January 30, 2011
Events of the Past Week
Tuesday - The students learned how to graph their data from the gel electrophoresis lab that we did before final exam week, and used their graph to try to estimate the size of the DNA fragments in their gels. I also showed everyone their 1st semester grades that day.
Wednesday - On Wednesday we did a DNA Fingerprinting activity, where the students worked in pairs to figure out who stole the Crown Jewels. After analyzing the data gathered by Officer Dee Enae, and brought to the lab the messenger R. Renee, everyone was correctly able to deduce that Professor Angstrom was responsible for the theft!
Thursday - While I had originally planned to show my favorite movie about the Human Genome Project to the class, it was unfortunately on loan to another school in the district, as was the video I planned on showing on Friday. Attempts at streaming the video from a website on the Internet were unsuccessful. So instead, we went to the website http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/ to learn about stem cells, cloning, gene therapy, and the polymerase chain reaction. It is a fantastic, fun site that does a really good job of breaking those topics down to an introductory level for high school students.
Friday - Since the videos did not come in until 6th hour, everyone except for 8th hour (which did get to see the movie on the Human Genome Project) did the activity that was originally planned for Monday. The activity involved learning how molecular biologists are able to take a gene from one organism, and put it into the DNA of a different organism. 8th hour students will be doing this activity on Monday.
Upcoming Events
Monday - Everyone will be watching the Human Genome Project video except 8th hour, as noted before.
Tuesday - Everyone will watch the video from Frontline called "Harvest of Fear" about genetically modified organisms.
Wednesday - The students will be taking a short 20 question multiple choice quiz on the DNA technologies that we have learned about over the last two weeks. When everyone finishes we will begin studying the process of meiosis, which produces sperm and egg cells.
Thursday - We will continue our study of meiosis by modeling the process with pop bead chromosomes.
Friday - We will finish the pop bead chromosome meiosis lab and review meiosis in a kinesthetic manner that involves the use of playing cards as chromosomes. This has been a very successful review tool for my students in the past that I am excited to do with my current students on Friday! There will be a quiz on meiosis on Monday, followed by the beginning of our classical genetics unit.
Other tidbits
Over the past week I've been collecting male and female fruit flies with various mutations every 8 hours (which means that, yes, I did bring them home with me)! On Saturday, the crosses were set up, so in two weeks the offspring of those flies should be emerging from their pupae and on Valentine's Day (depending on the flies) the students will begin gathering their data!
This is a large undertaking for the students, and may require them to come in a couple of days with some of their group members either before school, on a free period, or after school for a little while. I picked the groups for this project (which the students will find out about on Monday), and each group has either 3 or 4 people in it. In addition, in each group there is at least one person who is strong in math, as this project is more mathematical in nature than any of our others.
As always, if you have any questions please e-mail me, and any comments that you would like to make can be posted using the "Comments" button below!
January 30, 2011
January 23, 2011
January 23, 2011
January 23, 2011
Happy Bears-Packers Day! What's something you'll never hear a Packers' fan say? "I'll take Shakespeare for 1,000, Alex." Anyway, on to the education part of this blog!
Events of the Past Week
This last week was all about final exams. On Wednesday, students in the 2nd and 3rd hour accelerated biology classes took their finals, on Thursday, the 4th hour students took their finals, and on Friday, the 8th hour students took their finals. Overall your children did very well on their final exams - they must have studied very hard!
Speaking of studying - here is a link to an article from the New York Times on a study that investigated the best way for students to recall information. The study was published in the journal Science. It looks like I may have to start giving a few more quizzes! http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html?_r=2&emc=eta1
Upcoming Events
Tuesday: We will be analyzing the data the students recorded from their gel electrophoresis lab, and using it to determine the length of the DNA fragments in the gels that they ran. While the students are analyzing their data, I will be showing them the grades they earned for their final exam and the first semester.
Wednesday: We will do a paper DNA Fingerprinting simulation. Your children will be analyzing evidence from a crime scene to determine who is the guilty party in a murder investigation.
Thursday: We will be watching our first movie of the year! The movie comes from an excellent series on DNA. This one focuses on the Human Genome Project, which determined the DNA sequence of each gene in a human being. This movie does an excellent job of making the project a little more personal for the students by introducing the people who were responsible for this amazing feat. It also presents the intense competition that took place between two groups competing to be the first to determine the sequence of the entire human genome.
Friday: We will watch our second movie of the year! This one is called "Harvest of Fear", and will introduce students to genetically modified organisms. Most of the organisms in the movie are plants that have been modified to have a new, beneficial trait, such as resistance to disease. The movie does a nice job of presenting both the potentially positive and negative effects of inserting new genes into living things.
