Epithelial cell tissue box model
Students can build a realistic model of epithelial cells with a tissue box.
Here’s an article on Skin – the integumentary System
Using a tissue box and some arts & crafts supplies students can build a fairly realistic model.
Similar labs
Skin Tissue Box Directions & Examples
Learning Standards
NGSS
HS-LS1-2 Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms
Disciplinary Core Ideas LS1.A: Structure and Function – Feedback mechanisms maintain a living system’s internal conditions within certain limits and mediate behaviors, allowing it to remain alive and functional even as external conditions change within some range. Feedback mechanisms can encourage (through positive feedback) or discourage (negative feedback) what is going on inside the living system
NGSS Evidence Standards: Observable features of the student performance by the end of the course:
1 – Components of the model – Students develop a model in which they identify and describe the relevant parts (e.g., organ system, organs, and their component tissues) and processes (e.g., transport of fluids, motion) of body systems in multicellular organisms
2 – Relationships – In the model, students describe the relationships between components
3. Connections – (a) Students use the model to illustrate how the interaction between systems provides specific functions in multicellular organisms, and (b) Students make a distinction between the accuracy of the model and actual body systems and functions it represents.
Making a winter cat shelter for outdoor cats
New England winters are beautiful, but they can be awful for feral cats. We have a few cats in our home that we got from a rescue shelter, but often have outdoor cats show up on our porch year round.
During most of the year they are happy to be petted and get some food & water, but it is heartbreaking to see them outside in the cold. So this year I built an affordable, insulated cat shelter for them to take refuge in on cold nights.
We start by purchasing a couple of large plastic storage totes, the larger one was 30 gallons; the one that I used on the inside was 20 gallons.
We need to make an opening about six inches in diameter, on both of these totes, and they need to line up with each other.
The entrance should also be a few inches off of the ground.
How could I line up the 6″ diameter holes? I took a Phillips head screwdriver and heated it up over our gas stove. With a bit of pressure this hot metal went through the outer storage tote and made a mark on the inner one.
From there I was able to use a black Sharpie pen to draw a 6″ diameter circular entrance around that center mark.
Here’s a close up of the interior, we can see the screwdriver has gone right through from the outside to the inner tote.
The next step is using an X-Acto blade to slowly – carefully – cut the plastic. Don’t mess around unless you are confident that you can do this well. If you apply too much pressure, the blade can slip – and if that happens it can cut you fast and deep.
This is the kind of thing to learn with friend who has experience with tools.
Above I cut a hole in the outer tote; below you can see that I have done so with the inner one.
Next we need some 3/4″ to 1″ thick Styrofoam for insulation.
I used 1″ Foamular Project Panels. These came as 1 in. x 2 ft. x 2 ft. panels. They are R-5 rated XPS Rigid Foam Board. You don’t need to use this brand – you can even use styrofoam from shipping containers, cut into correct size pieces.
The exact size doesn’t matter. What we need to do is cut then so that they fit in between inner and outer storage containers. This creates insulation.
Now I’ll just pack the bottom of this with straw. (Not hay!)
An outdoor cat house filled with straw -not hay – will keep your feline friends warm and cozy during the winter. The difference may seem mundane but it can make a world of difference for cats. They look similar, but while straw makes excellent bedding for outdoor cat shelters, hay becomes a soggy mess.
Hay is typically used to feed animals like horses. It soaks up moisture, making it cold and uncomfortable for cats and has the potential to get moldy. And in the winter, a wet bed can even be dangerous, making cats more likely to get sick.
Straw, dry leftover stalks from harvested crops, repels moisture, making it the best bedding for outdoor cat shelters. Loosely pack the straw in the shelter to the quarter or halfway point.
Straw Not Hay for Outdoor Cat Shelters
Some tips –
Don’t place the shelter directly on the cold ground. Use two 2x4s or other materials to raise it off the ground and place straw underneath. This makes it easier for the cats to warm the inside with their body heat.
An awning that covers the opening, made from roll plastic or heavy plastic garbage bags, provides more insulation, helps keep the rain and wind from entering , and makes the cats feel safer.
