January 27, 2013

January 27, 2013

It was a busy 3 day week for the students (and for me) as we began second semester by learning some of the introductory material in our biotechnology unit.

Events of the Past Week

Everything went as planned last week, with the exception being that the students were asked to complete the Polymerase Chain Reaction worksheet for homework on Thursday night.  This allowed them to work on the Gel Electrophoresis lab questions for the weekend.  They were to complete the first five questions in the lab by Monday, with the rest to be finished on Monday night.

 

Upcoming Events

Monday - We will observe the results from our gel electrophoresis lab.  It was fun to work with the food coloring as opposed to the DNA for this lab because the students were able to see the dyes separating as the period went on.  Usually, the students have to wait until after I've stained the DNA to see anything separating in this lab.  Homework will be to finish the questions in this lab (questions 6-10).

When we are done observing our results (which should take about 15 minutes) we will begin watching a video called The Human Race about the Human Genome Project.  It is really well done, and explains very well what the goals, obstacles, and results of the Human Genome Project were.  The students will be completing a worksheet while we watch the video.  This is one of the only units all year where we will be watching some videos.  There are some really good videos out there about biotechnology.

Tuesday - We will finish watching The Human Race, and then conduct an experiment investigating how recombinant DNA is made.  Recombinant DNA is a DNA molecule that contains the DNA from two different organisms mixed together.  For example, human insulin can be made by bacteria now because scientists have genetically engineered bacteria that contain the gene for producing human insulin.  When the bacteria grow, they produce human insulin, and since they can reproduce about once every 20 minutes, it does not take too long before there are millions and millions of bacteria producing insulin!  Homework will be to complete the recombinant DNA activity.

Wednesday - We will watch a frontline special called "Harvest of Fear" about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO's).  The video investigates the promise and the dangers of genetically modified organisms.

Thursday - The students will be completing two online activities in class.  The first will have them investigate the science of cloning organisms.  The second will have them learning what stem cells are, where they come from, and what the potential uses of stem cells could be.  For homework the students will be completing the stem cell activity.

Friday - We will be watching a video on epigenetics.  The video investigates the physical changes that occur to our DNA as a result of our experiences and our ancestors' experiences.  For homework the students will be reading an article from TIME magazine related to epigenetics and answering questions related to the article.  There will be a short, 20 question quiz on biotechnology on Monday the 4th, as well.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Geek of the Week is Ippei Togo, who worked extremely hard at using the proper technique with his micropipette during our gel electrophoresis lab.  Good work, Ippei!

January 13, 2013

January 13, 2013

One semester is almost in the books!  It's hard to believe how quickly the year goes by.

Events of the Past Week

Monday - After discussing the history of DNA homework the students had over break, they were introduced to the structure of a DNA molecule.  After that was done, we did an activity where we acted out the process of DNA replication.  Following the activity, the students were given a worksheet to reinforce the concepts we learned during the class period, and to introduce the students to RNA, as well.  Homework was to finish the reinforcement worksheet.

Tuesday - The students were introduced to the process of transcription, which I drew on the board for them.  Then, they modeled transcription with a paper and scissors activity.  Finally, I explained the process of translation on the board at the end of the period.  Transcription and translation are the two steps to a process called protein synthesis.  In protein synthesis, the instructions for building a protein coded into our DNA, called a gene, are first copied onto a molecule of messenger RNA.  Then, the instructions on the messenger RNA are read by a ribosome in the cell, which uses those instructions to build a protein.

Wednesday - We modeled the process of translation by finishing the paper activity we had started the day before.  The students then worked on the questions at the end of the activity for the remainder of the period. Homework was to finish the activity.

Thursday - We reviewed the material learned on Tuesday and Wednesday with 3 review sheets and one review packet.  I lectured for the last 15 minutes of class about the different types of mutations and their impact on the protein that was supposed to be built from the instructions that were changed in the DNA by a mutation.  Homework was to complete the review packet.

Friday - The students began class by taking the district benchmark assessment on DNA structure, replication, transcription, and translation.  After completing the benchmark assessment, we began an activity studying the impact of mutations on two different proteins.  The first mutation studied impacts a protein called myostatin.  Ask your students if they can explain what that protein is supposed to do, and what happens when it doesn't work.  It's pretty interesting!  The second mutation studied impacts the protein hemoglobin, which carries oxygen around our bodies.  Most students had finished the myostatin portion of the activity, but not the hemoglobin portion.  For homework, the students were asked to study for finals rather than complete the activity.

Upcoming Events

Monday - We will complete the activity on mutations that we began on Friday.  Then, the students will be given the opportunity to ask any questions that they have in regards to the material on the final exam.  Homework will be to study for finals.

Tuesday - We will play a review game with remote control clickers to help the students prepare for the final exam.

Wednesday - Students in my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd hour classes will take their final exam.  The final exam periods are 90 minutes long.  There are 140 questions on the test, which the students should have no trouble completing in time.

Thursday - None of my freshman classes have their final exams on Thursday.

Friday - My 8th hour class will have their final exam on Friday.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Graba Geek of the Week is Allison Leczycki, who earned A's on both our bioenergetics test and our DNA Benchmark Assessment.  Allison learned that the most important thing to do before a test is to look at the objectives sheet that I pass out at the beginning of a unit so she knows which material is important to know.  Good job, Allison!

January 6, 2012

January 6, 2012

I hope everyone's children had the opportunity to rest up and recharge their batteries over the last 2 weeks!  My time with my family was wonderful, but I'm ready to get going again.  Hopefully your children are, too!

Events of the Past Week

Monday - I concluded the lecture on Photosynthesis on Monday.  For homework, the students worked on a review sheet to get ready for the test on Thursday.

Tuesday - We spent the day going over the review sheet and working on a second review sheet.  Homework was to finish the second review sheet.

Wednesday - We corrected the second review sheet of the week.  Then I spent time answering any questions the students had about the test or the content on the test, and then gave the students time to study with a partner and ask me any individual questions that they had.

Thursday - Thursday was the big test day.  This was one of the most difficult tests of the year on what I consider to be the most difficult content.  The mean score was a 53.66 out of 65 (83%), and the median score was a 56 out of 65 (86%).  That is a very impressive showing on this particular test!

