Updated October 2014
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CK-12: Biology

Texts and media resources help extend content, engage students

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Grades
8–12
Subjects & Skills
Science
Price:  Free
Platforms:  Website
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350+ biology concepts are grouped into 9 major categories.
Users will appreciate digital, repeatable practice and clear data.
Usable lesson suggestions and activities help clarify and apply content.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

CK-12's Biology module offers information on almost 350 concepts organized into nine categories (Evolution, Ecology, and more) -- these resources can support just about any topic your class might tackle. The readings are detailed and informative; many include explanatory video clips, related Web links, and review questions. As with other CK-12 subjects, the Real World Applications pieces are a highlight, and do a superb job of making content relevant to kids.

Among the site's many resources, you'll find many usable lesson suggestions. Have your students craft pre-writes to support reading for understanding when it comes time to tackle a science text. You can also use the digital practice questions, which include easily viewable data. Assign several of these on related topics as pre-tests -- you can identify your students’ prior knowledge and create differentiated groups. Or, you can make your own curricular masterpiece (a FlexBook textbook) by selecting just the concepts you teach and editing the text to suit your specific needs. You can even make more than one version using similar content from the site.

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Standards:

Key Standards Supported

Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

  • MS-LS4-5

    Gather and synthesize information about the technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.

  • HS-LS4-2

    Construct an explanation based on evidence that the process of evolution primarily results from four factors: (1) the potential for a species to increase in number, (2) the heritable genetic variation of individuals in a species due to mutation and sexual reproduction, (3) competition for limited resources, and (4) the proliferation of those organisms that are better able to survive and reproduce in the environment.

From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

  • MS-LS1-3

    Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.

  • MS-LS1-5

    Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.

  • MS-LS1-6

    Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.

  • HS-LS1-1

    Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the structure of DNA determines the structure of proteins which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells.

  • HS-LS1-4

    Use a model to illustrate the role of cellular division (mitosis) and differentiation in producing and maintaining complex organisms.

  • HS-LS1-5

    Use a model to illustrate how photosynthesis transforms light energy into stored chemical energy.

  • HS-LS1-7

    Use a model to illustrate that cellular respiration is a chemical process whereby the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken and the bonds in new compounds are formed resulting in a net transfer of energy.

Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

  • HS-LS3-1

    Ask questions to clarify relationships about the role of DNA and chromosomes in coding the instructions for characteristic traits passed from parents to offspring.

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