the development of the theory to the present day. This lesson will examine strategies students can use to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the development of the cell theory.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson helps guide the student in understanding the relationship from atoms to molecules and cells to tissues to organs to organ systems to organisms. It is an introduction to the concept that all living things share certain characteristics.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explore the human immune system by creating a castle designed to protect a fictional king/queen and their kingdom from an invading pathogen.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will compare animal and plant cells in four different stations with hands-on activities, technology applications, and accountable conversations.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will create a story as if they are a cell organelle going through its day. In this activity, they will show how they interact with their own organelle family or other organelles in a cell. In this two day lesson, students will create a labeled model of a plant and animal cell and write a story.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will use their prior knowledge of organelle structure and function to compare and contrast plant and animal cells. This lesson includes teacher-facilitated discussion, using a PowerPoint and paper-and-pencil strategies.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is intended to make students more knowledgeable about plant and animals, their functions and relevance in our everyday lives. Additionally, a tactile exploratory exercise is presented to reinforce knowledge acquisition.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn the parts of the circulatory and respiratory systems and how they work together to maintain homeostasis.

Type: Lesson Plan

This resource provides students with a web based interactive animal cell and plant cell which they use to learn about the different parts of each cell. Students will summarize information about the structure and function about the organelles required for this standard which are: cell wall, cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, chloroplast, vacuole and mitochondria.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson gives students an overall concept on how to compare and contrast organelles by through an analogy using the parts of the human body.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lab students will explore the interactions of the muscular and skeletal systems and how they contribute to homeostasis. Students will collect data based on their own body movements and identify how movement occurs through muscles, tendons, joints and bones. Finally students will conclude that temperature maintenance, cell production and nutritional factors are all variables controlled, in part, by these body systems for the purpose of homeostasis.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will explore what happens at the cellular level for oxygen and carbon dioxide when the energy demands of the human body are increased. Students will explore how the actions of body are changed as the body struggles to maintain homeostasis. 

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will examine the importance of homeostasis and how the cell membrane helps the cell maintain homeostasis through a mini-demonstration, gummy bear lab activity, a video and a vocabulary exercise.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is a 5E style investigation of living and non-living things. Students will use their understanding of "living" to draw conclusions about how a flame should be classified and why. In the extension, students use resources to classify a virus as living or non-living. Their conclusion must be supported by evidence from the sources used. This is an introductory lesson that would be needed to completely cover the cell theory.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explain and contrast how passive and active transport occur within a cell to maintain homeostasis. Creating an anchor chart which includes a labeled diagram, students will be introduced to the passive and active transport in relation to keeping a cell in homeostasis.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students compare and contrast the major structures found in plant and animal cells. The will develop drawings and look at prepared slides to get a better understanding of the organelles and function of these cells. Then, students then construct edible models of plant or animal cells, justifying their use of materials to represent various cell components. Student directions and rubric are provided. They will then present these ideas to the class or small groups. Finally, they will take a Quiz (final assessment) to determine if they have mastered this benchmark.

Generally, this is a four day plan (60 minute periods). Day 1 - Is a good day to grab the students attention with a bell ringer about the importance of cells, introduce the organelles and their functions, and complete the microscope lab. Day 2 - Students may construct their drawings and explore the animated cell activity. Day 3 - (Usually a Monday, so students have time over the weekend to gather their materials and make their edible cells) edible cells and their presentations are due. Day 4 - Quiz.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson introduces students to the structure and functions of organelles by asking students to find information for an organelle/cell structure, then teach that information to peers. Students then use this knowledge to create a series of analogies likening a cell to a factory.

Type: Lesson Plan

After researching cell organelles, students collaboratively compare and contrast the structures in a plant and an animal cell. They then individually create a plant or animal cell model which communicates their knowledge of the structure and function of each organelle.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will learn how exercise is helping astronauts decrease bone and muscle loss during extended stays in micro-gravity. They will be asked to design an exercise program that utilizes both aerobic and muscle-building workouts while using the 3 exercise machines currently in use on the International Space Station. Then, the students will learn that current research suggests that more intense, short bursts of exercise may be more effective at decreasing bone and muscle loss, and they will be asked to redesign their workout prescription accordingly.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), using a doctor's report, students will create a checklist and system of identifying organs and body systems affected by the patients symptoms.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

The lesson consists of a series of mini-lessons presented through a PowerPoint presentation with embedded videos, formative assessments, a simulation activity and a writing assignment that can be used as a summative assessment. The components of the lesson include the body's external and internal defenses, information on the white blood cells role in defending the body and in creating immunity, vaccinations and how they work to help produce memory cells and challenges to our immune system.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is a lesson on viruses and a simulation on how diseases can spread.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson allows students to investigate the Cell Theory.