Lightweight shelters need to be secured against the wind. Put a couple of five- to 10-pound flat barbell weights on the floor of the shelter under the bedding. Or put heavy, flat rocks or pavers/bricks on the lid/top.
One could place two shelters with the doorways facing each other and put a large board on top of both shelters – this weighs the shelters down and provides a protected entryway.
Cultural and Historical Origins of Trigonometry
Cultural and Historical Origins of Trigonometry
This is a deep-dive resource explaining what trigonometry really is, and why we humans invented it. Contrary to student misperceptions, math isn’t about formulas or passing standardized exams. It was invented by real people for real reasons.
This resource is a pedagogically responsible way to show the importance of diversity and inclusion: we cover the development of trigonometry from the ancient Bithynians, Macedonians, Greeks, Egyptians, Indians, Arabs, and Chinese. It offers may ways for students to show achievement and success.
Learning Standards for this lesson include Common Core Mathematics; Common Core ELA; Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies; and the National Council for the Social Studies.
Download the entire resource for high school teachers here – Cultural and historical origins of trigonometry (TpT)
and here you can find all of my products at Teachers Pay Teachers, including many free downloads –
KaiserScience TpT resources
Also see our resources on diversity and inclusion in STEM.
How teachers can embody cultural responsiveness (and some things to avoid)
Janice Wyatt-Ross, EdD, offers us this.
As we prepare to send our children back to school for another year, my passion and my desire is for all classrooms to embody cultural responsiveness.
Because many teachers and administrators don’t know what it means to be culturally responsive, they dismiss and minimize my message. I’ve had supervisors actually tell me that I have no clue about cultural responsiveness, and I am trying to make something out of nothing. They make the incorrect assumption that culturally responsiveness is about race. It’s not about race at all. It’s about teaching children. Point-blank-period.
For far too long we have allowed the educational system to infuse holiday celebrations, foods from around the world and rapping take the place of teaching children. Bribing with candy, chips, and other treats are used as classroom/behavior management strategies instead of teachers talking with and getting to know students and their families.
To make my point, I will use the analogy of teaching my teenager to drive a car. There is no specific driving manual for teaching an African American female how to drive just as there is no specific manual for teaching a Muslim male how to drive a car.
There is one manual and one manual only. What may change is the language in which the manual is printed but the content is the same. That is being culturally responsive. The terms I use may change. I may say press the accelerator or I may say press the gas pedal. The vocabulary changed to fit what the child is more familiar with but not once did I bring race into the planning of the driving lesson.
My passion for teachers to teach children and not ignore who they are is very personal. I have been an advocate for children with special needs for more than 30 years. My passion for culturally responsiveness goes back even further.
Five years ago, my youngest child was in a classroom all year and not one time did the teacher try to learn how to pronounce her name. Another teacher didn’t even know my child was in her advanced level class. Even worse another teacher had commented to other students that she felt my oldest daughter had cheated all year because she consistently made an A in the science class. This teacher did not bother to consider the fact that my child excels in math and science.
I live in a state that classifies my children as “gap kids” because they are Black and because they consider any and all poor and/or minority students as “gap.” That assumption is incorrect and discriminatory.
Parents, please increase your level of involvement to hold the teachers, administrators, and students accountable. Communicate with them at least once a month. Ask questions, ask them to update the grade book each week. Email is a great tool to document your efforts.
Take a stand if not for your child, then for someone else’s child.
Related topics
Diversity & Inclusion in STEM
Best Practices When Teaching About Native American Peoples
5 Ways to Show You Care for Your Black Students: Education Week
How to be an ally to Jewish students and families
How Kids Can Be Allies – Nickelodeon Parents
Consider Student Voices Striving to Understand Student Experiences to Support Learning and Growth
Uplifting Student Voices Sustaining Student Voice in Decision Making
Classic African American leaders on the value of education
Iberian, Spanish, Latino, Hispanic – Terminology
Girls, society, sexism, and careers in STEM
Why are there fewer women in STEM? Have you looked at social media and the magazines for girls and women? They are toxic stews of strict gender stereotyping which promotes mindless consumerism, vapidness, and an obsession with youth and thinness.
