Recommended Website:
Serendip: Hands-On Activities for Teaching Biology
ClickSchooling list member Nancy Hogan suggested this website that offers FREE hands-on activities for teaching biology to middle school and high school students.
These activities were designed by a graduate student of the Biology Department at the University of Pennsylvania who notes,
“The expression ‘hands-on, minds-on’ summarizes the philosophy we have incorporated in these activities – namely, that students will learn best if they are actively engaged and if their activities are closely linked to understanding important biological concepts.”
When you get to the site you’ll see an introduction followed by the lessons with Student Handouts and Teacher Preparation Notes available in either PDF or Word formats. (You can also access the activities by clicking on the “Table of Contents” menu on the right side of the screen.) The activities cover a broad range of biological topics and are presented in one *possible* effective sequence for learning biology. Here is a sample of activity titles:
- Is Yeast Alive?
- Moldy Jell-O
- Diffusion: Molecular Transport across Membranes
- Mitosis, Meiosis and Fertilization
- Dragon Genetics
- DNA
- Microorganisms Everywhere
- Antibiotic Resistance
- Luminescent Bacteria
- Invertebrate Diversity
- Regulation of Human Heart Rate
- Studying Our Senses
- and more!
As noted at the website, most of the activities can be carried out with minimum equipment and expense for supplies. Sources for the equipment and supplies you’ll need are provided in the printable “Teacher Preparation Notes.”
