Assignment from August 29. 2008

We used our textbook to review the parts of a controlled experiment, learn about spontaneous generation and look at four scientists who had a role in developing the idea that life does not just magically appear by spontaneous generation - that life has to come from existing life.

Click here to find the assignment document

The online textbook is available at httP//www.phschool.com click on successnet login the login is biology and the password is warriors

Creating a mentos experiment

Using our initial observations of the reaction caused by dropping mentos into diet coke, we created a list of questions and a hypothesis. Today we identified the variables for our experiment and created a procedure to test it.

To review what we did in class click here

August 27, 2008 Designing an experiment

Today in class we went through how to write a research journal and we wrote our first research journal which was collected.

Then we discussed independent and dependent variables and how to create an experiment using these variables.

Tuesday August 26 Observation and Hypothesis

What happens when you put Mentos into Diet Coke? Today we will find out as we learn about qualitative and quantitative data and where hypothesis come from.

Classroom Lesson Notes August 25, 2008

Today in class we set up our Biology notebooks, talked about Research Journals and did a lab activity that focused on the reason scientists need accurate procedures.
To find the directions for the research journals on the blog site, click here

Flashcards for Unit 1.1 quiz

Use these flashcards to help you study for the Unit 1.1 quiz

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August 22 Intro to Unit 1 Understanding the Scientific Process - How to think like a scientist

We will be spending the next few days thinking about how scientists think and what it takes to create a scientific experiment. Some of our activities may be explosively fun. Below is the powerpoint from class.

Pre -test for Unit 1

Try this online quiz to see how well you do on some of the key ideas we are going to be covering in the next week.

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Grade Contracts for 2008-2009

Grade contracts give students in my classes the opportunity to take responsibility for their own grade. By letting students know up front what quality level of work is expected of them and what needs to be included in an assignment to earn a certain score, they know exactly what they need to do to earn the grade they are comfortable with. Assignments are not worth "points". Instead they can receive a quality score of 2,3 or 4 based on the basic level, stretch level and challenge level work described below. I use a rubric system for all large assignments which is also based on the same quality score scale. Final grades are based on the average quality score that students have earned for the quarter (80%) along with their average team score (20%). Below is the PowerPoint I used in class to introduce grade contracts.

Research Journals

Sources for Research Journal Articles:

Science Daily
Science News For Kids

Format for Research Journals – Everyone must do 1 journal a week.
Journals should be kept in your class binder in the journal section.
They are due on Thursday of each week.

HEADING FORMAT
Title
Date
Source
Author (if stated)
Science Field (biology, genetics, environmental, biochemistry,botany,zoology)
Researcher’s Names
Institution or College that is sponsoring the research

Challenge Level -4
9-12 Sentence Summary of the research – what it is, how is it being conducted, how long has the research been conducted, what was the initial problem or question, are their finding supporting their hypothesis

2-3 Sentences explaining who will benefit from this research, or how it will effect our world

3-4 Sentences – What questions would you like to ask the researchers? What additional research might have to be done?

List any vocab words in the article that you didn’t understand and their definitions

Stretch Level-3
6-8 Sentence Summary of the research – what it is, how is it being conducted, how long has the research been conducted, what was the initial problem or question, are their finding supporting their hypothesis

1-2 Sentences explaining who will benefit from this research, or how it will effect our world

1-2 Sentences -What questions would you like to ask the researchers?

List any vocab words in the article that you didn’t understand and their definitions

Basic Level-2
3-5 Sentence summary of the research – what it is, how long has it been going on, what have they discovered.

1-2 Sentences explaining who will benefit from this research, or how it will effect our world

List any vocab words in the article that you didn’t understand and their definitions

Biology Day 1 Introduction

Welcome to Biology. This year we will be focusing on 4 major themes - Classification of Life, Genetics, Ecosystems and Environmental Biology. We are going to be using Prentice Hall Biology by Miller and Levine as our main textbook along with a wide variety of other materials. You will be able to access your textbook online. Assignments, resource links and class notes will be posted on this blog site. We will also be using Google Docs to share work with each other during the year. I have put our powerpoint from the first day into my Google Docs account, published it and pasted it into the HTML text of this blog for you to see - I am going to be teaching you how to do this too!

I am looking forward to working with all of you this year. For many of you, this is the third time we have worked together - so I have a good idea of what you already know and what your strengths are. For those of you who are new to my classes, I am excited about getting to know you as a student as we explore biology this year.