Mystery of the Flea Dip
The Mystery of the Flea Dip is a story and activity that was first published in the journal Cell Biology Education by Baines, Mevey, Rybarcyzk, and Wilkins. I've taken the activity and revised it a bit to make it a little easier to use quickly and effectively in the classrom. The activity is a story about a young girl who died after being exposed to a toxic chemical (a fictitious one) in a flea dip that she used on her dog. A set of autopsy results are used by students to determine exactly what part of cell respiration was affected and why this would have caused tissue death.
Essential concepts: Cell respiration, ATP, oxygen, glycolylsis, citric acid cycle, chemiosmosis.
Answer Key: Available to teachers as part of the biology instructor resources subscription.