These magazines, TV shows, and social media influencers are not solely written by males; about half of the people involved are women. This is not (as social media claims would have us believe) organized patriarchy oppressing women, but rather ingrained cultural norms simply accepted by both many women and men.
Studies have shown that such cultural norms increases incidence of anxiety, anorexia, and other issues. For a painful example of what these social norms often lead to, compare these covers of Boys Life magazine and Girls Life magazine. As such, I wish for us to recognize and question these social norms, and offer an alternative.
I’m a proud father of a teenage girl, and I am proud to role model something very different than what secular American society offers. My daughter is exposed to the arts, science, music, philosophy, the classic texts of our religious heritage. I take her to museums and show her how science actually works.
____________________________
A couple of weeks ago we ran a piece about an image that was posted on social media and went viral. It was a side-by-side shot of this Girls’ Life magazine cover (left, lead image) next to the cover of Boys’ Life magazine that served as a harsh reminder of the stereotyped messages that, even in the year 2016, are STILL marketing to girls. We weren’t the only ones ticked-off by the image. After seeing it posted on her Facebook feed, Katherine Young, a graphic designer, took matters into her own hands and decided to show Girls’ Life what their cover SHOULD look like.
“When I saw the post I was just in frickin’ shock,” Katherine said. “Can this be real? Is this photo fake? After Googling current issues of these two magazines I found them to be real. I was just appalled.”
Putting her graphic skills to work, in just a few minutes, Katherine swapped out the cover girl for Olivia Hallisey, the 2015 Google Science Fair Grand Prize winner, and photoshopped in some new, inspired and empowering headlines. The result? A magazine cover that offers girls better alternatives to tips on how to “Wake up Pretty.”
Katherine was motivated to change the cover so that others will be more aware of the messages they are sending to girls. “We can do better. I hope this cover inspires us all to do better every day and be more conscious of the imagery our children are bombarded with,” she said in an email to WYSK. “I hope this sparks conversation with both girls and boys. They all need to know that girls are more than a pretty face.”
Appalled Graphic Designer Shows Girls’ Life Magazine What Their Cover Should Look Like
Here is what the cover was changed to
Further reading
Let the girls learn! It is not only about math … it’s about gender social norms
What Kind of a Girl Does Science? The Construction of School Science Identities
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Pedagogical strategies
Image by Gerd Altmann, Pixabay, Free for commercial use
5E Model (a modelling method)
The 5E model is a constructivist science learning method created in the late 1980s by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS Science Learning) team. The method usually has 5 steps –
Engage, student’s interest is captured,
Explore, student constructs knowledge through facilitated questioning and observation
Explain, students are asked to explain what they have discovered. Instructor leads discussion of topic to refine the students’ understanding.
Extend (Elaborate), students asked to apply what they have learned to different situations,
Evaluate.
ADI (argument driven inquiry)
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Arts-Integrated Pedagogy
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Augmented Reality
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Clock Ringers
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CER – Claims Evidence Reasoning
CER – Scientific Method topics from the AMNH
CER – River ecology Scientific Method from the AMNH
Close reading strategies
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Concept maps
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Flipped classroom
This shifts instruction to a learner-centered model. Students take responsibility to learn the content at home, usually through video lessons prepared by the teacher or third parties, and readings from textbooks.
In-class lessons include activity learning, homework problems, using manipulatives, doing labs, presentations, project-based learning, skill development, etc. An early example of this was called Peer Instruction by Harvard Professor Eric Mazur, in the early 1990s.
Just-in-Time Teaching
There is no hard line between any two different approaches Just-In-Time teaching, for instance, may be considered halfway between traditional teaching methods, including homework, and the flipped classroom.
JiTT relies on pre-class assignments completed by students before class meetings. These assignments are usually completed online. The pre-class assignments cover the material that will be introduced in the subsequent class, and should be answered based on students’ reading or other preparation. The idea is to create incentive for students to complete the assigned reading before class. At college level, teachers make the pre-class assignment due at least 1 hour before class. This allows the faculty member to review the students’ answers before class.
