September 30, 2012

September 30, 2012

September 30, 2012

I hope everyone has plans to enjoy this wonderful early fall weather we are having today!  We were very busy in class this last week, and have a lot planned for the upcoming week.

Events of the Past Week

Monday - We began our lab using different indicator's to determine the presence of certain macromolecules in a solution.  We used Benedict's Solution to test for monosaccharides, Iodine to test for polysaccharides, Biuret to test for proteins, and a grease-spot test and a solubility test to test for the presence of lipids.  On Monday, the students were able to complete the tests for monosaccharides, starch, and proteins so that they could learn what each indicator looked like in a positive test and in a negative test.  Homework was to complete questions 1-15 in the lab.

Tuesday - The students completed the grease-spot test for lipids, and I demonstrated the solubility test in water (a polar solvent) and hexane (a nonpolar solvent).  The students saw that the oil dissolved in the nonpolar solvent, and did not dissolve in the polar solvent.  We then figured out why this was the case.  Homework was to complete the rest of the questions in the lab handout., and to complete their graphic organizers on carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids.

Wednesday - We began class by turning in the lab, and then discussing the objectives for the lab.  The goal was to make sure that the students understood what was important to know after having completed this lab.  The students were then given a handout with the objectives for our entire biochemistry unit, so they knew what they needed to study for the test.

After the objectives were handed out, we began reviewing.  The students were given 10 minutes to get together with their partners and review what they each came up with for their carbohydrate, protein, and lipid graphic organizers.  I then asked the students for any questions on those graphic organizers.  Then, we did a review sheet that asked the students to identify many different macromolecules based on their structural formulas.  This was challenging, but many students were doing much better at the identification of molecules by the time we were done.  Finally, the students were given a review sheet on carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids that asked them to identify different characteristics of those three macromolecules.  They were to complete this for homework.

Thursday - Rather than test, we reviewed for one more day.  First, the students were given the opportunity to ask any questions that they had from the review sheet they completed for homework.  Then, we played a review game where approximately 35 multiple choice questions were asked using a software program that we have called Classroom Performance System.  Each student had a remote control, and would click their answer to each question in.  The program keeps track of who gets each question correct, and lets the students know immediately whether or not they got the question correct.  We had some fun with this.  The high score in each class earned a couple of points of extra credit for the test on Friday.  Homework was to study for the test on Friday.

Friday - The students took the biochemistry test.  In each class, some students worked up to the bell.  There was no homework for the weekend.

Upcoming Events

Monday - The students will get back their biochemistry tests.  Each student will spend time analyzing which questions they got correct and which questions they got wrong.  The idea will be to help them figure out what topics they knew well, and which they did not.  This will hopefully help them when it comes time to study for final exams.  It will also help us to have a discussion about amount of time spent studying, and what kind of studying was done for the test.

After going over the test, the students will take a 15 question district assessment test on biochemistry.  This will be significantly easier than the test for our class, since every freshman in the school district takes this test.  This will be a small, 5 point grade in the gradebook.

When the students are done with the district assessment, they will begin a webquest on the history of the microscope.  Homework will be to complete the webquest, which can be found on the 1st semester labs page of my website, for those of you who are interested.

Tuesday - We will begin a cooperative group project learning about the parts of the microscope, how to use the microscope, and how to take care of the microscope.  This is a late start day, so we may not finish the project.  Each student is responsible for teaching the other people in their group one topic related to the microscope, so homework will be to complete preparing to teach the other people in their group about their topic.

Wednesday - We will be finishing the microscope peer teaching lab at the beginning of the class.  This will be followed by looking at several different objects under the microscope.  The goal of the lab is to learn how to use many of the different parts of the microscope, such as the diaphragm, the coarse and fine adjustments, etc., effectively.  There will be no homework.

Thursday - We will finish looking at objects under the microscope, and then begin a lab looking at money under the microscope.  The idea will be for the students to learn how to use the stereoscope, to learn a little about our currency, and to spark some interest in the microscope by looking at something everyone is interested in - money! 

Friday - We will do a quick review of the metric system, and the students will complete a lab where they will be measuring length, volume, and mass, and then converting between different units in the metric system.  Homework will be to complete the lab questions that they have remaining.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week we have co-Geek of the Week winners.  Both Emily Jia and Jiamin Huang earned perfect scores on our biochemistry test on Friday.  This was no small feat, as the test was relatively difficult.  Very impressive, girls!  Keep up the good work!

September 23, 2012

September 23, 2012

September 23, 2012

I hope you all had a wonderful first official weekend of fall!  Hopefully all of our freshmen enjoyed their first Homecoming experience as well.

Events of the Past Week

Monday - To begin class, I collected a lab activity that we had finished in class on Friday.  We then took notes on carbohydrates.

Tuesday - All of our class periods were shortened due to the late start day.  The students busily built models of carbohydrates during the course of the class period.  We ended up building a polysaccharide that was 28 monosaccharides long.  We used our model to review some of the characteristics of carbohydrates that we had learned the day before.  Homework was to complete the section on proteins from the students' biocchemistry worksheet.

