Life Science
The Amplify Science life science units progressively build students’ abilities to master content through a three-dimensional instructional sequence. The following is an overview of the life science units, including a description of the phenomenon and student role students take on in each one.
Available life science units
- Microbiome
- Metabolism
- Metabolism Engineering Internship
- Traits and Reproduction
- Populations and Resources
- Matter and Energy in Ecosystems
- Natural Selection
- Natural Selection Engineering Internship
- Evolutionary History
Microbiome
The presence of 100 trillion microorganisms living on and in the human body may keep the body healthy.
As student researchers, students must figure out why a fecal transplant cured a patient suffering from a deadly C. difficile infection. In the process, they learn about cells and about interactions among organisms.
Metabolism
Elisa, a young patient, feels tired all the time.
Students take on the role of medical students and diagnose a patient whose body systems aren’t working. They learn about cellular respiration and how body systems work together to get molecules to the cells.
Metabolism Engineering Internship
Designing health bars with different molecular compositions can effectively meet the metabolic needs of patients or rescue workers.
As food engineering interns, students apply their knowledge of human metabolism, as well as engineering and design concepts, to design a recipe for an energy bar that meets the needs of populations in areas devastated by natural disasters.
Traits and Reproduction
Darwin’s bark spider offspring have different silk flexibility traits, even though they have the same parents.
Working as student genetic researchers, students investigate the causes of surprising variation in spider silk flexibility. Students learn why organisms — even parents, offspring, and siblings — vary in their traits.
Populations and Resources
The size of the moon jelly population in Glacier Sea has increased.
In their role as student ecologists, students work to uncover the cause of the moon jelly population explosion in Glacier Sea. They learn about how organisms interact in an ecosystem to get the resources they need.
Matter and Energy in Ecosystems
The biodome ecosystem has collapsed.
Students act as ecologists to investigate a failed biodome. In the process, they learn about how matter, carbon in particular, flows through biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem.
Natural Selection
The newt population in Oregon State Park has become more poisonous over time.
In the role of biologists, students investigate how a population of rough-skinned newts in Oregon State Park become incredibly poisonous. They learn about variation, adaptation, and the mechanism of natural selection.
Natural Selection Engineering Internship
Designing malaria treatment plans that use different combinations of drugs can reduce drug resistance development while helping malaria patients.
As biomedical engineering interns, students apply what they have learned about natural selection as well as engineering and design concepts to develop, test, and refine treatments for drug-resistant malaria.
Evolutionary History
A mystery fossil at the Natural History Museum has similarities with both wolves and whales.
In the role of paleontologists, students investigate a fossil recently excavated in Egypt that could be more closely related to whales or to wolves. They learn how the fossil record helps provide evidence for evolutionary relationships.