Monday, April 18th

The Dye/Indicator Lab Separation of Molecules of Using Agarose Gel Electrophoresis (Packet) Students get familiar with the electrophoresis equipment by practicing inserting a food coloring/gycerol mixture into the wells with a micropipette. Students may also run the machine to see the dyes separate out. Homework: From packet due Tuesday, April 19th 1) Stuff to know before you go 2) Recreate a flow chart

Friday, April 15th

Today we began work that will prepare us for next week where we will be doing DNA lab work. Today we introduced micropipettes and practiced using them by working with dye samples. We also used a centrifuge to mix dyes together and then practiced extracting the small amounts of dye.

Thursday, April 14th

DNA Extraction Lab Students extracted their DNA using a salt solution, dish soap solution, and ethanol. Each student extracted his/her own DNA and then put their DNA into a small container that they attached to string to make a necklace.

Wednesday, April 13th

We bridged the gap today between the presentations of 12-1 and the DNA extraction lab that we will be doing on Thursday with some background lecture. Over the background lecture we covered the following information: 1) Why scientists were intrigued by the structure of DNA 2) Components of a nucleotide 3) Structure of DNA -bases, base pairing, hydrogen bonding 4) Number of base pairs in the human genome

Tuesday, April 12th

Half Day: Science HSPE Testing
Periods: 25 minutes long

Finished presentations of section 12-1
Assignment: 12-1 worksheet to help pull out the important concepts of 12-1
Due: Friday

Monday April, 11th

We started our section on DNA today.

Instead of assigning notes for section 12-1 we divided it amongst groups in class to present and teach the rest of the class, who then take notes on their peers' presentations.

Students had 25-30 minutes to read their section, prepare to teach it, and prepare a visual to accompany their presentations.

Presentations took the rest of the period and will carry into tomorrow.

Reflection of Monday, Apirl 11th

We started our DNA unit today. Instead of having students do section 12-1 as notes for homework to turn in later this week, we divided the class into groups and divided up the section. Students had 25-30 minutes to read their section and prepare to teach it to the class. A visual was required.

We started presentations and got about half way through the classes to be carried over into tomorrow. Tomorrow is a half day so the presentations are probably about all we will have time for.

I liked changing up the notes homework into something they could do in class, and this section worked out nicely for it because it was essentially background information on the scientists and experiments that helped to contribute to our knowledge of DNA today.

If I could change anything for the future I think I would do a hook to get kids excited about learning DNA, because it has lots of cool applications in today's world.

Reflection of Thursday, March 31st

Students presented their drawings of their offspring to the class. This was a time to laugh and be goofy, it was fun to see more of kids personalities come out during the presentations. This was also a unique opportunity for me to be able to interact with the kids. I felt very comfortable being present and in control of the classroom in a way that was entertaining and engaging for the kids. 1st period was easier to engage with students as the class personality felt more comfortable being in front and joking around. 2nd period we had a child name "Selena Bieber" which gave me the idea to find a website that morphs photos in order to see what their kids would look like. I think this was something that was interesting to students, but I did it a little early because I thought we were out of time when we actually had 5 minutes left.

Friday, March 31st

ADJUSTMENT: The test originally scheduled to be taken tomorrow will be postponed until after break when we have developed a few more concepts. Instead we will be taking a quiz on Meiosis. You have several resources to study from: Vocabulary Sheet, Notes, Flip Books, Warm Ups If you have questions ask! First 15 minutes of class were devoted to partners finishing their drawing of their child. If drawings were done students could finsih the questions in the pamphlet ASSIGNMENT: Per group-Baby Lab pamphlet with questions answered to be stapled to drawing of child and turned in Friday, April 1st Presentations: Presentations take 1-3 minutes of the group introducing their child through the picture they drew, age the child is in the picture, as well as any hobbies/activities/personalities unique to their child. Use remainder of the period to work on questions Websites for projected trait inheritance for children

Reflection of Friday, March 30th

Today is pretty chill as students are working on the baby making lab, they are fairly independent. However, I need to get better at being evasive and not simply giving students the answers when they ask for questions. First of all, it will make my job easier to not tell them every single thing every time they ask and it will be good for them to actually make them think and draw out information from sources to be able to apply it.

Also, I need to be confident in the decisions that I make as a teacher and be able to back them up so that I have a presence that is consistent and confident. Sometimes when students question my decisions on grading assignments and then don't agree it makes me question my decision. Although I want them to like me I don't NEED them to like me. If they decide not to like me because I set a high standard to push their work then they are the ones need to adjust their thinking, not me.

I also need to remember to have students clean up after themselves before they leave.

