TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Mar 30, 2025
Here are this week's features. Clicking the tags in the description area of each listing will present a list of other resources with this topic. | Click here to return to the Featured Sites Archive
Outbreak Science - Crash Course
Grades
9 to 12
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Crash Course Organic Chemistry is a free digital tool that contains fifteen outbreak science videos. The series covers what pathogens do to us, why societies respond to infectious diseases...more
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Crash Course Organic Chemistry is a free digital tool that contains fifteen outbreak science videos. The series covers what pathogens do to us, why societies respond to infectious diseases the way we do, and how everyone can help stop another pandemic. The videos range in length from twelve to fourteen minutes. This site uses YouTube and has commercials before some of the videos.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): diseases (67)
In the Classroom
After watching an episode of Outbreak Science, students can create a rubric rating the severity of the outbreak, how the outbreak was handled, and what information society has learned to help stop another outbreak. Using Desygner, reviewed here, students can create a public service announcement sharing with everyone tips for helping to stop an outbreak from happening. Finally, students can debate which outbreak was the most influential on society and why.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): Lesson Plans and Activities - National Institute on Drug Abuse
Grades
5 to 12
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The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) shares valuable lesson plans and activities in both English and Spanish that teach about the dangers of drug and alcohol use for grades ...more
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The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) shares valuable lesson plans and activities in both English and Spanish that teach about the dangers of drug and alcohol use for grades 5-12. Lessons cover topics including opioids, prescription drugs, and the effect of drugs on the brain. Links include access to teachers' guides, student handouts, and any additional required materials. In addition to the lessons, other links provide conversation starters for parents, classroom resources for teachers on the effects of drugs, and supporting information for National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week, commemorated annually in March.
tag(s): drugs and alcohol (28), mental health (48), red ribbon week (9)
In the Classroom
Use lessons provided by NIDA to supplement your current Red Ribbon Week teaching resources. Begin by engaging students in lessons using a resource such as IdeaBoardz, reviewed here to identify students' knowledge of the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. For example, create a chart with two sections - one for drugs and the other for alcohol, and ask students to share information about each. Enhance knowledge using Pear Deck, reviewed here to create real-time, interactive formative assessments that offer the ability to create quizzes in various formats. Extend learning by asking students to become creators and share their learning through a choice of multimedia resources. Some examples include using Scratch, reviewed here to create a game teaching about the effects of drug abuse or write an interactive story using inklewriter, reviewed here. inklewriter's easy-to-use features allow students to write a choose-your-own-adventure story and share the finished product using the URL created when published.
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What Students Should Know About the Coronavirus - PBS Newshour
Grades
6 to 12
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Learn about the coronavirus through two short videos and discussion questions provided by PBS Newshour. Each video shares a clip from a Newshour broadcast then provides a series of...more
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Learn about the coronavirus through two short videos and discussion questions provided by PBS Newshour. Each video shares a clip from a Newshour broadcast then provides a series of discussion questions and extension activities. View the videos online or download using the link provided. Sign up to receive the latest email education and teaching updates from PBS Newshour.
tag(s): diseases (67)
In the Classroom
Use the videos from this site and accompanying questions as the starting point for any lesson focusing on coronavirus, disease, or health. Share the videos with students using edpuzzle, reviewed here. Use edpuzzle to add comments, questions, and point out highlights within the videos. Enhance learning and have students share their understanding of the topic using Canva Infographic Maker, reviewed here, to create infographics that explain the origins of viruses, the spread of disease, or information about how the coronavirus has impacted your community or state.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Educators Guides to Lyme Disease - Bay Area Lyme Foundation
Grades
3 to 8
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This site offers a free mini-unit on tick bite prevention and Lyme disease. Download the teacher overview (correlated to Next Generation Science Standards), PowerPoint, and student...more
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This site offers a free mini-unit on tick bite prevention and Lyme disease. Download the teacher overview (correlated to Next Generation Science Standards), PowerPoint, and student packet for use in any classroom. The full-color presentations include easy to understand information and activities including a graph, crossword puzzle, wordsearch, fill-in-the-blank worksheet, and a design your own brochure assignment.
