Middle School Science Lessons

🫀Body Systems : 🧬 Cells & DNA : 🔬Classification : 🌱 Environment : 🐞 Insects

🥼Becoming a Scientist

  • a collection of activities to use at the start of the school year posted on my “Properties of Matter” page.

👩🏻‍💻 General Life Science & Biology Sites:

  1. Amoeba Sisters: Informative animations that clearly explain many complex topics in Biology, excellent for 7th and 8th graders.
  2. BioEdOnline- Baylor College of Medicine: TONS of slides related all different branches of Biology, a great resource for teachers to modify and use for Life Science.
  3. Cognito: almost 100 videos of common biology topics, nice explanations and animations to help understand abstract topics
  4. Crash Course Biology & Crash Course Kids: “At Crash Course, we believe that high quality educational videos should be available to everyone for free.”
  5. Teachers Pet – Biology: “This channel is full of quick science videos made by a science teacher in California.”
  6. TedEd Nature: over 100 fantastic and informative videos about nature, my students enjoyed these videos over the years.
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🫀Body Systems: (back to top)

  1. General Body Systems:
    • Frog Sandwich – (pdf) this is a classic frog anatomy lesson, I used it in the ’90s when we did frog dissections. It shows and labels each body system and is a handy reference for students to use during dissections. Another version (pdf)
    • Pickle Dissection: Students will practice using tools for dissection and anatomy terminology. This is a classic activity and a must do before dissecting ‘real’ specimens. (blog entry)
  2. Circulatory & Respiratory Systems:
    • Blood types- what are the major blood groups and who can donate/receive blood safely based on their blood type? (blog entry)
    • Circulatory System Review – Google doc for self review (no answer key)
    • Heart Rate Lab: students will collect heart rate data while completing a series of activities. (blog entry)
    • Pulmo Park – build a paper respiratory system model (Lesson One Reverse Lung Dissection) & other free lessons
    • Respiratory System Review – Google doc for self review (no answer key)
    • Sheep Heart Dissection – students will examine the anatomy of the heart (blog entry)
    • Which way to the heart? – students will practice the path of blood through the body using flashcards and coloring a diagram of the heart (blog entry)
  3. Digestive System:
    • “As the Stomach Churns” -🎭 students will research the digestive system, then write and act out their own original skits. (blog entry)
  4. Endocrine System:
    • Infographic – printout from Carolina (pdf)
    • Endocrine Chart – students will research the role of and identify each part of the endocrine system (Google doc, no answer key)
  5. Muscular & Skeletal Systems:
    • Bone Zone – fill in the blank diagrams to learn to basic bones of the body
    • Review Packet – students will complete this study guide to review the basics of the muscular and skeletal systems. (Google Doc, no answer key)
    • How tall is the average 7th grader? Students will measure their heights in cm (blog entry)
    • Human Body Ratios – activity by Scientific American
  6. Nervous System:
    • Cow eye dissection– a classic step by step tutorial on how to do a cow eye dissection. (blog entry)
    • Optical Illusions – How do we perceive our surroundings? Google slides with images and a TedEd Video at the end
    • Sheep Brain and Eye Dissection – students observed the internal and external anatomy of a sheep head (blog entry)
    • Substance Abuse Research and Presentation -🎙 How does substance abuse affect the human body?
      • Your research will focus on the Nervous System and two or more additional body systems of your choice. (blog entry)
    • The Stroop Effect – What happens when the brain is challenged to process verbal and visual information simultaneously?
  7. Reproduction:
    • Chicken Egg Dissection – students will collect & analyze data and learn the parts of an egg and compare how chicks and humans develop. (blog entry)
    • Gladiolus Flower Dissection – students will identify, dissect, and collect data on the parts of a flower and look for patterns in flower development (blog entry)
    • What days are the busiest in the Maternity Ward? Students will determine what day of the week, and which day of the month have the most birthdays in their grade. (blog entry)
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🧬 Cells & DNA: (back to top)

