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Students consider the various roles plants play in their everyday lives and read about the ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin and his quest for medicinal plants; students carry out an experiment to investigate the potential of certain herbs and spices in treating microbial infections and then construct an argument based on their findings and readings about the promise of medicinal plants.

Students examine the impact of a seemingly small change on the ecosystem of Lake Victoria; to learn about ecosystems, students first characterize and analyze soil and water samples as ecosystems and read about dynamic equilibrium in ecosystems; they then analyze the impact of a natural or human-made change in the ecosystem on the biological, chemical and physical components and their interrelationships.

Students read about the impact the eruption of Krakatau had on the surrounding ecosystems; students explore ecological succession directly by investigating milk as it undergoes successive changes; they then apply their understandings to explaining ecological succession in the recovery of Krakatoa.

Students analyze patterns in the distribution of species around the world and identify factors in the environment that determine the amount of biodiversity in an ecosystem; students identify criteria that define a species using the results of an activity and a reading by E.O. Wilson; students model natural selection using different implements to pick up different foods, explain observations about finch evolution in the Galapagos Islands, and are challenged to explain the enormous diversity observed in the cichlids of Lake Victoria.

Students calculate an ecological footprint for a fictional person and then read about the possibility of a population crisis in the future; they construct growth curves for a model rabbit population, identify factors that affect the population growth using a model system of a rabbit population, and consider how carrying capacity determines the growth of populations; they then apply their understandings about factors that affect the population growth to decide whether Earth can sustain a population of 9.5 billion people.

Students read about biomes and biogeochemical cycles, develop a presentation and present their cycle to the class in a jigsaw learning activity. Students consider the foods they eat, the functions the foods have in their survival, and the need to recycle elements; students explore how energy flows through an ecosystem and explain the transfer of energy at each step; they then explore the cycling of matter in biogeochemical cycles and apply their understanding of the movement of energy and matter in ecosystems to designing a lunar biosphere that can sustain life for two years.

Students learn about biomolecules in a jigsaw learning experience; students conduct a chemical analysis to compare the biomolecules found in corn and milk; they then trace carbon atoms from starch molecules in corn to lactose in milk and read about the chemical reactions involved in capturing energy, in the breakdown of nutrients, and in the biosynthesis of new biomolecules from these building blocks; students then trace a food item that they consumed through their own metabolic pathways.

Students observe a demonstration of enzyme action and explore the mechanisms. They then determine the consequences to an organism if a specific metabolic pathway is blocked by an enzyme inhibitor.

Students read about scientists who are trying to create a living cell and discuss why they think scientists might want to "build a cell in a test tube"; students then build a model of a cell, and describe the relationships between metabolic functions and cellular components.

Students create a timeline depicting the history of Earth; they identify the components needed to create the first biomolecules; they then develop their own theories of how life started, and compare their theories to those proposed by scientists.

Students select a drug or pharmaceutical product from a plant or other organism and research its place in the ecosystem, its likely origins in that ecosystem, and its mechanism of action at the cellular level.