Regents Review Live!Welcome to Longwood High School's Biology pages. The links below are organized by topic. Click on the topic menu to go to the Internet resources for that topic. The New York State icon above will connect you to a Regents Exam Prep site for Biology. If you want to get a jump on this years exams, the link to the left will take you to Regents Review Live! To view the streamed programs you'll need the real player for your web browser. Check out the Featured Links below by clicking on the organizations logo.
The Learning Channel
Nova - PBS
The Discovery Channel
The Exploratorium, the museum of science, art and human perception
The Biology Project developed at The University of Arizona.
Link to all PBS programs

General Interest

The Biology Project An online interactive resource for learning Biology.

Tree of Life This site contains an evolutionary tree that distinguishes organisms by the primitiveness of their traits—of the known living organisms of the world. Begin an investigation of a particular group of organisms by selecting taxonomic categories at the higher end of the hierarchy and working down to the more specific categories. At each level, there is an introduction to the group, a discussion of the group and its characteristics, and references as well as illustrations for many taxonomic groups.

AP Biology Links Links specifically developed for AP Biology at Longwood High School.

Athro, Limited These pages are intended as an introduction to the key ideas of biology at an advanced high school or introductory college level.

BioInteractive Interactive Biology Labs from Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Holiday Lecture Series from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Since 1993 the Holiday Lectures on Science have been presented annually for high school students. Organized by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute the lectures give students and teachers the opportunity to learn about cutting edge research from some of the world's leading scientists.

BioMedia - Learning programs for Biology This site is has a gallery of interesting articles and photos dealing with a number of topics in biology.

Human Anatomy On-line Is the place for fun, interactive and educational views of the human body.

Virtual Frog Dissection This award winning interactive program is part of the "Whole Frog" project. You can interactively dissect a (digitized) frog named Fluffy, make movies, and play the Virtual Frog Builder Game. The interactive Web pages are available in a number of languages.

Interactive Frog Dissection The purpose of this lab activity is to help you learn the anatomy of a frog and give you a better understanding of the anatomy of vertebrate animals in general, including humans. Produced by the University of Virginia

Virtual Hospital The Virtual Hospital is a digital health sciences library created in 1992 at the University of Iowa to help meet the information needs of health care providers and patients. The goal of the Virtual Hospital digital library is to make the Internet a useful medical reference and health promotion tool for health care providers and patients.

Why Files  Using news and current events as a springboard to explore science and the larger issues it raises, The Why Files attempts to show science as a human enterprise and a way of looking at the world.

Exploratorium Vist the Online extension of the hands on museum housed within the walls of San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts, the Exploratorium is a collage of over 650 science, art, and human perception exhibits. The Exploratorium is a leader in the movement to promote the museum as an educational center.

American Medical Association Medical Information from the AMA

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Cell Structure and Function

Structure and Function of Organelles This Massachusetts Institute of Biology page has wonderful descriptions and illustrations of cell organelles.

Transport In and Out Of Cells This site, from Estrella Mountain Community College in Arizona, analyzes how materials move into and out of the cell. It contains a number of excellent illustrations and animations of diffusion as well as active and passive transport, including osmosis.

Cell Structure The beautiful artwork of David Goodsell is available at this Website. Click on the "Gallery" to view a small portion of a eukaryotic cell. The thin yellow layer is the lipid portion of the plasma membrane. If you click on the "Cellular Interiors" link, you can view an artistic model that reaches from the cell surface to the nuclear interior, passing through the internal membranes of a eukaryotic cell.

Lipids This site uses effective diagrams to describe the basic structure of lipids in cellular membranes.

Sodium-Potassium Pump All cells must use proteins in the membrane to regulate entry and exit of most molecules. The protein shown in this diagram helps to maintain the proper amount of potassium and sodium ions inside the cell.

Osmosis Movie Osmosis, the movement of water across a semi-permeable membrane, is shown in an animation at this site.

Phagocytosis At this site you can view an amoeba eating yeast via a specialized type of endocytosis known as phagocytosis. The yeast are stained red, and a special protein inside the amoebae has been stained green. You can see how the protein reorganizes as the amoeba engulfs the yeast.

