We'll Start with the Cell...

Hey, Welcome back to school!! This week, before JB gets underway, we will prepare for our first class. Here is the homework, and please don't underestimate the time it will take be starting it on Friday!  It should be done over the course of 3-5 days.  Those of you who were in my life science class may find it review, if you have a very good memory, but that was a long time ago, and this time around it is for keeps.  So pay good attention to my directions; I want you to do it my way!

Day 1: Read section 7.1 & answer study guide questions.
Day 2: Read section 7.2 & answer study guide questions.
Day 3/4: Watch these videos and make flash cards for each section on 3x5 index cards.  On one side of the card draw a detailed picture of the organelle/whatever, and on the other the name of the video and your notes on the information in the video clip.  There are 13 separate video clips, each 2-4 minutes long!!! You may wish to find a picture in your textbook or online to copy so that you can make an accurate and elegant picture/diagram.

So here is how to get to the site: http://brightstorm.com/science/biology/parts-of-a-cell/

Brightstorm is a great site for your high school science and math and grammar videos, so you will want to get your own account.
This is the list of videos:

Parts of a Cell

The free online video lessons in the Parts of a Cell unit provide an overview of the distinctions between different types of cells and explore in depth the structure and function of each of the organelles found within a cell as well as the ways in which different organelles interact. Topics include:

• Cell Overview

• Prokaryotic Cells

• Eukaryotic Cells

• Nucleus

• Ribosomes

• Mitochondria - Mitochondrian

• Golgi Apparatus

• Vacuoles-Vesicles

• Chloroplast

• Cilia and Flagella

• Cytoskeleton - Cytoplasm

• Endoplasmic Reticulum

• Cell Membrane - Cell Wall

  

  One more thing: please bring to class a lab notebook (bound) on Monday and every other day from now on.  In it we will keep our lecture notes, our lab notes, and an "exit question" which will help us retain the most important parts of our learning.  You also need a binder in which to keep your handouts and homework.  I am expecting a higher degree of organization this spring.   Also bring your other textbook and study guide, as always.  And put your index cards in a baggie and save them for tests & quizzes!  Bring them to class as well, to confirm that you have done your homework.

  
  

  Long directions, so re-read them, and please leave a comment so I know that you have read this blog.  Thanks, friends.  Enjoy your lessons.

   

Reprieve

Dear Friends, would you mind so much if we delayed the advent of our test a few days?  I was so fatigued last night that I could not bring myself to write it up, and so concocted a better plan, knowing also how busy your own schedules would be.
What I would like you to do is to write 150-200 words or so, paragraph form,  summarizing the ecological principles learned through the Ecocolumn activities, such as discussed in your groups yesterday.   Add to this any of the worksheets/handouts and the poem that you have done, put those in a folder, and turn that in on Monday.  We will then use any extra class time for the test, or if we don't have any, it can become take-home.  The test will be 50 pts. vocabulary and 25 points written, plus some "extra credit" which will be practice questions for STAR testing.

Prepare!

Enjoyable class yesterday, thank you.  I am sure Mr. Deleo will be honored to know that he has been immortalized as a isopod.

Homework is as follows:
Finish up your lab reports (typed) as described in the handout. Turn in on Thursday. Feel free to research the web -- and be sure to figure out what taxis and kenesis are; these words should be in your conclusion.  Re-read the Lab Handout; this is important.

Work on your Photo Essays, as described.  Presentation next Monday.

Study for the final on ecology, vocabulary links from previous post as well as clues to studying. 

No need to finish the Comic Book Guide to the Environment; up to Chapter 9 is good.

TEST WILL BE E-MAILED TO YOU ON FRIDAY, TO BE TURNED IN ON MONDAY.

And the Good News Is...

