January 29, 2012

January 29, 2012

January 29, 2012

The first week of second semester is now in the books.  We are just about to wrap up our biotechnology unit and begin our genetics unit, as the presence of Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) in our prep area attests!

Events of the Past Week

Monday - NO SCHOOL.  TEACHER INSTITUTE DAY

Tuesday - At the beginning of class, I showed the students their final exam grades and their semester grades.  After that was completed, we took out or data from the gel electrophoresis lab we did before final exams and graphed it on special graph paper called "semilog" graph paper.  We graphed the data from one of our DNA digests, then we used our line to determine the length of other DNA fragments based on the distance they traveled in our gel.  Some of the students had some pretty accurate results, while others did not.  This lab, however, was more about the experience and learning to use the equipment than it was about getting accurate results.  There was no homework on Tuesday.

Wednesday - We began class by completing a DNA fingerprinting activity.  The students all solved "The Case of the Crown Jewels" correctly by using their knowledge of restriction enzymes and gel electrophoresis.  When that was finished, we began watching our movie called "The Human Race" about the Human Genome Project.  There was no homework on Wednesday.

Thursday - We finished our video on the Human Genome Project, and then learned some key vocabulary that will be important in understanding how recombinant DNA is made.  We will complete an activity on creating recombinant DNA on Monday.  My first hour class already completed this activity due to some technical difficulties with the connection between the DVD player and projector.  We will finish the video on Monday.

Friday - I was out sick on Friday, but the plan was to watch a video on genetically modified organisms anyway.  The video, called "Harvest of Fear", was a Frontline special that presented the benefits and the dangers of genetically modified organisms to the students.

Upcoming Events

Monday - We will begin the week by completing the recombinant DNA activity.  Following that, the students will be directed to the website http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/, where they will learn about stem cells, cloning, gene therapy, and the polymerase chain reaction.  This will probably take the rest of the class period on Monday and some of the class period on Tuesday.  Homework will be to begin studying for a quiz on biotechnology, covering restriction enzymes, gel electrophoresis, the Human Genome Project, recombinant DNA, stem cells, cloning, gene therapy, and the polymerase chain reaction on Wednesday.

Tuesday - We will begin class by finishing working through the learn.genetics.utah.edu website.  Afterwards, we will be processing all of the information from the website and reviewing for the quiz on Wednesday.

Wednesday - We will take our quiz on biotechnology to begin class.  This will take approximately 15-20 minutes.  Afterwards, we will begin learning about the process of meiosis by taking a look at some diagrams and readings on meiosis.

Thursday - We will learn about the process of meiosis by modeling it with pop beads.  There will be some questions to answer related to the activity for homework.

Friday - We will review the process of meiosis by using playing cards.  The playing cards will be used to simulate chromosomes, and the students will be moving around the class as though they are actually going through meiosis.  Homework will be to study for a quiz on meiosis on Monday.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Graba Geek of the Week goes to Patrick Chen, who asked some very good questions about the Human Genome and the video that we watched on Thursday.  Good questions lead to good discussions and everyone benefits, so way to go, Patrick!

January 22, 2012

January 22, 2012

January 22, 2012

The school year is already half over!  It's hard to believe how quickly each year goes by.

Events of the Past Week

As I'm sure you know that last week was final exams week, there is not much to report other than that students took their final exams.  The classes did a great job of asking me questions, and I had several students come in to look at past exams during their free periods, before school, or after school.

Upcoming Events

Monday - NO SCHOOL.  TEACHER INSTITUTE DAY.

Tuesday - On Tuesday we will be analyzing the results from our gel electrophoresis lab.  Students will be graphing their data.  They will then use the line graph they produce to determine the length of DNA fragments of unknown sizes.  Homework will be to complete any questions from the activity that were not finished in class.

Wednesday - We will be doing a paper and pencil DNA fingerprinting activity on Wednesday.  The students will have to analyze DNA collected from a crime scene, as well as that of several different suspects, to determine who committed the crime.  We've talked about how this concept works in the past, but now the students are going to have the opportunity to get a hands-on experience with DNA fingerprinting.  Homework will be to complete the activity if it is not completed in class.

Thursday - We will be watching our first movie of the year.  It is from a very engaging series on DNA and will explain how the Human Genome Project worked.  There are some interesting interviews with James Watson, J. Craig Venter, and others throughout the movie that help to bring the Human Genome Project to life.

Friday - We will watch our second movie of the year on Friday called "Harvest of Fear."  This movie is about Genetically Modified Foods.  Students will be presented with both the potential positive and negative impacts of genetically modified organisms so that they may be a little better educated about the debate that goes on about the use of GMO's.

Graba Geek of the Week

The final geek of the week from first semester is awarded to Walt Panfil, who earned one of the top 5 grades on the final exam and has done outstanding work all semester long.  Way to go, Walt!  Keep up the good work!