  1. Cell Organelles Analogy– students will choose a theme for their cell and analogies for how each part of the cell functions to make that system work (blog entry)
  2. Cell Theory – Google slides to introduce the Cell Theory and the Microscope
  3. Diffusion Lab – students will be able to observe Iodine diffusion across a semi-permeable membrane (blog entry)
  4. DNA & Genetics:
    • DNA Cheat Sheet – a summary of the most important concepts of DNA, replication, transcription, and translation (Google doc, view only)
    • DNA, RNA, & Proteins – self review (Google doc, no answer key)
    • DNA, RNA, & Crime, oh My! – This is a fun and creative activity to tie all of the following concepts together into one lesson: DNA sequencing & transcription, mRNA translation, amino acid codons & proteins, genotype, phenotype, recessive & dominant alleles & traits. (blog entry)
    • Paper Protein Chain Activity -🎨 students will convert their name from a “DNA” sequence into a “protein chain” made of “amino acids”. (blog entry)
    • Plastic Egg Genetics  – using plastic eggs and manipulatives to practice Punnett squares and genetic probability (blog entry)
    • SpongeBob Genetics – students will learn how to create Punnett Squares and solve word problems. (blog entry)
    • Teach Genetics – “Five easy-to-implement classroom activities teach the basics of heritable traits.”
    • The Biology Corner – collection of Punnett Square lessons
  5. Microscopes – Intro to microscopes letter ‘e’ lab
  6. Mitosis:
    • The Biology Corner – collection of mitosis lesson plans
    • Bingo Cards – use these cards to review Organelles, Cell Cycle, and Mitosis, 30 cards in pdf
    • Mitosis Vocabulary – Definitions will pop up when you advance the slides (Google Slides, view only)
    • Mitosis coloring notes
    • Mitosis phases coloring practice
    • Mitosis Paper Plates & pipe cleaners
  7. Meiosis – Guided notes and comparing Mitosis and Meiosis fill in the blank and cut and paste activity (blog entry)
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🔬Classification: (back to top)

  1. Abiotic vs Biotic Factors – classifying living vs. nonliving (Google Slides, view only)
  2. Creepy Critters – how to use a dichotomous key to identify aliens. Also, alien cards for students to create their own classification system. (blog entry)
  3. Domains and Kingdoms – “Do Kids Prefer Candy Over Fresh Green Spinach?”
  4. Substituted Sammy and the Characteristics of Life – what makes something alive? Go through Sammy’s journey and discuss if his experiences are keeping him alive. (blog entry)

🌱 Ecology, Environment, & Evolution: (back to top)

  1. Biomes – students will learn about the different biomes around the world and their Biotic and Abiotic factors (Adopt a City Lesson 9)
  2. “Build a food web“ -👩🏻‍💻 PBS interactive link “The interrelationship between species in the river, wetland, grassland, and woodland habitats of the Platte River prairie ecosystem is a complex, dynamic food system.” Also includes videos of animals for each level.
  3. Charles Darwin Survival Game – 👩🏻‍💻 an interactive website where you choose from dozens of variations of a cute little ‘species’ and see what happens when the environment changes, food sources change, and predators attack, will your species survive? (blog entry)
  4. Comparing surface temperatures – students will compare surface temperatures on a wide variety of natural and manmade surfaces around campus and discuss ‘Heat Islands” (blog entry)
  5. Environmental Issues Research and Presentation -🎙 students will choose one of 50 environmental issues and teach it to their classmates (blog entry) 
  6. Owl Survival Simulation Activity to use with the Novel ‘Hoot‘ by Carl Hiaasen – students will simulate a Burrowing Owl Family feeding its owlets (blog entry)
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🐞 Insects: (back to top)

  1. Notorious B.U.G.s Wanted Poster – 🦟 🎨 students choose an insect that negatively impacts humans in at least one area of our daily lives (agriculture & horticulture, disease, economic hardship, or nuisance) and create a Wanted Poster. (blog entry)
  2. Grasshopper Dissection –
  3. Intro to Insect Orders – how are insects classified? (Google Slides)
  4. Peppered Moths – 🧑🏻‍💻 Read about the peppered moths and simulate birds eating the moths – who will survive?
  5. Scouting Merit Badge – how to earn one for Insects & workbook (pdf)

🫀Body Systems : 🧬 Cells & DNA : 🔬Classification : 🌱 Environment : 🐞 Insects

Links were checked and up to date as of 5.26.25

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