Two students compare experiences in an active vs. a passive classroom setting. Two professors also debate the merits of student-centered vs. instructor-centered strategies. One of the professors leads the user through several pieces of data showing that students learn more in a hands-on/minds-on environment.

A group of undergraduates is working on a research project where they are trying to express a GFP fusion in a new cell line. They show that the DNA is incorporated into the genome and the mRNA is expressed, but they do not get green cells. Sequencing reveals that the incorporated gene contained a nonsense mutation, and students revise their ideas about how information is used at each level of gene expression.

A biology student and her friend wonder why cell culture media changes from red to yellow as the culture ages. A link is made between CO₂ release and bicarbonate and acid production. The students also design an experiment to test each of the ingredients in the media, and make the connection that chemical buffers can prevent acidification of the solution. The concept of a buffer is clarified by considering the buffering capacities of the buffer compared to the amino acids.

Two students collecting field data disagree over the appropriate number of samples to take as well as how to represent the quantitative data. In the computer lab the students seek the help of a TA and work to understand the difference between raw and analyzed data, the correct way to represent categorical data, and the importance of proper statistics.

Students forgot to write concentrations of sugar on bottles of media needed for a laboratory experiment. Unable to make more media, the students are able to utilize equipment in the laboratory and set up a diffusion experiment to determine which bottle contains which solution.

Students collecting data in a field course discover a dead, decomposing animal under a tree in the field. The students and their instructor have a discussion about decomposition, and the instructor asks how carbon from the animal becomes biomass in nearby plants. While students initially mis-identify uptake of carbon via roots, an experiment in decomposition allows students to link decomposer respiration to release of carbon dioxide, which can be taken up by plants and fixed via photosynthesis.

A student is trying to figure out the minimal growth requirements for green algae. She discovers that algae do not require anything other than water, essential salts, CO₂ from the air, and light for photosynthesis. In the end the student is able to make the connection that plants and green algae are able to utilize light energy to drive the production of glucose.

Two undergraduate biology students are puzzling over the results from a microbiology experiment meant to determine if a bacterial strain is capable of fermentation or not. They reason their way through the problem, set up, and carry out another experiment to test their ideas. In the end, they are able to come to an understanding about the relationship of two key metabolic pathways.

A college student video chats with his mother, who tells him that a cousin has passed away as the result of Marfan Syndrome. As the pair learn about Marfan Syndrome, they become concerned that the student may also be affected. The student explains genetic inheritance to his mother, and together they piece together a pedigree that they analyze with respect to the disease.

Two students are working on an undergraduate research project in biology involving cloning a gene in bacteria. They are not getting the results they expect and must investigate their results more deeply. In the end, they learn how an antibiotic selects for resistant bacteria that are already present at low numbers in a population, which clarifies how natural selection works and why antibiotic resistant bacteria are a major health issue.

A college instructor is leading an interactive in-class demonstration to model the important aspects of the process of meiosis. Students volunteering for the demo and classroom members offer explanations to the various questions posed by the instructor. The user is asked to answer the questions posed to the student "audience" as well. At the end of the lesson the students in the class (as well as the IVV user) realize the importance of DNA sequence and genetic information to explain concepts of ploidy, homology and homologous pairing.

Two students studying genetics struggle to define dominance. They explore an example, PTC taster vs. nontaster phenotypes, and collect data in a science fair setting. The molecular reasons for the dominance relationship between alleles is discussed, and the common assumptions that dominant alleles are better, stronger, or more common are debunked.

While preparing for their lab, two students model the steps of a molecular cloning experiment. This introduces the viewer to restriction digestion, sticky and blunt ends, PCR, primer design, plasmids, multi cloning sites, and antibiotic selection. Viewer understanding is promoted via interactive questions embedded throughout the IVV.

Two students talk about science related course work, including examples of how new information allowed has the scientific community to adjust and advance understandings, and a specific lab assignment based on species richness and biomass measurements. Viewers are asked to make conclusions based on provided evidence, and then based on new evidence that alters the original conclusion. In the end, the cumulative effects of data collection are considered in the context of refining scientific knowledge.