January 17, 2012

January 17, 2012

January 17, 2012

Sorry this is a couple of days late.  I was out of town this weekend and away from a computer until Monday evening, when I didn't have a chance to write the weekly blog!

Events of the Past Week

Monday - The day began with me collecting both the DNA History project the students had completed at home, as well as the protein synthesis activity that was due.  We then began our activity for the day.  We were learning about mutations by looking at the DNA sequences for the myostatin gene in the Belgian Blue cattle and the sickle cell hemoglobin gene in humans.  The students had to figure out what type of mutation occurred and what the result of the mutation was as they completed the activity.  Some of the questions also guided students to think about the way in which genes change over the course of time.  Homework was to complete the mutation activity.

Tuesday - The students were given the opportunity to ask me questions about their mutation activity, which was then collected.  Following that, we looked at palindromes such as "race car," "a man, a plan, a canal, Panama," and "go hang a salami I'm a lasagna hog."  We looked at these to introduce restriction enzymes, which cut DNA at short, 4-6 base sequences which are palindromes in the DNA.  For homework, the students were given a web-based activity to learn about the process of gel electrophoresis.  This is a technique used to separate DNA fragments based on their relative size.  Some of you may have seen (or heard) the simulation as your children watched it.

Wednesday - The students ran a gel electrophoresis activity.  They had the opportunity to use micropipettes to transfer DNA from stock containers to their own little test tubes, and then to transfer the DNA from there into the gel.  At the end of class, they put their gels into our electrophoresis chamber, and I turned on the power to get the fragments to separate.  The gels were stained overnight.  For homework, the students were given a review sheet on protein synthesis which I obtained from Ms. Kim Foglia, a fantastic biology teacher from New York who passed away last year.  Many of the wonderful labs and activities the students are doing this year were taken from her.

Thursday - First, the students measured the distance their DNA fragments traveled in their gels.  This information was recorded in their notebooks.  We will come back to that data after final exams, and it will be used to determine the size of the fragments in the gel. 

Once everyone was done measuring the distances their fragments traveled, we moved on to reviewing for the test on Friday.  We went over the answers to the protein synthesis review homework, and then the students completed a second review sheet on protein synthesis, DNA structure, RNA structure, and DNA replication.  We then went over the answers to that sheet in class.  With the remaining time, the students were given the opportunity to ask me any questions that they had.  Homework was to study for their test on Friday.

Friday - The students took their DNA test in two parts.  The first part was 50 questions that were my test on DNA, and the second part was made up of 9 questions given as part of the district assessment test that all freshmen in District 211 must take.  Almost everyone did very well on the district assessment portion of the test.  Homework was to begin reviewing for final exams.  There are several review sheets for finals posted on the accelerated biology worksheets page of www.mrgraba.net.

Upcoming Events

Monday - NO SCHOOL.  THANK YOU DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR

Tuesday - We will be reviewing for final exams.  The first order of business will be to look at the results from the DNA test that was taken on Friday.  While the students are doing that, I will be showing them their grades for both 1st and 2nd quarter, so they know where the stand for final exams.  Once we are done with all of that, the students will be given the remainder of the class period to ask me questions that they have about the material that will be covered on the test.  Homework, of course, is to study for finals.

Wednesday - My 1st, 2nd, and 3rd period classes will take their final exams.  My final exam is 145 multiple choice and matching questions.  There are also 17 additional questions from the school district that all freshmen will take on the topics of cells and biochemistry.

Thursday - My 5th hour students will take their final exams on Thursday.

Friday - None of my freshmen have a biology final on Friday.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Geek of the Week is Megan Spletzer.  Megan was so excited about her plans for studying and the amount of time she was going to spend studying that her enthusiasm was infectious.  I love it when a student is excited about school, which Megan certainly seemed to be!

Have a great week, everyone!

January 8, 2012

January 8, 2011

January 8, 2011

There is only one more week in the 2nd quarter - it's hard to believe the school year is almost half over already!

Events of the Past Week

Everything went exactly according to the plan I laid out for you in last week's blogpost, so I hope you don't mind, but in the interest of your time and mine, I will refer you to that if you have any questions!

Upcoming Events

Monday - I will be collecting the students' homework at the beginning of class.  They have a study guide to complete on the discovery of the structure of DNA.  They have had it since last Tuesday, so they have had plenty of time to complete it.  In addition, we did a lab on the process of protein synthesis, which the students should have completed over the weekend.

After collecting homework, the students will be completing an activity to learn about the impact of mutations.  The mutations they will be looking at will be a mutation to the gene that controls production of a protein called myostatin, which controls muscle growth, and to the gene that controls the production of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood.  For homework, the students will be completing the questions in the activity.

