Week 21

Monday, February 3, 2020 (HS-LS3-1): We took notes on the structure of genes, including a review of how chromosomes are found in the nucleus of cells, how chromosomes consist of DNA coiled around histone proteins, and how genes consist of regulatory regions, exons, and introns.

Class concluded with the Crash Course video about heredity (below).  We paused strategically to capture important vocabulary terms (diploid, haploid, somatic cells, gametes) which were added to our vocabulary list from Friday.

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Tuesday, February 4, 2020 (HS-LS3-2): To begin class, we watched the Amoeba Sisters video about meiosis (below) and students worked through a guided worksheet.

After the video, students had the remainder of class to read pages 52-59 of Inside the Cell to help them complete the Amoeba Sisters worksheet and to investigate the processes of independent assortment and crossing over.  Students answered the “Got It?” questions on page 59 of the book in their lab notebooks.

To demonstrate evidence of understanding, students were tasked with creating a stop-motion claymation video or Google Slides explaining the processes of independent assortment and crossing over (shared with the teacher).

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Wednesday, February 5, 2020: Today is a continuation of yesterday.  Completed videos or slides depicting independent assortment and crossing over are due today.  Students who finish early should begin working on the One Trait Mouse Genetics Gizmo.

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Thursday, February 6, 2020: As we enter the final week of Unit 5: Inheritance and Meiosis, we turn our attention toward the process of reproduction.  Class begins with a video which explains the process of human fertilization.  After a brief class discussion about what was learned and what questions remain, students were assigned a reading from the textbook along with the questions below:

In the BSCS textbook, read “Making More People” (p.477-481)

1. How many ova are found in the ovaries of a newborn baby?
2. How many ova mature into healthy ova?
3. Where and when do ova begin maturing?
4. Where are mature ova fertilized by sperm?
5. Where are sperm formed?
6. How long does it take an individual sperm to develop?
7. How do sperm obtain the energy to swim through the female reproductive tract?
8. How and why does the male body regulate testicle temperature?
9. Explain the difference between a zygote, an embryo, and a fetus.
10. What determines when a woman is ready to begin labor?

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Friday, February 7, 2020: Class will begin with a short quiz focusing on:

• Punnett Square vocabulary
• Mitosis and meiosis: similarities and differences

After the quiz, students will have the remainder of the class period to complete and turn in any remaining work from this week.  Students who finish early should work on the single-trait Punnett Square Gizmo handed out last Friday.

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Week 20

Monday, January 27, 2020: No School (Semester Break)

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Tuesday, January 28, 2020: Welcome to second semester!  A new semester brings fresh start and a new unit.  Before we dive in, we will roll out a new seating chart, welcome new faces to our classroom, review the class Syllabus and Safety Contract and hold a class discussion around expectations this semester.

Next, we launched Unit 3 (Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits) with the following entry task:

In your lab notebook, list at least 5 traits that best describe who you are.

After responding to the entry task, students worked with their table teams and together they debated whether a list of traits provided on a worksheet are inherited via nature, nurture, or both.  We came back together as a class so students could share their thinking and hear each others ideas.

Class concluded with the following assignment, due tomorrow:

Using your list of traits from the entry task, write an explanation about which of your traits are nature, which are nurture, and which are both.  Explain your thinking!

Notes from class:

Selected traits with student ideas captured during concluding class discussion

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Wednesday, January 29, 2020: Yesterday, we debated whether a variety of traits are obtained through nature (DNA) or nurture (culture). During our class discussion at the end of class, we determined the trait of sleep pattern was likely caused by both nature and nurture.  We will begin class with the TedEd video below to provide evidence to support the claim that sleep pattern is indeed a product of both DNA and culture:

In today’s lesson, we used a case study about cystic fibrosis as the mechanism to:

• review Central Dogma (from way back in Week 5!) and introduce the stop codon;
• connect the concepts of protein structure and function;
• bring a human face to a genetic disease;
• and help students recall the mechanism of genetic inheritance.

