Biology 100

Guided Inquiry

Active Learning Exercises

Spring Quarter 2014

Instructor: Ken Marr

Chapter 1 - A View of Life

Scientific Method Guided Inquiries

1.      Experimental Variables Guided Inquiry

2.      Practice with Variables and Hypotheses (This one is for practice/review and will not be collected)

3.      Analyzing and Interpreting Scientific Data Guided Inquiry

4.      Experimental Design: MetaboHerb (will not do this quarter)

Online Resources

• Here's a link that discusses pseudoscience and how to detect it: What is Pseudoscience? How can you recognize pseudoscience?

• Solving problems with the Scientific Method

• Studying Cells: The Scientific Method (at The Biology Project)

• Disclaimer Stickers for Science Textbooks

• Quack Watch is a nonprofit corporation whose purpose is to combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, and fallacies (i.e. pseudoscience related to the health/medical field)

Intro to Biology Guided Inquiries

5.     The  Characteristics and Hierarchy of Life Guided Inquiry    

 6.    Biological Classification Guided Inquiry

 

Evolution - Natural Selection - Speciation Guided Inquiries

7.      Competition—Red in Tooth and Claw (will not do this quarter)

8.      Evidence for Evolution Guided Inquiry

9.      Evolution, Selection and Speciation Guided Inquiry

Chapter 2 - The Chemical Basis for Life

Essential Chemistry for Biology Guided Inquiries

 10. The Chemical Basis for Life—Part 1. Atomic Structure Guided Inquiry            Build an Atom Simulation            

 11. The Chemical Basis for Life—Part 2. Ionic and Covalent Bonding Guided Inquiry  

 12. The Chemical Basis for Life—Part 3. The Wonders of Water and its Properties   

Online Resources

• Chemical Bonding Tutorial (with explanations and animations of ionic, covalent and hydrogen bonding)

• Animation of Hydrogen Bonding in Water

• Animation of Salt Dissolving in Water      

Chapter 3 - The Organic Molecules of Life

13.  Biomolecules Guided Inquiry

 

     Online Resources

• The Macromolecules of Life:  with explanations (1) Carbohydrates;  (2) Lipids;  (3)  Proteins  and  (4) Nucleic Acids

 Chapter 4 - Inside the Cell

14.  Cell Structure and Function  Guided Inquiry

15.  Membrane Structure and Function Guided Inquiry (Sections 4.3 and 5.4 are good references for this guided inquiry)

Chapter 5 - The Dynamic Cell:  Energy - ATP - Enzymes and Cell Transport

16.  Osmosis--the Diffusion of Water Guided Inquiry

17. Enzymes: Biological Catalysts Guided Inquiry

Chapter 8 - Cellular Reproduction

18. The Cell Cycle Guided Inquiry

19. Mitosis and the Cell Cycle Guided Inquiry    

Mitosis Online Resources

• Animation of  Mitosis and Cytokinesis

• Online Mitosis Activity: How do Cells Reproduce?

• Plant and Animal Cell Division Movies:

  • Watch the Cell Cycle movie.

  • Watch a real animal cell undergo mitosis.

  • Watch an animation of plant cell mitosis

  • Watch embryonic Zebrafish Mitosis

• Mitosis and The Cell Cycle Problem Sets and tutorials at the Biology Project

The Cell Cycle Control and Cancer Online Resources     

• A letter to the editor concerning an Obituary of a victim of cancer

• Cancer Biology (Video by CancerQuest)

• Utah Institutes Parental Consent for Tanning Beds  by Jenny Brundin  All Things Considered (NPR), April 23, 2007 · Utah teenagers under the age of 18 must now get their parents' permission to visit a tanning salon, a change prompted by growing concern about the dangers of sun exposure to young people. Utah, which ranks in the top five in per capita deaths from melanoma, is joining 26 other states that regulate teenagers' use of tanning beds.

• Doctors Seek Tanning Salon Ban for Juveniles by Allison Aubrey  Morning Edition (NPR), March 30, 2005 · With rates of skin cancer on the rise among young women, the American Academy of Dermatology wants states to make it illegal for juveniles to use tanning booths.