Here is a picture of a bull with a mutation to the myostatin gene, in case you were wondering what a mutation to that gene might cause:


Tuesday - We will be learning about special enzymes called "restriction enzymes."  These enzymes cut DNA at specific places, and allow scientists to manipulate DNA in many ways.  We will first be looking at how they are used in the process of DNA fingerprinting in class.  For homework, the students will be going to a website to look at the process of gel electrophoresis, which is the technique used in DNA fingerprinting, after learning first about how restriction enzymes work.  The website they will be looking at is http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/labs/gel/.  There will be a study guide to go along with it.

Wednesday - We are actually going to run a gel electrophoresis experiment in class.  The students will be working with micropipettes (which cost about $100 apiece, so please emphasize that they need to be careful with them) to draw DNA out of a tube, inject it into a gel, and see how far the various DNA fragments within the solution they pipetted will travel.  The DNA will run through the gel for about an hour after class, then I will stain it overnight. 

For homework, the students will be given 3 short review sheets on the process of protein synthesis, since there will be a test on that topic on Friday.

Thursday - We will analyze the results from our gel electrophoresis lab.  The students will measure how far each DNA fragment traveled in their gel, then plot those points on semilog graph paper to determine how many base pairs long each DNA fragment was.  After completing this, the students will be given a review sheet on DNA and protein synthesis to complete for the test on Friday.

Friday - The students will take a test on the history of DNA, DNA structure, RNA structure, protein synthesis, restriction enzymes, and gel electrophoresis.  The test will be around 50 multiple choice questions long.  When they finish, they can use the remaining time to work on their final exam review sheet.  The review sheet is available at http://www.mrgraba.net/ on the accelerated biology worksheets page.  It should be printed up at home or in the media center before class on Friday.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Geek of the Week is Emily Neal, who has been very proactive in asking questions when she is confused.  As a result of those questions, her hard work, and the fact that she's a smart kid, she has been doing very well in class this year.  Great job, Emily!

Interesting Tidbits

I thought some of you might find this infographic interesting.  It is quite revealing about the world our kids are living in, and where we have to start going to reach them.

60 Seconds - Things That Happen On Internet Every Sixty Seconds
Infographic by- Shanghai Web Designers

January 2, 2012

January 2, 2012

January 2, 2012

Happy New Year, everyone!  It was exactly 1 year ago today that I began this blog.  Hopefully everyone is still finding it useful.

Events of the Past Week

Monday - It seems like forever ago that we were in class, but on the last Monday we met, we took a quiz on photosynthesis.  It took the kids approximately 30 minutes to finish the quiz.  When everyone was done, the students had a chance to review their results from the enzyme quiz we had taken the previous week.  At the end of reviewing the quiz results, there were about 10 minutes left for me to begin lecture on cellular respiration.

Tuesday - I lectured on cellular respiration for the whole class period.  This was really one of our few (and last) days of bell-to-bell lecture of the school year.  For homework, the students had a study guide from their textbook to complete on the topic of cellular respiration.

Wednesday - I finished up lecturing, and the students began to create graphic organizers to help them group all of the information from their notes on enzymes, photosynthesis, and cellular respiration.  For homework, they were given a matching study guide asking them several questions about those same topics.

Thursday - We looked at the results from our photosynthesis quiz to begin our review.  Then, we graded in class the study guide the students had completed for homework on Wednesday.  Finally, the students worked on their graphic organizers that we had begun the previous day in class.

Friday - On Friday, the students took their test on bioenergetics.  This was definitely our toughest unit of the first semester, and one of the toughest of the entire school year.  The test took the entire class period for some students, and there was no homework over break.

Upcoming Events

Monday - NO SCHOOL

Tuesday - We will be using a webquest that I created using the http://www.dnai.org/ website to learn about the discovery of the structure of DNA.  It really is a great example of the process of science, and is also a great way to introduce the structure of the DNA molecule to students.  There is a study guide that they will complete to go along with it.  Homework will be to complete the project by Thursday.

Wednesday - I will review the structure of DNA with the students, and then explain to them, briefly, how it is that DNA replicates.  DNA replication is the first stage of what Francis Crick called "The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology."  Your kids should be able, by the end of this week, to explain what that is to you.  Afterwards, they will complete some reinforcement activities in class on the structure of DNA and DNA replication. 

Thursday - The topic on Thursday will be protein synthesis.  The kids will begin a two day paper and pencil lab on how the instructions encoded in DNA are used to build a protein.  Homework will be a protein synthesis reinforcement worksheet

Friday - We will complete the two day lab on protein synthesis on Friday.  Homework will be to complete the questions in the lab.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Geek of the Week award goest to Tara Nenninger, who missed a few days of class time during our last unit, but took the time to come in and meet with me, ask me questions, and make sure she was completely caught up with everything she missed.  The extra effort paid off, as Tara tied for the highest grade in her class on our test on enzymes, photosynthesis, and cellular respiration!