Science One-Pagers

All year Science and Engineering Practices

Embedded in every PWCS unit

• Bio Tool #8 SOL Challenge Questions — original practice questions on the concepts students find hardest, each answered with the reasoning and where to study, rated as a Schwebach challenge, a Virginia challenge, or both Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · 72 Challenge questions across all ten units, plus Practice sets by unit and learning target as each unit’s set is written (Unit 2 first) · warm-up mode for the projector · permanent question numbers for feedback slips and Canvas tasks · SOL BIO.1–8
• Bio Tool #29 Schwebach SOL Review — the whole Biology SOL one unit at a time, for any student with or without Canvas: three warm-up questions, the five ideas the unit's questions keep returning to with a drawing for each, practice with every answer explained, and what to practice next Interactive · works on iPads · prints a two-page paper version · 45 minutes · nothing submitted · SOL BIO.2–BIO.8
• Bio Tool #16 Which Paw? Sixteen Scientists and the Four Paws — a team discussion game on Battlefield’s CHIP values: read a true story, place the scientist under Courage, Honesty, Impact or Purpose, bet on your reasoning, and argue to move it, from Semmelweis and the handwashing ward to Barry Marshall drinking the bacteria Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · about 25 minutes · Advisory mode for any class, grades 9–12, and Advanced mode for science · this month’s paw follows the school calendar · short link scienceonepagers.org/chip · SOL BIO.1 · DRAFT, under review
• Bio Tool #30 SOL Biology: A Biochemistrypedia Resource Guide by PWCS Unit — where each free lesson from the University of Virginia’s Biochemistrypedia fits in the ten PWCS units, with the hard spot each one helps with and an easier and a harder lesson beside it Guide to another site · 33 Virginia SOL lessons filed by unit · film, simulation and self-test in each · no login · SOL BIO.1–BIO.8

Unit 0 Characteristics of Life and Lab Safety

The first days of the year · before Unit 1

• Bio Tool #8 Unit 0 Practice Questions — 24 original questions on lab safety, fair tests, living or nonliving, and the characteristics of life, each wrong answer explained; open one learning target with ?lt=0.1 to 0.3 Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · LT 0.1–0.3 · SOL BIO.1, BIO.3, BIO.4a

Unit 1 Biochemistry

PWCS pacing guide · Quarter 1 · 11 blocks

• Bio Tool #2 Biochemistry Vocabulary Crosswords — three puzzles, one for each learning target: water, macromolecules, and enzymes Interactive · works on iPads · checks its own letters · about 40 minutes for all three · SOL BIO.2a, 2b, 2c · PWCS LT 1.1, 1.2, 1.3
• Bio Tool #8 Unit 1 Practice Questions — 46 original SOL-style questions on water, the four macromolecules and enzymes, each wrong answer explained; open one learning target with ?lt=1.1 to 1.3 Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · answers checked one at a time · LT 1.1–1.3 · SOL BIO.2a, 2b, 2c · PWCS Module 1
• Bio Tool #10 The Water Patch — drag water molecules until hydrogen bonds snap into place, then freeze, boil, stir and salt them; a second module folds a protein in water and runs an enzyme through induced fit and catalysis Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · two modules, nine steps, about 45 minutes · set the toggle to 9th Grade SOL Bio · SOL BIO.2a, 2c · PWCS LT 1.1, 1.3
• Bio Tool #17 The Macromolecule Patch — snap sugars, amino acids and nucleotides into chains and count the water that leaves at every link, split them again with the right enzyme, take an egg apart, sort molecules by job, read a molecule from its parts and test real foods with indicator drops Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · six steps, about 30 minutes · set the toggle to 9th Grade SOL Bio · SOL BIO.2b · PWCS LT 1.2
• Biology #19 The Gila Monster’s Glycine: One Amino Acid That Keeps a Signal Alive CER reading, first used in Unit 4 · Unit 1 words in a new case: enzyme, active site, substrate, amino acid, protein shape, fatty acid · why one swapped amino acid keeps an enzyme from cutting · SOL BIO.2b, 2c