Friday - We reviewed the results of the cellular respiration test, then spent some time exercising our brains with some brain teasers.  At the end of class, I passed out the review sheet for the final exam and the homework to be done over break.  Homework was to work on a study guide that will have the students learn about the discovery of the structure of DNA.  The study guide goes along with a sort of webquest that I created using the website www.dnai.org.  Hopefully the students will find the story of the discovery a little bit interesting.  It is a classic story of the way in which science works.

Upcoming Events

Monday - We will spend the day reviewing the story of the discovery of the structure of DNA.  The students will then learn about how it is that DNA replicates, followed by some reinforcement activities on the structure and replication of DNA.  Homework will be to complete those reinforcement activities.

Tuesday - The students will begin a two day paper and pencil activity to learn about the way in which protein synthesis works.  The instructions in DNA are used to direct the building of all of our proteins, so this is a vitally important piece of information for students to understand going forward.

Wednesday - We will complete the paper and pencil activity on protein synthesis in class.  The students will complete the questions in the activity for homework.

Thursday - The students will hand in their protein synthesis activity, and they will be given the opportunity to ask me any questions they may have about how the process works.  Once that is completed, we will be working on an activity to help the students understand the different types of mutations and what their impact on living things might be.  We will be looking at mutations in the genes that direct the formation of the protein myostatin and the protein hemoglobin.  The students are usually pretty amazed by the results of the myostatin mutation!

Friday - We will be completing the mutation activity, which will be collected in class.  Then, the students will be introduced to special enzymes called restriction enzymes, which cut DNA at specific sequences of 4-8 bases.  The sequences in the DNA are usually palindromes, so we will have some fun with those at the beginning of the lesson.  Homework will be to begin studying for final exams.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Geek of the Week award goes to Michael Qian.  Michael missed significant class time during this unit due to an injury he incurred while playing soccer.  Despite missing all of that time, he earned one of the highest scores on our bioenergetics test.  That is really impressive to me.  Great job, Michael!

December 16, 2012

December 16, 2012

Happy last week before break everyone.  I apologize for not having updated my blog in a few weeks.  I promise I will be back on it going forward.

Events of the Past Week

Monday - We completed two labs on Monday.  In the first, we separated the pigments found in a leaf of spinach using a technique called paper chromatography.  Using an organic solvent, the four pigments in a spinach leaf travel different distances on a piece of paper so that the students can see that green is not the only color of the pigments in a plant.  While that experiment was running (it takes awhile for the solvent to travel on the paper), the students looked at the structure of a leaf under the microscope.  For homework, the students completed any of the lab questions that they did not complete in class.

On a side note, there were several students who did not turn in one of the two assignments, or turned them in incomplete in many of my classes.  I know it is close to winter break, but it is important that they keep working hard through the end of the week.  Then they can take a couple of weeks off!

Tuesday - I lectured on a part of photosynthesis called the light reactions.  This took the full class period.  There was no homework on Tuesday night.  This particular unit is rather lecture heavy because I still haven't figured out a way to turn learning the intricacies of photosynthesis in a student-centered way.  I keep trying, but there are a LOT of new concepts in this unit that students really need to have explained to them by me.

Wednesday - I finished my lecture on photosynthesis by teaching the students about the Calvin cycle, named after Melvin Calvin, who figured out the steps of the cycle in the 1950's.  This took most of the period.  When I was all done, the students had the opportunity to ask me any questions they had about photosynthesis.  Homework was to study for our 30 question photosynthesis quiz on Thursday.

Thursday - We took our quiz on photosynthesis.  In most classes, a couple of students took almost the full 50 minutes to work on the quiz.  In my 8th hour class, however, the students finished with 20 minutes left, so we began learning about cellular respiration.  There was no homework Thursday night.

Friday - We reviewed the results of the photosynthesis quiz.  I was very impressed with how well the students did on the quiz.  I did light a little fire under some of the classes after being a little disappointed in the number of missing assignments from Tuesday, and I think some of them responded.  The students were told that they should look at the list of objectives they were given at the beginning of this unit to help guide their studying.  Almost all of them told me they did look at the objectives, and it showed.  The average for my four classes was a 27 out of 30.

When we were done looking at our quiz results we moved on to a lecture on the first two stages of cellular respiration, called glycolysis and the Krebs cycle.  There was no homework over the weekend; however, it was suggested that the students review their notes before coming to class on Monday so that they don't forget everything they learned on Friday.

Upcoming Events

Monday - We will be finishing the lecture on cellular respiration.  For homework, the students will be given a review sheet on cellular respiration and photosynthesis to help start preparing for our test on Thursday.

Tuesday - We will go over the review sheet together in class.  The students will then be given a packet to review enzymes, cellular respiration, and photosynthesis that they will work on for the remainder of the class period.  Homework will be to finish the review packet (if it was not completed in class).

Wednesday - We will be playing a review game on Wednesday after checking our review packets at the beginning of class.  For homework, the students should study for their test.  The main resources they should refer to are their notes and the objectives list for the unit.  Most all of the information on the test will come from their notes, and they can use their objectives list to determine whether or not they know the important material that will be covered on the test.

Thursday - The students will take a 65 question multiple choice and matching test on enzymes, photosynthesis, and cellular respiration.  There will be no homework.

Friday - We will be reviewing our results from the test.  When we complete that, the students will be given a DNA History Study Guide that goes along with a website that I put together online.  This should be completed over winter break, but I would prefer it actually be completed closer to the time we come back to school than at the beginning of break.  After receiving the study guide, we will be working on a couple of fun activities in class.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Geek of the Week is Nikki Menis.  Nikki earned a perfect score on the photosynthesis quiz (one of only two students all day to earn a perfect score, but one of many to earn an A).  She also knew the answer to the extra credit question:  In what year and in what field did Melvin Calvin earn the Nobel Prize for determining the steps of the Calvin cycle?  She correctly answered 1961 and chemistry.  Way to go, Nikki!  Have a great break, everyone!

November 18, 2012

November 18, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving week!  With the warm weather we've been having, it sure doesn't seem like we should be celebrating Thanksgiving already.  We had a busy week in accelerated biology this past week.

Events of the Past Week

Monday - No School.  Thank you to all of our veterans.

Tuesday - We reviewed for our big cell unit test.  We first graded several different review sheets together in class.  Then, there were sheets of butcher paper set up on each lab table.  I wrote a different heading on each sheet of paper, such as Cell Organelles, or Plant v. Animal Cells, etc.  The students had one minute at each lab table to write as much as they could think of to write about that particular topic.  When we were all done, the students had another minute to go around to each lab table to see what the class was able to brainstorm about each topic.  This was a way to get the students thinking about each of the major topics on the test, and to help them see what they had forgotten that somebody else might have remembered.

