On Friday the class began a mitosis microscope lab looking at onion root tip cells and whitefish embryo cells. We will finish this lab on Monday and then begin studying meiosis.

We have started into the new Genetics unit with a review of mitosis. This will continue throughout this week and culminate with a microscope lab. Next week we'll be looking at meiosis and DNA structure.

IMPORTANT NEWS....we decided to move the diversity unit test to Monday so that everyone has a little more time to study the summary spreadsheet on Google Docs of the characteristics of the Kingdoms/Viruses.
Here is an outline of what we have studied in this unit:
Taxonomy
K, P, C, O, F, G, S
Binomial Nomenclature
Dichotomous Keys
Phylogeny
Cladograms
Prokaryotic versus Eukaryotic cells versus Viruses(compare and contrast structures and functions, role in evolution)
Relationship between mode of reproduction and genetic variation
Relationship between genetic variation and diversity of living things
Key features about the 6 Kingdoms and Viruses (unifying and distinguishing anatomical and physiological characteristics)
BIODIVERSITY

We also watched a TED Talk segment about biodiversity. The video is about 23 minutes long and here's the link to the video. If you were absent, or asleep today, I would recommend you watch it sometime before your unit test as there will be an extended response question on it about biodiversity.
Link to the video

Also note, there is a note posted under class notes for Friday's class. You may wish to print it before class.

Today 3 groups presented their Kingdoms projects. Tomorrow, the remaining 4 groups will present. Remember, your Diversity of Living Things Unit Test is this Friday.

Please open the link below to get the template form you will be completing today. Complete one form per group.
Google Form

Today students continued to work on their unit 1 projects/presentations. They were introdced to www.prezi.com and some groups are trying it out for their presentations. Just a note regarding that...if you want to import something that is in another format, like a table in wordperfect, or a graph, you can use an online tool at www.jingproject.com to take a screen shot of your document. It will then be saved as a .jpg file and can be inserted in your prezi presentation. Remember that presentations will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. I've posted the peer rubric for the project under class notes. I'll post the teacher rubric once I've found it in my files :)

Today students began working on a group project for the Diversity unit. You will be given a total of 4 research and work periods for this project. Project presentations will happen next Tuesday, and into Wednesday if necessary. Remember to work within Google Docs and be sure to share your documents with me (jenrossholton@gmail.com).
See you Wednesday.

Today we discussed yesterday's homework and then we looked at Dichotomous Keys. The students worked at producing a dichotomous key for a group of beetles. It's important that you understand the basic set up of these keys, and how we might use them in biology. We then went through the note titled the Six Kingdom Classification System. Students are asked to complete the comparison table on prokaryotic cells versus eukaryotic cells.

Today students completed the Index of Learning Styles Questionaire and then used their profile to identify a list of strategies to use when in the classroom and when studying at home that suits their learning style.
We then went through the intro to diversity note. We discussed the science of taxonomy. There are some homework questions to answer at the end of that note. Please do these for tomorrow.

On Wednesday, students will complete a learning styles questionaire and evaluate their own learning style in order to create an individual learning plan. This questionaire can be linked to here and a description of the various learning styles can be found under the "Class Notes" section.