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Use for Assignment 4

Cells Alive!

Good to illustrate cell mitosis in high school living environment and even as an intro to cell structure in a middle school science class. There are also detailed animations of both plant and animal cells so while students are exploring the cell, they can read the definitions and functions of the organelles. My favorite section was the section on Immunology, where they gave an overview of the HIV virus and a T-cell animation. 

TOX TOWN

This can be used to show effects of pollution on the environment and principles of ecology in a High School living environment class. It really makes pollution personal and brings concepts home to students. Students and teachers can select the type of environment they would like to explore, and get a list of potential pollutants in the area. There is also a disaster index that lists environmental disasters and their effects on the environment and populations, as well as a link to the CDC  for other potential diseases that came from the disasters.

Connecting Concepts: Natural Selection 3: Microevolution: Evolution in a Population

This can be used to help illustrate genetic principles. It's a fun way of showing effects of genetics on a population amount. Students act as a migratory bird that preys on butterflies that live in the trees. It shows that the butterflies that can camouflage better into the trees survive more frequently than others, thus increasing the frequency of that allele in the butterfly population. Although the study the animation is based on has been called into question, it is still a useful tool along with classwork to illustrate natural selection and its possible effects.

Biological animations and tutorials

I really liked this site and wished I had it when I was growing up and learning these principles. This website has a great variety of animations spanning diverse topics in Biology. There are the requisite cell structure, mitosis and meiosis animations, but there is also an Evolution animation, one on gel electrophoresis, stem cells, problems with meiosis and much more. Even if the students belong to a school without resources, this can help illustrate the principles in a high school living environment/ biology curriculum.

Some of the other animations though such as vesicle budding, synapses and independent assortment may be more suited for an AP biology class instead of living environment.

The Biology Project: Cell Biology

I liked this site primarily because of the Spanish translation of the pages. Most of the sites I looked at did not have this resource and as a teacher in New York city, one constantly has to be on the look out for bilingual websites that can assist ELLs in the classroom. This site has excellent tutorials, animations and quizzes for mitosis, meiosis,cell structure and Mendelian genetics. This can be used to help make an abstract concept more concrete to different types of learners in a high school living environment class.