Wednesday - We took the 55 question multiple choice and matching test on the topic of cells.  The students in all of my classes did well, averaging a B+ overall on the test.

Thursday - We processed the test results by writing test corrections for any questions that the students missed.  We then transitioned to our unit on cell division by talking about cancer.  Cancer is, in simplest terms, cell division gone bad, so it is a good way for me to get the students' attention in regards to the importance of learning about cell division.  I tried to be very sensitive in talking about this topic, since so many students are affected by cancer in some way in their lives, even right now.  I also shared with the students my own experience of losing my first wife to cancer in 2003.  This was done as a way to share with them that all of us will be affected by cancer in some way most likely during our lives, since 1 in every 2 males and 1 in every 3 females will be diagnosed with some type of cancer in their lives.  For homework there was a reading about cancer for the students.  I put this together using information from the American Cancer Society and a book called The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Dr.Siddartha Mukherjee.  The book is a very good read for those of you interested in cancer.  It was one of the New York Times top 10 books of 2010.

Friday - We discussed what the students found interesting from the reading about cancer to start class.  We also talked about the fact that our cell organelle project was front page news in the school newspaper!  Then, we conducted a lab experiment investigating why cells have to remain small.  We used different sized cubes made of a material called agar.  The agar had an indicator called bromothymol blue added to it, which turns yellow in the presence of an acid.  The students then placed their cubes in a beaker of hydrochloric acid, and timed how long it took the cubes to turn completely yellow.  We will be finishing the lab questions in class on Monday.  Homework was to read an article from a publication by the National Institutes of Health about cell division, and answer some questions that go together with the reading.



Upcoming Events

Monday - We will be completing the lab questions from our cell size lab that we ran on Friday.  When the students are done, I will be lecturing on cell division.  For homework, the students should review the content from the cell size lab, as they will be given an 11 question lab quiz on Tuesday on that material.

Tuesday - Tuesday will be a shortened day due to Late Start meetings.  The students will take their lab quiz, and then we will look for cells in prepared slides of an onion root tip in the various stages of the cell cycle.  Homework will be to complete the lab questions.

Wednesday - We will be completing a lab called "Time for Mitosis."  This lab will have the students investigating how long normal cells spend in each of the stages of the cell cycle, compared to cancerous cells.  The students should complete the entire lab in class.  There will be no homework for the Thanksgiving break, although we will have a quiz on cell division the Tuesday after Thanksgiving weekend.

Thursday - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Friday - No School

Graba Geeks of the Week

The Geeks of the Week this week are Jenny Chu and Karishma Desai, who both earned perfect scores on our Cell Unit Test.  There were other students who have been previous winners who also scored perfect on the test, including Chloe David, Emily Jia, and Daniel Classon.  Way to go, all of you!  That is a great accomplishment.

November 12, 2012

November 12, 2012

Happy Veteran's Day, and thank you to all of our veterans for the sacrifices they have made for our country.

I wanted to make sure that I included at the beginning of this blog post that I made a mistake with informing some of my students about tomorrow.  I told some of my classes that we had a late start tomorrow, November 13.  That is incorrect.  We have a normal school day tomorrow.  The late start is the following week.

Events of the Past Week

During the past week, we finished our egg lab and handed that in.  We also concluded our dialysis bag lab investigating how particle size affects the movement of material into and out of the cell.  We did a final osmosis diffusion lab on Wednesday that had the students looking at red onion cells under the microscope in fresh water and then in salt water to see the effects of those different types of solutions on the contents of the cell.  The dialysis bag lab and the egg lab were collected on Tuesday, and the red onion lab was collected on Wednesday.  For homework this week the students were working on finishing the questions in those labs, and one night they were supposed to watch a video of me lecturing about osmosis and diffusion on YouTube.  Over this four day weekend they have a review packet on cells that is required homework, and 3 other review sheets (except for my 8th hour class, which had done 2 of them already) which were optional to help them prepare for a test on Wednesday.  The test will cover cell organelles, the cell theory (including the scientists who were important in helping to develop it), the structure of the plasma membrane, passive transport (osmosis, diffusion, and facilitated diffusion), and active transport (exocytosis, endocytosis, and the sodium-potassium pump).

Upcoming Events

Monday - No school.  Please thank a veteran.

Tuesday - We will be reviewing for the test on Tuesday.  We will first go through the review packet and additional worksheets to see if there are any questions that the kids need help with, and then move on to our review activity.  There will be 7 pieces of butcher paper set up around the room, one on each lab table.  A different topic from our unit will be at the top of each sheet, and the students will have one minute to write as many things as they can about the topic on the sheet at that lab table.  Each table will have a group of four students at it, and after 1 minute, they will rotate to the next table.  When they are all done, they will go back around the room to see what their classmates have produced.

Wednesday - We will take the test on the topics outlined previously.

Thursday - We will spend a good amount of time going over the results of the quiz and answering any questions about it.  The students will then be given a reading about cancer and some questions to answer that go along with the reading.  Homework will be to complete that activity.  Our next unit is cell division, and since cancer is simply uncontrolled cell division, it serves as a good hook to help the students see why we need to study and understand cell division.

Friday - We will run a lab investigating why it is that cells need to divide and remain small.  We will be investigating the surface area to volume ratio of "cells" of various sizes.  The "cells" will be made out of cubes of a jello-like substance called agar.  The students will be timing how long it takes for hydrochloric acid to completely diffuse through their different-sized cubes.  Homework will be to finish questions in the lab.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Geek of the Week goes to Emily Jia and Chloe David, who somehow managed to be co-elected president of the cell in our Cell Organelle Campaign project (otherwise known as #organellewars) even though they had an organelle, the cytoskeleton, which most, if not all, of my students had never heard of before the project.  The other group in that class that one, Jessica Lu and Eden Schultz, also deserve special mention because they were trying to get the nucleus elected president, and they were getting smeared by most of the groups in the class.  Way to go girls!

