COSMIC VOYAGE!

Biology students will be viewing a 36-minute IMAX video in class on Monday, August 24th, 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

Students:  in this post you will find links to download all of the Power Point Notes given in the first week of instruction.   

You will use these Notes to complete the Lecture Guide given in class on Friday.   The purpose of the Lecture Guide is not only for you to make sure you have all the given material in your Interactive Notebook, but to answer questions that apply the Notes.


You can download the first set of Notes, called "Introduction to Biology", HERE.    

If you haven't done this yet, Students, it's pretty important that you do.  For example, these Notes cover the Course Contract that every student and parent/guardian should've completed and returned last week:  

The Notes also lay out the structure for the learning environment:  the three Classroom Rules, along with VARIOUS POLICIES AND PROCEDURES:

The Notes emphasize the importance of practicing Lab Safety in a science classroom, including the '3-D's':  things that, should they occur, would lead to an instructor taking immediate action:

The Notes also start providing the guidelines on how to keep your INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOK. Learning how to do this and keeping your Notebook faithfully is an important part of your course grade:

Just as important is how you answer questions in Mr. Hatfield's classes.  In many cases, students learn more from HOW they go about answering questions in science than from memorizing answers. To promote this kind of learning, Mr. Hatfield often has specific assignments from the textbook, called RA (REQUIRED ASSIGNMENTS), and the Power Point Notes explains how these assignments should be approached:

But what if you don't have Power Point on your home computer or mobile device?


The answer is surprisingly simple:  Fresno Unified has a policy that allows each student to download copies of Microsoft Office to their devices, for FREE.   Just go here:  portal.fresnou.org.

WELCOME TO BIOLOGY!

Students,  this is the first of many posts that will appear on this blog that will contain important information for the 2015-2016 year in Mr. Hatfield's Biology classes.   

If you are in Mr. Hatfield's class, you will be asked to fill out and return a Course Contract similar to what you see below:

More detailed information on the Course Contract and other classroom policies are always available on the first tab ("Course Guidelines"), or you may click here.


Here you will also find the Syllabus for our first Unit, on the Nature of Science.   You should've received a copy of this, three-hole punched, in class.  But, for your convenience (and for your parents), here is a graphic image of the Syllabus:

 Click on it and you can make it larger and print it out, if you like.

STUDY GUIDE FOR FINAL

The following Study Guide for your 200-point Semester Final was made available in class today, Friday, June 5th:

Mr. Hatfield will accept student work until 5:00 on Monday, June 8th.   Other than the extra-credit 'Community Participation' assignment, no other student work will be accepted after that date...

...including the most important item, your 600-point FINAL DRAFT of the Essay Project.   Students who fail to attempt this item, first assigned in April, are unlikely to pass the course.   Essentially, they are choosing to fail.

POWER POINTS: BEYOND DARWIN, COMPARING PRIMATES

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 this 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 will be distributed in class TODAY (Tuesday, June 2nd).   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!

In addition, there are brief notes on 'Comparing Primates' that goes with a lab activity to be completed by the end of class on Friday, June 5th.   Some of this information, from Chapter 32, will appear on your final:

Again, students who need to download this Power Point to complete their note  can do so here.

ALSO.... there will be no Study Session for the Final this year, as (unlike previous spring semesters), Finals begin on a Monday, rather than a Thursday.  A Study Guide, however, will be available on Friday, June 5th. 

 The most important obligation for all students, however, is the ESSAY.  The Final Draft is past due.  Students who have not attempted this 600-point Project have been notice in class.  No essays will be accepted after Monday, June 8th.   

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.

The first and second drafts of student's Evolution Essays are past due.   

THE FINAL DRAFT IS DUE FRIDAY, May 29th.  

Previously-unattempted or additional drafts will be accepted as a matter of course until June 9th, but students who are LATE will not be able to improve their Essay scores without meeting with their instructor outside of class.  And, since there are now only eight instructional days in the semester, time is limited.

NO DRAFTS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER MONDAY, JUNE 8th, FOR ANY REASON.

FINAL SYLLABUS, PART 2

With just three weeks of instruction to go, as I've already reminded students, the 'Clock Is Ticking.'

As promised, here is the second part of your final syllabus in this course.   The first part can be found here.

In all cases, if there is a discrepancy between dates given earlier and dates shown here, the due dates above take precedence.