In the Classroom
Explore these free materials when teaching about insects or disease. Are you integrating technology in your class? Instead of the traditional brochure suggested, enhance classroom technology use by having students use Marq, reviewed here. As a follow-up, you could assign students to investigate and create reports on other insect-born diseases, then use PDF to Flipbook Converter, reviewed here to turn their Word documents, PDFs, and images into an online book. Have students create an interactive image describing ticks and Lyme disease including text boxes and related links using a tool such as Genially, reviewed here. Genially can be used for a variety of assignments in any classroom that is integrating technology as an enhancement, modification, or transformation.
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Re-Mission 2: Fight Cancer and Win! - Hope Lab
Grades
5 to 12
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Re-Mission 2 offers interactives that teach about cancer-fighting treatments. These were designed to encourage young cancer patients to stick with life-saving treatments. The interactives...more
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Re-Mission 2 offers interactives that teach about cancer-fighting treatments. These were designed to encourage young cancer patients to stick with life-saving treatments. The interactives offer all players a chance to learn more about this deadly disease. Choose Nano-Bot's Revenge as you target treatments on a growing tumor or become a stem cell defender fighting off deadly bacteria. Beat five levels in each activity to unlock Special Ops with new visuals and scenarios for fighting cancer.
tag(s): difficult conversations (57), diseases (67), medicine (56), mental health (48)
In the Classroom
Introduce these activities on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Allow students to explore and play on their own. Challenge students to create a story with cancer as the monster and one of the therapies they learned about as a cartoon figure hero. Then have students create an online or printed comic using one of the tools and ideas included in this collection. Re-Mission 2 would be especially useful if your students know someone dealing with cancer. It will help them understand what cancer is and some of the different treatments. It may also give them hope that the cancer can be treatable. Share these games with your school's counselors as an excellent tool for use with students facing cancer treatments either for themselves, a relative, or a friend.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Mighty - Mike Porath
Grades
6 to 12
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Read about power and strength in those with disabilities and disease through the short stories at The Mighty. Formed on the premise that our greatest challenges become our greatest...more
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Read about power and strength in those with disabilities and disease through the short stories at The Mighty. Formed on the premise that our greatest challenges become our greatest opportunities, each short story tells a tale of positive inspiration in facing a challenge. Browse the home page to find the latest articles or use the keyword search to find information on a specific topic. Be sure to browse the Archives, too!
tag(s): disabilities (31), diseases (67)
In the Classroom
Share The Mighty with parents and even older students as a resource for finding positive news about those with disabilities. Read these stories together on your projector or interactive whiteboard to teach about tolerance and acceptance of differences. Encourage parents and students to submit their own story of inspiration to the site. Search for articles dealing with challenges your students face to read and discuss together.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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American Lung Association - American Lung Association
Grades
6 to 12
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Find information about lung disease and issues related to healthy lungs. Be sure to click on Healthy Air in the subject bar to find information about our health and air ...more
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Find information about lung disease and issues related to healthy lungs. Be sure to click on Healthy Air in the subject bar to find information about our health and air quality, both indoors and out. Some of the specific topic areas include Your Lungs, Lung Disease, Finding Cures, Healthy Air, and Stop Smoking. There are many ideas shared on this site about how to live a healthier lifestyle.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): air (102), coal (6), electricity (62), natural resources (37), nuclear energy (20), pollution (52)
In the Classroom
Be sure to check out the Electric Utilities Page abput power plants that burn fossil fuels. View the source data linked below the images. Students can brainstorm why the map looks this way and what kind of impacts there are from power plants. Students can research as teams the issues from various power plants and effects on air quality and human health. Share findings with others by creating traditional projects (bulletin board or flyers) or multimedia presentations of the information. Use one of the many TeachersFirst Edge presentation tools. Compare the air quality of the United States with that of other countries. What factors and government influences contribute to the differences that we see?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Outbreaks - globalincidentmap.com
Grades
9 to 12
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This map tool displays worldwide outbreaks, cases, and deaths caused by viruses and bacteria. You can even see Anthrax threats/hoaxes. Click on the map to view the various diseases....more
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This map tool displays worldwide outbreaks, cases, and deaths caused by viruses and bacteria. You can even see Anthrax threats/hoaxes. Click on the map to view the various diseases. If you prefer, scroll through the various diseases below the map using the chart to identify specific outbreaks.