For the entry task, students were challenged to consider how genes begin and end.  We discussed how mRNA sequences always begin with AUG (which codes for methionine, and amino acid which may also occur elsewhere in a protein).  Students were then reminded of the three “stop codons” and we reviewed how those work to release a protein from the ribosome.  We reviewed the structure of amino acids, focusing on the 20 different R groups and how those R groups each have different properties.  The interactions between R groups determine protein shape, and shape determines protein function.  When the sequence changes, the shape changes, thus changing the function of a protein.  We then moved into the cystic fibrosis case study, first watching the video below and then working through the lesson PowerPoint.

Class notes:

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Thursday, January 30, 2020 (HS-LS3-2): For day one of our two-day lesson on the structure and function of genes, we reviewed Central Dogma via the first two slides of today’s PowerPoint.  Next, we dug into the vocabulary of proteins, revisiting words like amino acid, peptide, polypeptide, protein, and peptide bonds.  Students learned that proteins fold into specific structures (shapes) and that a protein’s structure determines its function.  Next, we reviewed the structure of amino acids, and students received a handout with the names and structures of all 20 amino acids.  We drew a model of two amino acids bonding via dehydration synthesis and forming a peptide bond.  We then defined the R group for an amino acid and discussed how each amino acid contributes to the overall shape of a protein.  Finally, we connected this review of Central Dogma back to the idea of traits by considering how DNA mutations can affect proteins, sometimes with drastic consequences.

Class Notes:

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Friday, January 31, 2020 (HS-LS3-3): For our entry task today, students worked through the Friday Quiz (click here!) using the class Chromebooks.  After the quiz, we previewed single-trait Punnett Squares to prime students for next week.  Class notes are provided below:

 

Human Reproduction

As we enter the final week of Unit 5: Inheritance and Meiosis, we turn our attention toward the process of reproduction.  Class begins with a video which explains the process of human fertilization.  After a brief class discussion about what was learned and what questions remain, students were assigned a reading from the textbook along with the questions below:

In the BSCS textbook, read “Making More People” (p.477-481)

1. How many ova are found in the ovaries of a newborn baby?
2. How many ova mature into healthy ova?
3. Where and when do ova begin maturing?
4. Where are mature ova fertilized by sperm?
5. Where are sperm formed?
6. How long does it take an individual sperm to develop?
7. How do sperm obtain the energy to swim through the female reproductive tract?
8. How and why does the male body regulate testicle temperature?
9. Explain the difference between a zygote, an embryo, and a fetus.
10. What determines when a woman is ready to begin labor?

Turn in your response for credit and review the Reproductive Strategies Project assignment that we will formally begin as a class tomorrow.

Variation and Inheritance: Unit 4 Exam

To conclude Unit 4, students received an April Fool’s packet consisting of a set of instructions, the 2014 Biology End of Course practice exam, and the Unit 4 Exam.  Due to some confusion on behalf of our substitute on Friday, April 1, many students needed additional clarification of the packet instructions, as well as additional time to complete the quiz.  So on Monday, April 11 (after Spring Break), students had the class period to complete the quiz and other missing work.  Quarter 3 grades will be entered into Illuminate tomorrow after school (April 12), so all student work must be in my possession by the end of the school day tomorrow to count toward the quarter grade.  A list of recent assignments was written on the white board all day today as a reminder to students and a picture of the list is shown below:

Variation and Inheritance: Reproductive Strategies Presentations

Examples of student work are provided below:

Period 2

• Frog & Hydra
• Seahorse & Elephant
• Octopus & Whiptail Lizard
• Octopus & Seahorse
• Salmon & Moss
• Frog & Chimpanzee
• Moss & Bread Mold

Period 3

• Bread Mold & Seahorse
• Moth & Hydra
• Whiptail Lizard & Frog
• Moss & Wolf
• Chimpanzee & Elephant
• Chimpanzee & Elephant
• Hydra & Moss

Period 4

• Chimpanzee & Salmon
• Whiptail Lizard & Opossum
• Moss & Chimpanzee
• Seahorse & Bread Mold
• Cactus & Giraffe
• Shark & Sea Turtle
• Elephant & Chimpanzee
• Venus Flytrap & Bitter Oyster Fungus
• Sunflower & Cat
• Flamingo & Jellyfish
• Yeast & Eubacteria

