VIDEO: "THE MIND'S BIG BANG"

Students previously watched this episode from PBS's 'Evolution' series in class.   I am making available on-line for students to watch again, if needed:

 
The video worksheet for "The Mind's Big Bang" 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....Due to Mr. Hatfield's FTA commitments, there will be no Study Session for the Final.   A Study Guide will be available on Thursday, June 5th.  The most important obligation for all students, however, is the ESSAY.   The 2nd Draft is due TODAY, Monday, June 2nd.   The Final Draft is due Monday, June 9th.

SEMESTER PROJECT: "EVOLUTION, CREATION, AND ALL THAT JAZZ"

Today, students in Mr. Hatfield's Biology classes will receive instructions on their final Semester Project, which involves writing a 1,000-word essay in a series of drafts from a topic chosen by students related to the material in Chapters 15 and 16 of the text:

The essay has requirements in terms of format, bibliography and citations, sources and student integrity.   Mr. Hatfield discusses those requirements, at length, in the following video excerpt:




 Students who have additional questions about this assignment should refer to the syllabus and discuss their concerns with the instructor as soon as possible!

POWER POINT: "DEEP TIME!"

The Power Point Lecture Notes on 'Deep Time' are available here.


Students who were absent on Monday or Wednesday of this week are almost certainly missing much of these notes. Mr. Hatfield will review the final slides with students in class on Wednesday, and make sure that they have the Lecture Guide based upon these notes.....


FACT: The fossil record (and other lines of evidence) show us that populations of living things have "changed over time" (evolved)....

QUESTION: How can we explain this pattern of change in terms of NATURAL causes?

VIDEO: "EXTINCTION!"

Tuesday's class featured excerpts from 'Extinction!', which is Episode 3 from NOVA's 'Evolution' series (2001).

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 encourage students to watch the video in its entirety for themselves if there are points that they don't get in class. We simply do not have enough class time to review this, but I know many students will want to see the whole story again, either by going to Google Video or watching it here:

SYLLABUS: EVOLUTION AND NATURAL SELECTION

Here is the Syllabus for Unit 9, which introduces the powerful ideas of evolutionary biology.

This Unit began prior to Spring Break, which is reflected in the Syllabus.   However, students should note that the 50-point assignment "Lord of the Ants" is not reflected on this handout, as it was assigned prior to Spring Break.   Students who missed this can still watch the video online and use it to define terms and answer questions based on the video.

The image on the syllabus here is a bit larger than the blog could show.   A reader can click on the image to make it easier to read, or download it if they need to print it out.

An exciting new PBS program that bears significantly on the above topic, "Your Inner Fish", represents some of the best evidence from comparative anatomy and the fossil record pointing to common descent.   Both students and parents may enjoy watching these videos online while they available:

VIDEO: "LORD OF THE ANTS"

Students have received an assignment in class, called "Lord of the Ants: The Boy Naturalist."   This is a reading, available on-line here, and adapted from E.O. Wilson's autobiographical memoir Naturalist, which details his career as a specialist in ants, activist for preserving biodiversity and founder of the discipline of sociobiology.   The reading is based on a story from Wilson's boyhood, but also has questions that relate to a PBS Nova video chronicling Wilson's career of scientific achievement, called "Lord of the Ants."

Students can watch that video here:

Edward Osborne Wilson is truly one of the giants of biology.  Every student should learn more about him.

POWER POINT: BIOTECHNOLOGY

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.

STUDENTS HAVE AN AFTER-SCHOOL STUDY SESSION TODAY (April 1st), at 3:15-4:45, Room N-63.

STUDENTS HAVE THEIR UNIT 8 TEST WEDNESDAY (April 2nd).  Extra time is available at lunch and after school, so plan ahead, students.

The Genetic Disorders Poster Project is due on Thursday, April 3rd.  This will be an in-class work day to complete the project.  Poster Project presentations occur on Friday, April 4th.  

NO POSTERS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER FRIDAY, APRIL 4th, FOR ANY REASON.

POWER POINT: HUMAN HEREDITY

*****NOTE: POST REVISED*****





The Power Point Notes for Human Heredity are available here.


The STUDY SESSION for the next Unit Test is after-school on Tuesday, April 1st. The next Unit Test is Wednesday, April 2nd.


STUDENTS: Please remember that you have a major 100-point project on Human Genetic Disorders DUE on Thursday, April 3rd. This is a GROUP project, and April 3rd is the only day given in class for you to work on it.   Thus, the bulk of the work needs to be completed before the date!


NO POSTER PROJECT WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER FRIDAY, April 4th.  

POWER POINT: MUTATIONS!

Here's a link to our recent notes on 'Mutation!'

A PDF of the Lecture Guide based upon the Power Point is available here.

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, but at two hours long, I can not 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!

NEW SYLLABUS, MUTATIONS VIDEO

Students, here is the new syllabus for Unit 8.   We will be covering the last two sections of Chapter 12, and all of Chapters 13 and 14. 

The third semester ends on Friday, September 21st.

The following day, students who are egregiously failing will be expected to attend Saturday School, as previously assigned, on the morning of September 22nd.   

Students who are assigned Saturday School and fail to attend without a parent contact will not be allowed to come back to class without a parent conference.

Finally, here is the video shown in class on Tuesday, March 11th, concerning mutations.   Note the connection between mutations and...evolution!


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VIDEO: THE ACTION POTENTIAL

Students: you should receive a Study Guide either today or tomorrow.   The above topic, covered on pages 898-900 of your text, is one of the more challenging topics in the course.  

