SOP: Preparing animal and plant cell slides
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and detailed method including images on how to prepare animal and plant cell slides.
Australian Curriculum v9 Codes: AC9S8U01 (Year 8), AC9S8U02 (Year 8)
Biological Sciences
Turtle adaptations
This downloadable resource is worksheet on animal adaptation.
The worksheet is designed to illustrate the structural, behavioural and physiological adaptations of turtles that enable them to survive in their environment.
All data was collected by a biology teacher working in turtle conservation in Malaysia.
This worksheet can be used to illustrate a concept, or as an assessment tool.
Popcorn – an analogy for radioactive decay
This article provides an analogy for radioactive decay.
It features snippets from a teacher who discusses how he uses popcorn as a visual analogy for radioactive decay.
Australian Curriculum v9 Codes: AC9S9U06 (Year 9)
Supply of porous pots
Supply of porous pots: Does anybody still do the ‘porous pot’ activity? It involves a plaster of Paris pot, with a rubber stopper and glass tube, held upside down. The glass tube sits in coloured water. A fan heater is blown over the pot, water evaporates, drawing up water from the beaker, as shown by a bubble moving up. This is a simple reliable way of showing transpiration under a variety of conditions
Stickleback Evolution Virtual Lab
This online resource looks at the study of evolutionary processes.
The resource is a virtual lab that helps teach students the skills of data collection and analysis through the study of evolutionary processes.
It includes three experiments in which students collect and analyze data using photographs of living stickleback fish specimens and fossil specimens.
Genetics investigation
This downloadable resource details an activity involving Mendelian inheritance.
The resource is an MS Word document containing the details for an activity in which students investigate the result of crossing two plants heterozygous for pigment.
This investigation:
Cell vs Virus - TED Ed
This video deals with how the immune system fights diseases.
This TED Ed video (3:58min) describes the function of cellular organelles and how they work together to allow a cell to fight a virus.
Aimed at slightly older students, this material is within the range of advanced Year 8 students (it mentions mRNA and enzymes very briefly), or it could be used as a summary of organelle functions.
Australian Curriculum v9 Codes: AC9S8U01 (Year 8), AC9S8U02 (Year 8)
Using genetic crosses to analyse stickleback traits
This online resource explores Mendelian genetics.
The resource gives details for a hands-on activity where Mendelian genetics are used to analyse the results of genetic crosses between stickleback fish with different traits.
Students use photos of actual research specimens (the F1 and F2 cards) to obtain their data; they then analyse the data they collected along with additional data from the scientific literature.
Australian Curriculum v9 Codes: AC9S10U01 (Year 10)
The making of the fittest: Natural selection in humans
This online resource looks at an example of natural selection in humans.
The two linked resources concerning sickle-cell anaemia are suitable for use with Year 10 students.
Evolution cards
This online resource details a student activity involving natural selection.
The resource is an academic paper that details how two sets of playing cards and some easily made props can be used to demonstrate how inheritance and natural selection through environmental changes can affect the evolution of a species.
The paper gives details of the hands-on activity the students use as well as showing examples of the statistics that can be used to demonstrate the effect.
The paper also acts as limited background notes for the topic.
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