October 28, 2012

October 28, 2012

Hello everyone!  There was no newsletter last week because I was too busy with our class project!  Two weeks ago we reviewed for our test on microscopes and Measurement, and then took the test over a two day period on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Thursday I assigned our cell campaign project which I am confident you have seen your children working on these past two weeks!  As part of the campaign, I suggested that they create a Twitter account for their organelle, if they wanted to, and begin tweeting about their organelle and smearing the other organelles.  We continued to work on the project on Friday.  What followed was nothing short of amazing.  Within about 12 hours of the start of the project, I noticed that there were people I did not recognize getting involved in the campaign online.  This, of course, concerned me quite a bit, so I investigated to make sure that the kids were not being put in danger.  It turns out that the people who were tweeting with my kids were cell biologists from around the globe!  Each of them has a different cell organelle that is their area of interest, and they began helping the groups with their favorites, and helping smear some of the others.  One of the scientists, Dr. Anne Osterrieder, is a professor at Oxford-Brookes University in England.  She, Dr. David Logan from the Universite d'Angers in France, and Dr. John Runions at the University of Oxford-Brookes (who is also Dr. Molecule on BBC Radio) have been among the scientists tweeting with the kids.  If your son or daughter created a Twitter account for their organelle, you should ask them to see what they've been doing and look at the interactions they have had!  The cell biologists have been directing them to great research articles, asking them great questions, and sharing great information with them.  These experts know so much more about this topic than I do that your children's education on cells has been improved immeasurably by these interactions!  We were blogged about at the website www.plantcellbiology.org.  The project has gained its own hashtag on Twitter: #organellewars.  One biologist even tweeted "Best #war hashtag that doesn't depress me to follow, but gives me hope for humanity: #organellewars.  The link to this blog and our hashtag has been retweeted by all kinds of scientists and educators around the globe.  One of the retweets came from Ed Yong, who writes a blog for discover magazine.  He is a pretty big deal in the online science community, writing a blog called "It's Not Rocket Science" with over 10 million hits since he began writing it.  We were also talked about on BBC Radio!  Here is a link to the podcast, in which they begin discussing our project around the 6 minute and 10 second mark:  http://drmolecule.org/2012/10/23/organellewars-a-fun-school-project-in-cell-biology/.

This experience has by far been the most incredible experience of my fifteen year teaching career.  To have your children (my students) interacting with experts from around the world and to be excited about learning about the Golgi Apparatus is unbelievable.

Needless to say, last week was dedicated almost entirely to working on our project.  I extended the deadline for the project until Monday, so Monday will be spent with the students giving presentations to persuade people to vote for their cell organelle.  Tuesday we will be finishing watching a BBC special on the cell that premiered in Europe last Sunday, and then was sent to me by one of the biologists after he was able to obtain a copy of it from a contact of his at the BBC.  Wednesday, Halloween, or, should I say, Cell-o-ween, will be voting day for the organelles.  The voting will be online by class period.  Following voting, we will begin a lab project investigating how materials move into and out of cells.  We will be placing an egg in 150 mL of vinegar.  We will be measuring the mass of the egg before we begin, and measuring the mass of the egg each day thereafter throughout the course of this several day project.  After the lab is set up, I will be lecturing about the structure of the plasma membrane.  There will be no homework on Wednesday.  Thursday we will take a look at our eggs to see if there has been a change after soaking in vinegar overnight.  Then we will run a second lab investigating osmosis and diffusion.  We will use a semipermeable bag that allows some materials to pass through it, but not others.  The bag will have starch, protein, and glucose inside of it, and we will use the chemical indicator tests we learned during our biochemistry unit to determine which molecules can and cannot pass through the bag.  While the bags are sitting, the students will be looking at red onion under the microscope, first in distilled water, and then in salt water.  For homework, the students will be watching a video lecture I will be putting together explaining the processes of passive and active transport.  On Friday, we will be placing our eggs in Karo corn syrup to sit over the weekend.  Following this activity, we will be completing the questions in the semipermeable bag and red onion lab, and then observing two groups of celery and carrots.  One of them will have been sitting in distilled water overnight, and one in salt water.  We will then discuss the results of those experiments.  Homework over the weekend will be to begin studying for our test on cells, which will probably be the following Tuesday.

Have a great week everybody!  I cannot pick a geek of the week this week because all of the students have been doing a tremendous job on their projects, and I just don't want anyone to be upset that they did not get chosen.  I have been truly impressed by the effort from almost every student in class on this project!

October 14, 2012

October 14, 2012

What a dreary fall weekend this was.  Hopefully the sun comes out before it's over!

Events of the Past Week

Tuesday - We spent class working on a lab working with the metric system on Tuesday. The students practiced measuring length, volume, and mass, and then converting their measurements into different metric units.  This took most of the class period to complete.  For homework, the students were to complete the prelab portion of the metric system lab, which had them converting more units in the metric system.

Wednesday - I collected the metric system lab from the students, and then introduced them to how to write numbers in scientific notation.  They were then given one last metric system practice worksheet.  When they finished that worksheet, they were given some practice scientific notation problems.  For homework, they completed problems 1 through 4 on that sheet.

Thursday - We began class by checking the metric system worksheet and problems 1 through 4 on the scientific notation worksheet for accuracy.  After taking a little bit of time for questions on those two assignments, we began a lab called "Measuring With the Microscope."  The students first determined the diameter of their field of view in millimeters under the microscope by looking at a ruler.  They then calculated the diameter of their high power field of view.  Once the diameters of their field of view were determined, the  students had to convert the diameters they determined into micrometers.  Following this, the size of five different objects were determined by looking at them under the microscope.  For homework, the students completed questions 5 and 6 in their scientific notation packet.

Friday - The students were introduced to graphing using Microsoft Excel at the beginning of class.  Then, they were allowed time to finish measuring objects under the microscope. Most groups had about 1 or 2 objects to finish looking at, and a few analysis questions to finish answering.  Then, they were given time to begin graphing four different data sets on Excel, and answering questions about those data sets.  For homework over the weekend, they were to complete any graphs that had not been completed.

Upcoming Events

Monday - We will review for our test on the metric system, microscope, scientific notation, and graphing.  The students will look at crossed threads under the microscope and also complete a review packet for the test.  Homework will be to study for the test.  The answer key to the review sheet is available at www.mrgraba.net on the accelerated biology 1st semester worksheets page.

Tuesday - The class periods are shortened on Tuesday due to the late start, so the students will only be given the multiple choice portion of the test on the metric system, the microscope, scientific notation, and graphing.  They will probably want to spend a little time studying for the short answer portion of the test on Wednesday.