Chapter 9 - Sexual Reproduction

20. Meiosis Guided InquiryWarning!! Model 5 on page 5 must be printed or viewed in color to  differentiate between the red and blue colored chromosomes!! You will find the following document handy when answering the exercises and critical thinking questions: Comparing Mitosis and Meiosis

Meiosis Online Resources

Online Resources

• Animation #1 of Meiosis        Animation #2 of Meiosis

• Animation: Mitosis vs. Meiosis

• Mitosis and Meiosis Tutorial and Problems

• Karyotyping, nondisjunction and human chromosomal disorders.

Chapter 10 - Patterns of Inheritance

21.  Mendelian Genetics and Inheritance Practice Problems  

•  Answer Key to Genetics Practice Problems.  As mentioned in class, to receive credit for this  assignment, you must show your work and/or explain how you arrived at each answer. No credit will be earned for simply copying the answers!

Online Resources

• Animation of Independent Assortment

• Mendelian Genetics Problem Sets and tutorials at the Biology Project

• Human Genetics Problem Sets and Tutorials at the Biology Project

• Basic Principles of Genetics:

• An Introduction to Mendelian Genetics

• Karyotyping, nondisjunction and human chromosomal disorders.

• The Maria Patino Story (Deals with androgen insensitivity syndrome where a person is phenotypically a woman, but has a male genotype--i.e. has male sex chromosomes, XY, but is otherwise a female!)

• Is the 2009 women's 800m World Champion, Caster Semenya, really a female?

  • Caster Semenya's gender test results force IAAF to call in outside help

  • South African Runner’s Sex-Verification Result Won’t Be Public

• Gender Testing of Female Athletes (An interactive exploration that challenges you to determine whether an athlete is qualified to compete as a female and teaches about how gender is determined in humans.

• Gender Verification No More? (Deals with testing athletes for their gender)

• Does the actress Jamie Lee Curtis have Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome? Visit these sights for possible answers:

  • http://www.answers.com/topic/jamie-lee-curtis

  • http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/jamie.htm

Chapter 11 - DNA Biology and Technology

22. DNA Structure and DNA Replication Practice Problems        Answer Key to DNA Structure and DNA Replication Practice Problems  

Online Resources

• Animation of DNA & RNA Structure

• Animation of DNA Replication with a short quiz (McGraw-Hill)

• Animation/Tutorial of DNA Replication:  Adding onto an RNA primer (Freeman)

• Animation of DNA replication

• How to extract DNA from anything living

• Telomerase and Aging (good diagrams showing how telomerase works)

• Animation of Telomere Shortening and Telomerase Rebuilding Telomeres

• Gene Therapy Promising for Treating 'Bubble' Children

  by Richard Knox 

  Morning Edition, December 27, 2004 · British scientists report they've corrected a genetic defect in four children born with no immune system. The finding helps confirm the success of a French group that treated Damian Rodriguez, a Louisiana boy recovering after gene therapy helped his immune system behave normally -- but also, inadvertently, triggered leukemia. Hear NPR's Richard Knox.

23. From Gene to Protein and Biotechnology Practice Problems      Answer Key to From Gene to Protein and Biotechnology Practice Problems

Online Resources

• Animation/Tutorial of DNA Transcription (Freeman)

• Animation of How Translation Works with a short quiz (at the Mader website)

• Animation of Protein Synthesis (Translation)  (at the Mader website)

• Animation of Addition and Deletion Mutations (frameshift mutations) (McGraw-Hill)

• Animation of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) with a short quiz (at the Mader website)

• Animation: Overview of from Gene to Protein (DNA --> RNA  --> Protein)

• Animation of Transcription (DNA --> RNA)

• Animation of RNA Processing

• Animation of Translation (RNA --> Protein) 

• Genetic Code (alphabetized by amino acid with one and three letter abbreviations)

• Gene Therapy Returns (A short article in the journal Science about the resurgence of  gene therapy in 2009.)

• How Gene Therapy Targets Liver Cells (video animation from Scientific American)

• Gene therapy restores vision to three women who were born nearly blind  (Scientific American, Feb. 8, 2012)

© Kenneth R. Marr 2012