Click on it and you can make it larger and print it out, if you like.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
SYLLABUS, UNIT 1
Students, here is 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.
Click on it and you can make it larger and print it out, if you like.
Friday, August 22, 2014
COSMIC VOYAGE!
Biology students will be viewing a 36-minute IMAX video in class on Friday, August 22nd, 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
'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
Friday, August 15, 2014
WELCOME TO MR. HATFIELD'S 2014-2015 BIOLOGY SECTIONS
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 were previously asked in class to return a 'Course Contract' signed. A copy of the Course Contract is available on-line HERE.
Monday, July 21, 2014
SUMMER SCHOOL BIOLOGY, 2nd SESSION, DAYS 9-11
The 'Cosmic Calendar' was due today (Monday, July 21st). A Lecture Guide based on today's notes ("Darwin's Dangerous Idea") is due at the beginning of class tomorrow. Students will be reviewing other applications of evolutionary theory, including primate evolution, in the morning session.
In the afternoon, students will take their 200-point comprehensive course final. Students are allowed to use their composition book notes, so make sure you not only bring your notes....but make sure they are complete!
(For your convenience, I have embedded all 11 videos on this page, but these may not be visible on FUSD computers or on others that do not have recent versions of Java to run flash-based media. If you are unable to open the individual videos on this post, go to the link above and watch them directly on YouTube)
Chapter 1. Prologue
Chapter 2. Common Ancestry
Chapter 3. Ecuador and the Tree of Life
Chapter 4. Natural Selection
Chapter 5. Mutation and HIV
Chapter 6. Complexity
Chapter 7. How The Eye Evolved
Chapter 8. God
Chapter 9. A Scientist Discusses Religion
Chapter 10. The Human Question
Chapter 11. Humans and The Tree of Life Chapter 12. Epilogue
Finally, here is the PBS web site that accompanies the entire series.
You can also watch parts of the videos there, but they are lower in resolution.
In the afternoon, students will take their 200-point comprehensive course final. Students are allowed to use their composition book notes, so make sure you not only bring your notes....but make sure they are complete!
Monday's Lecture Notes.
The title, incidentally, is taken from the Daniel Dennett book which also inspired a two-hour episode of the NOVA 'Evolution' series. We saw part of this episode in class yesterday, and will see another chunk on Tuesday morning, but I think students will benefit from watching the whole thing this evening.
(For your convenience, I have embedded all 11 videos on this page, but these may not be visible on FUSD computers or on others that do not have recent versions of Java to run flash-based media. If you are unable to open the individual videos on this post, go to the link above and watch them directly on YouTube)
Chapter 1. Prologue
Chapter 2. Common Ancestry
Chapter 3. Ecuador and the Tree of Life
Chapter 4. Natural Selection
Chapter 5. Mutation and HIV
Chapter 6. Complexity
Chapter 7. How The Eye Evolved
Chapter 8. God
Chapter 9. A Scientist Discusses Religion
Chapter 10. The Human Question
Chapter 11. Humans and The Tree of Life Chapter 12. Epilogue
Finally, here is the PBS web site that accompanies the entire series.
You can also watch parts of the videos there, but they are lower in resolution.
Thursday, July 17, 2014
SUMMER SCHOOL BIOLOGY, 2nd SESSION, DAY 8
THIS POST CONTAINS 2 (TWO) SECTIONS OF NOTES, EACH OF WHICH HAS A LECTURE GUIDE....
First up is the Power Point on "Diversity and Classification" can be uploaded here. The Lecture Guide, given in class today, based on the Power Point can be found as a PDF file here.
NEXT......The Power Point Lecture Notes on 'Deep Time' are available here.
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?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The article ("The Cosmic Calendar") is due on Monday the 21st . No late submissions will be accepted.
The concept is to display a "month" in an imaginary calendar that represents the history of our 13.7-billion-year-old universe:
The original article that inspired this assignment was adapted from Carl Sagan's "The Dragons of Eden" and is available here.
SUMMER SCHOOL BIOLOGY STUDENTS, PLEASE NOTE: you are not required to do a poster project based on this assignment, or submit any part to "Turnitin.com." In summer school, time does not permit that kind of detailed, multipart assessment. As discussed in class: read the article, answer the questions, do the math. Get 'er done.
First up is the Power Point on "Diversity and Classification" can be uploaded here. The Lecture Guide, given in class today, based on the Power Point can be found as a PDF file here.
NEXT......The Power Point Lecture Notes on 'Deep Time' are available here.
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?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The article ("The Cosmic Calendar") is due on Monday the 21st . No late submissions will be accepted.
The concept is to display a "month" in an imaginary calendar that represents the history of our 13.7-billion-year-old universe:
SUMMER SCHOOL BIOLOGY STUDENTS, PLEASE NOTE: you are not required to do a poster project based on this assignment, or submit any part to "Turnitin.com." In summer school, time does not permit that kind of detailed, multipart assessment. As discussed in class: read the article, answer the questions, do the math. Get 'er done.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
SUMMER SCHOOL BIOLOGY, 2nd SESSION, DAY 7
If Summer School Biology students, for any reason, miss getting the notes in class they are still expected to have all the notes. For this reason, the notes are made available on-line. Simply click on the text or images associated with the Power Point. These contain embedded links that will take you to sites where you can either view the notes on-line or download them.
As an example, here is our newest Power Point, on Populations and Ecosystems:
Not every one has Power Point on a computer handy at their home all the time, of course. Not to worry! It turns out that you don't need to own the Power Point program, or spend money to get the program. All computers on the BHS campus already have Power Point installed, for one thing. And, if you prefer to do this off-campus at home or at a friend's home, you don't actually need Power Point. All you need is access to the Internet!
Using a web browser, enter the following search term:
Power Point Viewer
"Power Point Viewer" is free software from Microsoft that allows you to open and view Power Points. It costs nothing, and it is very small (around 60 MB), so it can be run by all systems.
Wednesday's class also 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:
As an example, here is our newest Power Point, on Populations and Ecosystems:
Not every one has Power Point on a computer handy at their home all the time, of course. Not to worry! It turns out that you don't need to own the Power Point program, or spend money to get the program. All computers on the BHS campus already have Power Point installed, for one thing. And, if you prefer to do this off-campus at home or at a friend's home, you don't actually need Power Point. All you need is access to the Internet!
Using a web browser, enter the following search term:
Power Point Viewer
"Power Point Viewer" is free software from Microsoft that allows you to open and view Power Points. It costs nothing, and it is very small (around 60 MB), so it can be run by all systems.
Wednesday's class also 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:
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
SUMMER SCHOOL BIOLOGY, 2nd SESSION, DAY 6
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.
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