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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.  

Libro de recetas de StarLogo NOVA

Este documento incluye explicaciones y capturas de pantalla para los códigos comunes en StarLogo Nova, incluyendo la creación del mundo, la creación y el cambio de nombre de razas, el uso de rasgos por defecto y la creación de rasgos personalizados, movimientos aleatorios, coordenadas y el uso de la vista 3D, cajas de datos y gráficos de línea, el color del terreno, el uso de colisiones, la creación de un código para detener la ejecución, y cómo perseguir o huir de otros agentes.

Penny Growth

Penny growth is a table-top hands-on activity in which students grow penny colonies based on simple rules. Through this activity and a corresponding computer model, students gain experience with modeling population growth, plotting data, and recognizing patterns. Different sized environments can be used to prompt a discussion of limits to growth fo the colonies.

Decoding a model

Decoding a model is an on computer activity in which students are challenged to decode a model.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Robot

This activity introduces students to several computer science concepts, to the necessity for thoroughness while programming, and to the often strange results of literalism. The overarching theme is that computers do what they are told and nothing more. The ability to read between the lines and determine what was meant rather than what was said is a skill computers lack. Additionally, students are introduced to the concept of debugging.

Archived Material: CS in Science Module 1 (for StarLogo Nova 1.0)

Archived Material: Module 1 introduces basic concepts in modeling complex systems through hands-on activities and participatory simulations. A scaffolded series of highly-engaging design and build activities guide students through developing their first computer model in StarLogo Nova 1.0, a modeling and simulation environment developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Project GUTS MOOC

Project GUTS presented the CS in Science curriculum modules in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). The links below will allow you access to the original MOOC site, to see not only the written curriculum but also screencasts of building the related StarLogo Nova models and other background information for teachers and facilitators. The MOOC was also translated in Spanish (see link below).

For the 2017 course, please go to guts-2017.appspot.com

Student Activity Guide: Preparing Presentations

A list of guidelines for students to follow in preparing to present a completed model (Day 5 activity in Modules 2, 2A, 3, and 4 in CS in Science Modules).

Información sobre Sistemas Complejos Adaptativos

Tres documentos con información general acerca de Sistemas Complejos Adaptativos. Traducidos por @rizzicristian a partir de los originales en Inglés.

Formulario de diseño experimental

Una copia imprimible del formulario de diseño experimental, utilizada en los Módulos Científicos de Project GUTS, para que los estudiantes planifiquen un experimento, incluyendo la identificación de variables, la planificación de la recopilación y el análisis de datos y la interpretación. Traducción del original en Inglés.

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.

Pioneros (Trailblazers)

Pioneros (Trailblazers) es una actividad divertida con lápiz y papel donde los estudiantes escriben instrucciones sencillas para que otro estudiante navegue por un laberinto. Las instrucciones se dibujan en el laberinto como comandos (si el cuadrado es rojo, gire a la derecha, etc.) y luego los estudiantes intercambian papeles para navegar por el laberinto siguiendo solamente los comandos. Esta es una actividad preliminar para la actividad de codificación de las tortugas chocadoras.

Battle of the Agents

A take on the classic board game Battleship, this paper and pencil activity is a fun way to help students understand the use of x and y coordinates in StarLogo Nova. After the activity, students can use the StarLogo Nova model to experiment with x and y locations in a game-like context.

Prisoner's Dilemma (Tit for Tat)

A participatory simulation where partners examine strategies of cooperation versus individual gain. Based on the game theory activity of Prisoner's Dilemma, this activity introduces students to the contrast between theories of "Tragedy of the Commons" (individuals maximizing their own gain will result in collapse of the resources) and classic economic theory (maximum individual gain will lead to greatest efficiency).

What are the chances?

An off-line activity to introduce students to concepts of randomness and how to program percent chance using a slider in StarLogo Nova.

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.

Segregation Model

This model shows how a small preference for looking like one's neighbors can lead to a segregated society. The unit so far includes the model as a mystery model to be discussed and decoded by students, a partial piece of code with to use for decoding practice, a finished model, some background information, and a link to an on-line resource demonstrating these concepts. We are developing an off-line activity and other curriculum for this module -- stay tuned!

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.

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.

27 Blind Mice

An off-line activity that introduces the concept of global and local communication strategies.