© 2001 Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) NOVA ONLINE. Students learn about the role smallpox played in the development of vaccines and learn the difference between live and non-live vaccines. An interactive animation walks students through the steps of various techniques used to make six different vaccines in a virtual laboratory.
Learn.Genetics™: Cell Size and Scale (SEPA)
© 2011 Genetic Science Learning Center, University of Utah. Use a scroll bar to understand the relative sizes of cells, including a coffee bean, a skin cell, E. coli bacterium, HIV, and a carbon atom.
Infectious Disease: Evolving challenges to human health (SEPA)
© 2012 National Academy of Sciences. Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences. Through videos and text, this online interactive site allows students to explore: viruses, their evolution and distribution; the role of vaccines and the human immune system; the HIV pandemic; and malaria. Students choose different control measures for several diseases and see the outcomes of their choices.
BioEd Online: MicroMatters™ (SEPA)
© 2004-2011 Baylor College of Medicine. This Web-based magazine introduces students to basic concepts in microbiology including: healthy and unhealthy microbes and how they spread, past epidemics, the human immune system and vaccines, and HIV/AIDS.
Virus Modeling Kit
© Science Kit & Boreal Laboratories. Groups of students build their own models of 5 different viruses: tobacco mosaic, mumps, influenza, potato X, and a bacteriophage. They discover the structural diversity of different viruses and realize that animals, plants, and bacteria are all susceptible to viruses. The activity provides an excellent lead into lessons on the lytic and lysogenic cycles of viruses.
RCSB PDB: Virus structures, lesson plans and activities: Virus Shape and Structure and the Life Cycle of the Dengue Virus
©RCSB Protein Data Bank. Students learn about viral infection and immunity. Students also build 3-D preprinted paper models of icosahedral viruses in order to understand the use of symmetry in virus assembly.
Model Plus: The Virus
© 2011 Nasco. This model was designed to introduce students to the structure of a virus. It illustrates the major components with removable pieces. The model is constructed of resilient, nontoxic EVA foam. A teacher’s guide includes inquiry-based lab activities, reproducible worksheets, background information, and assessment ideas.
CURRICULUM CENTER VIRUSES: Model Viruses
© 2011 Discovery Education. In this activity, students create a larger-than-life model of one of six different viruses and then compare their completed models to see differences in virus types.
Build a Virus
© 2007 National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). The Science Reflector, Summer 2007, Volume 36, Number 2. The North Carolina Science Teachers Association (NCSTA). In this investigation, students create an icosahedral virus model and consider how virus structure and behavior could be mimicked in nanotechnology applications. Students describe the structure of a virus, how viruses function as nanomachines, and how viruses self-replicate.
World of Viruses: The Never-Ending Battle (SEPA)
© 2011, The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. Students discover how the ocean virus, Emiliania huxleyi virus (EhV), saves the world by keeping Emiliania huxleyi algae in check and bringing balance to the oceans.