Fungi In addition to plants, bacteria, and some protists, fungi also have cell walls. This
site provides extensive information about fungi, including their fossil record.

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Cell Energy

Virtual Cell Take a voyage into a plant cell! Cut away membranes, zoom in to see organelles and the nucleus, then zoom in again to see the molecules up close. If you zoom in close enough to the chloroplast, you can get an animation of the electron transport system. For more fun, bring along your 3-D glasses and click the "anaglyph" option.

Photosynthesis This is a wonderfully useful photosynthesis site with plenty of illustrations. Contents include the nature of light, pigments, and stages of photosynthesis. Be sure to visit the hyperlinks at the end.

Cellular Metabolism and Fermentation This site contains several diagrams associated with glycolysis, anaerobic respiration, and aerobic respiration. It also contains some very useful links.

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DNA and Protein Synthesis

DNA: Life's Instruction Manual Convert your name to a DNA sequence, face moral dilemmas, or play "Search for the Sequence." You'll encounter all these activities during your tour of this virtual exhibit from The Tech Museum of Innovation in California.

The Hershey-Chase Experiment Here's a description and diagram of the most important thing to come from a blender since smoothies.

Rotating DNA Model View this beautiful animation of a rotating, three-dimensional DNA molecule created by the University of Birmingham in England.

Replication Animation The simple animation at this site illustrates the general process of DNA replication.

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Cell Division

Cell Division: Binary Fission and Mitosis This site, from the University of Arizona, is an illustrated lecture place on mitosis and cell division. It contains many diagrams that may help you understand all the process of cell division.

Studying Cells  Introduce yourself to the cell as the fundamental unit of life and the scientific method.

The Cell Cycle & Mitosis  Understand the events that occur in the cell cycle and the process of mitosis that divides the duplicated genetic material creating two identical daughter cells.

Mitosis Animation Although the diagrams here are somewhat rough, they do a good job of showing the essential features of mitosis. Just remember that the figures show the nucleus, not the entire cell!

Meiosis Understand the events that occur in process of meiosis that takes place to produce our gametes.

Prokaryotes, Eukaryotes, & Viruses Learn about the cells that make up all living systems, their organelles, and the differences between living cells and viruses.

The Cytoskeleton Learn that the cytoskeleton acts both a muscle and a skeleton, and is responsible for cell movement, cytokinesis, and the organization of the organelles within the cell.

Online Onion Root Tips Estimate the amount of time cell spent in each mitotic phase in this animated cyber-version of the chapter's lab investigation. After completing this activity, identifying the phases of mitosis will be a snap.

Spindle Microtubules These amazing pictures show microtubule organization at interphase and during several stages of mitosis. (The microtubules are stained green, and the DNA is stained blue.)

Cytokinesis Movie This site shows a very nice cytokinesis of a mouse cell growing in a dish.

Amphibian Embryology This site provides a good overview of how mitosis takes a fertilized egg and produces an animal from it.

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Mendelian Genetics


The Biology Project Try these interactive exercises on Mendelian genetics, designed by the University of Arizona.

MendelWeb Is an educational resource for teachers and students interested in the origins of classical genetics, introductory data analysis, elementary plant science, and the history and literature of science.

Pea Soup A colorful interactive pea experiment highlights this Web site about Mendel. The site also contains a summary of Mendel's discoveries, a bibliography, and a glossary of terms. From Sonoma State University in California.

Mystery Bull Here's an opportunity to put your knowledge of genetics to work. Help rancher Bob Howard figure out which of his neighbor's bulls has impregnated his cows. Bob provides some basic information on cattle genetics to get you started.

Virtual Flylab Try your hand at breeding virtual fruit flies. At this interactive site, you get to choose the characteristics of the parents and see what their offspring will look like. See if you can figure out the dominance relationships between the alleles for a few of the traits by making crosses.

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Genes and Chromosomes

The Human Transcript Map Which genes are linked? Pick any of the human chromosomes, and learn the famous genes that have been linked to them. This is a terrific and colorful site from the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Human Genome Program This site is part of a larger international effort to characterize the genomes of humans and several model organisms.