Wednesday - The students will take the short answer portion of the test on Wednesday.  The students will be given 35-40 minutes to complete this portion of the test.  When everyone is done, the students will be introduced to their organelle campaign projects that I described on open house night.  The students will be shown some examples of some of the projects from last year, and be given the expectations for the project.  They will also pick their organelles out of a hat.  There will be no homework for Wednesday night.

Thursday - The students will be given the day to plan and work on their projects.  The project is done in pairs, so the students will need to start assigning parts of the project to each other to complete each night.

Friday - We will spend the day looking at plant and animal cells under the microscope.  The students will look at their own cheek cells as an animal cell example, then onion cells, and then cells from an aquatic plant called Elodea.  Homework will be to work on their organelle projects over the weekend.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Geek of the Week goes to Sarah Brand, who has become so good at finding objects under the microscope that she was helping groups around the class find their objects when they were struggling.  Thank you, Sarah, and good work!

October 8, 2012

October 8, 2012

Happy Columbus Day!  After a long, cold weekend of camping with the Webelos, I'm ready to get back to work with the kids in class.  I hope they are ready to be put to work!

Events of the Past Week

Monday - On Monday we spent much of the class period reviewing our results from the Biochemistry Test from the previous Friday.  The average for my classes was an 81%, which is a solid B.  After reviewing the results from the test, I introduced the students to the parts of the microscope.  There was no homework on Monday night.

Tuesday - I was gone on Tuesday, so the students worked on a history of the microscope webquest.  Unfortunately, the school's Internet was really slow, and the periods were shortened.  As a result, most students did not finish their webquests.  Homework was supposed to be to finish the webquest.  At home, however, some students had trouble with a Java plug-in, so the students were also given Wednesday night to finish the assignment.

Wednesday - We did a peer teaching lab in class.  The students each had an aspect of the microscope they were to teach the rest of their lab table about.  One person was responsible for teaching the parts of the microscope and calculating total magnification.  One person was responsible for teaching how to find objects under the microscope.  One person taught the students how to make a wet mount, and one person showed the students how to properly clean the microscope and put the microscope away when you are done with it.  Homework was to finish the webquest.

Thursday - We began a lab looking at different objects under the microscope.  There were five prepared slides (a fruit fly, a Paramecium, human blood, human blood with sickle-cell anemia, and frog blood) for the students to look at on Thursday.  Some students also brought in pond water to look at on Thursday.  One sample had many microscopic organisms called Daphnia which were very interesting for the students to look at under the microscope.  

Friday - We finished the microscope lab by looking at potato slices first without any stain, and then with Iodine as a stain.  We tied this staining back to our biochemistry unit by reminding the students what it is that Iodine indicates when it changes color from yellow to purple.  Any prepared slides that the students did not get to look at on Thursday were also viewed on Friday.  When a lab team finished, they were given a worksheet that had them practicing metric conversions, as our next lab will be having the students working with the metric system.  Homework was to finish any lab questions and to finish any metric conversions that were not completed in class.

Upcoming Events

Monday - NO SCHOOL!  COLUMBUS DAY!

Tuesday - We will be running a metric system lab to help the students review the metric system, which I'm sure they have learned many times before!  The students will be measuring length, volume, and mass, and then converting their measurements from the metric unit the measure in to other metric units.  Since it only involves moving decimals, converting in the metric system should not be too difficult for the students!  They will be asked to know the following prefixes:  tera, giga, mega, kilo, hecto, deka, deci, centi, milli, micro, nano.  There are computers being developed with terabytes worth of memory now, and technology being developed using nanotechnology, so I believe that these are useful prefixes for the students to know.  Homework will be to complete the questions in the metric system lab.

Wednesday - The metric system lab will be collected, and I will see if the students have any questions about the metric system as we process what they learned from the experiment.  The students will then be reintroduced to using scientific notation.  They will also be taught how to multiply, divide, add, and subtract while using scientific notation.  There will be time given for the students to begin some practice scientific notation problems.  Any problems that are not finished in class will be finished for homework.

Thursday - We will spend time reviewing the scientific notation homework.  The students will be grading their own work, and then will be given the opportunity to ask for help on any questions that the got wrong.  After this, we will conduct a lab experiment called "Measuring with the Microscope."  The students will measure the length of the diameter of their field of view under low power on the microscope, and then calculate the diameter of their field of view under high power.  Once they have completed that task, they will then estimate the size of various microorganisms as they view them under the microscope.  This can be challenging for the students, but we will work to get everyone understanding how to estimate sizes by the end of the lab.  This lab ties together everything we will have learned about the microscope, the metric system, and scientific notation.  There will be no homework on Thursday.

Friday - At the beginning of class, the students will be shown how to graph a data set by using Microsoft Excel.  Then, the students will be given time to finish their "Measuring with the Microscope" lab activity.  This should take about 15-20 minutes.  After completing the lab activity, the students will hand it in and begin working on a graphing activity using data sets that I will give them.  There are a series of questions to answer about the graphs the students create as they work through the graphing activity.  I will not be requiring the graphs to be completed for homework, as not all students may have Microsoft Excel at home.  The graphs will be completed in class on Monday.  Plan on there being a test on the microscope, metric system, scientific notation, and graphing on Tuesday the 16th of October.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Geek of the Week is Mark Guo, who brought in our Daphnia filled water sample.  Without him, the pond water observation portion of our lab would not have been nearly as successful or interesting.  Thank you, Mark! 

Have a great week everyone!

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

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

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

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!

August 26, 2012

August 26, 2012

Welcome to a new school year!  My name is Brad Graba, and I am your child's accelerated freshman biology teacher.  I will be using this blog as a way to communicate with you throughout the year so that you have a good idea of what is going on in our biology classroom.

Events of the Past Week

Thursday - Monday was a day to get ourselves organized and ready to go for the year to come.  After checking schedules and handing out textbooks, we started to do some activities to become more comfortable with each other and high school.  By the way, the students were instructed to write their names in ink in the inside front cover of their textbooks, and also to write down any damage they noticed to their book.  Please check to see that this was done if you have the opportunity.

The first activity was for the students to place themselves in order by birthdate without speaking.  This allows me to see who might be willing to think outside of the box to solve a problem.  Most people simply hold up fingers to try and communicate, but this takes awhile and can be misinterpreted.  I did see some students start writing their birthdays on the whiteboard, and others typing it into their phones, all of which were fine with me!  After that, the students were placed into their seats by the way they arranged themselves.  The final activity was a people search, where the students looked for members of their class with different interests and hobbies as a way to get to know each other.

