"CRACKING THE CODE OF LIFE!"

"CRACKING THE CODE OF LIFE!"

The video viewed in class, and thus the handout based on it, can be viewed on-line here:



There is an entire PBS-sponsored web site to accompany this program. It's truly excellent, and since I can't show the entire program within a regular class.

I can, however, assign it as homework during the Thanksgiving break....in fact, I just did! :)

"CRACKING THE CODE OF LIFE!"

POWER POINTS: CELLULAR ENERGETICS

There are three Power Points in sequence here for Biology:

Photosynthesis, Part 1 and Part 2, as well as "Cellular Respiration". Students were given a Lecture Guide based on the first one only.

Photosynthesis, Part 1: This Power Point contains an outline of photosynthesis, relating it to the 'Great Circle' of chemical reactions that all living things participate it (autotrophs and heterotrophs!), reactions which recycle the raw materials that life requires.

Photosynthesis, Part 2: This Power Point provides much more detail about the light reactions, photosystems, the proton pumps that use the enzyme ATP synthase, the electron transport chains that help power those pumps. There is less detail about the 'dark reactions' of the Calvin cycle and other material which is not explicitly part of the state standards.

Cellular Respiration: This Power Point contains information about cellular respiration, including glycolysis (which takes place in the cytoplasm) and the Krebs Cycle (which takes place in the matrix of the mitochondria). The electrons produced in the Krebs Cycle move through the inner membrane, or cristae, of the mitochondria. The motion of these negatively-charged particles attracts protons (H+), and eventually a high concentration of protons within the membrane is available to drive 'proton pumps' that power an enzyme, ATP synthase, leading to the production of more ATP:

You can download the actual Power Point here.

EXTINCTION!

EXTINCTION

This video was shown in Thursday's class: 'Extinction!' is Episode 3 from NOVA's 'Evolution' series (2001). There is a worksheet based upon the video given in class, and which is due on Friday, which I summarize below:


"The video begins with paleontologist Peter Ward hunting for Permian fossils in South Africa's Karoo Desert, and relates ecological pyramids (which are like a 'house of cards') to mass extinctions, which are believed to be rare but important events in the history of life. It then follows the work of American Museum of Natural History researcher Michael Novacek in building the fossil record of small, shrew-like mammals from the Mesozoic, representative of the lineage that will survive the next mass extinction (the K/T event), which will claim the dinosaurs. It concludes with an examination of the role of human activity in accelerating the rate of extinction, with important attention to conservationists like Alan Rabinowitz."

I do not have enough class time to review this with students again, but students who need to review it can either go to Google Video, or watch it embedded here:

POWER POINTS: THE CELL CYCLE AND PHOTOSYNTHESIS

The Power Point summarizing the Cell Cycle, based on the first two sections of Chapter 10, is available here:



This Power Point contains an outline of photosynthesis, relating it to the 'Great Circle' of chemical reactions that all living things participate it (autotrophs and heterotrophs!), reactions which recycle the raw materials that life requires. Much of this material is covered in the first two sections of Chapter 8 in the Dragonfly Book.

The Power Point for Photosynthesis, Part I, is available here.

A PDF file of the Lecture Guide based on that Power Point can be downloaded here.

The Lecture Guide based on these notes is due THURSDAY, November 5th!

STUDENTS need to be VERY focused on completing work on-time in the next two weeks, as we have a holiday on Wednesday the 11th and a buyback day on Monday the 16th.

The test for this unit follows just two days after the second 'off day', so students who are casual about meeting deadlines at this time could really end up hurting their grade!