Investigating a Deep Sea Mystery is based on Deep-sea mystery solved: astonishing larval transformation and extreme sexual dimorphism unite three fish families by Johnson, et al. (2009)* published in Biology Letters, Royal Society. The deep sea fishes at the heart of the investigation and this activity were historically classified into three families or clades based on the obvious morphological differences between the members of each group. Over time, as new data was accumulated, a new hypothesis was generated; the three fish clades were really one. Johnson, et al. found patterns in collection data that supported an alternative relationship; that they are the males, females, and larvae of a single family or clade, and that the morphological differences are the result of extreme ontogenetic (developmental) metamorphosis and sexual dimorphism. In this activity students follow the steps of the science team to unravel the mystery of the fishes' classification by analyzing some of the same morphological and phylogenetic data as the science team.

Nebraska High School Life Science Standards Unwrapped - This document will provide Nebraska Science teachers links to the Unwrapping documentation for each of the Nebraska Science Standards by grade level.

This Remote Learning Plan was created by Stephanie Henry, Dannika Nelson, and Emily Winter in collaboration with Sara Cooper and Annette Weise as part of the 2020 ESU-NDE Remote Learning Plan Project. Educators worked with coaches to create Remote Learning Plans as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.The attached Remote Learning Plan is designed for high school biology students. Students initially investigate the case of a young girl with a life-threatening infection of pan-resistant bacteria. This case sparks questions that lead them to investigate the growing prevalence of such cases and the discrepancies between antibiotic use in their communities and CDC recommendations. They expand their investigations to look at population changes occurring in a population of birds (juncos) which exhibit noticeable differences in physical (and behavioral*)traits from the past 60 years. . This Remote Learning Plan addresses the following NDE Standards: SC.HS.10.5.B, SC.HS.10.5.C, SC.HS.10.5.D, and SC.HS.10.5.E.

For this unit plan, see the old unit calendar (link on left sidebar, click ALT5 tab at the bottom).  Once we update this unit to the new Doc template, we will post it here. This is now unit 5, but it used to be unit 6 (we will update file and folder numbering as we continue to revise the units). Thanks for your patience as we work hard this year to update all of the materials to the new unit template and unit/standards arrangements.