High Interest Articles
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Interactive Lecture Demonstrations
A three step process in which the teacher has the students
Predict the outcome of the demonstration. Individually, and then with a partner, students explain to each other which of a set of possible outcomes is most likely to occur.
Experience the demonstration. Working in small groups, students conduct an experiment, take a survey, or work with data to determine whether their initial beliefs were confirmed (or not).
Reflect on the outcome. Students think about why they held their initial belief and in what ways the demonstration confirmed or contradicted this belief.
Jigsawing
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Note-taking: Cornell notes, Guided notes & Harvard notes
Pogils
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Point of Entry Method/Point of entry instruction (POEM)
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Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
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NGSS Three dimensional learning
NGSS has three distinct components
1. Disciplinary Core Ideas, 2. Cross Cutting Concepts, and 3. Science & Engineering Practices.
NGSS Three Dimensional Learning
Teaching Channel NGSS 3 dimensional teaching
KnowAtom’s blog – Explore the 3 Dimensions
Pedagogical theory
Bloom’s Taxonomy: Use and misuse
Bloom’s Taxonomy: Thinking well requires knowing facts (content and skills)
Levels – Levels of high school science classes
Honors – Why schools should offer Honors classes
Learning new information relies on having already existing knowledge.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – claims and reality
Students need to engage in internal mental reflection
Thinking well requires knowing facts
Tier I, II and III vocabulary
Learning styles and multiple intelligences
Reframing the Mind. Howard Gardner and the theory of multiple intelligences, By Daniel T. Willingham
Self esteem and students
Articles by cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham
Challenges with modern students
Research – Declining Student Resilience: A Serious Problem for Colleges
Research – The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by age 3
Article – The Writing Revolution: Students’ inability to translate thoughts into coherent, well-argued paragraphs impedes achievement
The Racism Behind Beliefs About Ancient Aliens – Pseudoarchaeology
Julien Benoit writes
Some of the most impressive buildings and cities ever made by humans can be found in Africa: the ruined city of Great Zimbabwe, Mapungubwe in South Africa, Kenya’s Gedi Ruins and Meroe in Sudan. Perhaps the most awe-inspiring of these are the last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Great Pyramid of Giza, in Egypt.
This should come as no surprise. Africa has an extensive archaeological record, extending as far back as 3.3 million years ago when the first-ever stone tool was made in what is today Kenya. The continent’s cultural complexity and diversity is well established; it is home to the world’s oldest-known pieces of art. And, of course, it is the birth place of modern humans’ ancient ancestors, Homo sapiens.
Despite all this evidence, some people still refuse to believe that anyone from Africa (or anywhere in what is today considered the developing world) could possibly have created and constructed the Giza pyramids or other ancient masterpieces. Instead, they credit ancient astronauts, extraterrestrials or time travellers as the real builders.
Well, you may ask, so what? Who cares if relatively few people don’t believe the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids? What’s the harm? Actually, there is great harm: firstly, these people try to prove their theories by travelling the world and desecrating ancient artefacts. Secondly, they perpetuate and give air to the racist notion that only Europeans – white people – ever were and ever will be capable of such architectural feats.
Chris Riedel, a medieval history professor, writes
That’s what the ancient aliens theory does: it discredits the origins of civilizations, and almost entirely of non-white civilizations. People may suggest Stonehenge was built by aliens – but do the suggest the Roman Forum or Parthenon were? No.
And no offense to Stonehenge, a great site which I love, it doesn’t hold a candle to the Pyramids at Giza. That’s comparing apples and oranges. The Great Pyramid was the tallest man mad structure on Earth until the Eiffel Tower was built four thousand years later.
Alien Astronauts is also applied to much later structures like the Nazca lines, the Moai, or Machi Picchu. It’s just a more recent take on the old unifying theories of Atlantis or the Ten Lost Tribes, and it has the same ethnocentric impulse. Namely, an aversion to accepting the independent creativity of peoples outside of “Western” tradition, seen as originating in Greece. Notably I have never heard a whisper of alien astronauts around the origins of the Mycenaeans, Minoans, or Romans. A similar take was the many, many attempts to explain the Great Zimbabwe as a creation of literally anyone but the ancestors of the local African population.
