By manipulating a simple kinematic model representing the leg and foot, students can get hands on information about the interaction of bones and muscles in humans. Having worked with the model, they then are able to predict and analyze the properties of bone/muscle systems in other vertebrates and understand how these systems have become modified during the course of evolution for a particular life style. By the end of the exercise, students have learned both traditional information (cellular structure, names of bones, taxonomy of vertebrates) and how to project the knowledge they gained from working with a model to the biological world.

Human DNA profiling has applications in paternity testing and forensics. This exercise provides students the opportunity to gain first-hand experience with procedures that are currently used to extract DNA from their own cells, quantify the DNA in the extract, perform a multiplex PCR amplification of several loci used in forensic analysis, and determine their own genotype at those loci. In addition, methods for analyzing results relative to existing population databases will be presented. The exercise is normally presented in the context of a laboratory course in Forensic DNA Analysis that presents students with a variety of techniques that have been and/or continue to be employed in forensic laboratories.

In this lab, students measure their heart rate, oxygen consumption, and carbon dioxide production in various physical activities on a treadmill or cycle ergometer. After learning the techniques in the first lab period, each group of 3-4 students designs an independent investigation that is performed during the second lab period. To measure metabolic rate, students collect expired air in a Douglas bag, then measure the volume, the temperature, and the concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide. With this technique, students can investigate the energetic cost of walking and running, effects of going uphill and downhill, efficiency of muscles, effect on muscle efficiency of varying force and velocity of shortening, relative amounts of fats and carbohydrates metabolized at different activity levels, and many other topics.

This video describes the role of the brain in regulating body temperature and how sometimes fever is employed to fight off infection.

The pattern of jaw movements during mastication is fairly simple and lends itself to both a kinematic and a non-invasive electromyographic (EMG) analysis. Students are provided with a customized Mac computer/LabView software virtual instrument system for the acquisition, storage, and parametric analysis of kinematic video data correlated on a frame-by-frame basis with multichannel EMG records. Each student is asked to design and implement a set of mastication experiments, thus gaining exposure to library research, outlining a feasible project, writing a grant proposal, data collection, analysis, and final presentation of results.

This is a laboratory exercise suitable for introducing the concepts of human metabolism to non-majors students, or as a practical application of the concepts of energy and metabolism for introductory biology students. Students monitor metabolic intake and expenditures, calculate requirements, and consider the implications of excess intake or deficits on health.

This activity from our family magazine series is a board game in which kids learn how germs spread and infections take hold. The online activity begins with an overview of the many ways germs can enter your body and the body's first and second lines of defense. Kids then go to a page of directions for playing the online game, where they are also asked to select a "microbe playing piece." As they move through the playing board, kids gain insight into how the body fights infection.

The MIT Biology Department core courses, 7.012, 7.013, and 7.014, all cover the same core material, which includes the fundamental principles of biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, and cell biology. Biological function at the molecular level is particularly emphasized and covers the structure and regulation of genes, as well as, the structure and synthesis of proteins, how these molecules are integrated into cells, and how these cells are integrated into multicellular systems and organisms. In addition, each version of the subject has its own distinctive material. 7.014 focuses on the application of the fundamental principles toward an understanding of human biology. Topics include genetics, cell biology, molecular biology, disease (infectious agents, inherited diseases and cancer), developmental biology, neurobiology and evolution.

The MIT Biology Department core courses, 7.012, 7.013, and 7.014, all cover the same core material, which includes the fundamental principles of biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, and cell biology. Biological function at the molecular level is particularly emphasized and covers the structure and regulation of genes, as well as, the structure and synthesis of proteins, how these molecules are integrated into cells, and how these cells are integrated into multicellular systems and organisms. In addition, each version of the subject has its own distinctive material.7.014 focuses on the application of the fundamental principles toward an understanding of human biology. Topics include genetics, cell biology, molecular biology, disease (infectious agents, inherited diseases and cancer), developmental biology, neurobiology and evolution.

MIT offers a selection of courses to explore Biology at MIT.

Who killed James Watson in the biology lab, with the biology textbook? In this non-majors laboratory exercise, students use scientific inquiry skills to solve a murder mystery. Many are suspects, but only one committed the crime. Each student plays a role and tries to uncover motive and opportunity of the other suspects. Hypotheses are tested with physical evidence: fingerprints, blood type, and paper strip DNA analysis.

This workshop demonstrates on-line use of the national electronic bulletin board, complete with electronic mail started in 1987 by the National Association of Biology Teachers. Once on-line, 14 special interest areas are available, such as AP- Biology, magazine and book reviews, ABT Journal, NABT membership services, question and answer forum, software reviews, and swap/sale of used equipment. Also available for downloading onto your computer are extensive files of labs, graphics, and handouts. Discussions of this and other databases will emphasize the power of these new professional communication tools. Note: This workshop is not included in the published proceedings volume because it was not submitted by the author.

Reaction time has many advantages for the introduction of the scientific method--the subject is familiar, many experiments are possible, and students enjoy competition. In our Introductory Biology courses, our students formulate and test a hypothesis about reaction time. We use Kosinski's Reaction Time software, that records reaction times and then analyzes them statistically using the chi-square median test. Students then write a paper that either rejects or fails to reject their null hypothesis. An online literature review on reaction time helps the students incorporate primary literature into their paper.

This resource provides brief descriptions and a sample exercise for programs contained in BioBytes 3.1, a collection of computer simulation modules. The programs themselves cover a range of topics including ecology, behavioral ecology, physiology, endocrinology, and population genetics.

This article describes how to take 35 mm slides of biological material to use in the classroom and for research.

This exercise provides a hands on introduction to the preparation of human karyotypes. Students practice karyotype preparation using Biophotos of normal male and female chromosome smears. The students then prepare a karyotype using a Biophoto of chromosomes from a Down syndrome individual or from a Down syndrome carrier.

Focusing on human and primate examples significantly enhances students' interest in studying biology, specifically, evolution and classification. These laboratory activities illustrate key aspects of the distinctive hierarchical nature of biological classification. The first activity uses hemoglobin sequence data while the second uses skulls of apes, humans and fossil hominoids. Together, the two illustrate the concordant nature of separate lines of evidence supporting both the idea of evolution generally and that of human evolution specifically.