For homework, the students had to read a brief fictional account called "Look Out Below!"  They then were to type a short hypothesis explaining why the events they read about in the article may have occurred.  Many of them had a little bit of fun with this, I believe.  Also, the students were to read the prelab introduction for our first lab, and then read 4 hypotheses.  They were to identify the hypotheses as well-written or not, and then to re-write the bad hypotheses to make them better.  Due on Monday is a signed lab safety contract.

Friday - We began class on Friday by discussing our "Look Out Below!" homework.  Lab teams were then chosen.  Each student received a strip of paper with a word on it, such as Ford.

The students then had to find three other people in their class who had words that belonged in a group with their word.  For example, the other choices that went with Ford were Chevy, Dodge, and Honda.  The tricky part was that there was another group with four presidents, which made it a little more challenging!

We then spent some time talking about what makes a hypothesis a good hypothesis, and discussing the homework on hypotheses that the students had completed the night before.  We jumped from there into discussing the elements of a well-designed experiment that would effectively test a good hypothesis.  We then determined how we were going to test the effectiveness of antibacterial soap versus regular soap in lab on Monday.  The homework for the weekend was to get the lab safety contract signed if it was not already signed, and to study for a prefix quiz scheduled for Tuesday.  The quiz will be 20 matching questions, using the students knowledge of the prefixes listed under "Quiz #1" on their study guide.

Upcoming Events

Monday - We will be running our experiment to test the effectiveness of different types of soaps in removing bacteria from our hands.  The students will be taking before and after washing swabs of their hands, and then growing bacteria on petri dishes in an incubator overnight.  Once that is completed, the students will be given a worksheet that will have them apply their knowledge of the criteria for a good experiment to seven different scenarios.  They will have to determine what is wrong with the experiments described in each of the different scenarios.  Homework will be to complete the worksheet and study for the prefix quiz on Tuesday.

Tuesday - Class will begin with our prefix quiz.  We will then check the results of our experiment by counting the number of bacterial colonies on both of their petri dishes.   We will record our data, then discuss the importance of statistics in examining data, and then try to draw some conclusions from our data.

We will also be looking at the homework and discussing the students answers to the questions regarding what was wrong with the seven different experiments.

Class will conclude with the students setting up an experiment involving some "Mystery Matter."  The "Mystery Matter" will be placed into four different Erlenmeyer flasks with some sugar and warm water.  A balloon will be placed over the mouth of the flask, and the students will come back the next day to observe the balloons.  This lab will be used to lead the students to a discussion of the characteristics of living things.

Wednesday - We will observe the results of our "Mystery Matter" experiment, and then discuss the characteristics shared by living things.  We will also discuss the levels of organization in the living world, starting with the atom, and moving all the way up to the level of biosphere.

Thursday - We will review the scientific method, characteristics of life, and levels of organization in living things.  The students will be reading a passage about how scientists solved the problem of yellow fever, and then answering 11 questions regarding the use of the scientific method in solving that problem as part of their review.  Homework will be to study for our first test on Friday.

Friday - We will be taking our first test of the year on the topics of the scientific method and the characteristics of living things.  When the students are finished with their test, they will begin a webquest that will help them review some of the characteristics of the periodic table.  Homework will be to complete through the third page of the periodic table webquest packet.

Interesting Tidbits

Throughout the course of the year, I will be choosing one student a week to be the "Graba Geek of the Week."  This award will be given to students who do something particularly outstanding in class, or who show a lot of improvement.  As part of the Geek of the Week award, I like to post a picture of the winning student.  If you would rather I not post a picture of your child, please e-mail me at bgraba@d211.org to let me know.  I typically write this blog on Sunday's, so if you could let me know by next Sunday, it would be appreciated, as I would like to start handing out the Geek of the Week award next week.

Please feel free to leave any comments about this blog!

May 29, 2012

May 29, 2012

I hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day Weekend.  We had a fun weekend at our house with baseball, family, and friends, none of which could have been enjoyed as much as they were without the sacrifices of our military personnel, past and present. 

Events of the Past Week

Last week we stuck to the script exactly as planned.  The kids are doing a great job continuing to work hard as we near the end here.  It's getting especially difficult to stay focused for everyone with the great weather outside and the end of the school year looming, but I have been impressed so far.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday - We will first review the homework on symbiotic relationships which the students completed over the weekend.  Then, we will finish our biomagnification case study that we began on Friday.  We will spend about 15-20 minutes reviewing some biogeochemical cycles after finishing the biomagnification (i.e. the water cycle, carbon cycle, and nitrogen cycle), and then begin our study of populations with two population density worksheets that will be finished for homework.

Wednesday - After we go over the homework together, we will continue our study of populations by looking at factors that influence the growth of populations.  We will look at how the population size of predators affects the population size of their prey, and vice versa, by analyzing real-life data on the deer populations in the Kaibab plateau in Arizona, and also the population of moose of Isle Royale in Michigan.  Homework will be to complete the activity.

Thursday - I will collect the students' homework, and then we will move on to look at how to create and interpret an age structure graph.  This should take about 30 minutes for the students to complete.  When they finish, we will learn about survivorship curves.

Friday - Friday is a half day.  We will spend Friday learning about ecological succession, gross primary productivity, and net primary productivity.  There will be a short quiz on ecology on Monday.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Geek of the Week is John Parzynski, who has been a wonderful student to have in class all year long.  He has been very personable and engaging while also being respectful, and is also not afraid to ask questions.  Congratulations, John!

May 17, 2012

May 20, 2012

Sorry for the lack of an update this past week.  With Mother's Day on Sunday, and also two baseball practices to run, a t-ball game, and a soccer game for my kids on Saturday I just ran out of time to get my post written!  Anyway, I'll recap last week, tell you about the current week, and let you know about the events of next week all in this post.

Events of the Past Week

Monday - We discussed the organs of the digestive system last Monday.  We went through the alimentary canal first (the organs through which food passes), and then through the role of the accessory organs (those organs through which food does not pass).

Tuesday - We spent time reviewing the organs of the digestive system to prepare for our quiz on Wednesday.

Wednesday - We took our quiz on the digestive system.  The quiz included a 5 question portion on the pigs where I had a picture of a pig's abdominal cavity that had been dissected, and asked the kids a few questions about the organs shown.  My hope was that this would prepare them for the lab practical that we took this week a little bit better.  When they were done with the quiz, the students were given the dissection guide for the circulatory system.  Homework was to read the lab.

