COVID-19 and Virtual Teaching Resources

Below are resources to help with teaching during the COVID-19 school closures. If you have any resources that you would like us to share here, please send them to Megan Heaphy at mheaphy@gabio.org.

COVID-19 Lesson Plan

This 3-part module covers microbiology, infectious disease, and epidemiology through the lens of COVID-19. It is designed for high school students but may be suitable for middle school students https://juliafrederick.github.io/Covid19LessonPlan/index.html

miniPCR: Teaching the Science of mRNA Vaccines

miniPCR has compiled a list of their resources for teaching about mRNA vaccines:

https://mailchi.mp/35e7b082a7cf/teaching-the-science-of-mrna-vaccines

Resources from GPB

GPB Home Classroom (partnership with GaDOE) gpb.org/learn

  • There, you’ll find summer resources for parents with children entering K-3 next school year
  • Digital resources organized by grade and subject area
  • Schedule and activities for modified GPB TV programming to support at-home learning
  • E-newsletter archives during school closures
  • Additional links and resources

On gpb.org/education, you'll find a number of original resources, which include:

  • Fast Forward (a series about STEAM careers in GA—includes healthcare and CDC)
  • Georgia Studies collection (includes teacher and student editions for the Georgia Studies digital textbook; Georgia Stories series; virtual field trips in Georgia)
  • Chemistry Matters series (a comprehensive digital series addressing 8-12th chemistry standards)
  • Physics in Motion (a comprehensive digital series addressing 8-12thphysics/physical science standards)
  • Things Explained (a digital series that addresses a variety of topics, including PPE)

You can also video all Things Explained episodes on PBS LearningMedia, which include standard-alignments and support materials

PBSlearningmedia.org

  • Offers thousands of high-quality free digital resources for the classroom

Skype a Scientist

Request a Skype session with a scientist! The form on their website is designed for classrooms, but if requesting a session for your family, just answer to the best of your ability!

https://www.skypeascientist.com/

From The Bio-Rad Explorer Team

explorer.bio-rad.com

Classroom Resources

  • The Classroom Resources page has materials (PowerPoints, case studies, paper models) to support Bio-Rad labs such as pGLO Bacterial Transformation and CRISPR Gene Editing.

Resources on Various Life Science Topics

Resources on Disease Testing Techniques

The links below are about techniques used to detect pathogens, including:

  • Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a way of selectively amplifying nucleic acids
  • Real-time PCR (also known as quantitative PCR or qPCR), a specialized technique that allows a PCR reaction to be visualized “in real-time”
  • Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), a way to detect proteins

PCR

Real-Time PCR

ELISA

COVID-19 InnovATEBIO Webinar

The InnovATEBIO High School Mentor Network hosted a webinar on DNA Day (Saturday, April 25th) with Sandra Porter of Digital World Biology. Sandra introduced educators to resources for teaching about the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the classroom, including images of the virus, epidemiological maps using genetic sequences, studies on viral proteins, and more. The resources shared in her talk can be found at the link below.

https://digitalworldbiology.com/blog/new-viruses-and-old-drugs-searching-treatments-covid-19

Resources from miniPCR

miniPCR has put together a resource page for teachers that includes webinars, COVID-19 related teaching resources, and DNADots, which are short summaries about genetic technologies like PCR and CRISPR.

https://www.minipcr.com/educational-resources/

BABEC (Bay Area Bioscience Education Community)

BABEC has a series of online lessons for at-home biotechnology learning. The "Lesson Resources" for each activity link to a Google Drive with word files that you can download and edit for your students.

http://babec.org/online-lessons-for-at-home-learning/

Ward's World at Home

Ward's is assembling a collection of resources for at-home learning. In the Ward's shop, "Science Take Out" kits are available to order for distribution from school, and some lab supplies can be shipped straight to students' homes.