Have a good week, and GO BEARS!
Happy Bears-Packers Day! What's something you'll never hear a Packers' fan say? "I'll take Shakespeare for 1,000, Alex." Anyway, on to the education part of this blog!
Events of the Past Week
This last week was all about final exams. On Wednesday, students in the 2nd and 3rd hour accelerated biology classes took their finals, on Thursday, the 4th hour students took their finals, and on Friday, the 8th hour students took their finals. Overall your children did very well on their final exams - they must have studied very hard!
Speaking of studying - here is a link to an article from the New York Times on a study that investigated the best way for students to recall information. The study was published in the journal Science. It looks like I may have to start giving a few more quizzes! http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html?_r=2&emc=eta1
Upcoming Events
Tuesday: We will be analyzing the data the students recorded from their gel electrophoresis lab, and using it to determine the length of the DNA fragments in the gels that they ran. While the students are analyzing their data, I will be showing them the grades they earned for their final exam and the first semester.
Wednesday: We will do a paper DNA Fingerprinting simulation. Your children will be analyzing evidence from a crime scene to determine who is the guilty party in a murder investigation.
Thursday: We will be watching our first movie of the year! The movie comes from an excellent series on DNA. This one focuses on the Human Genome Project, which determined the DNA sequence of each gene in a human being. This movie does an excellent job of making the project a little more personal for the students by introducing the people who were responsible for this amazing feat. It also presents the intense competition that took place between two groups competing to be the first to determine the sequence of the entire human genome.
Friday: We will watch our second movie of the year! This one is called "Harvest of Fear", and will introduce students to genetically modified organisms. Most of the organisms in the movie are plants that have been modified to have a new, beneficial trait, such as resistance to disease. The movie does a nice job of presenting both the potentially positive and negative effects of inserting new genes into living things.
Have a good week, and GO BEARS!
January 16, 2011
January 16, 2011
January 16, 2011
Last week concluded a very busy first semester for my students. This will be a relatively short post as the upcoming events include only one big item!
Events of the Past Week
Monday and Tuesday last week we spent our time looking at real life examples of the kinds of impacts mutations in DNA can have on an organism. The students especially enjoyed looking at organisms that had mutations to the gene that codes for the protein myostatin. Mutations in this gene lead to extremely muscular animals. We looked at pictures of cows, mice, trout, and dogs with mutations to this gene, and then used actual DNA sequences of animals that have a mutation in this gene to investigate different types of mutations. Beginning on Tuesday, I introduced the students to biotechnology by showing them pictures of transgenic organisms, which are organisms that have had a gene from an entirely different organism transplanted into their DNA. Then we began learning about how something like that can be done. On Tuesday night, the students were directed to a website that introduced the lab technique of gel electrophoresis. They came into class on Wednesday very excited, asking if we were actually going to do what they saw on the website. It was awesome to see high school students legitimately excited about coming to class! We did the gel electrophoresis experiment on Wednesday, and recorded data on Thursday. We will be analyzing that data after final exam week. After recording our data on Thursday, we spent the rest of the period reviewing for our test on DNA structure, replication, and protein synthesis on Friday. Grades from that test will be posted on Tuesday. Here are some pictures of my 3rd period students doing the gel electrophoresis experiment. You can see how much fun they were having - the smiles are not posed!
Last week concluded a very busy first semester for my students. This will be a relatively short post as the upcoming events include only one big item!
Events of the Past Week
Monday and Tuesday last week we spent our time looking at real life examples of the kinds of impacts mutations in DNA can have on an organism. The students especially enjoyed looking at organisms that had mutations to the gene that codes for the protein myostatin. Mutations in this gene lead to extremely muscular animals. We looked at pictures of cows, mice, trout, and dogs with mutations to this gene, and then used actual DNA sequences of animals that have a mutation in this gene to investigate different types of mutations. Beginning on Tuesday, I introduced the students to biotechnology by showing them pictures of transgenic organisms, which are organisms that have had a gene from an entirely different organism transplanted into their DNA. Then we began learning about how something like that can be done. On Tuesday night, the students were directed to a website that introduced the lab technique of gel electrophoresis. They came into class on Wednesday very excited, asking if we were actually going to do what they saw on the website. It was awesome to see high school students legitimately excited about coming to class! We did the gel electrophoresis experiment on Wednesday, and recorded data on Thursday. We will be analyzing that data after final exam week. After recording our data on Thursday, we spent the rest of the period reviewing for our test on DNA structure, replication, and protein synthesis on Friday. Grades from that test will be posted on Tuesday. Here are some pictures of my 3rd period students doing the gel electrophoresis experiment. You can see how much fun they were having - the smiles are not posed!