Even the History Channel is guilty of this
Alexander Zaitchik writes
Over the last decade, the History Channel has exploited and fueled the popularization of alternative archeology, or alt-history. Numerous programs on the network showcase ideas that, while not explicitly racist or anti-Semitic, have origins in colonial projects and have been championed (for a reason) by modern extremists.
Take “America Unearthed,” which aired between 2012 and 2015 on H2, a defunct History Channel network. That show’s host, a geologist named Scott Wolter, promoted theories that ancient Celts and Scots settled North America and hybridized Native Americans centuries before Columbus….
Whatever the personal politics of the host, these shows serve as vectors for racist ideas and scholarship, argues the independent scholar Jason Colavito, who has been tracking this cultural crossover and amplification of fringe history for years. In books like Foundations of Atlantis, Ancient Astronauts, and Other Alternative Pasts, Colavito explores and debunks many of the ideas promoted on the History Channel and far right websites alike.
“These shows serve as entry points for discredited nineteenth-century ideas and point viewers toward the sources of extremist pseudo-scholarship and politics,” says Colavito. “The idea that aliens built the pyramids isn’t so funny when it draws young people to websites that quickly switch out aliens for Jews and start talking about gas chambers.”
References
Is pseudoarchaeology racist? Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews, Bad Archaeology 1/12/2014
https://badarchaeology.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/is-pseudoarchaeology-racist/
The Racism Behind Alien Mummy Hoaxes: Pre-Columbian bodies are once again being used as evidence for extraterrestrial life. By Christopher Heaney, The Atlantic, 8/1/2017
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/how-to-fake-an-alien-mummy/535251/
What Archaeologists Really Think About Ancient Aliens, Lost Colonies, And Fingerprints Of The Gods, Kristina Killgrove, Forbes, 9/3/2015
Close encounters of the racist kind, Alexander Zaitchik, Southern Poverty Law Center, 1/2/2018
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/01/02/close-encounters-racist-kind
White Settlers Buried the Truth About the Midwest’s Mysterious Mound Cities
Pioneers and early archaeologists credited distant civilizations, not Native Americans, with building these sophisticated complexes. By Sarah E. Baires, Zócalo Public Square, Smithsonian Magazine, 2/23/2018
Benyera writes “Western denialists would rather attribute the Great Zimbabwe to aliens, who do not exist, than attribute them to the Shona people and the Africans who exist and who built them. The denial of the Shona people of their intellectual ownership, among others of the Great Zimbabwe, Khami ruins, is theft of history.”
Colonialism, the Theft of History and the Quest for Justice for Africa, Everisto Benyera, in “Social and Legal Theory in the Age of Decoloniality: (re-)envisioning Pan-African Jurisprudence in the 21st Century” , Artwell Nhemachena, Tapiwa Victor Warikandwa, S. K. Amoo, Langaa RPCIG, Cameroon, 2018
Racism is behind outlandish theories about Africa’s ancient architecture, Julien Benoit, The Conversation, 9/17/2017
Pseudoarchaeology and the Racism Behind Ancient Aliens, Sarah E. Bond, Hyperallergic, 11/13/2018
Examples of pseudoarchaeology
Erich von Däniken, Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past, 1968
Did Aliens Build the Pyramids? Cryptid, Exemplore, 4/15/2022
https://exemplore.com/ufos-aliens/Did-Aliens-Build-Pyramids
Why did two German ‘hobbyists’ deface a cartouche of Khufu inside the Great Pyramid and what does it have to do with Atlantis? Jamie Seidel, news.com.au, 1/16/2014
Related articles
Pseudoscience
Science versus other ways of knowing
Science denialism vs skepticism
The thinking error at the root of science denial
Pitfalls on Multicultural Science Education
Fraud in Science
Science and Discovery channels no longer teaching science
The science wars: postmodernism as a threat against truth and reason
Learning Objectives
A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (2012)
Implementation: Curriculum, Instruction, Teacher Development, and Assessment
“Through discussion and reflection, students can come to realize that scientific inquiry embodies a set of values. These values include respect for the importance of logical thinking, precision, open-mindedness, objectivity, skepticism, and a requirement for transparent research procedures and honest reporting of findings.”
