University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Featured article "What makes us tick...tock?" in The Science Teacher

December 5, 2013 - 12:39am -- Logan H. Lauren

The most recent issue of The Science Teacher, a monthly publication for high school science teachers published by the National Science Teacher's Association (NSTA), contains a feature article on how Project NEURON curriculum materials address the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Kristen Talbot and Barbara Hug focus on the "What makes me tick...tock?" unit, taking a particularly close look at Lesson 2, which centers on the driving question "Why do scientists study fruit flies to understand what makes us tick?". Within the lesson, students use a fruit fly simulation to develop and test a model (a scientific practice in the NGSS) on how genes and the environment affect sleep-wake cycles. 

The article is available free online for NSTA members at http://www.nsta.org/highschool/.