Biology
The following projects were created by UTeach PBI students following content guidelines of either the second or fifth 6th weeks of the Austin Independent School District's scope and sequence for Biology I.
***Human Body Systems: This unit is purposed for a high school biology class over the topics of viruses, bacteria, and the human body systems. Click the link below to find out more about PBI.
http://humanbodysystemspbiunit.weebly.com/
***Rooftop Garden: Students will design a “Rooftop Garden Kit” and a poster where they list all the things that they have decided to place in the kit. The kit should contain artifacts that students would have had developed during investigations. They will design the seeds and flowers that they want to place in their kits by doing Punnett square crossings and using their knowledge of Mendelian and non-Mendelian genetics. They will do monohybrid and dihybrid crosses to figure out what bugs their plants will be sensitive to.
http://rooftopgardenlesson.weebly.com/
***Unzipping your Genes:This unit was created by Noah Ledbetter, Mary Wissinger, and Eduardo Rodriguez. It is intended for freshmen students studying biology and algebra one. The project's aim is to facilitate a thorough exploration of genetics, population and stability, while also providing students with firm foundation for when they eventually take statistics. Students will write a report to incoming freshmen explaining the mathematic and scientific explanations they have learned in this unit. The final artifact will include descriptive information on survey design, data analysis using a chi^2 test, Punnett Squares, comparison of traits of different populations, Mendelian Genetics, and Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium and population growth. Since the students are preparing a report written in LaTeX this will also expose students to the basics of syntax as well as a chance to develop writing skills.
***Evolution: This six-week unit introduces viral behaviors and different evolutionary concepts, such as natural selection and phylogenies. The goal is to have students take the content they have learned over this period and apply it by answering the units driving question "How can we use evolutionary concepts to support/refute the Bulgarian medics innocence in the Libyan HIV Trial?"
***Infectious Diseases: Viruses are the cause of many illnesses across the world ranging from the common cold to ebola. Students need to be aware of how these illnesses spread and how infectious they are. In order to accomplish this, students will be tasked with creating an informative website on a specific illness. These illnesses will include the common cold, influenza, warts, HIV/AIDS, smallpox, and ebola. The students will combine the subjects of Biology and Algebra 1 in order to describe how the illness spreads, model the growth of the illness, and describe preventative precautions.
http://viruses-pbiuteachaustin.weebly.com/
***Design an Energy Bar: The students will present a design for an energy bar and its wrapper for Nike’s energy bar branch that meets the company’s criteria. This artifact will give students an idea of what goes on during the production and design process of a product. It will allow students to learn within a context about broad subjects in geometry, algebra, chemistry, and biology (area, solving simple equations, calorimetry, chemical reactions, metabolism of humans, etc.).
http://createyourenergybarpbif2014.weebly.com/
***CDC Action Planning: Students will learn about the basics of cells of both Eukaryotes and Prokaryotes along with Viruses. Using the information they learn through 5E lessons, students will be given diseases either bacterial or viruses that will "break-out" into schools. Students are responsible for creating a plan of action for how to deal with the outbreak.
https://sites.google.com/a/utexas.edu/pbidragonriders20132/
*** Exploring New Species: Students are divided into groups. Groups are each given an "unknown species." Throughout the project, students will relate concepts to their given creature. The final product will be presentations over their animals and use the concepts they have learned to describe them, including where they can be classified and how they might have developed their unique characteristics.
https://sites.google.com/site/pbitorrinsusieevolution20129/
***Evolution Due to Climate Change: This project allows students to formulate conclusions regarding the evolution of extant species due to current predictions of climate change. Students research specific species to obtain their species' background information and evolutionary history to form this conclusion. Throughout Earth's history, there have been previous instances of climate change influencing the evolution and extinctions of species.
https://sites.google.com/site/pbiteambioevolution20129/
***Life without Bacteria: This is a project-based lesson titled “How would my life be different without bacteria?” for 9th grade biology students, covering standards from the second six-weeks of the course. This lesson will last 15 days (3 weeks of instruction). The final product for this unit is a new-paper style expose on “No more bacteria!” in which they will cover lifestyle, science and technology, nature and environment, business, and a short introduction and fact-file of bacteria, as well as a brief history of notable events shaped by bacteria.
http://sites.google.com/site/pbinobacteria20102/
*** Hand Sanitizer- Friend or Foe: A hands-on instructional unit covering Cell Structure and Function, Bacterial and Viral Properties and Structure, Minimum Inhibitory Concentration, Zones of Inhibition, and homeostasis with In-depth coverage of cell membranes through a long-term project to determine the efficacy of Hand Sanitizer. This project is designed for 9th and 10th grade High School Biology students and is designed to cover 5 weeks of instruction.
https://sites.google.com/site/handsanitizerfriendorfoe20102/
*** Super Vision: This is a cross-disciplinary project, which will challenge students to draw connections about the world around them and cellular biology. Students will need to find analogies for cell organelles from their daily life. At the end students will have a debate and should be able to defend why their cell analogy works, whereas an opposing team will cross-examine their claims. Students should focus on important concepts such as structure, function, size and scale of cell organelles.
https://sites.google.com/site/pbisupervision20102/
*** Swimming Hole Project: In this project Biology students will explore prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, how the two interact, and how they affect our environment and our health. These topics are addressed in the context of swimming holes and the microorganisms may contain. Students will convey what they learn to their peers in the form of educational pamphlets, a poster and a lesson presented to another biology class.
https://sites.google.com/site/swimmingholeproject/
*** How do genetic mutations cause diseases?
https://sites.google.com/site/pbigeneticdiseases20109
*** Cells Gone Wild: This project allows students to perform several collaborative explorations about the cell cycle and its checkpoints in order to build the knowledge and skills required to address the driving question "How can we stop the spread of cancer cells?"
https://sites.google.com/site/pbicellsgonewild20112/home
*** How do my actions affect the Barton Springs Salamander? In this 6-day project-based unit, students will learn how they can help change the future environments from the adverse effects of pollution, burning fossil fuels, chemically based farming practices, overpopulation, urbanization by altering their own actions.
https://sites.google.com/site/pbisalamander20112/home
*** Designing Habitats for Austin Zoo This project is designed for high school biology students to design a habitat for a chosen animal at Austin Zoo. The project will help them explore ecosystems through computer simulations, in-class activities, presentations, and research.
https://sites.google.com/site/pbimoorerhodes20122/
*** Can my tap water make me sick? This is a project-based lesson for high school Biology or Chemistry students. Students will use the knowledge they gain in this project to create a proposal to the city to support the use of one or more filtration methods to remove contaminants from drinking water for the county they live in.