Myth

1. Humans sit atop the food chain-Sometimes you’ll hear the carnivorous among us exclaim, “I didn’t fight my way to the top of the food chain to eat a salad.” Though we may understand their meaning, the concept behind it is dead wrong. That’s because the food chain metaphor itself is too simplistic. It’s more like a food web, which more accurately portrays how energy is passed among organisms in a certain ecosystem

2.We See Everything Upside-Down-The lens of each eye casts an upside-down image onto the retina. Then your brain takes these two upside-down images at slightly different perspectives (one per eye) and creates a single right-side-up image.

3The Hydra and Its Mythological Roots-The Hydra, a multifaceted creature from Greek mythology, has captured the imagination of countless generations. Often depicted as a serpent-like monster with multiple heads, the Hydra stands as a symbol of immense power and resilience

4.So many people think natural selection creates positive changes in organisms which enable them to adapt to the environment when this is actually false as natural selection only acts on pre-existing variation and does not create new genetic variation on its own, something which random mutations do.

5. Seeds and eggs are not living things. We see seeds and eggs as immobile and not self-sustaining, which means able to maintain itself independently. This can lead students to assume that seeds and eggs are not alive until a stem emerges from the seed or the chick from the egg. By using a seed-to-flower activity, you can teach students about seed dispersal and successful germination.

6. Human growth is caused by cells getting larger. When a puppy grows into a dog, we cannot see its cells dividing with a naked eye. All we see is an animal getting larger. This can lead us to believe that cells get bigger to cause growth instead of dividing to grow. Use a model to illustrate the role of mitosis and differentiation in producing complex organisms like dogs.

7. Bacteria are bad. A lot of the bacteria photographs we see depict scary-looking organisms that make us sick, but not all bacteria are bad for us. While some bacteria are germs and spread disease, other bacteria are good and can help our bodies digest food and absorb nutrients. You can use plate streaking with yogurt to observe the number of good bacteria in your classroom

8.If your dad is bald, you’ll be bald too. Male pattern baldness is a trait on the X chromosome, meaning it skips a generation and comes from your mother’s side. So, yes, if your dad is bald, there is a chance you might become bald. However, it is only a possibility, and there are other causes of baldness. Ask your students to create DNA family trees to discover their own genetic inheritance possibilities.

9.The Myth of Spontaneous Generation-Spontaneous generation theory is a myth. It is a false idea that was once a widely accepted belief in the scientific community. Its ideas were so strong that it took multiple experiments by several different scientists to disprove the theory and start to shift the mindset about how living things arise.

10.Marine Biologists spend their lives on the water.

This myth is more prevalent among aspiring Marine Biologists. The job looks?glamorous, with trips to tropical islands, extended cruises, and life on the beach. While I hate to burst the bubble of the next generation, Marine Biology is mostly lab work and sitting in front of your computer. If I’m lucky, I’ll get maybe 3 months of field work every 2 years. The rest is endlessly freezing and thawing samples, pipetting clear liquids into other clear liquids, and typing work