Type: Lesson Plan

This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of the human body and organ systems from SC.6.L.14.5. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark.

Type: Lesson Plan

Solve a problem as a team by designing a procedure to select the best approach to stop the spread of a virus throughout a population.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

In this activity students will:
Identify various organelles of the animal cell (nucleus, ER, Golgi apparatus, ribosomes, vacuole, lysosome,) etc.,
State the function of each organelle
Identify each structure on a visual cell diagram
relate each part to a functioning object in the real world

Type: Lesson Plan

The lesson will begin with the teacher engaging the students with a presentation of "How the Blood Gets Around the Body" following a think quest presentation that covers the parts and functions of the circulatory system, including the brain, veins and arteries, heart and blood. Students will explore blood vessels by watching a short video clip, conducting a hands-on investigation about blood pressure. Next the teacher will lead a discussion and explain about the human heart and will use a "Map of the Human Heart" to show the class exactly how the heart pumps blood throughout your body and learn facts about the human heart. Students will get a chance to elaborate by creating a color picture of blood flow to, through and from the heart in their notebooks. To evaluate the students, they will watch a short video clip about the circulatory system and take the accompanying quiz.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will read an engaging reading passage about what the skeletal system does and has a little activity called "Jumbled Bones" that has the students make a small human skeleton for their notebooks. Students will then explore, in small groups, chicken bones with magnifying glasses. The students will look at the bones for evidence of structure and components and they will speculate about purpose the bone served based on its physical appearance. Next, they will watch a short video clip about how red blood cells are produced. The teacher will follow-up with a class discussion about "How the skeletal, respiratory and circulatory systems work together to maintain homeostasis" and students will write a summary explanation in their interactive notebooks. For further elaboration, students will watch a video clip "Bones Narrated" which is a guided tour of the skeleton and its functions, and do a virtual game called "Build a Skeleton" which allows students to drag bones to create a human skeleton. Lastly, students will be evaluated on their knowledge of the skeletal system and its functions by creating a poster to present and explain to the teacher.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson plan has power point to support it. The lesson requires students to complete a project comparing bacteria, fungus, and viruses.

Type: Lesson Plan

***All activities from this lesson, with the exception of free alternative activities, are adapted from Florida Science Fusion Grade 6 Teacher's Manual and Lab Manual ©Holt McDougal***
This lesson addresses the structure and function of human body systems with emphasis on how organ systems collaborate to maintain homeostasis for an entire organism.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is a collaborative lesson design by Lori Kern and Dawn Barone.

This lesson focuses on infectious agents (fungus, bacteria, virus and parasites). Students will be able experience a hands-on activity to reinforce the concepts addressed in this benchmark.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is designed to teach middle school students about cell theory. The activity involves using microscopes and looking at living, dividing, and non-living material.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is the first of two-part series on cells. In Cells 1: Make a Model Cell, students will compare a plant and animal cell, and then make a model of a cell. They will select items to represent various cell structures and justify their choices by describing how the items they have chosen represent the actual parts of a cell. Prior to this lesson, students should have at least been introduced to cells, including the basic differences between plant and animal cells.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will look at cells of plants and animals and identify the organelles.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson explores the similarities between how a human being moves/walks and how a robot moves. This allows students to see the human body as a system, i.e., from the perspective of an engineer. It shows how movement results from (i) decision making, i.e., deciding to walk and move, and (ii) implementing the decision by conveying the decision to the muscle (human) or motor (robot).

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will demonstrate their understanding of the parts and functions of a cell by creating a game. The game can take any form: written, oral etc... Some examples would be cell jeopardy, cell hang man, cell trivia etc...

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will examine a chicken wing to discover the different tissues and organs that make it up. They will relate this to the concept that cells make up tissues, which make up organs, which make up organ systems in the organism.

Type: Lesson Plan

Teaches three ways viruses can spread: cough, sneeze, and touch.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students consider two models of the cell membrane, evaluating them for accuracy in light of text-provided information.

Type: Lesson Plan

Take a microscopic journey into the immune system and the world of infectious fungi and parasites.

This is Part 2 in a two-part series of interactive tutorials. Click  to open Part 1.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Take a microscopic journey into the immune system and the living and non-living worlds of bacteria and viruses.

This is Part 1 in a two-part series of interactive tutorials. Click to open Part 2.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn about viruses that can infect the human body, how they can cause epidemics and pandemics, and how best to protect yourself against infectious diseases like COVID-19 in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Cells are very diverse, but are the foundation of all living things. Take a look at different types of cells and learn how they have similar needs. Cell are alike, but different!

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Help Igor learn about the immune system as he works to build Dr. Frankenstein’s creature!

This is part 8 of 9, in a series of interactive tutorials on human body systems. Click below to open the others in the series.