To assist with your understanding for Wednesday's test, here is a video, shown in class, that summarizes the changes:





Notice that the resting potential is negative (-70mv) while the action potential is positive (+40mv).

Notice that the change in potential is generated by the motion of positively-charged sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) ions across the axon membrane.

Before the nerve fires, sodium is in high concentration OUTSIDE the axon membrane, while potassium is in high concentration WITHIN the membrane.  In the video, the sodium channel is shown in green while the potassium channel is shown in blue.   There are also 'leak' channels shown in purple.

The graph shown in the video is commonly used in college-level courses to convey a great deal of information about the various stages of the action potential (resting potential, depolarization, repolarization, hyperpolarization, etc.) and uses significant vocabulary and concepts not found in your text.   You will not be responsible for knowing the graph, but as it may help you to understand the concepts behind the video, I enclose a version of that graph here:  

VIDEO: BODY STORY "OUT OF CONTROL"

Students were shown the above 22-minute video segment during class on Tuesday, Feb. 25th.  

The video describes some of the events that take place in the development of a human infant's brain.   There was a worksheet based on this video, collected on the same day in class.   However, because there was a substitute, there may have been some confusion on what the expectation was.  And, of course, some students may not have been present during Tuesday's class.

So, to make sure that every student has an opportunity to complete the assignment and earn points in Mr. Hatfield's Biology classes, I am making both the worksheet and the video available through the class blog.   First, here is the video, broken into a pair of segments:







Students who are interested in watching other videos in this series can find them on the following YouTube channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/user/flixwest?feature=watch



Finally, for those who need a copy of the worksheet, it is available HERE.

POWER POINT: HUMAN BODY SYSTEMS

Here are the notes on Human Body Systems that were completed during class on Friday, Feb. 21st.  

Use these to make sure your Cornell Notes are complete!

NEW UNIT, SYLLABUS

Today, students received a new syllabus for their new unit on "The Nervous System and the Neuron".   This will be a relatively-short unit.   There will be a 100-point Project due on Tuesday, March 4th.   The same day, after school, there will be a Study Session to prepare for the Unit Test on the following day.   Students who score higher on this test than the previous unit test will have their scores for the first unit test raised, so it's important that students plan ahead to take advantage of these opportunities.

Here's the syllabus:

POWER POINTS: PROBABILITY AND MEIOSIS

Here is the (brief) Power Point discussing, and giving examples of some basic principles of probability. This is, of course, math....but an essential tool, also, for doing science.

Also, here's the short Power Point notes on 'Chromosomes and Meiosis'.

UNIT 11 UPDATE: TEST DATE, BOOKLET ASSIGNMENT

Our current unit on Mendelian Genetics and Meiosis was originally scheduled to have conclude today (Friday, Feb. 7th).   Unfortunately, Mr. Hatfield's commitments to the Fresno Teachers Association's Bargaining Team have led to occasional unscheduled (but also unavoidable) absences.   Today's test has been rescheduled, therefore, for Friday, Feb. 14th.


Students will be provided a Study Guide on Tuesday, Feb. 11th.  Because of Mr. Hatfield's commitments, there will be NO After-School Study Session prior to the test.  Mr. Hatfield will be available in his room at noon on both Tuesday and Wednesday to answer any questions based on the Study Guide, but he will NOT be available after school due to FTA commitments.

Tuesday, Feb. 11th is ALSO when student's 70-point Project ("Mendelian Genetics Booklet") is also due: 

Students who do not provide the Booklet prior to the end of school on Tuesday can expect a home contact.   Mr. Hatfield would be gravely concerned about any student who is unable to finish the Booklet after four days, because that student will obviously be choosing not to prepare for next Friday's exam, and thus CHOOSING TO FAIL.   Don't do that, students!

Finally, to help students continue their study of Meiosis, Mr. Hatfield is making the PBS video shown in class ("Life's Greatest Miracle") available on-line, here:

POWER POINT: MENDEL'S EXPERIMENTS

The lecture notes for the present unit on Genetics is available at this link. Students have been assigned a 70-point Project, a "Mendelian Genetics" booklet. They may find the notes, as well as their text (Chapter 11) are very helpful in completing this project, which is due on Friday, Feb. 7th. They have also received a Lecture Guide in Mendelian Genetics that covers this material, which will be due on Thursday.

Students who fail to hand in their BOOKLET by Monday, Feb. 10th, may have the home contacted.

VIDEO: GREATEST DISCOVERIES IN GENETICS

On Tuesday, Jan. 28th, Mr. Hatfield was at a district meeting that lasted until nearly 7:00 in the evening.   His colleague Mr. Moore covered the class and students were asked to compete a handout based on a video hosted by Bill Nye, entitled "Greatest Discoveries in Genetics".

For students who were not in class on Tuesday and would like to complete the same handout, I am making the video available on-line here at the class blog.  In the spring semester it will often happen that videos will be shown in class but also made available here on the blog.

POWER POINT: CELLULAR RESPIRATION

 

****NOTES NOT COMPLETE?  READ ON!****

You'll find links to the most current set of Notes down here.   The first 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.

Photosynthesis, Part II 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. This is covered in Section 8.3 of the Dragonfly Book.



You can download Photosynthesis, Part II here.

A third Power Point is somewhat brief, but has many helpful animations that help describe and explain the structure and function of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the main energy-carrying molecule used by living things.


The fourth and final Power Point in this unit 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 Power Point for Cellular Respiration here.