Bookmark Collection

This is a useful resource for any Heredity and Genetics unit in Living Environment. There are videos and animations concerning the experiments that led to the discovery of the principles of heredity, such as Mendel's pea plant experiments. There is also a lot of historical data that students can use and look at, such as photographs and letters, that allow them to contextualize what they're learning and get an idea of how science is done and progresses in the background. The lessons are focused around a central question or statement, such as "genes come in pairs", that give students a very succinct summary of the principle that they are about to learn, and students can essentially use this website to learn at their own pace.

This resource can be used for an Evolution unit in a Living Environment class. The great thing about this website is that, in addition to having good educational resources for learning the mechanics of evolution (including comic strips that illustrate population mechanics in a simple way), it also has good coverage of evolution in society. Students can also learn from their common misconceptions about evolution section, so that they might correct any of their own misconceptions concerning evolutionary theory before it becomes ingrained.

This website is a great resource for learning about microbial life in a Living Environment course. The great thing about this site is that it's very light on text, and chooses to use videos to explain its different content. This way students can have visual aids illustrating the principles that they are learning, without getting overly bored or frustrated with too much text or reading. The topics covered include the myriad of ways that microbial life is relevant to the lives of students: they can watch instructional videos on infectious disease and epidemiology, microbial ecology and how microbial life is important to both animal and plant life, and other great educational videos.

This is a resource for teaching students about climate change, and can be used either in an Ecology unit within a Living Environment course, or for an Environmental Science/Ecology course itself. This links to NASA's educational website for climate change, and from there, students can look at educational resources that document the changes occurring, and how they relate to what they are learning in their Living Environment class, such as nutrient cycles. Additionally, there is a "taking action" section, where students can learn what they can do to contribute to efforts to combat climate change, and this allows students an opportunity to become directly and intimately involved in what they are learning in the classroom.

This resource is a virtual microscope that can be useful for students in a Living Environment course. This can be used so that students can familiarize themselves with the microscope and how to use it on their own time and at their own pace. One of the things that I've noticed is that proper use of the microscope is often rushed through and not addressed properly, and students often continue to have difficulties using one. With this resource, students can learn at their own pace even at home where they wouldn't otherwise usually have access to a microscope.