• The Nervous System (Part 1)
• The Respiratory System (Part 2)
• The Circulatory System (Part 3)
• The Musculoskeletal System (Part 4)
• The Digestive System (Part 5)
• The Excretory System (Part 6)
• The Reproductive System (Part 7)
• The Immune System (Part 8)
• Body Systems and Homeostasis (Part 9)

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how human body systems work together to achieve homeostasis, a balance between their external and internal conditions.

This is part 9 of 9, in a series of interactive tutorials on human body systems. Click below to open the others in the series.

• The Nervous System (Part 1)
• The Respiratory System (Part 2)
• The Circulatory System (Part 3)
• The Musculoskeletal System (Part 4)
• The Digestive System (Part 5)
• The Excretory System (Part 6)
• The Reproductive System (Part 7)
• The Immune System (Part 8)
• Body Systems and Homeostasis (Part 9)

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Compare and contrast plant and animal cells in this interactive tutorial. You'll learn about the structure and function of major organelles of cells, including the cell wall, cell membrane, nucleus, cytoplasm, chloroplasts, mitochondria, and vacuoles. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Discover how the excretory system removes waste products from your body. 

This is part 6 of 9, in a series of interactive tutorials on human body systems. Click below to open the others in the series.

• The Nervous System (Part 1)
• The Respiratory System (Part 2)
• The Circulatory System (Part 3)
• The Musculoskeletal System (Part 4)
• The Digestive System (Part 5)
• The Excretory System (Part 6)
• The Reproductive System (Part 7)
• The Immune System (Part 8)
• Body Systems and Homeostasis (Part 9)

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Help Agent Icky compare and contrast types of infectious agents that may infect the human body, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. By completing this interactive tutorial, maybe you can be a Microbe Buster one day too!

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Chew on facts about the digestive system as you help to bring Dr. Frankenstein's famous creature to life. 

This is part 5 of 9, in a series of interactive tutorials on human body systems. Click below to open the others in the series.

• The Nervous System (Part 1)
• The Respiratory System (Part 2)
• The Circulatory System (Part 3)
• The Musculoskeletal System (Part 4)
• The Digestive System (Part 5)
• The Excretory System (Part 6)
• The Reproductive System (Part 7)
• The Immune System (Part 8)
• Body Systems and Homeostasis (Part 9)

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Get answers to your questions about the reproductive systems of biological males and females.

This is part 7 of 9, in a series of interactive tutorials on human body systems. Click below to open the others in the series.

• The Nervous System (Part 1)
• The Respiratory System (Part 2)
• The Circulatory System (Part 3)
• The Musculoskeletal System (Part 4)
• The Digestive System (Part 5)
• The Excretory System (Part 6)
• The Reproductive System (Part 7)
• The Immune System (Part 8)
• Body Systems and Homeostasis (Part 9)

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore the circulatory system as we bring Frankenstein's creature to life. 

This is part 3 of 9, in a series of interactive tutorials on human body systems. Click below to open the others in the series.

• The Nervous System (Part 1)
• The Respiratory System (Part 2)
• The Circulatory System (Part 3)
• The Musculoskeletal System (Part 4)
• The Digestive System (Part 5)
• The Excretory System (Part 6)
• The Reproductive System (Part 7)
• The Immune System (Part 8)
• Body Systems and Homeostasis (Part 9)

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how the musculoskeletal system enables us to run, dance, even chew! 

This is part 4 of 9, in a series of interactive tutorials on human body systems. Click below to open the others in the series.

• The Nervous System (Part 1)
• The Respiratory System (Part 2)
• The Circulatory System (Part 3)
• The Musculoskeletal System (Part 4)
• The Digestive System (Part 5)
• The Excretory System (Part 6)
• The Reproductive System (Part 7)
• The Immune System (Part 8)
• Body Systems and Homeostasis (Part 9)

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Investigate the respiratory system in this interactive tutorial as you help Dr. Frankenstein continue to build his Creature. 

This is part 2 of 9, in a series of interactive tutorials on human body systems. Click below to open the others in the series.

• The Respiratory System (Part 2)
• The Circulatory System (Part 3)
• The Musculoskeletal System (Part 4)
• The Digestive System (Part 5)
• The Excretory System (Part 6)
• The Reproductive System (Part 7)
• The Immune System (Part 8)
• Body Systems and Homeostasis (Part 9)

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how the nervous system serves as the bridge between the outside world and our bodies.

This is part 1 of 9, in a series of interactive tutorials on human body systems. Click below to open the others in the series.

