McDougal Littell - Biology

Teaching Ideas

The following free online resources are available for your use. These animations, virtual labs, WebQuests, graphing activities, and review materials not only save you time, but also allow your students to participate in activities too difficult or expensive to perform “live”.

Unit 1 Introduction to Biology

• Make visualizing these abstract concepts easier for your students to understand with this animation.
  Animation: Hydrogen Bonding, Energy, Chemical Reactions

• Increase students data analysis skills with this graphing activity in which students can make a graph of Earth’s biodiversity using the Smart Graph graphing tool.
  Data analysis online: graphing

• Student’s personal lives will be increasing affected by bioethical issues in the future. In this WebQuest, students choose one of two questions to answer: Is using a placebo in a drug trial always ethical? Or, when is the request for genetic information ethical?
  WebQuest Bioethics

Unit 2 Cells

• With NSTA guidelines recommending against culturing live bacteria in the classroom because of the risk of inadvertently growing an MRSA, use this virtual lab to investigate the rate of bacterial growth.
  Virtual Lab Investigating Bacterial Growth

• Students will have fun with this game matching the stages of mitosis with their correct pictures.
  Animated Biology Mitosis Stage Matching Game

• What happens when you are playing soccer and your cells are running out of oxygen yet you need energy to score that winning goal? Complete this WebQuest to learn about the “tradeoff” your body makes.
  WebQuest Energy and Athletic Training

Unit 3 Genetics

• In this WebQuest students pursue the answer to the biotechnology question: Should we pursue or restrict the cloning of mammals?
  WebQuest Animal Cloning

• Several crimes have been committed in a neighbor. Run a gel electrophoresis to identify the criminal.
  Virtual Lab Gel Electrophoresis

• Students can bring the complex concept of protein synthesis to life by dragging and clicking to build a protein.
  Animation: DNA Replication, Build a  Protein

Unit 4 Evolution

• Students simulate natural selection in a jaguar population.
  Animated Biology Natural Selection Principles

• Students can reinforce the principles of evolution using this interactive review.
  Interactive Review Ch 10 Principles of Evolution

• Students can self-assess their understanding of the evolution of populations using this online quiz.
  Online Quizzes Ch 11 Evolution of Populations

Unit 5 Ecology

• Students use the mark and recapture method to estimate the size of a grasshopper population threatening a field of wheat.
  Virtual Lab Estimating Population Size

• In this animation students can see the growth of the human population in the US from the 1800’s to present.
  Animation: Human Population Growth

• Students can have fun reviewing the concepts learned in Chapter 16, Human Impact on Ecosystems, by using the Word Fetch game on the Interactive Online Review.
  Interactive Review

Unit 6 Classification and Diversity

• Safely test the efficacy of antibacterial products in your classroom without the expense or mess of culturing bacteria in the lab.
  Virtual Lab Testing Antibacterial Products

• In this WebQuest students will determine what the effects are to routinely adding antibiotics to our agricultural products such as meat.
  WebQuest Antibiotics and Agriculture

• Cladograms, classification, and kingdoms can all be reviewed online.
  Interactive Reviews

Unit 7 Plants

• Plants are exquisitely adapted to grow, survive and reproduce in the conditions they face on Earth. Students learn in this WebQuest how NASA is testing how plants adapt in space.
  WebQuests Plants in Space

• Was a student absent when you did a lab on dichotomous keys? Have them complete this activity online.
  Dichotomous Key

• In this Virtual Lab students take on the role of a summer intern in a botany lab in a research university where they are studying plant responses to such stimuli as gravity and light.
  Virtual Lab Exploring Plant Responses

Unit 8 Animals

• From crayfish, to cat, links to numerous online dissection labs can be found below.
  Online Dissection Labs

• One of my areas of expertise and research interests is animal communication – especially bird song. This virtual lab was designed so that students could study bird response to each other’s calls.
  Virtual Lab Interpreting Bird Response

• Crime scene analysis TV shows are a hit with teens and adults alike. In this virtual lab students determine how investigators use insects to determine the time of death.
  Virtual Lab Insects and Crime Scene Analysis

• Have you ever watched the apes at the zoo and wondered what they are thinking? In this WebQuest students will explore how scientists learn about animal thinking.
  WebQuest Animal Cognition

Unit 9 Human Biology

• Students can change internal conditions in an athlete to determine the outward effects on the body.
  Animated Biology: Human Organ Systems, Keeping an Athlete Running

• In this WebQuest students learn how a virus can turn off the immune system.
  WebQuest HIV and AIDS

• Students explore why some people become more addicted to drugs than others.
  WebQuest Drug Addiction