Previous Posts

The previous posts on this blog are from my Biology class at New Hampton School. This blog will now serve as the class page for my Biology courses at TASIS.

Global Problems, Local Solutions

From now on we will be working from here: www.globalproblemslocalsolutions.blogspot.com

So what are you waiting for? Click on the link to check it out!

Notebook Check

Today students had a notebook quiz to review what they had learned earlier in the term (mitosis, meiosis and classical genetics).

Homework for the final:

1. If you haven't already brought your poster to class please do so.
2. Plan out who is going to say what during your presentation to the class during the final exam block.

Good luck!

Poster Feedback

Today we reflected on the poster session and what you learned as well as talked about how to give a "stellar" presentation during your final exam.

HOMEWORK: organize your notes for a notebook quiz on Monday in class.

Here is some of what you said during our discussion.

1.What did you learn from doing a project that you couldn't have learned just from taking a test?

How to present material in an effective way
We got to look up the information.
Got a little bit better at looking stuff up on line.
I probably learned something new everyday.
How to do a bibliography.
We had to teach ourselves
Once we got our feet wet, we wanted to learn about our topic
I had to spend so much time on this, I’m going to remember this forever
You knew a lot more then by just taking a test
Really work on it, rather than just listening or taking notes.
Taught you that you have to be organized and have your stuff together, if you don’t it will screw you over.

2. What would you do differently?
Plan ahead – all the work, dividing up what you are going to do
Buy a poster on time
Map things out before you start to glue things
Take advantage of class time
Be more creative on poster
Better use of blank space
Get a bit more done right off the bat, because I definitely procrastinated a bit
Spending more time on it overall.

3. What advice would you give for next year's class?
Do GMO’s.
Be neat with the poster and presenting
Try to finish the project 3 days before it’s due, so you have time to work on the minor details.
Don’t be scared of presenting
Make sure you pick a topic that you think you can find a lot of information for.
Be brave and pick a topic you don’t know anything about so you can learn something.
Don’t wait till the last second
Follow the deadlines
Actually use the summary tables
Schedule your time properly
Have fun with it.

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

Congratulations! You all should be very proud of the work you did.
Ms. Metzler said, "Great job to the Biology students in Ms. Saxe and Mrs. Joslin's classes! The Poster Session this evening was awesome. I learned a lot from your posters and by speaking with you all about your projects. Fantastic idea! We should do this more often!"

“I can’t just guess on my poster, I actually have to know the information. It’s not multiple choice.” – Lindsey B.

The boys in blue: Flash, Max and Leo with their poster on GMO's.

Posters on GMO's & Stem Cells

Jason critiques Pat & Mike's poster on GMO's

Students critique each other's work.

Working Draft due on Monday

On Monday you will need to bring in everything that is going on your poster. This means you need to have completed you summary statement, printed off any images you are using, sections on background, FAQ's, legislation etc.

Your preparedness will count as a quiz grade (outstanding/satisfactory/unsatisfactory).
An outstanding grade means that in addition to having all of the work, it is typed, grammatically correct and there are no spelling errors.

A satisfactory grade means that you have all of the sections and they are typed, however hey could use some spelling, grammar and content revisions.

An unsatisfactory grade means any of the following:
...you do not have all the sections
...the work is not typed

Working on Summary Statements

Today and tomorrow during long block students worked on their summary statements for their project. I will review the statements tonight and you will finalize them in the next class.

What is a summary statement?

This should be 7-10 sentences describing your issue, what are the key issues, what might the future look like for your issue. This must be an original statement. Below is a problem statement on domestic violence from: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/Kits/Family/probst.htm

Not long ago, what happened within the home was considered to be a private, family matter and was excluded from scrutiny by the public. During the last two decades, there has been an increase in awareness of the seriousness of child abuse and neglect, spouse/partner abuse, and elder abuse not only as critical societal problems but as crimes. As a result, there has been an increase in the use of the criminal process in addressing family and domestic violence. National incidence reports and research studies reveal the dramatic increase in family violence and the increasing tendency to respond to the problem not only as crime within the family but also as the prevention of crime outside the family.

Discussion on the future of genetic technology

Today in class (and tomorrow for F block) we discussed what genetic technology might look like in 2020.

As a result of the discussion, and extra credit opportunity arose:
Look up the views on Stem Cells, for Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama, Mike Huckabee and John McCain, write them down and bring it to class. It is not enough just to say a candidate supports stem cells, you must state their position and WHERE the information came from. See example:

Mitt Romney: "The governor said that he opposes "the creation of new human embryos for the purpose of research" and his aides indicated he would support criminal penalties for researchers who use new human embryos." From: The Boston Globe, Feb. 11, 2005 http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/02/11/romney_draws_fire_on_stem_cells/

For Class on Thursday:
Please bring a laptop if you have one!

Albino Moose!?!?!

Mrs. Joslin set me this picture of an albino moose in B.C., Canada.

Prep for discussion & group meetings

Students read the article below and prepared for an article discussion in the next class period. While students were reading, I met with groups to collect assignment #4 and check in on their progress.

Homework: complete the discussion sheet and make sure you write an opening statement.

Fast Forward to 2020: What to Expect in Molecular Medicine

The first phase of the ambitious international effort to determine the entire sequence of the human chromosome set is virtually complete. Human Genome Project scientists plan to finish the human sequence by 2003, along with a database of the most common sequence variations that distinguish one person from another. This knowledge base, freely available to any interested person over the Internet, will revolutionize biology and medicine. But how? What will be different 20 years from now because the human genome was sequenced? Click here to read the full article.