Unit 2 Cell Structure & Function

PWCS pacing guide · Quarter 1 · 8 blocks

• Bio Tool #8 SOL Practice, Unit 2 — thirty original practice questions on cell theory, cell types and organelles, homeostasis, the membrane and transport, filed by learning target, each answered with the reasoning and the standard it was written from Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · multiple choice, select-all, ordering and matching · projector warm-up mode · SOL BIO.3a, 3b, 3d, 2a · PWCS LT 2.1–2.5
• Bio Tool #5 The Membrane Patch — build a piece of plasma membrane one molecule at a time, turn it in three dimensions, and run its aquaporin, its Na⁺/K⁺ pump and its receptor Interactive 3D · works on iPads · nothing submitted · nine steps, about 25 minutes · set the toggle to Biology I · SOL BIO.3d, 3b, 2b · PWCS Module 2 · ▶ walk-through video
• Bio Tool #6 Four Classes, One Membrane — a tappable cross-section of the membrane with a class filter, animated passive and active transport, and a tonicity beaker Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · about 15 minutes · five-question quick check · SOL BIO.3d
• Bio Tool #7 The Membrane, Built From All Four — the same cross-section drawn plainly, part by part, with an eight-question self-check on transport, tonicity, the fluid mosaic and junctions Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · about 15 minutes · eight-question self-check · SOL BIO.3d
• Bio Tool #13 Cell Check — fifteen questions across the five Module 2 learning targets, from what makes something a theory to how a cell moves material across its membrane, each with the reasoning and something to draw Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · about 12 minutes · LT 2.1–2.5 · set the tab to Biology I · SOL BIO.3a, 3b, 3d · PWCS Module 2 · ▶ walk-through video
• Bio Tool #18 The Protein Route — follow one insulin molecule out of a pancreas cell: the copy leaves the nucleus, a ribosome links the chain on the rough ER, the Golgi sorts four proteins to four places, blood sugar opens the packets, then block a stop and see what piles up Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · seven steps, about 20 minutes · set the switch to SOL Bio · LT 2.2 and 2.5 · SOL BIO.3b · PWCS Module 2, Lesson 2 and Lesson 6 · ▶ walk-through video
• Bio Tool #19 The Cancer Pathway — one skin cell stops listening to its neighbors; watch its descendants pile into a tumor, pull in a blood supply, break through the layer under the tissue, ride the bloodstream and start a second tumor in the lung Animation · watch only, nothing to answer · about a minute and a half on a loop · Projector mode for the front of the room · LT 2.3 · SOL BIO.3 · PWCS Module 2, cancer project launch
• Bio Tool #21 Cell Structure and Function Vocabulary Crosswords — seven puzzles across the five learning targets: cell theory and how science knows, two kinds of cells, organelles working together, one cell or many and homeostasis, the membrane, and passive and active transport Interactive · works on iPads · checks its own letters · 78 terms, about 10 minutes a puzzle · SOL BIO.3a, 3b, 3d · PWCS LT 2.1–2.5
• Bio Tool #22 The Mechanism Reel: a receptor that never lets the signal in — the signal molecule docks on the outside and stays there, while inside the cell a relay carries the message on and the calcium stores open Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · six steps, about 15 minutes · predict before every step · opens in SOL Bio words · SOL BIO.3d · PWCS Module 2 · the printed figure is the still at the end
• Bio Tool #23 More Than Organelles: The Cell Song — a review song for the whole unit, one lyric line to a bar over an original band; eight looping scenes show each part’s job and then break it, from cell theory and the protein route to the membrane and transport Animation and music · watch, rap along or record your own · about six minutes, or loop one scene while you teach · tempo 70–100 · Projector mode · LT 2.0–2.5 · SOL BIO.3 · PWCS Module 2 review · ▶ take 1 video
• Bio Tool #25 The Mechanism Reel: downhill is free, uphill is paid for — a channel and a pump side by side: sodium falls in through the channel on its own, while the pump spends one ATP to push three sodium out and bring two potassium in, one direction at a time Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · three steps, about 10 minutes · predict before every step · opens in SOL Bio words · SOL BIO.3 · PWCS LT 2.5 Cell Transport · the printed figure is the still at the end
• Biology #19 The Gila Monster’s Glycine: One Amino Acid That Keeps a Signal Alive CER reading, first used in Unit 4 · Unit 2 words in a new case: a hormone binds a receptor on the cell surface and the pancreas releases insulin, the same cell the Protein Route follows · SOL BIO.3b, 3d

Unit 3 Cell Energetics

PWCS pacing guide · Quarters 1–2 · 7 blocks

• Bio Tool #8 Unit 3 Practice Questions — 42 original SOL-style questions on ATP, photosynthesis, respiration and how the two connect, each wrong answer explained; open one learning target with ?lt=3.1 to 3.4 Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · answers checked one at a time · LT 3.1–3.4 · SOL BIO.2e · PWCS Module 3
• Bio Tool #29 Sun to Sugar to ATP: Cell Energy for the Biology SOL — a 45-minute review with five draw-along ideas, three Schwebach Recommendations and forty-two practice questions Interactive · works on iPads · prints a two-page paper version · nothing submitted · LT 3.1–3.4 · SOL BIO.2e
• Biology #20 Dawn in Cobbs Creek: Why Menhaden Die at Sunrise in a Creek Full of Green Water CER reading · a 24-hour oxygen graph · algae make oxygen only in light and use it all night · LT 3.4 · SOL BIO.2e, BIO.8, BIO.1
• Bio Tool #32 Energy and Matter Vocabulary Crosswords — four puzzles across the four learning targets: ATP and the energy cells spend, photosynthesis, respiration with oxygen or without, and how the two processes connect Interactive · works on iPads · checks its own letters · 52 terms, about 10 minutes a puzzle · SOL BIO.2e · PWCS LT 3.1–3.4
• Bio Tool #11 The Energy Patch — watch light split water in a chloroplast and a glucose ring break apart in a mitochondrion, count every carbon in and out, then stack the chloroplast over the mitochondrion and watch what travels between them Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · three modules, ten steps, about an hour or one module a sitting · set the toggle to 9th Grade SOL Bio · SOL BIO.2e · PWCS LT 3.1, 3.2, 3.3
• Bio Tool #26 The Mechanism Reel: electrons buy a gradient, the gradient buys the ATP — energy carriers hand electrons to a chain of pumps in the mitochondrion, the pumps crowd hydrogen ions outside, and the ions falling back through the ATP-making enzyme turn it and build ATP Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · six steps, about 15 minutes · predict before every step · opens in SOL Bio words · SOL BIO.2e · the printed figure is the still at the end

