"COSMIC VOYAGE!"

On Friday, August 23, Biology students will be viewing a 36-minute IMAX video in class and completing a worksheet based on part of the video. The film, 'Cosmic Voyage', was made in 1996 for the Smithsonian Institute and was clearly inspired by a classic science education film called 'Powers of Ten', originally produced in 1977 by the husband-and-wife team of Rae and Charles Eames.

'Cosmic Voyage' approaches the idea of using the metric system, which is based on powers of ten, to explore the question: "What is really large, and really small?" The film first zooms out from an acrobat's ring in St. Mark's Square in Venice, the place where Galileo first trained his telescope on the heavens.


Through 23 powers of ten, we leave first the Earth, then our solar system, then the Milky Way Galaxy behind, until we reach the limit of modern astronomy, where we can see images from about 13 billion years past.


Reversing course, the video then zooms in on drop of water in the Dutch town of Delft, where Antonie Van Leuuwenhoek first trained his early microscope to discover the hidden world of microbes.



As we zoom in on a paramecium, we penetrate its cell nucleus, then zoom in on a molecule of DNA.


Within that molecule is a carbon atom, and the world within that atom is mostly empty space! Within the atom, the atomic nucleus contains virtually all of an atom's mass, made of particles called protons and neutrons. These, in turn, are formed from even smaller particles called quarks.

The film continues with a discussion of the search for a fundamental theory in physics through the use of particle accelerators like Fermilab, along with an overview of the likely "recent" events that led to our sun, our solar system, the Earth and life itself.

Here, presented on YouTube, is the first segment (Chapter 1) of the film who wish to review the material or share it with others. As the narrator (Morgan Freeman) intones, 'we are all travelers on a voyage of discovery!' Chapter 2, and Chapter 3 can be assessed at YouTube directly or by clicking on the hyperlinks

POWER POINT: INTRODUCTION TO BIOLOGY!

Welcome to College Prep Biology(Bio) in the 2013-2014 school year!  As its name suggests, this course satisfies the UC (a-g) requirements for a lab course in the biological sciences.

This year I have five sections of Bio, with about 180 students.   I will be using this blog to communicate with my students in many different ways, including:

• providing an on-line record of course Policies and Procedures
• making classroom notes available as Power Points downloadable from the blog
• placing videos shown in class available through Flash sites like YouTube
• providing images of the course syllabus
• making important announcements about major assessments

Students typically find this valuable.   I had more than 10,000 hits last year and over 4,000 downloads, mostly from Bullard students, so make sure you check this blog regularly.

Your first set of Biology notes, covering course Policies and Cornell Notes, is available here.

POWER POINT: "BEYOND DARWIN"

Here's a novel thought: instead of being taught as mindless, slavish dogma, evolutionary biologists have been busy in the last 150 years. They've been testing, retesting, modifying and in some cases rejecting aspects of Darwin's theory. This Power Point explains some of the major innovations, which (by the way) are all in the textbook:


Students who need to download the Power Point to complete their notes, and the Lecture Guide based on it, can do so here.

Students must finish these notes right away by completing the Lecture Guide, which has already been given (and partially completed) in class yesterday.   The Lecture Guide will be collected on the day of your final, Biology students, and treated as part of your notes.  Make sure it is completed!

You can get the Power Point by clicking here!

ALSO....There is a Study Session TODAY (Thursday, June 6th) for the FINAL, in Room N-63, between 4:00 and 5:30. Students can earn extra credit in the course and receive helpful hints on how to proceed. Attendance is voluntary.

THIS WEEK IN BIOLOGY (June 3rd-8th)

Biology students:   we are winding down the spring semester.   You will have one more lab ("Comparing Primates"), a  Lecture Guide, and then your final.



The Power Point Notes for Human Heredity are available here.



As your syllabus states, the STUDY SESSION for your Final in Biology is after-school, on Thursday, June 7th.   Students will receive a Study Guide prior to that time.   USE YOUR TIME WISELY.

BIOLOGY: "CRACKING THE CODE OF LIFE!"

During Tuesday's Biology classes, students were asked to complete a worksheet based on the video '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 a segment of it along with Section 14.3 of our text to help students understand the material and complete the worksheet. So, read that section, watch video segments 4-8 and complete your work, students!

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: FINALS DUE FOR SENIORS

Seniors:   Your take-home final was given out in class TODAY (Tuesday, May 28th).

       

It is due tomorrow (Wednesday, May 29th).   If it is not handed in tomorrow, it is PAST DUE and you have a limited amount of time to return it, or else it will be scored as a "zero" out of 300 (owch).   Make sure you hand it in!

Regarding other work not yet graded in the course: at this point, while there is much not entered on ATLAS, there are only so many points left, and so it is possible to determine the likelihood of certain outcomes.   Seniors will receive an Evaluation form this week.  It will look like this:

  
This is NOT a Final Evaluation, because your percentage grade (and the letter grade attached to it) can not yet be estimated with complete accuracy.   But it will specify the likelihood of certain outcomes.   If you are a Senior, I certainly have no desire to issue a failing grade, but I also feel an obligation to provide you with a realistic assessment of likely outcomes.

FINAL SYLLABUS FOR SPRING 2013, LATEST POWER POINT

The Power Point with the Notes on Biotechnology is available here. All students will need to download the entire Power Point in order to finish the Lecture Guide, so make sure you do it!

Students who have lost their original Lecture Guide and need to get another copy can download the Guide as a PDF file here.

Below you will our final syllabus for this year.   Students, the clock is ticking.  There really isn't much time left.   Make sure you keep your Cornell Notes current!