• The Nervous System (Part 1)
• The Respiratory System (Part 2)
• The Circulatory System (Part 3)
• The Musculoskeletal System (Part 4)
• The Digestive System (Part 5)
• The Excretory System (Part 6)
• The Reproductive System (Part 7)
• The Immune System (Part 8)
• Body Systems and Homeostasis (Part 9)

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to identify and explain the three parts of the Cell Theory in this interactive, bee-themed tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how to identify explicit evidence and understand implicit meaning in a text.

You should be able to describe the hierarchical organization of living things from the atom, to the molecule, to the cell, to the tissue, to the organ, to the organ system, and to the organism.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

The good, the bad, and the ugly of infectious diseases.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

How much food do you need to cross the Pacific in a kayak? Get a calculator and a bag of almonds before you watch this.

Related Resources:
KROS Pacific Ocean Kayak Journey: GPS Data Set[.XLSX]
KROS Pacific Ocean Kayak Journey: Path Visualization for Google Earth[.KML]

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

DNA extraction, for your choice of strawberries or jellyfish.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

Mold models and minds with this cell modeling lesson.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

This quest give students the ability to work with a cooperative group and teach the class on specific body systems, while learning the content themselves. Teachers can choose what system each group presents and they can present them in front of the class using a PowerPoint presentation and the students listening can be writing notes. It can also be used as a culminating activity as well.

Type: Project

This resource provides microscope photos of fish and onion cells and allows students to identify the phase of mitosis shown in each photograph.

Type: Teaching Idea

The lesson plan was created by:
Debbie Yglesias, Debbie Schoen, and Merle Bonner
Vernon Middle School
Vernon, Florida
Washington County School District
The lesson helps students understand the basic cell structure and function of organelles.

Type: Teaching Idea

Students produce a travel brochure that describes a plant or animal cell as if it were a large exhibit/amusement park. They must accurately describe/draw/explain organelles (attractions) and their functions.

Type: Teaching Idea

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article highlights the work of cell biologist, Yoshinori Ohsumi, who won the Nobel Prize for physiology for his research on how cells recycle unused materials in order to maintain homeostasis. Ohsumi studied what the cell did if it started to "starve." He noticed how the cell would start "eating" some of the parts it didn't really need in order to survive. This process is called autophagy. Scientists hope that Ohsumi’s discovery will help find a cure for diseases like Alzheimer's, which is caused by cell trash buildup in the brain.

Type: Text Resource

This resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The text describes the emergence of the Zika virus and the threat it may pose to the United States. Information is provided about how the virus is transmitted, and the connection between Zika and microcephaly is explored.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. This article describes some of the organelles in a cell and explains their functions. It takes students "inside" the cell, by "shrinking" the students and giving the students perspective to the size of these organelles by comparing them to familiar objects.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area.  This article describes the role of the circulatory system in the human body. The text divides this system into three main parts: the heart, blood vessels, and blood. Each component of the system is explained in detail, including its makeup, how it works, and why it is important. The text concludes by addressing some diseases of the circulatory system. 

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area.  This article describes the respiratory system, starting with the major functions. The article describes interactions that take place between the respiratory and other systems of the human body, especially the circulatory system. The article describes the respiratory tract and the many organs that complete it. Finally, the article gives an overview of the breathing process and concludes with explanations of various diseases and disorders that affect this system. 

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article discusses the amazing discovery of an ancient virus found frozen in the Russian permafrost after 30,000 years. The virus is huge in size and only infects amoebas. Amazingly, the virus is still infectious after remaining frozen for so long.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. How has bacteria evolved to be resistant to antibiotic drugs? Scientists have discovered that an ordinary kitchen item, the cutting board, can spread dangerous germs.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource supports reading in the content area. The text explains how our bones do much more than just hold us up and keep us moving—they play many other important roles in the body.

Type: Text Resource

Scientists who are working to discover new medicines often use robots to prepare samples of cells, allowing them to test chemicals to identify those that might be used to treat diseases. Students will meet a scientist who works to identify new medicines. She created free software that "looks" at images of cells and determines which images show cells that have responded to the potential medicines. Students will learn about how this technology is currently enabling research to identify new antibiotics to treat tuberculosis. Students will complete hands-on activities that demonstrate how new medicines can be discovered using robots and computer software, starring the student as "the computer." In the process, the students learn about experimental design, including positive and negative controls. Students should have some introductory knowledge about the following topics: (1) biology: students should have a basic understanding of infection and good hygiene, they should know what bacteria and cells are; (2) chemistry: the students should know what a chemical compound (molecule) is. They should have an understanding that medicines, also called "drugs", are chemical compounds; (3) basic experimental design: students should understand the terms "samples" and "testing". All hand-outs necessary for this video lesson can be downloaded below.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

This site explores the relationship of the size of the cell and many other common objects, molecules, and atoms. It is an interactive website that shows the scale of the objects in relations to each other. 

Type: Video/Audio/Animation