Finding ideas for biology projects can be a time-sucking task. However, I have 3 FUN, UNIQUE, and LOW teacher prep ideas for biology projects that you could get started with asap! This post will reveal 3 biology ideas for projects that are sure to ignite your students’ creativity.
Biology Ideas for Projects
I am always trying to find or create new activities that challenge my students’ thinking. When I find something new I want to try, I get very excited about it and can’t wait to share it with my students. These 3 project ideas gave me that same feeling and so I am excited to share them with you.
ONE | Animal Cell Cereal Box
A few years ago a teacher friend of mine introduced me to the cereal box projects. She used them for a different purpose, but I loved the idea of creating a project this way. As soon as we started the Cells Unit, I knew that I wanted to use the cereal box as a project. From this idea came the Animal Cell Cereal Box Project.
Students needed to choose an animal cell from the list of cells provided to do their project. Each of the 6 sides of the cereal box is a task that students must do to add to their cereal box. There is also a section for a “prize” to be included inside the cereal box like the children’s cereals include.
Students really get into this project and it does take some time. I would recommend that students have at least a week to get their project completed, especially if you are making it an out-of-class project.
TWO | Human Impact on Environment Dodecahedron
If you are not familiar with dodecahedrons, then this is going to be a real treat for you. Dodecahedrons are also referred to as Bloom balls. A dodecahedron is created into a 3D ball that has 12 sides. Each side has content on it and can be used in just about every discipline. Dodecahedrons are best completed in small groups because they involve a lot of work and effort. Since we want them to be having fun while also learning, I find that small groups of 3 work best.
Human impacts can be taught in so many ways in high school, but I like doing a human impact on environment project to help my students truly understand them. I feel that they learn so much more in creating their own product instead of me lecturing on the various human impacts.
First, I break my class into small groups of 3 to 4 and then I assign each group a human impact.
Each slide of the dodecahedron has information that should be filled in by the students based on their human impact project topic. I give students time in class to work on their research and assemble their projects.
Once students have completed and submitted their projects, I love having the students do a museum walk to observe each group’s human impact project. They go around to each project and complete a handout with information that pertains to each impact. I want them to not only have a deep understanding of their human impact but also the other human impacts.
I grade each group’s project based on their content, peer evaluation, the museum gallery walk, and neatness/creativity.
THREE | Board Game
If you are like me you dread review days, specifically before biology finals or the biology EOC. I have found that students do not participate as much when there is a cram session for a biology final review. In the past, I would play Jeopardy and use whiteboards with them. We would do review stations which were basically just the study guide broken up into different stations. We would do some Kahoot reviews in class.
But, what I found was that these were all techniques that we had been using throughout the school year so they had grown bored of them. That’s when I decided to switch things up.
A few years ago, I saw a teacher using board games in her classroom. She had students create new questions for board games and repurpose them. I decided to put my own take on her idea as a fun way to prepare students for biology finals or the biology EOC. It started off a little rocky because I didn’t really know exactly what requirements to put into the game. Plus, I also did not know how long it would take each of the groups to create a quality board game.
Running the Board Games
In the beginning, I allowed technology where they could create a PowerPoint game. I quickly eliminated that due to logistics and lack of devices. I even allowed them to create games that required balls. However, when one group decided to have a take on beer pong as their game, I eliminated any games that use balls. So what did that leave me with? Board games. Their review games had to be on a board whether they repurposed a game that they already had, or created their own board game from scratch.
I found that most students liked to create their own board games from scratch because it gave them a blank canvas to do exactly what they wanted.
I typically like to start creating the biology review games the week before the biology final exam. Even though you could use this to review for the EOC, I don’t because we are on a block schedule. We tend to have a couple of extra weeks after the EOC. So, I like to use these games to review for their final exam. This would work great if you had time before the EOC as well. Especially if you are on a traditional year-long schedule.
I usually give my students 3 days in class to work on creating their review games. There are very specific and detailed instructions that I discuss with them. This lays down the groundwork for creating their best game.
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