Wednesday - The students took notes on the functions and characteristics of proteins.  When we were done, they built models of proteins by joining together many amino acids.  When we were all done, we used several of the students models to review some of the characteristics of proteins.  Homework was to complete the section on lipids in their biochemistry worksheet.

Thursday - The periods on Thursday were only 28 minutes long.  We began class by taking prefix quiz number 3.  When everyone was done, we then built models of triglycerides.  Homework was to complete the section on nucleic acids in their biochemistry worksheet.

Friday - Class periods were shortened to 42 minutes due to the Pep Assembly at the end of the day.  We began class by taking notes on lipids.  We then reviewed the lipid models the students had built on Thursday, and then the students were given 3 separate graphic organizers to work on.  There was one graphic organizer for carbohydrates, one for proteins, and one for lipids.  I encouraged the students to work on them over the weekend, but did not require it since it was Homecoming weekend.

Upcoming Events

Monday - We will complete day one of our biochemistry lab, identifying molecules using three different indicators:  Benedict's, Iodine, and Biuret.  The students should learn from doing the lab which macromolecule each of these indicators is used to identify.  Homework will be to complete the graphic organizers the students received on Friday.

Tuesday - We will complete day two of our lab, using our indicators to identify the components of an unknown solution.  Homework will be to answer the questions that go along with the lab.

Wednesday - The students will hand in their labs, and then we will complete two different review sheets to help prepare for our test on Thursday.  Homework will be to study for our test on Thursday.

Thursday - The students will take their biochemistry test that will cover the periodic table, chemical bonding, properties of water, acids and bases, carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids.

Friday - The students will take the district assessment on biochemistry, which is 15 questions long and should be relatively easy for the students.  We will then review our results from the biochemistry test, and if time permits, begin our unit on graphing, the microscope, the metric system, and scientific notation.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Geek of the Week goes to Billy Maniscalco, who makes significant contributions to class on a daily basis by volunteering frequently and staying on task at all times.  Way to go, Billy!

September 9, 2012

September 9, 2012

September 9, 2012

Happy first day of the NFL season!  It's been a beautiful weekend. I hope many of you have been able to get out and enjoy it!

Events of the Past Week

Last week went as planned.  There were no major changes to the schedule I had planned in last week's blog.  If you would like to review it, you can find it in the September 3rd post.

Upcoming Events

Monday - Except for first hour students, my other students will be taking a prefix quiz on our second set of prefixes.  Due to a couple of circumstances, my first hour class will take their prefix quiz on Thursday.  After the quiz, we will be conducting a lab experiment to investigate the role of buffers in living things.  Students will be comparing the time it takes to neutralize a weakly basic solution that I have made using sodium hydroxide, versus how long it takes to neutralize an egg white solution with the same pH as the basic solution I made.  It should take much longer for the egg white to neutralize because it has a chemical called a buffer in it to resist changes to the pH of the egg white.  This, of course, is to help maintain the health of the developing embryo inside of the egg (if there were one).  Homework will be to complete all questions in the acid/base lab.

Tuesday - We will spend Tuesday reviewing some information about acids and bases and the role of buffers in living things.  We will then review for our quiz on basic chemistry on Wednesday.  The quiz will cover atomic structure, the periodic table, bonding, properties of water, and acids and bases.  Homework will be to study for the quiz.

Wednesday - We will take our quiz on chemistry.  Students should bring their textbooks and their packet called "Biochemistry Worksheet" to class.  They will work on questions that I assign to them from that packet when they finish their quiz.  Homework will be to complete the assigned questions.

Thursday - We will process the results from the quiz to begin class.  Then, after a brief explanation of the difference between molecular and structural formulas, the students will complete a lab activity building different molecules with important roles in biology.  The purpose of the lab is for the students to learn how to draw structural formulas, and to introduce students to important groups of atoms called "functional groups".  For homework, the students will need to complete the questions I assign to them from their Biochemistry Worksheet packet.

Friday - The students will be given some time at the beginning of class to finish the molecule building activity with their lab partners.  Following the completion of the lab activity, the students will take notes on the properties of carbohydrates.  I will be drawing on the knowledge they should have gained from completing their homework to help get them involved in the process.  When we are done with the notes, the students will be reading a packet titled, "Why Structure?" about the important role of proteins in living things.  This handout came from the National Institutes of Health, and I personally find it to be a really interesting read, aimed at people who may not necessarily have a PhD in biochemistry!  For homework, there will be questions assigned from the Biochemistry Worksheet packet on the topic of proteins.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Geek of the Week award goes to Caleb Vail, who has done a great job of getting involved in class discussions.  His willingness to volunteer and answer questions has really helped to keep our 8th hour class moving in the right direction!  Hopefully more students in class will follow his lead!

September 3, 2012

September 3, 2012

September 3, 2012

We had a very busy week as we prepared for our test on Friday.  In general, the students did well on their first biology test of the year!

