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Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) has just released its third high school module designed to address the specific learning objectives of high school biology students!  Prying into Prions: Investigating Chronic Wasting Disease explores a group of emerging diseases—transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). It is a six-lesson module, designed for approximately two weeks of classroom instruction.

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal neurological disease found in deer, elk, and moose. The disease attacks the brains of infected animals, causing them to become emaciated, display abnormal behavior, lose coordination, and eventually—die.  Like other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), CWD is a “prion” disease. (Prion is short for “proteinaceaous infectious particle”.)

The prion protein exists in two forms. The normal form is found in many types of cells, including those in the central nervous system. The pathological prion form has the same chemical composition, but a different shape!  There may be no better illustration of the idea that form dictates function—a central tenet of science and biology. 

To understand prion diseases, students must first understand what proteins are, how they are made, and how they fold and mis-fold. After students discuss the variety of evidence that scientists must collect to determine the origin, infectious agent, and route of transmission of a transmissible disease, they explore the role of proteins in living organisms, the chemistry and behavior of proteins, and the genetic code that creates protein (DNA, transcription, and translation). Throughout the module, they look at and evaluate experimental design. The module is designed to supplement or replace the activities found in most high school biology textbooks that address the chemistry of life, DNA and the genetic code, and protein synthesis.
 
Any high school biology teacher who wishes to receive a copy of this module can request one by sending an e-mail to a CPW education coordinator. Please provide your name, the name and address of your high school, a work phone number, and your e-mail address. (This offer is for high school biology teachers only, please.)

Colorado teachers receive the materials free of charge. If you do not reside in Colorado, but wish to obtain a copy of this module, please send a check for $25 made out to Colorado Parks and Wildlife to: Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Education Section, 6060 Broadway, Denver, CO  80216.

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In September, 2006, a second module, designed specifically for high school instructors and students, was released. The Species Question: Applying Taxonomy to Wildlife Research and Management presents a scientific topic (often viewed as an obscure discipline involving brainy professors or highbrow science know-it-alls who memorize Latin species names!) in an entirely engaging and relevant context. Each activity focuses on current and headline-grabbing endangered species issues and demonstrates that the field of taxonomy, often viewed as a “stagnant” science, is evolving and changing the way we think about and protect species.

Many of the ideas scientists hold about species, including the concept of species itself, are undergoing revision. With advances in molecular biology, we find that some animals that look alike are in no way related. Contrarily, some that look different have nearly identical genetics! For anyone wanting clean, clear-cut answers, this module on taxonomy and systematics might be surprising.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife invites teachers and students to join in its discoveries, questions, and arguments about species. On the journey, you will develop a clearer understanding of modern taxonomy, the nature of scientific knowledge and the scientific process, the human dimension of science, and the value of peer review.

Any high school biology teacher who wishes to receive a copy of this module can request one by sending an e-mail to a CPW education coordinator. Please provide your name, the name and address of your high school, a work phone number, and your e-mail address. (This offer is for high school biology teachers only, please.)

Colorado teachers receive the materials free of charge. If you do not reside in Colorado, but wish to obtain a copy of this module, please send a check for $25 made out to Colorado Parks and Wildlife to: Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Attn: Education Section, 6060 Broadway, Denver, CO  80216.

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• Do you want your students to analyze current research data, draw conclusions about the data, and apply them to real situations?
• Are you interested in providing students with an opportunity to explore the applications of science to real issues?
• Do you think it is important for students to develop critical reading and thinking skills?

If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, this module is for you!

One hundred years ago, Colorado had fewer than 2,000 elk, 7,000 deer, and 1,000 pronghorn. Through the efforts of involved citizens and Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), our state now has more than 300,000 elk, 500,000 deer, and 60,000 pronghorn. Diminishing populations of river otters, ospreys, peregrine falcons, bald eagles, and greenback cutthroat trout have also been restored to healthy levels.

Now a historic and heroic project is underway to return the beautiful Canada lynx to its historic range in Colorado. This is only the second time in North America that a lynx reintroduction has been attempted. The first effort to establish lynx in Adirondack Park in New York in the late 1980s failed. There was no adequate monitoring plan and it was impossible to discern where the project went wrong. When Colorado decided to undertake this project, the state put in place stringent scientific monitoring. Not only does this experimental approach enhance the success of the reintroduction, it allows scientists to add to a growing body of knowledge about species restoration and allows your students to learn right along with them!

Return of the Snow Cat: the Reintroduction of Lynx to Colorado supports instructors in their efforts to provide the knowledge and skills specified in the Colorado Model Content Standards and the corresponding grade level frameworks. It is an eight-lesson module designed for two weeks of classroom instruction. Real research data from the lynx reintroduction effort serve as a context to present topics such as ecosystems, population dynamics, and more! The module is designed to supplement or replace the activities found in most high school biology, ecology, or environmental science textbooks that address these topics.

Any high school teacher who wishes to receive a copy of this module can request one by sending an e-mail to a CPW education coordinator. Please provide your name, the name and address of your high school, a work phone number, and your e-mail address. (This offer is for high school teachers, only, please.)

Colorado teachers receive the materials free of charge. If you do not reside in Colorado, but wish to obtain a copy of this module, please send a check for $25 made out to Colorado Parks and Wildlife to: Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Attn: Education Section, 6060 Broadway, Denver, CO  80216.