Children’s book: Biology

You will be picking one topic and writing a children’s book following the guiding questions I have listed below. I use the term “children” lightly, since no child is really going to be reading a book about this stuff…but I digress. Pick a topic, and write and illustrate a story, be it fictional or non-fictional narrative, or what have you.

Topics:

  1. Animal cells
  2. What is a cell? Include tissues, organs and organ systems here also. (1-2 pages)
  3. What are the two main types of cells? (1-2 pages)
  4. What is an animal cell? How is it different from plant cells? (1-2 pages)
  5. What is an organelle? (1-2 pages)
  6. Pick 5 organelles and describe each. (1-2 pages = 5-10 pages)
  7. Discuss cell specialization. (1-2 pages)
  8. Why are animal cells important? (1-2 pages)
  9. Why should we care? (1-2 pages)
  10. Enzymes
  11. What is a macromolecule? (1-2 pages)
  12. What are the 4 types of biological macromolecules? (2-4 pages)
  13. What is a chemical reaction? (1-2 pages)
  14. What is a catalyst? (1-2 pages)
  15. What is an enzyme? (1-2 pages)
  16. How do enzymes work? (1-2 pages)
  17. Enzyme-substrate complex (1-2 pages)
  18. Lock and Key (1-2 pages)
  19. Enzymes and temperature (1-2 pages)
  20. Enzymes and pH (1-2 pages)
  21. Why are enzymes important? (1-2 pages)
  22. Why should we care? (1-2 pages)
  23. Mitosis/cell cycle
  24. Why can’t a cell grow forever? (1-2 pages)
  25. What limits how big the cell can grow? (1-2 pages)
  26. What is the cell cycle? (2-4 pages)
  27. What happens at each phase in the cell cycle? (1-2 pages each phase = 4-8 pages)
  28. What is mitosis? (1-2 pages)
  29. What happens at each phase of mitosis? (1-2 pages each phase = 5-10 pages)
  30. What is the end result of mitosis? (1-2 pages)
  31. Why is mitosis important? (1-2 pages)
  32. Why should we care? (1-2 pages)
  33. Evolution/survival of the fittest
  34. Who was Charles Darwin, and why is he important? (2-4 pages)
  35. What was Darwin’s book called? (1-2 pages)
  36. What was Darwin’s theory? (1-2 pages)
  37. How was his theory accepted? (1-2 pages)
  38. What is the struggle for existence? (1-2 pages)
  39. What did he mean “survival of the fittest”? Provide an example. (2-4 pages)
  40. What is some evidence Darwin used to support his theory? (3-6 pages)
  41. Summarize Darwin’s theory (2-4 pages)
  42. Why should we care? (1-2 pages)
  43. Human population growth
  44. What is a population? Include the levels of organization from organism to biome. (1-2 pages)
  45. What are the 2 types of population growth? Which is more realistic? (1-2 pages)
  46. What is carrying capacity? What happens to a population when it reaches carrying capacity? (1-2 pages)
  47. What are the 2 types of limiting factors to population growth? Explain and provide an example of at least 2 of each type. (1-2 pages per factor = 2-4 pages)
  48. How has the human population changed over the last 10,000+ years? (1-2 pages)
  49. What is the estimated population of the world now? I know it changes every second, but that’s why we’re doing an estimate!  (1-2 pages)
  50. What is an age structure diagram? (1-2 pages)
  51. What can an age structure diagram show us? (1-2 pages)
  52. What does the age structure diagram of a developed country look like? (1-2 pages)
  53. What does the age structure diagram of an underdeveloped country look like? (1-2 pages)
  54. What can be changed in an underdeveloped country to make it a developed country? (1-2 pages)
  55. Why should we care? (1-2 pages)