Events of the Past Week

Monday - We set up our experiment to test the effectiveness of regular vs. antibacterial soaps.  3 groups used regular soap, 3 used antibacterial soap, and 1 group used no soap.  Your children should be able to explain to you why one group used no soap!  Homework was to prepare for the prefix quiz on Tuesday.

Tuesday - There was not much bacterial growth on the plates on Tuesday, so we moved on to run our characteristics of life lab after taking our prefix quiz.  Due to the large number of sections of accelerated biology, there was not enough glassware for all of us to run the same experiment on the same day.  We did a different lab instead of the one I had originally planned that met the same objectives.  The main objective was to have students think about and generate a list of the characteristics of life exhibited by living things.  The lab we ran had the students investigate 15 different specimens, and then determine if they were alive, alive but dormant, never alive, the product of a living thing, or dead.  Homework was to complete questions 1-3 and 8-13 in the lab handout.

Wednesday - We began class by looking at our petri dishes to see if there was any bacterial growth on the plates.  There were quite a few colonies of bacteria, so the students gathered data on the number of bacteria on the plate that was streaked before they washed their hands, and also on the plate that was streaked after they washed their hands.  They were then told which groups had antibacterial soap, and which had regular soap.  In most classes, there were more bacteria on the plate after washing with regular soap than before.  However, as I explained to the classes, we did not have nearly enough test cases, nor did we perfectly eliminate all variables except for the type of soap being used.  Hopefully they are all still washing their hands regularly!  Afterwards, we had a class discussion about what statistics like mean, median, mode, and range can be used for.

Finally, we had a class discussion about the characteristics of living things, and reviewed the steps of the scientific method.  Homework was to begin preparing for our test on Friday.

Thursday - The students began class by reading an article from that I found on the TIME: Ideas website about how to observe like a scientist.  Here is a link to that article at a different location on the web, if you are interested - http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/how-be-brilliant/201207/sharpen-your-powers-observation.  We used that to review the scientific method one last time.  Afterwards, the students were offered the opportunity to ask any questions they had about our test on Friday.  With about 30 minutes left in class, we then began a webquest on the Periodic Table.  The students were made aware of the fact that the information they learned in the webquest would not be on the test on Friday.  Homework was to study for the test.

Friday - Friday was test day.  The students took a 30 question multiple choice assessment on the scientific method and the characteristics of living things that is used by all 4 accelerated biology teachers at Fremd.  Afterwards, they took a 10 question district assessment test given to all freshmen in the district on the topic of the scientific method.

For homework the students were to complete the rest of the scientific method webquest.

Upcoming Events

Monday - Labor Day!  NO SCHOOL!

Tuesday - We will begin class by analyzing our results from our scientific method test.  The mean score was an 84% (a B+), and the median score was an 87% (an A-), which are pretty good results for the first test of the year.  Following this, we will review the webquest and I will see if the students have anything they would like me to review about the periodic table.  I will also ask a few questions myself to see what they really did learn by doing their homework.  Following this, the students will take notes on ionic bonds, nonpolar covalent bonds, polar covalent bonds, and hydrogen bonds.  Homework will be to complete questions 1-22 in a Biochemistry worksheet packet that goes along with their textbook.

Wednesday - We will be watching a 20 minute "World of Chemistry" video about the properties of water.  The video will be stopped several times to have discussions about some of the properties of water that will be explained to the students.  Following the video, we will be experimenting with water at seven different stations set up around the room.  Ask your kids to show you one or two of the experiments.  All of them are repeatable and easy to do at home!  More importantly, see if they can explain any of them.  If not, don't worry.  We'll be explaining how every experiment works on Thursday.

Thursday - We will be finishing our water properties lab, and then the students will be taking notes on the properties of water, what causes water to have those properties, and why those properties are important to living things.  Those are the three key pieces of information I will expect each student to know about each of the properties of water:  the name of the property, what causes water to have that property, and why it is important to living things.  Homework will be to read the prelab information for our next experiment on acids and bases, and to answer the 6 prelab questions that go along with the reading.

Friday - We will run the first part of our acid base experiment.  The students will test approximately 10 different household items with red and blue litmus paper, and then with pH paper.  The idea is that they will determine what red litmus paper is an indicator of, and what blue litmus paper is an indicator of.  They should be able to tell you that when they come home from school.  Homework will be to answer any questions in the lab that go along with testing these household chemicals, and to read Part II of our lab, which will involve investigating the function of buffers in living things.

Interesting Tidbits

For those of you who are interested, most of the handouts for this class can be found on my website - www.mrgraba.net.  Click on the accelerated biology link, and you will be taken to a page where you can access first and second semester worksheets and labs, along with a few of my PowerPoint presentations.  Hopefully you find the website and this blog helpful!  As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them on this blog or to e-mail me at bgraba@d211.org.

Graba Geek of the Week

The first Geek of the Week for this year goes to two people: Kevin Stevens and Tony Lu, who both earned a perfect score on our first test of the year!  Way to go, guys!