The Beauty of Mutations DNA, how can I change thee? Let this page from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology count the ways.

National Center for Biotechnology Information Established in 1988 as a national resource for molecular biology information, NCBI creates public databases, conducts research in computational biology, develops software tools for analyzing genome data, and disseminates biomedical information - all for the better understanding of molecular processes affecting human health and disease.

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Gene Mutations and Genetic Testing

Karyotyping Activity Try matching up pairs of human chromosomes in this interactive activity. This tutorial from The Biology Project at the University of Arizona will ask you to diagnose three patients based on the karyotypes you assemble.

Hereditary Disease Foundation Huntington disease is an autosomal dominant genetic disorder. The disease makes its presence known in middle age, when it leads to a general breakdown of the nervous system. Find basic references on Huntington disease at this site.

National Down Syndrome Society The official page of the NDSS acts as a clearinghouse of information for people interested in Down Syndrome.

Prenatal Diagnostic Testing Part of a large, baby-centric site, this link gives a brief overview of the different kinds of prenatal diagnostic testing available.

Human Chromosomes This is a fabulous site that shows karyotypes (chromosomes) from a variety of individuals.

Primate Cytogenetics Network Serves as a resource for the collection and distribution of primate cytogenetic information on the World Wide Web.

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Genetic Engineering

Hello, Dolly Online science magazine The Why Files investigates the science of cloning—how Dolly was created, who else paved the way for this ewe with three mothers, and the potential applications of cloning. And hey, is Dolly an exact replica of her genetic predecessor Belinda? Read this fascinating and fun article, and form your own opinion.

DNA I.D. How do you make a DNA fingerprint? This page comes from an article on forensic science by online science magazine The Why Files. It briefly describes the procedure used, identifies related problems, and gives further references for a more detailed explanation.

Mice & Men: Making the Most of Our Similarities Learn how the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has engineered mice to model sickle-cell anemia, cleft palate, diabetes, and obesity. This article is sprinkled with pictures and quotes from the scientists who created these rodents.

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Human Biology - Nervous and Endocrine Systems

Basic Neural Processes Tutorials These tutorials from Hanover College illustrate several concepts, and includes links for physical factors behind the action potential. You can also take a quiz on the structure of the neuron.

Seeing, Hearing, and Smelling the World Link to an outstanding report on current research of the senses. This Howard Hughes Medical Institute site includes comprehensive introductory information about the senses through a series of fascinating articles and illustrations.

Hormones: Sources, Targets, and Functions Here's a list of hormones, their sources, what they affect, and what they do, compiled by the University of Virginia.

Neuroscience for Kids Is for elementary and secondary school students and teachers who would like to learn more about the nervous system.

Virtual Anatomy Textbook: The Nervous System

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Human Biology -  Locomotion

The Interactive Knee Click on a bone, muscle, or other tissue of the knee and get a description of its functions and actions. This interactive joint resource was created by the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center.

Muscles In Action What's the difference between abduction and adduction? Learn the names of body movements, then see how these movements are accomplished by viewing movies and photographs of the body in action. Created by the University of Michigan.

The Integumentary System This review of the skin and its associated structures is hyperlinked to glossary terms. It comes from Michael Farabee at Maricopa Community College.

Bone Up On Bones This site explores the marvel of the skeletal system, highlights healthy bones as the key to overall human health, and offers tips for preventing osteoporosis-related bone fractures that ultimately will affect as many as one out of every two women and one in five men.

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Human Biology - Digestion

Your Digestive System and How It Works This fact sheet describes the muscle movements, secretions, control, and methods of digestion. It comes from The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, a division of the National Institutes of Health.

The Calorie Burner How many calories does your favorite workout burn per minute? How long would you have to rollerblade to burn 200 calories if you weighed 150 pounds? What if you were just shopping? Use this online calculator from the Chicago Tribune Fitness Files to help you work out your exercise routine. Check out Fitness Fundamentals and Get Active for more fitness advice.