https://wardsworld.wardsci.com/learn-at-home

NatGeo@Home

National Geographic has launched an online learning hub geared at K-12 students. The hub includes their Learn at Home portal, which has educational content labeled by grade level such as articles, lessons and activities. The hub also includes Explorer Classroom, which hosts live video talks at 2 pm Eastern every weekday featuring conservationists, scientists, filmmakers and more.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/family/at-home-education-resources

NOVA Labs

PBS offers NOVA interactive labs for biology topics such as Polar Climate, Evolution, and RNA. Students can walk through these labs and complete lab reports that they can email to you when they finish.  Each lab has an "educator guide" that walks you through all available resources.

hhttps://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/labs/

The Fab Lab with Crazy Aunt Lindsey

Portland resident Lindsey Murphy hosts Fab Lab Digital Daycare each weekday from 2 pm-6 pm Eastern time. This show is geared at kids from kindergarten to 5th grade, and consists of a science experiment, a pre-recorded exercise session, and a cooking session. After a lunch break (they run on Pacific time), they teach a new skill such as American Sign Language, then have coloring and drawing time, then a story in the Fab Lab Library. Check out Digital Daycare and all of Crazy Aunt Lindsey's videos on the Youtube page:

https://www.youtube.com/thefablabhq

Atlanta Museums At Home

Eleven different museums in Atlanta have teamed up for Field Trip Friday! Virtual field trips start every Friday at 10 am. https://atlmuseumsathome.org/

The 75 Best Virtual Museum Tours Around the World 

This list includes virtual tours and online exhibits for some of the most popular Art, History, Science, and Technology museums from around the globe.   https://upgradedpoints.com/best-virtual-museum-tours/

NASA Online Museum

NASA has published 35 online exhibits that are available on this Google Arts and Culture site. You can also view many photo collections that document the history of space exploration.

https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/nasa

Additional Resources For Teachers

Below are some additional resources to help you in your classroom.

SciREN Resource Sharing and Networking Event

Teacher resources from SciREN Networking Event from Saturday, January 25th 2020 

This link includes lesson plans and activities from graduate students and organizations across the state.

Georgia Bio Careers in Life Sciences Video Interviews

Below are several short videos that highlight life science careers in Georgia. These videos can give your students an idea of the types of life science jobs in Georgia and the level of education needed.

Quality Assurance Administrator

Quality Assurance Supervisor

Research Scientist

Research Associate

Manufacturing Supervisor

Pedersen Science

Marc and Tricia Pedersen of Paulding County High School, Georgia Bio's 2017 and 2019 Biotechnology Teachers of the Year, have created a website where they share laboratory protocols and activities that they have created for biotechnology, biology, environmental science, physics, and more!

https://www.pedersenscience.com/

New England BioLabs

https://www.neb.com/

You can request free materials, order at least 2 weeks in advance. Instructions for requesting free materials are below:

https://www.neb.com/tools-and-resources/video-library/how-to-submit-a-request-for-nebs-reagents-for-your-educational-course

AddGene Protocols

Practical lab protocols for basic molecular biology, plasmid cloning, and titering and testing your viral preparations.

https://www.addgene.org/protocols/

BioRender

This site allows you to create professional-looking scientific figures for presentations.

https://biorender.com/

Careers in Biotechnology

This site contains a collection of information about the various careers in biotechnology. Job descriptions include information about average salaries and minimum degree requirements. There is also a "Biotech companies" tab with an interactive map that you can use to identify biotech companies within a defined area.

https://biotech-careers.org/careers

National Geographic: Women in STEM Video Collection

National Geographic has assembled a collection of videos which feature women who are contributing to STEM fields. Videos are are appropriate for grades 5-12.

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/topics/women-stem/

InnovATEBIO High School Mentor Network

https://innovatebio.org/high-school-network

The High School Mentor Network is providing support and training for high school educators who are committed to biotechnology workforce development. Their website includes many career resources for teachers. Biotechnology teachers can also request to join the Facebook group (search on Facebook for InnovATEBIO HighSchool Mentor Network).