Help brainstorming good labs for Human Bio
Quick rundown of my situation: I teach at a VERY small (public) alternative high school. Because of this I have to change subjects every year, and for other reasons I cant teach typical HS classes (Biology, Chemistry, Physics etc.). I'm starting prep for next year and the class is "Human Biology". Essentially a typical biology class sans anything that would relate to an ecology type standard.
My students love being outside, and love hands on, high DoK, high rigor type work. This year we spent half of our class periods at a local beach about 20min away from the school doing water quality tests, sediment analysis, plant identification etc. for "Environmental Chemistry". My school community loves how I get students outside, connected to the community, and public displays of projects (we do a lot of public student work exhibitions).
TLDR/ Main Point: HELP ME BRAINSTORM PLEASE. I'm looking for any labs that could fit within topics like cells, dna to protein, organ systems... I have a huge amount of freedom in what I teach and as long as my students are engaged hands on, and were not straying toooo far from what could be considered "human bio" everyone is happy. I do not have a proper science lab, so nothing that would require a hood/ lab tables. Bonus points if the lab:
- Happens outside (we have beaches, forests, geology, everything)
- Could connect us to our community (small community means everything is close)
- Could easily have a product that students share with the community (lab report, posters, zines, social media campaigns etc.)
- Is cross-curricular (I often join forces with culinary arts, math, Art, and English classes)