Continuing with the theme... In my last post I showed a blood model that I use to help my students understand that oxygenated blood tends to be a red color and deoxygenated blood tends to have a deep red color with the blood model. blood models Here is another way I use simple materials to demonstrate a concept to my students. I use baby pop-it beads to show the relationship between amino acids and proteins.     Each bead represents an amino acid (I wrote the names of different amino acids on each in permanent marker) and a long chain of them represents a protein.     I keep my eyes pealed for these babies at garage sales because eventually someday I would like to have so many "amino acids" that I can make a protein chain that is long enough to twist and make a shape that would be a better representative of a protein's tertiary structure. What do you use as models in your class? originally posted on ballinwithballing.blogsp...

     Often teachers find everyday materials and find a new way to use them in the classroom. It's a part of the job that sticks with you and even in the summer I see items in a new way and try to find new ways to help my students learn difficult concepts.  I have noticed that even retired teachers can't turn their brains off and even though they may not have a class anymore they still continue to look for new materials for the classroom. Here is one of my examples from my classroom: skein of yarn (AKA: Chromosome) it might look like a skein of yarn to you...but to a biology teacher (like myself) and to my students it represents a chromosome. Because it is just like DNA that has been all coiled up and packaged so that it is easy to move in the cell.      Could you imagine if they sold yarn uncoiled in the store like this? Uncoiled yarn (AKA: DNA in the cell in Interphase) Yarn uncolied a...

     Often in biology you need to show the students something and it's small and very difficult for them to see from their seats. One such situation is when you need to show them how to make a wet mount slide or how to use a dropper and a paper towel to change the water under the coverslip.       If you know me, you'll know that I love hardware stores. I love the way you yourself can use a little  elbow grease and fix something yourself. I even love just wandering the store for new ideas. Well, this is one of those ideas. I was at the hardware store and I had an ah-ha moment. I had the clerk cut me two pieces of plexi-glass....one approximately 9 inches by 20 inches (to make a large slide) and the other approximately 6 inches x 6 inches (to make the coverslip).  plexi-glass slide, coverslip and dropper Here's a baster for sale at Kohl's            I used a piece of sandpaper to smooth down the edges...