Food and Nutrition Information Center This site includes studies and statistics done on food and nutrition, as well as the homepage for healthy school meals and a page for food safety. Since the page is government operated, viewers can expect accurate and updated information.

Virtual Anatomy Textbook: The Digestive System

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Human Biology - Respiration
American Lung Association The American Lung Association's Web site has information on asthma, environmental health, lung diseases, and smoking. They also maintain a library of news releases and fact sheets.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Home Page This is the home page for one of the most important arms of the National Institutes of Health. It contains links to ongoing research, health information, and educational sites. Well worth a visit!

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Human Biology - Circulation and Excretion

The Nephron Information Center Learn more about kidney disease, dialysis, and transplantation through NIC's extensive collection of links. You can find out regional information on dialysis or kidney transplants, or take a look at a virtual dialysis machine.

Cut to the Heart Learn about the history of heart surgery, view diseased hearts, and see an animation of how blood flows through a beating heart at this excellent NOVA website.

The Heart Preview Gallery Wander through this on-line exhibit from The Franklin Institute, and explore heart development, structure, health, and history. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the beating heart to begin an online exploration of the heart or click here to go there directly.

The American Heart Association What's your risk for heart disease? What does the latest research tell us about our cardiovascular health? Learn about heart diseases and strokes from the organization committed to public awareness and research of these two health problems.

Cardiovascular Diseases Covers basic heart and vessel anatomy, cardiovascular problems and treatments, and three-dimensional modeling of the heart.

Introduction to Cardiothoracic Imaging Is a detailed interactive program that offers a broad overview of chest and cardiac diagnostic imaging. It includes more than 1,200 images, including digitized X-ray images.

Virtual Anatomy Textbook: The Lymphatic System Provides basic information about the various organs of the lymphatic system: functions, histology, diagrams, everything about it!

Blood Clotting When blood vessels are cut or damaged, the loss of blood from the system must be stopped before shock and possible death occur. This site reviews the process called coagulation or clotting.

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Reproduction and Development

Human Aging: How We Grow What would a human embryo look like next to a pin? What types of vision problems do humans experience in old age, and why? How does muscle mass and metabolic rate change as we age? This feature article from the Electronic Newspaper of the American Museum of Natural History is well-illustrated with helpful animations and diagrams of the changes we experience throughout our lifetime.

Embryo Development Take a look at the overview to see what happens during each of the 38 weeks of human development. The stages are described with text and illustrations, as is the formation of the nervous system, heart, eyes, and ears. This resource is from the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

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Human Biology - Immunity

Immunology Tutorial This well-illustrated tutorial will walk you through non-specific, humoral, and cell-mediated immunity, and then quiz you on what you've learned. It comes from the University of Arizona's Biology Project.

Anatomy of a Splinter Take a look at animations and microscopic footage of white blood cells finding, eating, and killing bacteria. These movies and illustrations are from Cells Alive.

Antibody Production Cells Alive provides this helpful animation and description of how bacteria stimulate B and T cells to produce protective antibodies.

American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association As powerful as the immune system is, it can be particularly dangerous when it turns its weapons against the body itself. This site contains important information on a number of autoimmune diseases, including lupus and multiple sclerosis.

JAMA HIV/AIDS Information Center This is an excellent information center on HIV and AIDS, sponsored by the Journal of the American Medical Association. It contains a great deal of highly technical information, and parts of it are intended for medical specialists. However, you will find it a great source of up-to-date, authoritative information and an excellent resource for answering your questions.

The Bad Bug Book Was it something you ate? Check out this Food and Drug Administration reference on the bacteria, viruses, and protozoans that cause food-transmitted illnesses.

What the Heck Is an Allergy? This site provides a very simple description of the mechanism of allergies.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases One of the National Institutes of Health, NIAID is a major sponsor of the research and treatment of allergic and infectious diseases. Their home page contains information on disease, treatment, and education programs.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention This home page for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is overflowing with information about a plethora of different diseases. The site also includes a page dealing with tobacco, alcohol, and drugs. Also included is a link to the National Center for Health Statistics, which provides charts, graphs, and tables of statistical information.