Thursday - We did our heart dissection on Thursday.  This took about 35 minutes, so after the students had completed the dissection, they were given time to work on the questions in the lab.  Homework was to finish the lab questions.

Friday - We did our final pig dissection on Friday.  This dissection was of the respiratory and urinary systems.  The students did a good job finding the larynx, trachea, lungs, diaphragm, kidneys, ureters, and urinary bladder.  After they completed the dissection and cleaned up, they were given time to work on the lab questions.  Homework was to finish those questions.

This Week's Events

Monday - We took the pigs out one last time on Monday.  The students were given the opportunity to ask questions of me (if they had any) and quiz their lab partners on the parts of the pig and their functions.  Most students made good use of this time, but there were a few who did not, and it showed for some of them who did not on the lab practical the next day.  I also showed the students a good virtual pig dissection website they could use to study from home for the lab practical (since I assumed most of you did not want a preserved pig on your dining room tables Monday night!).

Tuesday - We took the lab practical on Tuesday.  There were 9 stations set up around the room.  The students were given one minute at each station to answer 3 questions about the pig in front of them.  At the end of one minute, they rotated to the next station to answer the next 3 questions. 

Homework was to do the first page of a study guide on the circulatory system.

Wednesday - We reviewed the results of the lab practical.  Many students did well.  Lab practicals are notoriously difficult, so I was pleased with the results, as most students earned A's or B's on the practical.  After reviewing our results, we did two activities related to the circulatory system.  One of them involved learning to read an electrocardiogram, and the other was a crossword puzzle with circulatory system vocabulary.  Homework was to complete the second page of the circulatory system study guide they had received on Tuesday.

Thursday - We went over the circulatory system study guide together, and then completed a few worksheets related to the circulatory system.  Homework was to complete a respiratory system study guide that went along with the textbook.

Friday - We reviewed the results of the respiratory system homework, then took a circulatory system quiz.  The quiz was not taken for a grade, but to to help the students and me determine what it is about the circulatory system that the kids need me to help them learn and what they have already figured out.  Afterwards, we began to go through some of the information about the circulatory system that I expect the students to know.

Upcoming Events


Monday - We will finish learning about the circulatory system as well as the respiratory and urinary systems.  The students have a packet to help them take notes on the circulatory system, and most of the other two systems notes will be a quick review of what we have already learned during dissection lab and worksheets.

Tuesday - We will review for our test on the digestive, respiratory, circulatory, and urinary systems.

Wednesday - The students will take a 75 question multiple choice anatomy and physiology test.  Homework will be to complete and introduction to ecology worksheet.

Thursday - We will review the results of the anatomy and physiology test.  Then we will go over the homework from the previous night.  Finally, we will begin our ecology unit in earnest by reading aloud an article called "A View From the Top of the Food Pyramid."  After that, we will do an activity that will have the students look at how energy moves through an ecosystem, which they will finish for homework.

Friday -  I will collect from the students their homework on energy flow in ecosystems.  Then we will work on a case study to introduce the concepts of bioaccumulation and biomagnification.  It is called "Tuna for Lunch," and the students will examine what happens to toxins such as mercury as they pass from one level of a food chain to the next.  Your kids should be able to tell you the distinction between bioaccumulation and biomagnification after doing this activity.  One neat memory trick that a student came up with last year was a rhyme that went something like, "Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism is single, biomagnification occurs when organisms mingle."  That will make more sense to you after you ask your kids to explain the distinction if you don't already know what those two terms mean!  Homework will be to finish the biomagnification activity.

Geek of the Week

This week's Geek of the Week is Ryan Moran, who earned a perfect score on his Fetal Pig Lab Practical.  The lab practical test is one of the most challenging of the year, and to earn a perfect score is quite a feat!  Also earning perfect scores, but I believe having already won Geek of the Week this year, were Christina Miller, Patrick Chen, and Jennie Yang.  Way to go!

May 6, 2012

May 6, 2012

Plans changed a bit last week, as I had to miss school on Monday to be home with my son, who was sick.  The quiz that was originally scheduled for Friday will now be on Wednesday of this week.

Events of the Past Week

Monday - We watched the classic bio movie Hemo the Magnificent, about the parts of the circulatory system and how the circulatory system does its work.  The movie does a very good job with the anatomy of the circulatory system and the role of the circulatory system, in my opinion.

Tuesday - This was a late start day, so our time was shortened.  As a result, we spent the time reviewing the homework that had been due on Monday, and then we labeled a diagram of the human digestive system.  Finally, I passed out the first pig dissection lab to the students to read for homework.

Wednesday - Wednesday was our first day of dissection.  There were some students that I kept a close eye on throughout the dissection because I was worried they might not make it through, but everyone came through with flying colors, and many students genuinely enjoyed the learning experience (although there were definitely a few who were more than a little squeamish about it).

Thursday - We finished the dissection of the digestive organs of the abdominal cavity on Thursday.  Everyone found all of the organs they were supposed to, and most groups were able to point out to me each of the organs I asked them to without much trouble.  Homework was to finish the questions in the dissection lab.

Friday - I collected the pig dissection labs, and then we began a digestive system project.  The students color-coded and cut out drawings of each of the organs of the digestive system, and then did the same with labels for each of the organs of the digestive system.  The organs were then glued down in the proper locations, and the labels attached to the proper locations.  Finally, the nutrients that are chemically digested in each organ were cut out and placed by the appropriate organ, as well.  Homework was to complete the questions in the packet that went along with the project.

Upcoming Events

Monday - I will be collecting the questions from the project on Monday, and then we will be going through together the functions of all of the organs of the digestive system. 

Tuesday - We will be reviewing for a quiz on the digestive system on Tuesday.  Homework will be to study for the quiz, which is Wednesday.

Wednesday - There will be a 20 question multiple choice quiz.  At the end of the quiz, there will be five fill in the blank questions where I will have a PowerPoint slide with a picture of a dissected pig, and the students will be asked questions about different organs that can be seen in the pig.  There will be 5 questions on this part of the quiz, which is intended to help prepare them for the test at the end of the unit as well as assess their current knowledge of the anatomy of the pig.

Thursday - After reviewing the results of the quiz, we will be dissecting the circulatory system of the pig.  Homework will be to finish the questions in the circulatory system dissection lab packet.

