Look inside a resistor to see how it works. Increase the battery voltage to make more electrons flow though the resistor. Increase the resistance to block the flow of electrons. Watch the current and resistor temperature change.

The PhET project at the University of Colorado creates "fun, interactive, research-based simulations of physical phenomena." This particular one deals with Beer's Law. "The thicker the glass, the darker the brew, the less the light that passes through." Make colorful concentrated and dilute solutions and explore how much light they absorb and transmit using a virtual spectrophotometer! The simulation is also paired with a teachers' guide and related resources from PhET. The simulation is also available in multiple languages.

This 26-page lesson plan, published in a partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Carolina Biological, and Concord Consortium, guides educators through teaching a lesson that accompanies "using Genetics with Data Science and Three-Dimensional Teaching". It describes lesson outcomes and they NGSS standards that align with them, as well as offers a formative assessment of student learning. In particular, this lesson plan covers engaging students in the phenomenon, using CODAP to analyze class data, and gamete formation, and offers examples of sample student work. For more information on how to implement this lesson, Infusing Genetics With Data Science and Three-Dimensional Teaching is available to view separately.

This new version of the CCK adds capacitors, inductors and AC voltage sources to your toolbox! Now you can graph the current and voltage as a function of time.

Experiment with conductivity in metals, plastics and photoconductors. See why metals conduct and plastics don't, and why some materials conduct only when you shine a flashlight on them.

The Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology and Environmental Teratology Information Center (DART/ ETIC) Database is made available by the National Library of Medicine's Toxicology Data Network. The database contains over 100,000 current and earlier literature citations covering teratology and other aspects of developmental and reproductive toxicology. Users may search the database by subject, title words, chemical name, Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number, and author. The Web site also includes a useful help page and sample record for familiarizing oneself with the database.

Build a gene network! The lac operon is a set of genes which are responsible for the metabolism of lactose in some bacterial cells. Explore the effects of mutations within the lac operon by adding or removing genes from the DNA.

This blog post, written by the MiniPCR Team, describes the use of biotechnology kits and equipment (available from multiple suppliers) in the classroom to help students and learners understand the connection between observable phenotypic traits and underlying genotypes. These investigations can be approached at varying complexity, incorporating plant breeding and growing plants through their whole life cycle, depending on teaching goals. This post includes links to the necessary seeds and options for biotechnology equipment/materials to accomplish these investigations.

This blog post, written by Frieda Reichsman, discusses how educators can implement three-dimensional teaching methods into classrooms and meet the Next Generation Science Standards. The article introduces the 3D Teacher Moves Table, a lesson-planning tool created by Hedi Lauffer at Wisconsin Fast Plants, as a guide for high school biology teachers to use when developing lessons and curricula to support students' data analysis skills. Additionally, this article introduces a lesson investigation using Fast Plants and data analysis, where educators can implement the 3D Teacher Moves Table. The Biological Variation in Fast Plants Lesson Plan can be available to view separately.

Created by the Concord Consortium, the Molecular Workbench is "a modeling tool for designing and conducting computational experiments across science." First-time visitors can check out one of the Featured Simulations to get started. The homepage contains a number of curriculum modules which deal with chemical bonding, semiconductors, and diffusion. Visitors can learn how to create their own simulations via the online manual, which is available here as well. The Articles area is quite helpful, as it contains full-text pieces on nanoscience education, quantum chemistry, and a primer on how transistors work. A good way to look over all of the offerings here is to click on the Showcase area. Here visitors can view the Featured simulations, or look through one of five topical sections, which include Biotech and Nanotechnology. Visitors will need to install the free Molecular Workbench software, which is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac.

Students will predict bond polarity using electron negativity values; indicate polarity with a polar arrow or partial charges; rank bonds in order of polarity; and predict molecular polarity using bond polarity and molecular shape.

Learn about the physics of resistance in a wire. Change its resistivity, length, and area to see how they affect the wire's resistance. The sizes of the symbols in the equation change along with the diagram of a wire.

How did Rutherford figure out the structure of the atom without being able to see it? Simulate the famous experiment in which he disproved the Plum Pudding model of the atom by observing alpha particles bouncing off atoms and determining that they must have a small core.

Dope the semiconductor to create a diode. Watch the electrons change position and energy.

Who knew that rocket science could have so much in common with botany and plant pathology? This is a human interest and science story that documents from firsthand accounts and artifacts the historical context and scientific events relevant to an important collaborative Fast Plant investigation on the MIR Space Station. The project coincided with pivotal historical events and involved many scientists, teachers, and students in the Ukraine and the US. The project was called the Collaborate Ukraine Experiment, and this story was written explicitly to present in an interesting way to students and teachers how engineering practices--as well as science practices--are important in the life sciences.

Why do the lights turn on in a room as soon as you flip a switch? Flip the switch and electrons slowly creep along a wire. The light turns on when the signal reaches it.

WI Fast Stats is a browser-based data analysis and visualization tool that can be used alongside Wisconsin Fast Plants. WI Fast Stats has a set of R-developed unique web apps that corresponds to specific WI Fast Plants webinars and dataset (such as Cotyledon, or Ecosystem), to make data analysis accessible for K-12 educators. The app is open source and can be downloaded via GitHub. The developers of this tool, Yizhou Liu and Claudia Solis-Lemus, also published an accompanying article to the tool, which is available to view separately.

This 5-page article is written by Yizhou Liu and Claudia Solis-Lemus and introduces Wisconsin Fast Stats, a collection of R-developed web apps of data analysis and visualization tools for educators that accompany learning activities from Wisconsin Fast Plants. The article covers topics such as statement of need, descriptions of the website and the app, as well as future work. The WI Fast Stats App is available to view separately.