Amazing books on quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics is humanity’s most astounding achievement in understanding how our universe works. It completely upends our ordinary understanding of matter, time, and space, yet does so in a way that is mathematically rigorous – and testable. What books can we, as intelligent readers – yet without a background in physics – read to learn more?
The Cosmic Code: Quantum Physics as the Language of Nature, Heinz R. Pagels
One of the best books on quantum mechanics for general readers. Heinz Pagels, an eminent physicist and science writer, discusses the core concepts without resorting to complicated mathematics. He covers the development of quantum physics. And although this is an intellectually challenging topics, he is one of the few popular physics writers to discuss the development and meaning of Bell’s theorem. Anecdotes from the personal documents of Einstein, Oppenheimer, Bohr, and Planck offer intimate glimpses of the scientists whose work forever changed the world.
Quantum Reality: Beyond the New Physics, Nick Herbert
Herbert brings us from the “we’ve almost solved all of physics!” era of the early 1900s through the unexpected experiments which forced us to develop a new and bizarre model of the universe, quantum mechanics. He starts with unexpected results, such as the “ultraviolet catastrophe,” and then brings us on a tour of the various ways that modern physicists developed quantum mechanics.
And note that there isn’t just one QM theory – there are several! Werner Heisenberg initially developed QM using a type of math called matrix mechanics, while Erwin Schrödinger created an entirely different way of explaining things using wave mechanics. Yet despite their totally different math languages – we soon discovered that both ways of looking at the world were logically equivalent, and made the same predictions. Herbert discussed the ways that Paul Dirac and Richard Feynman saw QM, and he describes eight very different interpretations of quantum mechanics, all of which nonetheless are consistent with observation…
In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality, John Gribbon
“John Gribbin takes us step by step into an ever more bizarre and fascinating place, requiring only that we approach it with an open mind. He introduces the scientists who developed quantum theory. He investigates the atom, radiation, time travel, the birth of the universe, superconductors and life itself. And in a world full of its own delights, mysteries and surprises, he searches for Schrodinger’s Cat – a search for quantum reality – as he brings every reader to a clear understanding of the most important area of scientific study today – quantum physics.”
The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory, Brian Greene
“Brian Greene, one of the world’s leading string theorists, peels away the layers of mystery surrounding string theory to reveal a universe that consists of eleven dimensions, where the fabric of space tears and repairs itself, and all matter—from the smallest quarks to the most gargantuan supernovas—is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy…. Today physicists and mathematicians throughout the world are feverishly working on one of the most ambitious theories ever proposed: superstring theory. String theory, as it is often called, may be the key to the Unified Field Theory that eluded Einstein for more than thirty years.”
What are amino acids and proteins?
What are amino acids and proteins? This is where biology meets chemistry. It is critical to know the basics of this to understand health, nutrition, and medicine.
Short version:
Amino acids are small organic molecules found in most of our foods.
We eat amino acids, and our cells bond them together into longer molecules – proteins.
Just as we build a house out of wood logs or panels, we build proteins out of amino acids.
Image from Ajinomoto Group, What are amino acids?
Each protein has their own important job in our bodies.
And not just in our bodies – amino acids & proteins play the same basic roles in all life on Earth!
What are amino acids?
They are small organic molecules.
What are organic molecules? They are any molecule based on carbons and hydrogens connected together.
Below, each sphere is an atom. Black is carbon, white is hydrogen, and red is oxygen.
Each one of these is a different shape.
What makes them organic is that they are based on chains of C and H attached together.
So there about about 20 different common types amino acids.
We aren’t showing the exact shapes here. Just know that there are about twenty different varieties.
Adapted from an image by Troy Day, mast.queensu.ca
Like individual Lego blocks, most of these don’t do much by themselves.
They do become when they are bonded together into something larger.
