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All 13 courses
414 lessons, in the order you would climb them: from activities a grown-up runs with a child, up to courses that end at current research. Anyone can start on any rung. Prefer a suggested order for your goal?
Ages 5–10, with a grown-up
Hands-on activities a grown-up runs with children, away from the screen. Aligned to Virginia’s kindergarten to grade 4 science standards.
Grade 7
Middle school Life Science, aligned to the Virginia Standards of Learning.
High school
The full high school Biology course, aligned to the Virginia Standards of Learning.
Starting college
The first college course. It is the only one in this band so far; chemistry, statistics and physics are not built yet.
College: the core
The three subjects every biology degree requires. Each course also stands on its own.
- 5 units · 26 lessonsMCAT Cell Biology How a eukaryotic cell is built, moves things around, divides and lives among other cells. Seeing and testing cells · Membranes and compartments · Traffic and movement · Division and cell loss · Cells in tissues Open the course →
- 6 units · 26 lessonsMCAT Genetics and Molecular Biology How traits are inherited, and how DNA stores, copies and uses the information. Inheritance · Mapping and gene function · DNA: copying, changing, repairing · From gene to protein, and its control · Tools and genomes · Populations and complex traits Open the course →
- 6 units · 26 lessons Ecology and Evolution How populations change over generations, and how organisms, populations and ecosystems work together. Evidence and evolutionary reasoning · Genomes, development and diversification · Environments and populations · Interactions and communities · Ecosystem processes · Global change and decisions Open the course →
College: going further
One subject taken further, for students who have the core behind them.
- 9 units · 30 lessonsMCAT Biochemistry The one-semester sequence: molecules, enzymes, membranes, metabolism. Foundations · Proteins · Enzymes & Binding · Sugars, Lipids & Membranes · Signaling & Digestion · Central Metabolism · Photosynthesis · Fuels, Fat & Nitrogen · Supplements Open the course →
- 7 units · 28 lessonsMCAT Neuroscience How neurons signal, and how circuits of them sense, move, regulate the body, feel, remember and decide. Neurons and their signals · Synapses and plasticity · Sensory systems · Motor systems · Homeostasis and affect · Cognition and learning · Evidence and disease Open the course →
- 10 units · 30 lessonsMCAT Physiology How the human body’s organ systems work, measured: pressures, flows, volumes and the experiments behind them. The internal environment and its control · Muscle · The heart and circulation · Breathing · Kidney, fluids and acid-base · Endocrine systems · Digestion and absorption · Defense, skin and temperature · Reproduction · Integration Open the course →
Graduate school and beyond
Courses that go all the way to current research.
- 8 units · 44 lessons Cell Signaling How a cell hears a message and decides what to do next. How a cell knows anything · The parts: switches and wiring · G-protein-coupled receptors and second messengers · Receptors with enzymes attached · Signals that build and defend an animal · Channels, the nucleus, and life or death · Space, time and distance · Evolution, disease and tools Open the course →
- 11 units · 51 lessons Developmental Neuroscience How a nervous system builds itself, one local decision at a time. The problem and the tools · Becoming neural · Coordinates: patterning the tube · Making neurons · Cells on the move · Axons find their way · Survival and competition · Building synapses · Experience refines the wiring · Glia · Rebuilding, evolving, and going wrong Open the course →
- 8 units · 30 lessons Sensory Systems How touch, pain, itch, the body, sight, sound, smell and taste are sensed, read through current research. Transduction and sensory cell types · Touch · Temperature, pain and itch · Proprioception and interoception · Vision · Hearing and balance · Smell and taste · Integration and repair Open the course →