Friday - We will finish our dissection of the pig by looking at the respiratory and urinary systems.  All of the systems we look at in the pig will be on a lab practical at the end of the unit.  The students will be asked to identify different organs and their functions by looking at the pigs, which will have pins in different organs with questions associated with the pins.  Homework will be to finish the questions in the respiratory and urinary system lab packet.

Graba Geek of the Week

This week's Graba Geek of the Week is Eli Pagones, who did a great job with his dissections this week and made me proud.  Way to go, Eli!

April 29, 2012

April 29, 2012


Hello everyone!  What a dreary weekend we had.  Hopefully the weather turns around this week!

Events of the Past Week


Monday - On Monday, we did exactly what the blog last week stated we would do.  We looked at the homework from the weekend together, then learned about phylogenetics and cladograms, and then learned how to create a cladogram.  For homework, the students completed a study guide that went with Chapter 17 in their textbook.

Tuesday - No school due to PSAE testing.

Wednesday - We learned what a dichotomous key is, what it is used for, and practiced using one to identify different bacterial species.  For homework, the students had to read the lab procedure for the lab we were going to do on Thursday.

Thursday - The students were given several different pieces of hardware ranging from nails to screws to bolts.  The students had to determine the characteristics that would be best for classifying the types of hardware into different groups, and create a cladogram of their own from the decisions they made.  They found this very challenging, but I also think it was very good for their brains.  Homework was to complete the questions associated with the cladogram.

Friday - The students took a taxonomy quiz on Friday.  There were 35 multiple choice questions and one written questions.  They did pretty well as a group on the quiz.  Afterwards, they let me know whether they wanted to be a dissector or a recorder for our pig dissections.

Upcoming Events


Monday - We will begin our pig dissection.  The students will be assigned their groups and given their pigs.  They will be determining the gender of their pigs, identifying external features, and perhaps beginning to look for salivary glands.  I will need to make sure we are cleaning up with at least 10 minutes left in class for the students to get everything cleaned and done on time.

Tuesday - The students will be looking into the abdominal cavities of their pigs to identify several digestive organs, as well as some organs of the circulatory system and respiratory system.  Homework will be to complete all of the questions in the lab.

Wednesday - We will begin a poster project on the digestive system.  The students will be cutting out drawings of the organs of the digestive system, putting the pieces together like a puzzle, and color coding the pieces.  The students will be completing through number 7 in the study guide that goes along with the poster.

Thursday - We will finish our project on the digestive system on Thursday.  Homework will be to finish any parts of the project that are not completed in class.

Friday - We will be reviewing all of the parts of the digestive system and their functions on Friday.  Homework will be to study for a quiz on the digestive system that will be given on Monday.

Graba Geek of the Week


This week's Geek of the Week is Anthony Fu.  He did a great job figuring out how to put the cladogram on our quiz together, and his group did well on their Drosophila melanogaster lab report, for which he wrote an important portion.  Way to go, Anthony!

April 22, 2012

April 22, 2012


Midterms are almost upon us.  It's hard to believe that the school year is this close to being over.  It seems like just yesterday these young people were walking through my classroom doors as wide-eyed, brand-new freshman!

Events of the Past Week


Monday - We put the finishing touches on our evolution unit.  The students learned about convergent evolution, divergent evolution, and coevolution.  Then we watched several clips of David Attenborough showing unique adaptations that have helped organisms from Leopard Slugs to Elephant Seals survive and pass down their genes.  Homework was to complete an evolution review packet.

Tuesday - We began class by discussing the review packet and answering any questions students had about the packet.  When that was done, we played a review game with remote control clickers and multiple choice questions that the students answered using their remote controls.  Homework was to study for their evolution test.

Wednesday - The students took the multiple choice section of their evolution test.  There were 56 questions on the multiple choice part of the test.  They also took the district benchmark assessment on evolution, which consisted of 8 multiple choice questions.

Thursday - The students took the short answer portion of their evolution test.  I had originally planned for all of the test to be taken on Wednesday, but realized it was going to be too long to take all in one day.  When the students finished the test, they were given the opportunity to review the results from the multiple choice part of the test.  Homework was to finish a study guide for the first section of chapter 17 in the textbook.  The topic of the study guide was taxonomy (the science of classifying organisms), NOT taxidermy, which is what some students were hoping for!

Friday - We began class by taking a few notes on taxonomy, and then moved on to work on a packet called "Why Classify?"  This packet had the students doing some thinking about the benefits of a classification system for organisms, and also learning some of the vocabulary associated with classification.  Homework was to finish the packet.

Upcoming Events


Monday - The students will first be looking over their "Why Classify?" packets with me.  Then, we will learn about phylogenetics (classifying organisms based on their presumed evolutionary relationships), and cladistics (essentially creating branching diagrams that show the evolutionary relationships between organisms).  The students will then be creating a cladogram themselves.  Homework will be to complete a study guide that goes along with chapter 17 in the textbook.

Tuesday - NO SCHOOL.  PSAE testing.  By the way, if you would like to read an interesting article about standardized tests, read this about New York's standardized English test:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/21/nyregion/standardized-testing-is-blamed-for-question-about-a-sleeveless-pineapple.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Wednesday - We will have 28 minutes of class time on Wednesday.  We will take a look at the homework from Monday night, and then the students will be introduced to dichotomous keys.  Dichotomous keys are made up of a paired series of statements that biologists use to help identify organisms when they are in the field.  We will also review the characteristics of the 6 kingdoms and 3 domains of life.

Thursday - We will be completing a dichotomous key activity using various types of hardware.  The students will have to design their own keys to classify the pieces of hardware.  Homework will be to study for the quiz on Friday.

Friday - We will take a quiz on taxonomy on Friday with 35 multiple choice questions and 1 written question.  The students will be letting me know whether they want to be a dissector or a recorder during our fetal pig dissections when they finish their quizzes.  We will begin dissections on Monday.

Graba Geek of the Week


This week we have co-Geeks of the Week.  Denae Gerasta is one, and Emma Gattuso is the other.  Denae recently did a little research into her family's genetic history, as she noticed that one of her thumbs seemed to be rather short, much like the actress Megan Fox, who we learned has brachydactyly (a dominant genetic condition where one or more of the digits are shorter than normal).  It turns out that the trait does seem to run in her family, and may be the same one we learned about in class (although there is no way to know for sure unless a genetic counselor were to be consulted).

Emma earned the honor by volunteering at a District 15 middle school to help students with some science projects.  Talk about showing an interest in science!  Way to go, girls!