Amino acids bond to build something larger
A monomer is any simple chemical by itself.
A polymers is many of the same chemicals, just bonded together.
Here we can see some amino acids (reds, blues) bonding together into a complex structure.
Here we see (many of) 2 monomers, repeatedly being connected to form a polymer.
From http://www.dynamicscience.com.au/tester/solutions1/chemistry/monomers%20DM.htm
Here’s another way to show amino acids bonding together.
From tradecorpaustralia.com.au, Amino Acids Peptides and Proteins
Proteins fold up into three dimensional shapes
Amino acids are three dimensional objects, but are very tiny and thin. Even when they link up together, how do they do anything? They need to be built into a three dimensional structure.
Consider an old fashioned plastic model kit. Each of the pieces, individually, is small, somewhat flat-ish.
We cut them out and assemble them together to make a three dimensional machine, like this:
images from modelcartips.com
The same is true for proteins; these tiny amino acids link together & then fold up to make a beautiful, three dimensional object.
Each of these has their own job in the body.
How specifically do these chains of amino acids fold up into a 3D protein?
Here we see
from AskABiologist on Youtube, by DeLano Scientific using PyMo
If you have time then see this app: Protein folding
What foods have amino acids/proteins?
Many plants are high in protein.
Meat, fish, seafood, and fowl all are high in protein.
Jobs of proteins?
Gatekeeping proteins
Some proteins float in a cell’s lipid bilayer (cell membrane)
Some of these proteins control which molecules enter or leave the cell.
For example, some membrane proteins say to nearby molecules:
While those same membrane protein molecules will let the right ones through:
Here is a membrane protein (in purple) floating in the cell membrane, letting certain molecules through.
from the Virtual Cell Web Page
Hormone proteins
Some proteins act as messengers. They’re released in one part of the body and travel to another part.
Here we see protein hormones moving from the brain, thru our bloodstream, down to our kidneys.
And other proteins are travelling from the kidneys back up to the brain.
from Mar Vista Animal Medical Center, marvistavet.com
Structural (building) proteins
The organelles in our cells are made of proteins (and other types of molecules as well.)
Hair and nails structure
These are made mostly of of protein
Bone proteins
Bone is is a matrix of protein fibers and minerals
Immune system
Antibodies are a special type of protein
Antibodies have a special shape which lets them attach to bacteria or viruses.
Enzymes
Chemical reactions in our cells, by themselves, are too slow.
Some proteins are specially shaped to speed up these reactions.
Such reaction-speeder-up proteins are called enzymes.
from dynamicscience.com.au
Skin pigments
These are colorful proteins.
Eye pigments
These are colorful proteins.
Learning Standards
8.MS-PS1-1. Develop a model to describe that (a) atoms combine in a multitude of ways to produce pure substances which make up all of the living and nonliving things that we encounter, (b) atoms form molecules and compounds that range in size from two to thousands of atoms, and (c) mixtures are composed of different proportions of pure substances.
Clarification Statement: Examples of molecular-level models could include drawings, three-dimensional ball and stick structures, and computer representations showing different molecules with different types of atoms.
HS-LS1-6. Construct an explanation based on evidence that organic molecules are primarily composed of six elements, where carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms may combine with nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus to form monomers that can further combine to form large carbon-based macromolecules.
Clarification Statements:
• Monomers include amino acids, mono- and disaccharides, nucleotides, and fatty acids.
• Organic macromolecules include proteins, carbohydrates (polysaccharides), nucleic acids, and lipids.
Disciplinary Core Idea Progression Matrix: PS1.A Structure of matter
That matter is composed of atoms and molecules can be used to explain the properties of substances, diversity of materials, how mixtures will interact, states of matter, phase changes, and conservation of matter.
What are amino acids and proteins? Honors
What are amino acids and proteins? This is where biology meets chemistry. It is critical to know the basics of this to understand health, nutrition, and medicine.
Short version:
Amino acids are small organic molecules found in most of our foods.
We eat amino acids, and our cells bond them together into longer molecules – proteins.
Just as we build a house out of wood logs or panels, we build proteins out of amino acids.