Period 5

• Ladybug & Squirrel Monkey
• Sloth vs Poppy
• Hydra, Seahorse, & Dolphin
• Eubacteria & Racerunner
• Chimpanzee & Opossum
• Elephant & Seahorse
• Whiptail Lizard & Frog
• Opossum vs. Chimpanzee
• Seahorse & Bread Mold
• Dolphin & Seahorse
• Coyote & Wolf

Variation and Inheritance: Sources of Inherited Genetic Variation

March 30: Today is the final day of the project – tomorrow you present your work to the class!  To earn full credit for the presentation, you need to practice your presentation multiple times.  Practice pronouncing all of the words, and look up the definitions of the words you are using to clearly indicate you understand what you are saying.  The website Dictionary.com has a pronunciation feature – you can look up the definition of the word in question and also click the speaker to hear it pronounced.  It also has a translate feature.  If you are presenting with a partner, you need to decide in advance of your presentation who will say what.  You both need to know the content and how to pronounce all of the words.

March 29: Remember to read the project outline carefully!  For your presentation, you will make either a PowerPoint (Google Slides) or a poster.  Poster paper is available in the cardboard box against the wall under the whiteboard with the daily bell schedule.  For Google Slides presentations, you are welcome to include short videos (must be school appropriate!!!) depicting the reproductive strategies of one or both of the organisms you selected.  Remember, presentation time is limited, so the videos must be brief, or you must identify a segment of the video to show in advance.

Need more challenge?  Add an organism – but select one from a different biological kingdom than the organisms you have already researched.  Remember, you must have two organisms in your presentation to earn full credit.  However, for each additional organism you include, you will earn 5 points of extra credit!  The six different kingdoms are pictured below:

March 28: Download the Organism Reproductive Strategies Project.

Reproduction, Inheritance, and Meiosis: Unit Exam

We closed out the unit today with a review of dihybrid crosses.  Students received their scored unit quizzes from last Friday, and the common theme across all of my classes was that students needed more practice with dihybrid crosses.  After the review today, students received a copy of the unit exam.  They must turn it in on Monday, along with the scored copy of the quiz.  Students who demonstrate improvement on the dihybrid cross question on the exam will have that question’s score substituted for the score the received on a similar question on the quiz.  Good luck!

Reproduction, Inheritance, and Meiosis: Contraception Project – Day 2

Students continued working on their Contraception Projects, turning in yesterday’s worksheet and the brochure at the end of class.  Students who need extra time may complete the work as homework and turn it all in at the beginning of class tomorrow.  Slides for today can be viewed here.

After grading the quizzes from last Friday, it is clear many students need additional practice with dihybrid crosses.  Because of the short class period tomorrow (made even shorter by the extended advisory time), we will review dihybrid crosses during class and then students will receive the Unit 7 Exam as a take-home exam.  It will be due next Monday at the beginning of class.

Reproduction, Inheritance, and Meiosis: Contraception Project – Day 1

After learning about sexual reproduction yesterday, with a focusing on fertilization, students worked with partners to learn about the hormones involved in sexual reproduction (BSCS book, pages 481-484).  Working in pairs, they completed a worksheet to help them make sense of the major hormones.  Next, they assigned a variety of birth control methods into categories using a list from the textbook on page 409.  Finally, students received a grading rubric to help them construct a birth control method brochure.  The reading assignment and brochure information is available in the slide deck for today.

Additional information about birth control methods is available in both English and Spanish at http://www.birth-control-comparison.info/.

 

Reproduction, Inheritance, and Meiosis: Strategies for gene propagation

After learning about how cells divide to produce gametes (meiosis), and how genetic traits are passed along, we turned our attention to the process of sexual reproduction.  The lesson began with an entry task challenging students to connect their understanding of meiosis with what they might have previously learned about fertilization.  We then watched a video which explains the process of fertilization (below).  For the remainder of the lesson, students read from the BSCS biology textbook and completed a worksheet.