Browse by Grade & Topic: Life Science

FREE with no time limit!

Explore a wide variety of cells, from bacteria to human neurons, using a compound light microscope. Select a sample to study, then focus on the sample using the coarse and fine focus...

Adjust the number of fish in a lake to be tagged and the number of fish to be recaptured. Use the number of tagged fish in the catch to estimate the number of fish in the lake.

In this ecosystem consisting of hawks, snakes, rabbits and grass, the population of each species can be studied as part of a food chain. Disease can be introduced for any species, and the...

Select a sample cell from an animal, plant, or bacterium and view the cell under a microscope. Select each organelle on the image to learn more about its structure and function. Closeup...

Investigate the growth of three common garden plants: tomatoes, beans, and turnips. You can change the amount of light each plant gets, the amount of water added each day, and the type of...

Create aliens with different traits and breed them to produce offspring. Determine which traits are passed down from parents to offspring and which traits are acquired. Offspring can be...

Everything we know about the world comes through our senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. In the Senses Gizmo, explore how stimuli are detected by specialized cells, transmitted...

Explore life in the hive by meeting workers, drones, and the queen bee herself! Visit flower patches to determine the best sources of food, and then perform a waggle dance to let the other...

Use a scalpel, forceps, and pins to dissect realistic male and female frogs. Organs can be removed and placed into organ system diagrams. Once the dissections are complete, the frog organ...

Observe the population of rabbits in an environment over many years. The land available to the rabbits and weather conditions can be adjusted to investigate the effects of urban sprawl and...

Study photosynthesis in a variety of conditions. Oxygen production is used to measure the rate of photosynthesis. Light intensity, carbon dioxide levels, temperature, and wavelength of...

Begin with a single cell and watch as mitosis and cell division occurs. The cells will go through the steps of interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, and cytokinesis. The...

You are a bird hunting moths (both dark and light) that live on trees. As you capture the moths most easily visible against the tree surface, the moth populations change, illustrating the...

Breed "pure" mice with known genotypes that exhibit specific fur colors, and learn how traits are passed on via dominant and recessive genes. Mice can be stored in cages for future...

Explore the processes of photosynthesis and respiration that occur within plant and animal cells. The cyclical nature of the two processes can be constructed visually, and the simplified...

Observe the populations of grass, prairie dogs, ferrets and foxes in a prairie ecosystem. Investigate feeding relationships and determine the food chain. Bar graphs and line graphs show...

Trace the path of blood through a beating heart and the network of blood vessels that supplies blood to the body. Take blood samples from different blood vessels to observe blood cells and...

Observe how different colors of light are reflected or absorbed by colored objects. Determine that white light is a combination of different colors of light, and that one or more component...

Breed "pure" mice with known genotypes that exhibit specific fur and eye colors, and learn how traits are passed on via dominant and recessive genes. Mice can be stored in cages for future...

Using the scientific method, control the environmental conditions for a fictional alien organism in order to learn how the organism responds to changes in conditions. Sunlight, water, and...

Observe evolution in a fictional population of bugs. Set the background to any color, and see natural selection taking place. Inheritance of color occurs according to Mendel's laws and...

Observe and manipulate the populations of four creatures (trees, deer, bears, and mushrooms) in a forest. Investigate the feeding relationships (food web) in the forest. Determine which...

Digestion is a complex process, involving a wide variety of organs and chemicals that work together to break down food, absorb nutrients, and eliminate wastes. But have you ever wondered...

FREE with no time limit!

Grow Wisconsin Fast Plants® in a simulated lab environment. Explore the life cycles of these plants and how their growth is influenced by light, water, and crowding. Practice pollinating...

Once light enters the eye, it must be focused on the retina. Manipulate the pupil diameter to regulate the amount of light that enters then eye, then change the lens shape to focus light....

Observe the sex ratios of birds and geckos as they hatch in an incubator. Vary the temperature of the incubator and measure the percentages of male and female hatchlings to determine if...

Breed "pure" chickens with known genotypes that exhibit specific feather colors, and learn how traits are passed on via codominant genes. Chickens can be stored in cages for future...

Observe evolution in a fictional population of bugs. Set the background to any color, and see natural selection taking place. Compare the processes of natural and artificial selection....

FREE with no time limit!

Measure the temperature and oxygen content of a pond over the course of a day. Then go fishing to see what types of fish live in the pond. Many different ponds can be investigated to...

Explore how sex cells are produced by the process of meiosis. Compare meiosis in male and female germ cells, and use crossovers to increase the number of possible gamete genotypes. Using...

FREE with no time limit!

In this follow-up to Fast Plants® 1 - Growth and Genetics, continue to explore inheritance of traits in Wisconsin Fast Plants. Infer the genotype of a "mystery P2 parent" of a set of Fast...

FREE with no time limit!

Observe how photoreceptors on the retina are stimulated by different colors of light. Determine that cone cells are stimulated by specific colors of light and enable us to see color, while...

Study the thickness of birds' beaks over a five-year period as you control the yearly rainfall on an isolated island. As the environmental conditions change, the species must adapt (a...

Explore the motion of particles as they bounce around from one side of a room to the other through an adjustable gap or partition. The mass of the particles can be adjusted, as well as the...

Test your hearing range by listening to low-, medium-, and high-frequency sounds. Compare the relative loudness of sounds at each frequency to create an equal-loudness curve. In a quiet...

Observe the sex ratios of birds and geckos as they hatch in an incubator. Vary the temperature of the incubator and measure the percentages of male and female hatchlings to determine if...