Image from Ajinomoto Group, What are amino acids?
Each protein has their own important job in our bodies.
And not just in our bodies – amino acids & proteins play the same basic roles in all life on Earth!
What are amino acids?
They are small organic molecules.
They all have a small group on one side with Nitrogen and a couple of Hydrogens (the amino group)
and a C, O, and OH on the other side (the carboxyl group)
They all have this same structure.
They only vary in one place – where it says “R”, the “R”est of the molecule. That side chain has a lot of variety.
So there about about 20 different common types amino acids.
Adapted from an image by Troy Day, mast.queensu.ca
Amino acids are bonded together to make peptides, or proteins.
Amino acids bond together into something larger
A monomer is any simple chemical by itself.
A polymers is many of the same chemicals, just bonded together.
Here we can see some amino acids (reds, blues) bonding together into a complex structure.
Here we see (many of) 2 monomers, repeatedly being connected to form a polymer.
From http://www.dynamicscience.com.au/tester/solutions1/chemistry/monomers%20DM.htm
Here is another way to show amino acids bonding together into something more complex.
From tradecorpaustralia.com.au, Amino Acids Peptides and Proteins
Making a peptide bond
Oh, you want to know the chemistry, the details>
When two amino acids join, one of the amino acid’s loses an H atom.
The other amino acids loses an OH.
Those extra pieces then join together to form H2O (water.) That H2O floats away in the cell.
Then the N on the left molecules bonds with the C on the right molecule. They fuse to make a peptide bond.
This is a condensation reaction.
Doc Kaiser’s Microbiology Home Page (Gary E. Kaiser)
Here’s another animation of the same process
The link created is called a peptide bond (red)
Water (blue) is removed.
This process can be continued to form longer proteins.
BioTopics.co.uk by Richard Steane
Here is yet another way to show this process:
Proteins fold up into three dimensional shapes
Then it folds up into a 3D shape – that’s a protein.
These proteins each have their own job in the body.
Here is a great app that teaches us about protein folding – Protein folding
What foods have amino acids and proteins?
Many plants are high in protein.
Meat, fish, seafood, and fowl all are high in protein.
.
What are some jobs of proteins?
Some proteins float in a cell’s lipid bilayer (cell membrane)
These proteins control which molecules enter or leave the cell.
Some proteins are hormones (chemical messengers.)
They’re released in one part of the body and travel to another part.
from Mar Vista Animal Medical Center, marvistavet.com
The organelles in our cells are made of proteins (and other types of molecules as well.)
Hair and nails are made of protein
Bone is is a matrix of protein fibers and minerals
What about our immune system? Antibodies are a special type of protein!
Antibodies have a special shape which lets them attach to bacteria or viruses.
Where else do we use proteins?
Chemical reactions in our cells, by themselves, are too slow.
Some proteins are specially shaped to speed up these reactions.
Such reaction-speeder-up proteins are called enzymes.
from dynamicscience.com.au
Skin pigments are from colorful proteins.
Eye pigments are from colorful proteins.
Learning Standards
8.MS-PS1-1. Develop a model to describe that (a) atoms combine in a multitude of ways to produce pure substances which make up all of the living and nonliving things that we encounter, (b) atoms form molecules and compounds that range in size from two to thousands of atoms, and (c) mixtures are composed of different proportions of pure substances.
Clarification Statement: Examples of molecular-level models could include drawings, three-dimensional ball and stick structures, and computer representations showing different molecules with different types of atoms.
HS-LS1-6. Construct an explanation based on evidence that organic molecules are primarily composed of six elements, where carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms may combine with nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus to form monomers that can further combine to form large carbon-based macromolecules.
Clarification Statements:
• Monomers include amino acids, mono- and disaccharides, nucleotides, and fatty acids.
• Organic macromolecules include proteins, carbohydrates (polysaccharides), nucleic acids, and lipids.
Disciplinary Core Idea Progression Matrix: PS1.A Structure of matter
That matter is composed of atoms and molecules can be used to explain the properties of substances, diversity of materials, how mixtures will interact, states of matter, phase changes, and conservation of matter.
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