Lung Cancer Information The leading cause of death from cancer among men and women is now lung cancer. What causes lung cancer? Smoking. Ninety percent of lung cancer deaths are smoking-related.

OncoLink: Lung Cancer Based at the University of Pennsylvania, this site explores the latest information on lung cancer and its relationship to smoking.

Penicillin Typically, bacteria have cell walls, and antibiotics such as penicillin can kill bacteria by interfering with their ability to manufacture their walls. The movie shown here demonstrates what happens to bacteria when they cannot properly build a cell wall. The sound effects are, of course, not real. Other links on this page provide additional information about antibiotics.

Internet Pathology Laboratory for Medical Education Electronic resource that includes over 1900 images along with text, tutorials, laboratory exercises, and examination items for self-assessment that demonstrate gross and microscopic pathologic findings associated with human disease conditions.

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Ecology

What's It Like Where You Live? An exceptionally rich and colorful site that explores the tundra, taiga, rainforest, desert, grassland, and temperate deciduous forest biomes of the world. Find out where these biomes are located and the names of plants and animals that live in them. This exhibit from the Missouri Botanical Garden is accompanied by many illustrations of the landscape and life of these biomes.

EPA Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds This government office works with various partner organizations to protect America's water resources. Here you can learn more about the EPA's five-star wetlands restoration program, national estuary program, or other programs for oceans and coasts.

Tour of Biomes This site offers great pictures and facts about all the different types of biomes on Earth. 

Nutrient Cycling Have you noticed how one thing in the forest feeds another? This site takes you underground, where you can learn more about microbial components of nutrient cycles.

Modeling Population Growth This site uses differential equations to show limits on growth. If you are motivated to learn more about the use of mathematics in ecology, these interactive modules on population growth are for you.

Biological Control: A Guide to Natural Enemies in North America Agriculturists use their knowledge of community interactions to control pesky organisms, pitting predators or parasites against undesirable insects and plants. This online handbook at Cornell University currently includes individual pages of approximately 100 natural enemies of pest species. It also provides a tutorial on the concept and practice of biological control and integrated pest management.

Desert USA  Everything you ever wanted to know about deserts.

The Yucca Plant and the Yucca Moth The relationship between this plant and insect is an example of coevolution. Read more about this interaction, how it evolved, and how it was discovered in this article from the Kansas State Naturalist.

Ecosystems of Our World Ten categories of biomes or ecosystem types, including marine island and mountaintop types, are featured in this site.

SeaWeb This is a great site for exploring the oceans via the web. Check out the links from this site (professional and popular) that are concerned with ocean issues. These sites range from fisheries organizations to conservation groups.

Tropical Rainforest in Suriname A virtual tour through the rainforest in Suriname (SA). Read about plants, animals, Indians and Maroons. 

Bears This web site is dedicated to contributing to a comprehensive understanding of all members of the URSIDAE (bear) family.

World POPClock Projection What is the estimated human population right now? The International Programs Center of the U.S. Census Bureau will estimate it for you the moment you click on this link. It will also tell you how much the population is expected to increase in the next 12 months.

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Evolution

Darwin and Evolution Overview A sketch of Darwin's contribution to evolution and historical overview of the development of evolutionary thought.

Introduction to Evolutionary Biology This very complete, though sometimes advanced, introduction to evolution includes discussions of: common misconceptions, genetic variation, natural selection, sexual selection, genetic drift, mutation, recombination, gene flow, and speciation, extinction, and punctuated equilibrium.

Paleontology Without Walls This is a great site for evolutionary biology. It includes three areas: Phylogeny - The "Family Tree" of Life, Geological Time, and Evolutionary Thought. By following the Evolutionary Thought link, you can find information about a number of scientists who have made historical contributions to evolutionary theory, including Buffon, Cuvier, Lamarck, Darwin, and Malthus.

Charles Darwin The complete texts of The Voyage of the Beagle and On the Origin of Species are given here.

Virtual Galapagos Explore the geography, geology, and biology of Galapagos Islands, where Darwin made many of the observations which led him to develop his theory of evolution by natural selection.

