Histology: Tissues Unit for Anatomy

Looking for a low-prep Histology Unit that is jam-packed with hands-on activities that are sure to engage all learners within your classroom? Look no further!

This activity-based unit is perfect for new Anatomy and Physiology teachers who need a comprehensive unit as they navigate teaching a new course... but also for seasoned teachers who are looking to diversify their lessons and add more active learning to their Histology Unit. With the prep-work done for you, you’ll have time at the beginning of the year to focus on getting to know your students (rather than making creative, engaging, organized resources).

What will a typical day look like using this unit? For my first years of teaching, I would lecture for 45 minutes straight - every day! I quickly burned out and realized that I taught best and my students learned best when each topic was taught through a combination of a shorter lecture and a low-prep, student-focused application activity. With this unit most days you will spend 5-20 minutes completing Doodle Notes with your students and pair those notes with a 15-30 minute hands-on, minds-on activity reviewing and building upon the content. These activities include a modeling activity, a lab, 3 sets of sorting cards, an escape room, a speed dating activity, and a concept map.

The types of tissue covered by this bundle are:

• Epithelial tissue (simple squamous, simple cuboidal, simple columnar, stratified squamous, stratified cuboidal, stratified columnar, pseudostratified, transitional)
• Connective tissue (connective tissue proper (loose & dense types), cartilage (+ types), blood, bone)
• Muscle tissue (skeletal, cardiac, smooth)
• Nervous tissue (includes discussion on neurons and neuroglia)

If you utilize all of the content included, your unit will include a full 12-13 days of engaging, lecture-minimal content.

What is included in this unit?

• Pacing Guide: To set you up for success, this unit is built around a pacing guide that explains exactly how to structure every day. You won't have to search for files. The pacing guide includes links that send you directly to the source of each activity.
• Teacher Guides: Each resource included in this unit comes with at least one page of teacher instructions. In total, you'll receive over 14 pages of teacher instructions that will guide you through each lesson.
• PowerPoints: This unit includes a 129-slide editable PowerPoint presentation. I strive for my PowerPoints to include more than just notes - in each PowerPoint you'll find diagrams, student challenges, links to videos, explanations of activities, and extension activities.
• Doodle Notes: The notes utilized in this curriculum are doodle notes, which boost student engagement and retention. Within this unit, you will receive 10 pages of doodle notes. Each page includes a key, fill-in-the-blank version, and blank version - perfect for all of your differentiation needs. Your students aren't crazy about coloring? No worries! I include pre-colored version of each page of doodle notes as well as black and white versions. Notes included: histology basics, epithelial tissue basics, classifications of epithelial tissues, connective tissue basics, CT proper, cartilage, bone & blood, muscle tissue basics, classifications of muscle tissue, nervous tissue
• Labs & Activities: This unit includes 9 different labs and activities. Labs & activities included: muscle tissue microscope or digital lab, muscle tissue sorting cards, epithelial tissue modeling activity, epithelial tissue review worksheet, epithelial tissue sorting cards, connective tissue proper escape room, connective tissue sorting cards, histology speed dating review activity, histology concept map
• Editable Test: A 115-point (106-question) editable test, answer sheet, and key is INCLUDED within the bonus file! The test is designed to be customized and serve as a question bank for your own classroom.
• Print or digital? 99% of resources are available in BOTH print and digital forms! For each PowerPoint you will receive a digital version through Google Slides™ as well. For each set of doodle notes, you will receive a digital version through Google Slides™ of the notes with textboxes ready for students to type in notes. Every packet, lab, and activity includes a digital version through Google Slides™ with textboxes ready for students to type in their answers and click submit! A very small number of resources are only available in print form due to the nature of those resources (ex. sorting cards)

Are these resources editable?

I did my best to make this unit as editable as possible for you! In order to abide by copyright laws or to maintain formatting, a number of these resources are saved in PDF form (and are non-editable). Specifically, all Doodle Notes are non-editable; however, I have added a blank copy of each set of Doodle Notes that you can add your own notes to! If you find you need anything to be more editable, don't hesitate to email me and I'll see what I can do!

What Other Teachers Are Saying:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This unit is a lifesaver. I'm teaching anatomy for the first time and I would have had to do a ton of work to teach this unit. However, this resource exists and I have saved so much time! Every bit of the unit was great- histology slides, making play-doh models and extensive notes and information. THANK YOU SO MUCH! - Bold Biology Teacher

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This was a great resource to use to teach histology. The activities were engaging while also helping students to learn challenging content. - Elizabeth

This resource is also included in my Full-Year Anatomy & Physiology Curriculum.

Doodle notes is a trademarked term used with permission. Please visit doodlenotes.org for more information.

If you have any questions, please reach out at rachel@sciencefromscratch.com.