Unit 4 Nucleic Acids & Protein Synthesis

PWCS pacing guide · Quarter 2 · 9 blocks

• Bio Tool #15 The Signal Patch — run our own GLP-1, the Gila monster’s exendin-4 and the drug semaglutide through the same pancreas cell, watch the enzyme that ends the signal, and zoom to the one amino acid that decides what it can cut Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · six steps · set the toggle to 9th Grade SOL Bio · SOL BIO.2d, BIO.5e · pairs with the Gila monster CER
• Biology #19 The Gila Monster’s Glycine: One Amino Acid That Keeps a Signal Alive CER reading · one sheet, front and back · the words at work: amino acid sequence, codon, ribosome, gene, protein shape · pairs with the Signal Patch · for students asking about venoms and toxins · SOL BIO.2d
• Bio Tool #18 The Protein Route, with Unit 4 words on — the same insulin route with messenger RNA leaving the nucleus, transfer RNA bringing each amino acid to the ribosome, and a bacterium that can build the chains but not finish them Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · seven steps, about 20 minutes · opens with Unit 4 words on · SOL BIO.2d, BIO.5e · the cell the Signal Patch continues · ▶ walk-through video
• Bio Tool #27 The Mechanism Reel: one message, written out and then read aloud — a gene copied inside the nucleus, the copy trimmed and sent out, and a ribosome reading it three bases at a time while the gene itself never leaves Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · six steps, about 15 minutes · predict before every step · opens in SOL Bio words · SOL BIO.2d, BIO.5a · the printed figure is the still at the end
• Bio Tool #28 The Mechanism Reel: cut both with one enzyme and the ends fit — one cutting enzyme opens a plasmid and frees a gene with matching ends, the ends pair before ligase seals them, a bacterium takes the plasmid up, and only cells carrying a plasmid grow on ampicillin Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · five steps, about 12 minutes · predict before every step · opens in SOL Bio words · SOL BIO.5e · the printed figure is the still at the end
• Bio Tool #19 The Cancer Pathway, seen again — stage 2’s “damage to the instructions” is a change in the DNA, and this unit explains how that change alters the message a cell reads Animation · watch only · first used in Unit 2 · comes back in Unit 4

Unit 5 Cell Growth, Division & Specialization

PWCS pacing guide · Quarter 2 · 10 blocks

• Bio Tool #33 Cell Division: The Meiosis, Mitosis, and Chromosome Patch — one cell with two pairs of chromosomes grows, copies its DNA, coils, lines up single file and splits in two; then the same cell runs meiosis, partners pairing, swapping pieces and separating into four different sex cells; then both run side by side, lane against lane, with a comparison table that fills as each difference happens, a sperm meeting an egg, and eight pictures to sort Interactive · works on iPads · nothing submitted · three modules, about twenty-five minutes each or one module a sitting · set the level to SOL Bio · SOL BIO.3c, BIO.3e, BIO.5d · PWCS LT 5.1–5.4
• Bio Tool #19 The Cancer Pathway, seen again — the rogue cell in stage 3 keeps dividing past the controls on the cell cycle that this unit teaches Animation · watch only · first used in Unit 2 · comes back in Unit 5

Unit 6 Genetics & Heredity

PWCS pacing guide · Quarters 2–3 · 8 blocks

Nothing here yet. New tools are added as each unit is taught.

Unit 7 Evolution

PWCS pacing guide · Quarter 3 · 8 blocks

• Bio Tool #1 The Tree of Life — every living thing from the first cell to today, zoomable, with fossil branches marked where they ended Interactive · works on iPads · SOL BIO.7a, 7d
• Bio Tool #29 How Populations Change: Evolution for the Biology SOL — a 45-minute review session with five draw-along ideas and sixteen practice questions Interactive · works on iPads · prints a two-page paper version · 45 minutes · nothing submitted · SOL BIO.7a–d

Unit 8 Classification & Biodiversity

PWCS pacing guide · Quarter 3 · 6 blocks

• Bio Tool #1 The Tree of Life — switch on the kingdoms layer to see the domains and kingdoms as branches of one tree Interactive · works on iPads · SOL BIO.6d, 6e, 6f

Unit 9 Bacteria & Viruses

PWCS pacing guide · Quarters 3–4 · 5 blocks

• Bio Tool #29 Living Cell or Hijacker? Bacteria and Viruses for the Biology SOL — a 45-minute review session with five draw-along ideas and seventeen practice questions Interactive · works on iPads · prints a two-page paper version · 45 minutes · nothing submitted · SOL BIO.4a–e

Unit 10 Ecology

PWCS pacing guide · Quarter 4 · 8 blocks

Nothing here yet. New tools are added as each unit is taught.