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Emergence video

A portion of a PBS NOVA video discussing the concept of emergence (or complex adaptive systems) where patterns emerge in nature where agents follow simple rules.

Gene Regulation and Protein Synthesis

Every cell in your body has a full set of genes, or ‘recipes,’ to build many different kinds of proteins (including enzymes). What causes a gene to go from its normal ‘turned off’ state (when it IS NOT building proteins) to its ‘turned on’ state (when it IS building proteins)? To answer this question, we will zoom in and take a closer look at a gene and its environment to see how and why a specific protein is made.

Toss-Up

As a virus spreads through a community, epidemiologists might study how far a disease has spread, how quickly it spreads and how infectious it can be as well a numerous other pieces of data in order to understand the disease and its potential impact on a community. In this activity, students will simulate the spread of a virus such as the flu. Students will work in pairs to accumulate data using graph paper, a data chart, and a die. Before starting, groups will need to decide on three variables.

Daisy world

A model demonstrating the albedo effect of black or white surfaces. Use as a part of the Climate Change and Agriculture Project GUTS Curricular Unit, or as a stand-alone model, activity, and video.

Image of scavenger hunt from recyclescene.com

Scavenger Hunt for Teachers

This scavenger hunt asks teachers to locate various Project GUTS resources. A fun tool to increase familiarity with Project GUTS and what's available.

Understanding by Design

Understanding by Design (UbD) curriculum offers a 3-stage “backward design” framework for developing units of study. The same process guides larger-scale curriculum development for courses and
programs (macro level). The UbD curriculum structure for building a coherent curriculum spirals around “big ideas,” essential questions, and core assessments.

Pond Ecosystem Biograph project

Ecosystems are made up of interacting, interdependent parts, which are always interacting with and changing each other. Healthy ecosystems are long-lasting. In a long-lasting ecosystem the number of plants and animals may increase and decrease over time, but there are always enough individuals to reproduce and establish the next generation. In this Biograph Virtual Lab your challenge is to build a model of a long-lasting, healthy pond ecosystem using Toolblox programming blocks.

Image of evolution from thenounproject.com

Evolution Curriculum from BioGraph

Evolution is a change in genetic information in a population that is observed over many generations, due to the random chance survival and reproduction of particular individuals. In this BioGraph Virtual Lab, you will observe how a population of fish in a pond changes over time. By the end of this activity, you will understand how random factors (genetic drift) and non-random factors (natural selection) contribute to evolution.

Enzymes: Chew on This!

Carbohydrates in food are an important source of energy for the body. When you eat starch, it must be broken down into simple sugars before your body can use it for energy. In this Biograph Virtual Lab you will use a simulation to explore the breaking down of starch into sugar. The simulation will enable you to compare and contrast the conversion of starch to sugar both with and without enzymes. This will help you understand the role of enzymes in digestion.

Image of sugar moving into bloodstream from MIT Biograph materials

Sugar Transport Activity

Have you ever drank a can of soda and suddenly felt more energetic? In this Biograph Virtual Lab, you will use a simulation to explore how the glucose molecules from the soda move from the lumen of your small intestine, across the membranes of your epithelial cells, and into your bloodstream. (Ultimately, the glucose in your bloodstream will move into your body’s cells).

Code Blocks for CS in Science Module 2 (Water Resources)

This blocks guide can help students decode the base model used in Module 2 -- Water Resources. The links below correspond to either StarLogo Nova 1.0 (Flash version) or StarLogo Nova 2.0 (HTML5/JavaScript version).

Guía de observación de un modelo basado en agentes

Se trata de una guía para poder observar un modelo basado en agentes y reconocer sus diferentes partes, como por ejemplo las abstracciones (quiénes son los agentes, cuál es el entorno, cuáles son las interacciones); la automatización; los supuestos y el análisis.

Papeles en el viento ("Papercatchers")

"Papeles en el viento" (Papercatchers) es una simulación participativa en la que los estudiantes aprenden sobre el crecimiento de la población y los límites al crecimiento. Los estudiantes desempeñan el papel de miembros de una población creciente, siguen reglas sencillas que rigen la supervivencia y la reproducción, y recopilan y grafican datos.

Tiburón en medio de un cardumen de peces en el fondo del océano

¿Complejo o complicado?

¿Complejo o Complicado? utiliza una presentación de diapositivas para crear una actividad que se utiliza para involucrar a los estudiantes en argumentar basándose en evidencias y mejorar su comprensión sobre los sistemas adaptativos complejos.

Modeling MRSA in Chicago (scientist talk)

This is a talk Dr. Chick Macal gave to GUTS teachers at a Chicago PD workshop in 2015.

Screen shot from Project GUTS rabbits and grass model

Modeling Ecosystems in StarLogo Nova

This document gives background information and is a guide to CS in Science, Module 3 (Ecosystems) and building the rabbits and grass model.

Interview with Hal Scheintaub

Teachers with GUTS interviewed Hal Scheintaub and demo of StarLogo Nova models created by his students on August 2, 2017.

Scientific Practices and Computational Thinking in Modeling & Simulation

This document is a handout used to reflect on the scientific practices and computational thinking involved in a Project GUTS module or lesson.

Code Blocks for CS in Science Module 3 - Rabbits and Grass Ecosystems Model

This is a worksheet to use while decoding the Rabbits and Grass Ecosystems Model - CS in Science, Module 3. Select the relevant link below, for StarLogo Nova 1.0 (flash version) or StarLogo Nova 2.0 (HTML5/JavaScript version).

Simulación de un brote de Dengue

Este modelo simula la transmisión del virus del dengue en un barrio de cuatro manzanas durante 180 días. El vector del virus es el mosquito Aedes egyptii. La simulación muestra un gráfico con la evolución del brote (el cambio en la cantidad de personas sanas y de personas infectadas), otro gráfico con la evolución de la población de mosquitos y unos monitores que indican el estado de la población de mosquitos y cuántas personas fueron infectadas.

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