Nabiha deep in concentration
Anushka and Angela inserting DNA into their gel
Sam and Soumya really enjoyed their experience!
Matt helps Aveen extract DNA from his test tube
Upcoming Events
This week we will spend Tuesday reviewing for final exams. I will have all of the tests from first semester available for the students to look over. My 2nd and 3rd hour students will have their final exam on Wednesday, my 4th hour students will have their final exam on Thursday, and my 8th hour students will have their final exam on Friday. The test will have 145 questions on it. The breakdown of questions by topic is as follows:
14 scientific method
6 characteristics of life
31 chemistry/biochemistry
12 microscope/metrics/graphing/scientific notation
24 cells/cell transport
17 energy/enzymes/photosynthesis/respiration
33 DNA/gel electrophoresis
8 cell cycle/mitosis
14 scientific method
6 characteristics of life
31 chemistry/biochemistry
12 microscope/metrics/graphing/scientific notation
24 cells/cell transport
17 energy/enzymes/photosynthesis/respiration
33 DNA/gel electrophoresis
8 cell cycle/mitosis
There was an interesting blog post by the people at Discover Magazine this week on a study that was designed to help students who struggle with test anxiety deal with their anxiety. It can be found at
I thought the article was rather timely, and perhaps would provide something you could share with your children. I mentioned it briefly before the test on Friday, but will be sharing a little more about it with my students on Tuesday as well. Have a good week!
January 9, 2011
January 9, 2011
Hello everyone! The New Year got off to a busy start in our class this past week. I think the students were challenged and engaged in their learning at a very high level after having two weeks to recharge their batteries and enjoy some time with family.
Events of the Past Week
During the course of the week, we spent two days learning about the contributions of Frederick Griffith, Oswald Avery, Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase, Erwin Chargaff, Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins, James Watson, Francis Crick, and Arthur Kornberg in the discovery of the structure of DNA. If you would like to learn about their contributions yourself, this is the website we used: http://www.dnai.org/lesson/go/9109/7537. It is really a neat interactive with interviews with many of the scientists who contributed something to the discovery. On Wednesday, we discussed the project and I lectured to the students about how it is that DNA replicates itself. This began our study of what Francis Crick called "The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology". Ask your children to explain what that is to you - they should be able to show you a quick diagram of it from their notes. On Thursday and Friday, we learned about the process of protein synthesis through a hands-on laboratory that was created by Kim Foglia - a wonderful biology teacher in New York. I wish I could take credit for the lab, but I can't! The students are finishing up the summary questions from this lab for homework this weekend. I took a few pictures in class of some students in action making their DNA strand, pairing up the proper mRNA bases with it, and then finally creating their protein using the instructions in the mRNA molecule that they decoded.
Events of the Past Week
During the course of the week, we spent two days learning about the contributions of Frederick Griffith, Oswald Avery, Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase, Erwin Chargaff, Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins, James Watson, Francis Crick, and Arthur Kornberg in the discovery of the structure of DNA. If you would like to learn about their contributions yourself, this is the website we used: http://www.dnai.org/lesson/go/9109/7537. It is really a neat interactive with interviews with many of the scientists who contributed something to the discovery. On Wednesday, we discussed the project and I lectured to the students about how it is that DNA replicates itself. This began our study of what Francis Crick called "The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology". Ask your children to explain what that is to you - they should be able to show you a quick diagram of it from their notes. On Thursday and Friday, we learned about the process of protein synthesis through a hands-on laboratory that was created by Kim Foglia - a wonderful biology teacher in New York. I wish I could take credit for the lab, but I can't! The students are finishing up the summary questions from this lab for homework this weekend. I took a few pictures in class of some students in action making their DNA strand, pairing up the proper mRNA bases with it, and then finally creating their protein using the instructions in the mRNA molecule that they decoded.
Dave is deep in thought here!
Hannah and Olivia really enjoyed this project!