In the Classroom
Use the various types of diseases to learn more about bacteria, viruses, and epidemiology. Students can create a presentation to teach others about a various disease. Create a multimedia presentation or create a blog or wiki post that shows information as well as current outbreaks around the world. Have students research how the disease is transmitted and factors that lead to outbreaks in certain places. Have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Vevox, Animatron, Renderforest, and Canva Inforgraphic Maker.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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HHMI - BioInteractive - Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Grades
8 to 12
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HHMI's BioInteractive five lab collection allows you to explore genetics, heart diseases, nerve cells, and the immune system without any mess to clean or supplies to buy! Learn about...more
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HHMI's BioInteractive five lab collection allows you to explore genetics, heart diseases, nerve cells, and the immune system without any mess to clean or supplies to buy! Learn about changing mosquito DNA or play the role of a doctor's intern to better understand how heart disease works. These activities have interactive lab areas with learning objectives, a notebooking area, quizzes, extra resources, and a help area. They are complete with teaching suggestions and learning objectives. The bacterial identification lab and immunology lab are even available as apps for your mobile devices.
tag(s): bacteria (22), body systems (41), flips (6), genetics (81), heart (27), human body (93)
In the Classroom
Spice up your life science or biology curriculum with these activities. Use them as dry labs prior to the hands-on or classroom "wet lab." Alternatively, they could be used as a substitute laboratory when supplies are low, if students are learning online or from a distance, or if students have ethical objections to using live specimens. Thinking about blended learning or flipping your classroom even just a little? These activities are great because they can take some of the practice typically done in class to the home setting, allowing you to further delve into student driven experiments and inquiry in the classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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History of Vaccines - College of Physicians of Philadelphia
Grades
8 to 12
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This site includes fascinating, interactives that feature diseases and interesting stories about their preventions, results, and perceptions from the 15th century to the present. Other...more
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This site includes fascinating, interactives that feature diseases and interesting stories about their preventions, results, and perceptions from the 15th century to the present. Other timelines focus on scientists involved in disease prevention, and also timelines on how science interacted with disease to improve people's lifespans and lives. Related articles, activities, and great photos support the events of the timelines. Four lesson plans for teachers accompany features of each of the time lines.
In the Classroom
This site is ideal for an interactive whiteboard or projector. Have the students open the site and use the whiteboard tools to do a general overview of the history of vaccines. Students can then select specific areas of interest and go to the articles section to get more information on areas of their choice. Enhance learning by having students create an online poster project combining information from here and from their own research using a tool such as Web Poster Wizard, reviewed here), or PicLits, reviewed here, or modify learning by asking students create their own interactive timelines using a site such as Sutori, reviewed here, that can include images, text, and collaboration.
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Malaria No More - Malaria No More
Grades
8 to 12
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Bring a disease and a part of the world unfamiliar to students to their computer screen. Explore the "Why End Malaria" link to understand where and how malaria is transmitted. ...more
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Bring a disease and a part of the world unfamiliar to students to their computer screen. Explore the "Why End Malaria" link to understand where and how malaria is transmitted. Understand biology and health concepts through the real world study of malaria. This site also contains information on donating to malaria control and prevention as well as ways to stay informed of progress. You may choose to caution students about clicking on links not approved by the teacher or the school district. There are links to join the Facebook group and follow Malaria No More on X (formerly Twitter).
tag(s): diseases (67)
In the Classroom
As you study diseases in general, use malaria as an example. Use the site to identify how malaria is transmitted and methods that can be used to prevent the transmission of the disease. Identify how the scientific method has been used in order to identify how a disease has been transmitted as well as treated or prevented. Compare information found about malaria to research other diseases and compare to other diseases and vectors. Students can create a conventional or multimedia project to display knowledge to others. Create graphic organizers to show the progress of the disease. Students can also create a wiki to show information or a blog for discussions with others. Not sure what a wiki is? Check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through.Many students may feel compassion for children in other countries and seek to help in some way. Use this site for ways to help those in other countries fight this terrible disease.
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Drug & Alcohol Information for Teens - Department of Health and Human Services
Grades
6 to 12
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The US Department of Health and Human Services offers this online catalog of drug and alcohol information for teens. Many of these publications are available online, and they may prove...more
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The US Department of Health and Human Services offers this online catalog of drug and alcohol information for teens. Many of these publications are available online, and they may prove helpful to parents, students, or guidance counselors grappling with substance abuse issues. HHS also offers additional catalog sections targeted specifically to children.
tag(s): drugs and alcohol (28), red ribbon week (9)
In the Classroom
Use this site during your drug unit or Red Ribbon Week as background information for students or student groups to make anti-drug photo posters using Captioner.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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