Natural Selection and Genetic Drift Modeling Exercise Run simulations of natural selection and genetic drift on different organisms, including peppered moths, showing how allele frequencies will change.

Past Extinction This section of the Bagheera Endangered Species Classroom presents a nice discussion of biodiversity and extinction. It distinguishes among different "types" of extinction, discusses mass extinction, and presents eleven case studies, including the passenger pigeon, Pleistocene megafauna, and Neanderthals.

Museum of Paleontology University of California's Museum of Paleontology has an enormous collection of on-line exhibits can be explored to learn about the story of life on earth.

Score One For Punk Eek This is a Scientific American Explorations Web site that introduces a laboratory study on the rate of evolutionary change in a species of bacteria (E. coli), lending support to the theory of punctuated equilibrium, which states that evolution occurs in short bursts followed by longer periods of relative stasis.

The Beginnings of Life on Earth This American Scientist article by Christian de Duve reviews "some of the facts and ideas that are being considered to account for the early stages in the spontaneous emergence of life on Earth."

Cosmic Ancestry The series of steps necessary for the origin of cellular life from inorganic molecules raises many questions and presents many problems. Alternative theories have been suggested to explain the origin of life on Earth. One of these is that life on Earth originated from outer space. This Web site argues for that possibility.

From Primordial Soup to the Prebiotic Beach This "Access Excellence" Web site presents an interview with Dr. Stanley Miller, who first synthesized amino acids in his famous 1953 experiment. Dr. Miller describes the early prebiotic experiments that led to his own classic study and why his work was more successful.

Prehistoric Animals This Web site offers a description of the evolution of life on Earth, primarily animals and mostly vertebrates. There are some particularly interesting sections; for example, see the pages "Lungfish and Coelacanths" and "Reptiles—the Return to Water."

American Museum of Natural History Timelines This Web site depicts environments in North America as they might have been millions of years ago. A description of the scene is given, pointing out key life forms, and you can click on the scene to enlarge and explore.

Life on Mars NASA's recently discovered evidence of possible earlier life on Mars is presented here. It contains photographs as well as a large collection of links to other related sites.

Critters, Critters, Everywhere The discovery of traces of single-celled organisms in a meteorite from Mars reminds us that life can inhabit some pretty strange places. On Earth, life has recently been discovered on the ocean floor, in mile-deep rock, and in temperatures above the boiling point of water.

Evolution vs.Creationism What's the evidence?

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Online Textbooks and Resources

On-line Biology Text and Self Tests - Prentice Hall (REGENTS BIO)

Course Companion for Biology 5th Edition (Campbell,  (AP BIO) Make the most of your studies. Explore a collection of resources correlated to the book's table of contents.

Biology On Line Study Guide This online study guide is specifically designed to accompany the text, Biology, Life on Earth.

HyperTextbook on Cellular & Molecular Biology Online textbook developed and maintained by The Experimental Study group of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Kimball's Biology Pages Hundreds of explainations and links provided by John W. Kimball, recently retired Harvard and Tufts University professor.

The Woodrow Wilson National Leadership Program in Biology Since 1991, the National Leadership Program for Teachers has offered programs in a variety of biology topics: human ecology, bioethics, biotechnology and genetics. Although the topics are diverse, there is an underlying perspective common to all of them. Each residential Core Institute approaches its subject in an integrative way, focussing on the particular theme but using that theme to illuminate other areas of biology.

BIODIDAC A collection of images for teaching biology.

Harvey Project Consists of web-based materials for an introductory-level human physiology class.

Internet Biological Sciences Resources The purpose of this site, provided by the Califorina State University System, is to consolidate existing WWW Biological Science teaching and research resources and to create and distribute original multimedia resources for the teaching of biology. Use their search engine to find links on diverse subjects in biology.

Biology Labs On-Line! Biology Labs On-Line offers a series of interactive, inquiry-based biology simulations and exercises designed for college and AP high school biology students.

Access to Excellence Access Excellence, launched in 1993, is a national educational program that provides high school biology and life science teachers access to their colleagues, scientists, and critical sources of new scientific information via the World Wide Web.

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