Explore the abiotic factors that affect Caribbean coral reefs. Many factors can be manipulated in this simplified reef model, including ocean temperature and pH, storm severity, and input...

See how muscles, bones, and connective tissue work together to allow movement. Observe how muscle contraction arises from the interactions of thin and thick filaments in muscle cells. Using...

Measure your reaction time by clicking your mouse as quickly as possible when visual or auditory stimuli are presented. The individual response times are recorded, as well as the mean and...

Perform experiments with several seed types to see what conditions yield the highest germination (sprouting) rate. Three different types of seeds can be studied, and the temperature, water...

Adjust the concentration of a solute on either side of a membrane in a cell and observe the system as it adjusts to the conditions through osmosis. The initial concentration of the solute...

Adjust the levels of clothing, perspiration, and exercise to maintain a stable internal temperature as the external temperature changes. Water and blood sugar levels need to be replenished...

Study the thickness of birds' beaks over a five year period as you control the yearly rainfall on an isolated island. As the environmental conditions change, the species must adapt (a...

Study the production and use of gases by plants and animals. Measure the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in a test tube containing snails and elodea (a type of plant) in both light and...

In this followup to the Coral Reefs 1 - Abiotic Factors activity, investigate the impacts of fishing, disease, and invasive species on a model Caribbean coral reef. Many variables can be...

Measure the time required to write a word when the mouse behaves in a normal fashion and when the direction of motion is reversed from left to right, up to down, or both. Run several...

Construct a DNA molecule, examine its double-helix structure, and then go through the DNA replication process. Learn how each component fits into a DNA molecule, and see how a unique,...

Label a diagram that illustrates the anatomy of a flower, and understand the function of each structure. Compare the processes of self pollination and cross pollination, and explore how...

Use a variety of real-world lab tests to analyze common food samples in order to determine if the food is a carbohydrate, a protein, or a lipid. Tests that can be performed include:...

Observe how a paramecium maintains stable internal conditions in a changing aquatic environment. Water moves into the organism by osmosis, and is pumped out by the contractile vacuole. The...

Compare the skulls of a variety of significant human ancestors, or hominids. Use available tools to measure lengths, areas, and angles of important features. Each skull can be viewed from...

FREE with no time limit!

Observe the spread of disease through a group of people. The methods of transmission can be chosen and include person-to-person, airborne, and foodborne as well as any combination thereof....

Go through the process of synthesizing proteins through RNA transcription and translation. Learn about the many steps involved in protein synthesis including: unzipping of DNA, formation of...

Release a lytic virus in a group of cells and observe how cells are infected over time and eventually destroyed. Data related to the number of healthy cells, infected cells, and viruses can...

Try to click your mouse once every 2 seconds. The time interval between each click is recorded, as well as the error and percent error. Data can be displayed in a table, histogram, or...

Use dichotomous keys to identify and classify five types of organisms: California albatrosses, Canadian Rockies buttercups, Texas venomous snakes, Virginia evergreens, and Florida...

In this follow-up to the Genetic Engineering Gizmo, explore how farmers can maximize yield while limiting ecosystem damage using genetically modified corn. Choose the corn type to plant and...

Try to estimate the passage of time by selecting a time interval, clicking the Start button, and clicking Stop when you think the interval has passed. The estimate and percent error are...

Scan the DNA of frogs to produce DNA sequences. Use the DNA sequences to identify possible identical twins and to determine which sections of DNA code for skin color, eye color, and the...

Measure the height, diameter, and circumference of trees in a forest. Count growth rings to determine the age of each tree. Grow the trees for several years and investigate how growth is...

Explore how a fertilized cell develops into an embryo, a fetus, and eventually an adult organism. Compare embryo development in different vertebrate species and try to guess which embryo...

FREE with no time limit!

Based on the similarities and differences between different organisms, create branching diagrams called cladograms to show how they are related. Use both morphological data (physical...

As a national park ranger, students must restore the ecosystem of a park back to normal. They interact with populations of many organisms including wolves, deer and bees. Students learn the...

Sort and pair the images of human chromosomes obtained in a scan. Find differences in the scans of the various patients to find out specific things that can cause disease, as well as...

Compare average temperatures, precipitation, humidity, and wind speed for a variety of locations across the globe. Explore the influence of latitude, proximity to oceans, elevation, and...

As an agricultural scientist, students help a strawberry farmer who is having problems with low fruit production. Students learn about the factors involved in fruit production including...

A farmer in Africa is having problems with elephants eating her corn and cotton crops. As a wildlife biologist, students learn about animal group behavior and relationships of elephants and...

Use genetic engineering techniques to create corn plants resistant to insect pests or tolerant of herbicides. Identify useful genes from bacteria, insert the desired gene into a corn plant,...

Compare average temperatures, precipitation, humidity, and wind speed for a variety of locations across the globe. Explore the influence of latitude, proximity to oceans, elevation, and...

As a bee scientist, students help a honey farm that has low honey production due to wasps. Students learn about bees, heredity and traits to determine which traits will help the bees defend...

FREE with no time limit!

An important fish species, the American Shad, has disappeared from the James River in Virginia. Students take on the role of a junior River Watch member to investigate the shad population’s...

Follow the path of a carbon atom through the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere. Manipulate a simplified model to see how human activities and other factors affect the amount...

Collect fingerprints from simulated crime scenes using a camera, fingerprinting powder, and tape. Classify fingerprints into groups and subgroups, then identify minutiae. Match collected...