Activities for High School Biology Classes
Teaching biology in high school gives much scope for fun experiments. Explaining different concepts of biology can be much easier by using experiments, as students will be able to see the effects of different phenomena with their own eyes. By doing experiments and other activities, you will keep students interested and engaged.
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Celery Coloration
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When explaining how plants take on water, you can do an experiment to show it in action. Cut the leaves off a stick of celery, and trim a small amount off the bottom to expose fresh celery. Place in a glass of water with food coloring in it. Submerge the celery in the water, and leave overnight. When you take the celery out, it will have taken on the color. Peel the celery to show how far down the color has permeated.
Plant Comparisons
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To demonstrate the idea of photosynthesis, plant two identical seeds in pots, and place one of the pots in sunlight, and the other in a dark cupboard. Each day, measure the stalk that is growing out of the pot, and create a graph to show how plants need sunlight to grow. After a week, take the plant out of the dark and place it in the sunlight. Continue your graph to show how quickly the plant grows now it is in sunlight.
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Animal Behavior
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Play clips of animals in the wild to the class, and ask each student to make "field notes" about what they see. Divide the class into smaller groups, and show the first group a video of animals in the wild. Have them describe to the second group what they saw without using the name of the animal. Have the second group describe to the third and so on. At the end, ask the last group to describe what animal it was. This will emphasize the importance of accuracy in biology and in describing animal behavior.
Preserving food
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Explain to students about germs and microbes using preservation of food as an example. In class, slice an apple up into four different segments. Heavily salt one segment, place one segment fully submerged in water, place one segment in a sealed plastic bag and leave one segment open to the air. Place all four on a tray in the front of the classroom, and observe how they decay over the course of a week. This will show students the conditions that microbes enjoy and those that they don't.
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References
- Photo Credit teacher image by Twilight Dragon from Fotolia.com
