What Can A Biology Teacher Do On Valentine's Day?

The only time I regret being a high school teacher is around a holiday. 

Don't get me wrong.... I love teaching high school biology, and I particularly love the teenagers that I teach. But, I see the elementary teachers doing so many cute and fun activities that just look so adorable!  And they have incredibly cute decorations for every season! Sigh..... I only have my collection of Einstein posters haphazardly stuck around the walls. In high school, there are generally two problems with celebrating the different holidays in our classrooms: One, the students think they are too cool and too grown up to be doing silly kid stuff. And two, if "it" is not on the blasted standardized test at the end of the year, then woe be unto you who deviate from the "you must teach to the test" curriculum plan!!

For me, it just so happens that I usually manage to be teaching the circulatory system around Valentine's Day. Although not nearly so fun as exchanging valentines and getting lots of treat bags, at least it does involve the heart. One of my favorite labs is Measuring the Heart Rate in Daphnia. It is a 2-part activity. In the first part, students explore the effect of temperature on heart rate. The second part is a student-designed experiment in which students test a different variable to see the effect on the heart rate. It is a really fun lab and students love it. Click the red link above or the image below to view in my TPT store.

Granted, the above lab takes some planning and probably takes 2 class periods to complete. If you are looking for something quick, and very easy, how about my Science of Valentine's Day video from my YouTube channel, the Amy Brown Science Learning Lab? The 4-minute video is free for your classroom use. I also wrote a fun acrostic puzzle activity to accompany the video. Students will answer questions to decipher three really corny Valentine jokes. Click here or on the image below to view the puzzles.

Finally, for the chemistry teachers, I have a Color by Number activity with a Valentine's Day theme. Students will practice writing chemical formulas and naming compounds while uncovering the hidden picture.  Click here or on the image below.

How about this lab activity?  This activity is called Crystal Hearts and looks like it would be a lot of fun.  It doesn't really fit in my biology curriculum, but it would be great for a middle school general science class or a high school physical science class.