Apply today for the HHMI BioInteractive Ambassador Academy! The Academy is a multi-year professional development experience designed to support evidence-based teaching practices. We’re looking for educators with diverse backgrounds and teaching contexts who are committed to centering equity in their classrooms.
In this phenomenon-driven activity, students investigate how cells are signaled to make melanin and explain how mutations in melanin pathway proteins affect the coat color of various organisms.
In this inquiry-based activity, students investigate the phenomenon of fur colors in rock pocket mice to connect genotypes to phenotypes and molecular genetics to evolution.
This activity builds on information presented in the short film Genes as Medicine. Students interpret actual pedigrees to determine the inheritance pattern of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), an inherited form of blindness. They also examine protein sequence data to explore mutations that can cause LCA.
In this hands-on activity, students review the steps of eukaryotic gene expression and learn how this knowledge can be used to treat different genetic conditions. The activity reinforces concepts covered in the Click & Learn “Central Dogma and Genetic Medicine.”
This activity supports the film Popped Secret: The Mysterious Origin of Corn. Students analyze data on the expression of the tb1 gene to explain how variations in this gene played a role in the evolution of corn.
This interactive module uses the central dogma as a model for exploring how modern molecular biology technologies can be used to treat different genetic conditions.
In this activity, students explore how experimental work in zebrafish led to a better understanding of the role of the gene SLC24A5 in human skin color. The activity complements the film The Biology of Skin Color.
In this activity, students extend the concepts covered in the short film The Biology of Skin Color through the application of models and mathematical thinking to explain how genomic variation and human ancestry can explain differences in skin color, a polygenic trait.
In this activity, students further explore the short film Popped Secret: The Mysterious Origin of Corn, by working through the mathematical concepts behind George Beadle’s claim that teosinte is the wild ancestor of maize.