Utilitarian Science

Use the Bioman Bio website to complete this activity. I was tired of my students rushing through this activity so I created a paper and pen activity which required students to slow down as they move through the website.

Objective: Create a sustainable travel proposal for 2026 that adheres to the "Three Pillars of Ecotourism": Environmental, Social, and Economic impact. During this activity, students will design and present a 7 day itinerary for a trip which focuses on ecotourism. I did not give students a budget to work with, however you could do this. Students choose their destination, plan their transportation, activities and meals which should be as carbon and waste neutral as possible. There is a rubric to

Again, I couldn't find what I wanted, so I made it. During this project students choose a Brownfield site in the state of Missouri. You can edit the project to include the search site for your own state, however the EPA's search site is also included. Students will choose a site, describe its major contaminants, propose a cleanup and how the land will be used afterwards. Students will also present their projects to the class. This would be a great project for AP Environmental Science

Once again, I couldn't find what I wanted, so I made it. This poster project not only requires students to identify and explain the different parts of the water, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycle, but also requires them to connect the cycles to each other and determine human impacts on each cyle. Interactivity allows students to be creative and provide kinesthetic learning opportunities.

GATACA is a dystopian movie who's premise is a society that uses DNA to disriminate. It is full of ethical conversations. I love showing it in my freshmen bio classes when I actually have time in the year. The movie is thought provoking, and its amazing how much Biotech has advanced since the movie was releaased in 1997.

Dark Waters is a movie which depicts the true story of how an attorney in Ohio took on DuPont chemical company for knowingly poisoning the people of the region in the quest to make teflon. These questions can be used as student reflection questions or socratic seminar and discussion questions after viewing. This movie is perfect for an upper level environmental science class.

The Elephant in The Living Room is a fabulous documentary that addresses the issues of keeping exotic pets, specifically large cats as pets. You can find the documentary on Amazon prime. My students find this documentary fascinating. I use it with the environmental science chapter on biodiversity when we discuss invasive species and the black market animal trade.

This lab very clearly demonstrates how temperature, pH and amount of substrate affect the function of the enzyme catalase which is found in beef liver. Once again, I couldn't find a lab appropriate for my 9th graders, so I made it.

I have found a fill in the blank worksheet works well with the crash course videos if we are watching as a class because Hank (while I love him) talks entirely too fast. So, I made a fill in the blank worksheet for my students and am sharing it with you!!

Once again, I couldn't find what I wanted to reinforce and teach the concept of karyotyping so I created my own activity. This activity is to be used with the Arizona Biology Project's Karyotyping activity which is a fantastic virtual resource. I find the students have a really hard time matching up chromosomes in a cut and paste activity, this virtual activity does most of the matching for them and has students find and analyze chromosomal abnormalities.

I couldn't find what I wanted, so I made it. This activity has demonstrations for all the properties of water important to life. Cohesion, adhesion, suface tension, capillary action, high specific heat and high heat of vaporization are all observed and then discussed with analysis questions. Students will record data, graph data, make connections and have fun! I like to set this activity up as a station lab.

I made this activity for my students so they would slow down as they move through this website. The website does a fantastic job of explaining the concept of enzyme structure and function and the games are fun as well! I hope you find this useful!

For use in environmental science with the TedX video, Feedback Loops, How Nature Gets Its Rhythm. Used as an ancillary activity to explain how feedback loops work in nature.

I created this activity so my students would slow down playing the game and get more out of it. This can be used as a digital copy or students can submit their final quiz score to you as a screenshot via email/google classroom/blackbaud.

This quiz is designed to accompany the Bioman Bio nitrogen cycle interactive activity

I created this activity because I wanted a more rigorous activity that built DNA using candy. I couldn't find what I was looking for, so I made it. During this activity your students will build nucleotides and THEN build a DNA strand incorporating the base pairing rule and the antiparallel nature of DNA.

I couldn't find a cabbage juice pH lab with a bit more rigor so I created one. I wanted a lab that not only tested different substances for their pH with cabbage juice, but I also wanted students to observe how a buffer affects the color change as well. I also wanted students to make connections to the human body.

If you aren't using the NSTA case study collection to enhance your Environmental Science class you are missing out completely. This is a great case study which demonstrates how science is hard work but also provides evidence how water runoff can pollute and affect wildlife.

Trials of Life: living together is a fantastic video portrayal of symbiotic relationships in nature narrated by David Attenborough. I have yet to find a video that does a better job demonstrating these relationships in nature. Define the terms first and then identify each relationship shown in the video.

I really like using google forms for quizzes. Feel free to edit, add and change questions to fit your needs and teaching style, but this will save you time as you will not need to create from scratch. Also, be sure to change the settings to meet your needs as well. I personally require my students to write so I include a short answer/essay on each quiz I give. I hope you find this helpful.