Upcoming Events
This week we will begin by learning about mutations and the potential impact of mutations on an organism. This will be done with an activity I created last year after learning about a breed of cattle called the Belgian Blue. If you have never seen one, do a google image search for them - I promise you will be amazed! Tuesday through Thursday of this week we will spend our time learning about how molecular biologists are able to manipulate DNA by cutting it with special molecules called restriction enzymes. We will actually be taking DNA that has been cut into small pieces and using a technique called gel electrophoresis with it. Essentially, we'll run an electric current through a gel into which we have inserted some DNA, and then see how far the DNA travels in the gel. Different-sized DNA pieces will travel different distances. This experiment will lay the foundation for learning about how DNA fingerprinting works after final exams. On Friday, we will have a multiple choice test on the structure of DNA, DNA replication, the differences and similarities between DNA and RNA, the process of protein synthesis, and mutations. Also on Friday, I will be handing out the final exam review sheet. It is available already on my website for any students (or parents) who want to look at it before then.
Interesting Tidbit
For anyone interested in the Advanced Placement program, its history, and where it is headed, there was an interesting article in the New York Times about the history of the AP Biology (which I teach) and AP US History (which I do NOT teach) programs. It also includes a discussion of the future of the AP Biology program. The changes discussed will impact the current group of freshman if they choose to take AP Biology their senior year. The college board is planning on those changes being put into place for the 2012-2013 school year, and I think the changes are for the best! Here is the link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/edlife/09ap-t.html?_r=2&ref=education
As always, please feel free to click the comments link below and make any comments or e-mail me at bgraba@d211.org if you have any questions.
January 2, 2011
January 2, 2011
Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday and that all of my students are going to come back refreshed and ready to buckle down for the last two weeks before final exams. This is my first attempt at having a weekly newsletter of information to share with the parents of my freshmen students. My goal is to communicate to you any important upcoming events in the classroom, as well as review with you what the students accomplished over the course of the week. In addition, there will be a small section of each post highlighting one student, the "Graba Geek of the Week." I have taken pictures of all of the students in each of my classes, and plan on incorporating their picture into the blog. If you do not want your child's picture posted, please e-mail me to let me know and I will respect your wishes. Also, please remember that I have over 100 freshman students, and only 36 weeks in the school year (just 18-20 left this year), so not everyone will be chosen. I'll be waiting to start the "Graba Geek of the Week" feature until the first week of second semester in order to give anyone who may need to e-mail me with any concerns the opportunity to do so.
Recap of Last Week
Before winter break we completed and took a test on what I consider to be our most difficult unit - bioenergetics. The topics the students learned about were enzymes, photosynthesis, and cellular respiration. In this unit there was quite a bit of detail to learn, so it did require some disciplined study habits for those students who are not able to study large amounts of information the night before a test and do well on it.
Upcoming Events
Thankfully, our last unit before finals, molecular genetics, is one that students usually find much more interesting. We will be spending time learning about the race to discover the structure of DNA, which is a wonderful story about how collaboration and competition drive science forward, culminating in the discovery of the double helix by James Watson and Francis Crick. We will work on this on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday we will be learning how DNA copies itself in a process called DNA replication, and we will spend Thursday and Friday learning about how the information DNA carries is stored and used in the process of protein synthesis. In one of my favorite one day activities of the year, the students will be acting out the process of protein synthesis in the classroom. Next week we will be spending time on biotechnology, the details of which will be provided in my blog post next week. The test on molecular genetics will be January 14th. Finally, the review packet for the final exam, as well as the key for the review packet, is available on my website at the following URL: http://www.fhs.d211.org/departments/science/bgraba/Calendars/138calendar1.htm
Please e-mail me any questions you have, and feel free to post comments on this page!
Mr. Graba
Recap of Last Week
Before winter break we completed and took a test on what I consider to be our most difficult unit - bioenergetics. The topics the students learned about were enzymes, photosynthesis, and cellular respiration. In this unit there was quite a bit of detail to learn, so it did require some disciplined study habits for those students who are not able to study large amounts of information the night before a test and do well on it.
Upcoming Events
Thankfully, our last unit before finals, molecular genetics, is one that students usually find much more interesting. We will be spending time learning about the race to discover the structure of DNA, which is a wonderful story about how collaboration and competition drive science forward, culminating in the discovery of the double helix by James Watson and Francis Crick. We will work on this on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday we will be learning how DNA copies itself in a process called DNA replication, and we will spend Thursday and Friday learning about how the information DNA carries is stored and used in the process of protein synthesis. In one of my favorite one day activities of the year, the students will be acting out the process of protein synthesis in the classroom. Next week we will be spending time on biotechnology, the details of which will be provided in my blog post next week. The test on molecular genetics will be January 14th. Finally, the review packet for the final exam, as well as the key for the review packet, is available on my website at the following URL: http://www.fhs.d211.org/departments/science/bgraba/Calendars/138calendar1.htm
Please e-mail me any questions you have, and feel free to post comments on this page!
Mr. Graba
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