Forgot to mention (!) there will be an  Final EXAM next (not this coming), but the following, THURSDAY, that will cover the entire unit of ECOLOGY, chapters 3-6.  It will be a lot of vocabulary, plus short essay/diagram questions.  I will work up a list. Anyway, reviewing a little each day is much, much better than cramming.
http://quizlet.com/7456023/chapter-3-biology-prentice-hall-flash-cards/
http://quizlet.com/7684259/prentice-hall-biology-chapter-4-flash-cards/
http://quizlet.com/7305242/prentice-hall-biology-chapter-5-flash-cards/
http://quizlet.com/7305424/prentice-hall-biology-chapter-6-flash-cards/  Pay special attention to chapter 6 vocabulary, since I will give you a surprise quiz this Thursday for practice.

Off the top of my head, I recommend looking through those chapters for diagrams, such as the nitrogen cycle, the carbon cycle, food & energy pyramid, population graphs, biomagnification, etc. Pictures in textbooks give good clues as to what is important or interesting. If it is not interesting, it must be there because it is important. Which is to say, a diagram  summarizes a large amount of knowledge. It is a "pictorial paragraph."

Reading: from the Comic Book on the Environment: Read up to (and including) Chapter 9. Take notes on vocabulary and major concepts.

Keep working on your Persuasive Photo Essay.  Remember: 20 images, 1-3 minutes, show the problem, suggest a response.

Last HOMEWORK before break--Aren't you Thankful!?!

Thanks for class-here's what to do tomorrow:
Read chapters 6-7 of the Comic Book Guide to the Environment.  Take notes on vocabulary/concepts.

Invasive Species in SF Bay:
http://blog.sfgate.com/kalw/2010/11/29/what-lurks-beneath-the-bay-areas-battle-with-invasive-species-in-ballast-water/

Chinese mitten crabs

Save the World, O Jaded Souls

computer graveyard in Ghana : An example of a very specific environmental concern. What do we do with our old computers? ( watch the slide show), and then...

Post a Comment: find out how many tons of computers we dispose of each year in the US, and what happens to it; does it present an environmental  or ethical concern; what ought we to do? (Answer one of these questions, or your own, on the topic.)

So poke around to find a topic for your media essay on one small aspect of environmental concern.

 One thoughtless action  x    multiplied by many

causes catastrophe
for some.

(a small poem by me)

Perhaps also you could be on the lookout (give an ear?) to a piece of music that would be good background.
Start collecting quotes, facts, and images as you research your topic.
Give thought to what computer resources you have available or feel comfortable working with.  You may get as much help as you can finagle from your moms/dads/older siblings/friends.

Read: Comic Book Guide to the Environment, chapters 3-5 and please take notes of vocabulary terms.

btw, I think it is very appropriate to care passionately about the environment, and I do allow myself to feel strongly about many of these issues, even as I try to be objective and check facts. "The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof" and we are the stewards of His creation.

Bacterios & Other Amazing Grossities

The Winogradsky Column is designed to demonstrate the growth of microorganisms. As a result of this activity, you should:

• learn about the metabolic diversity of prokaryotes, applying terms such as phototroph, chemotroph, autotroph, and heterotroph.  Also aerobic, anaerobic, microbial succession, and more.
• observe the cycling of mineral elements in natural environments, particularly sulfur.
• discover how microbes occupy a highly specific niche depending on environmental tolerance and energy requirements.

 First, to recapture what we are trying to understand with our Winogradski Columns, here are some sites:
http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animations/content/winogradsky.html Choose the "Narrated" box.

Read:
http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/j/e/jel5/biofilms/winogradsky.html

And then a 30 minute video on Microbial Interactions:
http://www.learner.org/resources/series121.html?pop=yes&pid=1370# ( click VOD button for #10 "Microbial Interactions"   Leave a Comment, please; for instance, a fact which astounded you, or a question that puzzled you, or a thought that occurred to you, perhaps even  a connection you made to other areas of study...

As always, it would be good to review vocabulary on quizlet, particularly on bacteria, chapter 19.1
http://quizlet.com/6473532/prentice-hall-biology-chapter-191-vocabulary-flash-cards/