Wednesday, March 30th

Warm Up
-Draw a chromosome, homologous pair, sister chromatid, and tetrad

Handed back flip books

Continued the baby making lab-cut and fold chromosomes, record traits, begin drawing kids
-Drawing of kids will be presented tomorrow 10-15 minutes into class
-Review/White boards to prepare for test

Assignments:
-Baby Pamphlets will be due Friday
-Test Friday

Tuesday, March 29th Reflection

I didn't feel good about how the periods went today. 1st and 2nd periods both took longer than I thought to go through the warm-up, both classes seemed really dead, maybe it's just the week before spring break... I tried to mix it up a little for 4th period. Instead of doing the entire warm-up from earlier and doing the lecture style, I asked students to draw the figures that threw the classes off earlier this morning. I then asked them to demonstrate these figures by using the socks. Students were unwilling to come up and demonstrate, seemed very painful for them to walk up and do it. Some Ideas to Consider:

1. Don't lose your personality!


2. Don't be afraid to call students out, LOOK, really look at the students and what they're doing, how they look, facial expressions


3. Incorporate interesting facts/luring questions to keep engaged


4. Change tone of voice, inflection


5. Change Activity, moving, walking around, do something different


6. Don't be afraid to adjust!

Students did better once we started the "Make a Baby Lab" activity

Tuesday, March 29th

Warm Up:

1. Draw: Chromosome, Homologous Chromosomes, Sister Chromatids, Tetrad


2. How do chromosomes relate to genetic expression?


3. What is loose, unpacked DNA called? What happens to form chromosomes

DNA to Chromosome Visual Handout

Handout

Genetic Variation: Possibilities of forming different genetic combinations to result in difererent expressions.

1. Crossing Over


2. Order of Homologous Chromosome pairs alignment on Metaphase Plate


3. Fertilization

Cut out Chromosomes for the "Make a Baby Lab"

Make A Baby Lab

Monday, March 28th

Spent the period working on the Meiosis flip books. Also presented the chromosomes/crossing over with the magnets and beads. Flip books to be turned in tomrorow, Tuesday the 28th

Reflection of Friday, March 25th and Monday March 26th

I wasn't feeling well today, I was extremely drained from the activity the day before. This assigment was to be a support for what we had already covered, and students could easily talk quietly while working on the assignment. This is how it started off first period, a little more off task 2nd period, and by fourth period a good number of students were not taking advantage of the time given to them. By the end of fourth period I already knew how many of the students felt about the assignment and I myself didn't like it, but we were already committed to it and were going to finish it out. Especially because students had ample time to complete it, we ended up devoting two whole periods to the assignment. In the future I probably won't do this activity again, or I would greatly modify it. Modification Ideas: 1) Put students into groups and have each member of the group contribute a segment to the flipbook. This will cut down on the "busywork feeling" 2) Along with this modification I would enlarge the size of the paper because the small flipbooks don't even flip through smoothly, they stick and skip 3) Keep a large, high quality flipbook to use for demonstration and enhancement for students 4) Give students options of a project to do-must make all of the options equally matched in difficulty and time requirements

Friday, March 25th

I gave out the Meiosis Flip Book assignment today in class where students break the phases down into three or four different segments and slightly adjust the picture so that when assembled, the diagram of Meiosis will be in "motion". Students were given the entire period to work on the flipbooks. Assignments: Flipbooks due Tuesday

Reflection of Thursday, March 24th

My Professing Advisor came in to watch this lesson and he observed 1st and 2nd periods. Overall he was very impressed with how the activity went, and I couldn't have been happier, it was a good teaching moment. From 2nd period I adjusted my technique a little bit because we went through the activity with multiple groups more quickly than we had first period. I then required that table partners need to tell us what will happen next so that the actors would do it. This made students more accountable for their learning. Although it felt a little awkward for me to put that amount of pressure on them, I think it was good to show them that they were responsible for getting this on more of an individual level. Plus, it helped me to see who really grasped the concept and who needed more work. 4th period, my class with exceeding personality, who I expected to really have fun with, surprisngly didn't buy into the activity as well. I think there were several contributing factors to this including, not enough background information to make the activity meaningful, I was not as energized as I had been earlier in the day, and finally, perhaps it was just an off day for them, they were having trouble focusing and staying engaged, so the whole thing was more painful to try and get them to get and stay on track. I would definitely use this activity again in the future but I would take more time developing the background information required (which I already knew going into it). I would also like to think of something to use for the cellular membrane (maybe the rest of the students linked up?) Also it's important to clarify that we are only using a single pair of chromosomes, where in humans this process is happening with 23 chromosomes. I asked for student feedback and most of the kids found the activity worthwhile and very helpful, only a few thought it was a waste of time.

Thursday, March 24th

Today we tried something new. I wanted to do something more interactive so we attempted what I will call a human video of meiosis. Here is what is required:

Casting Call (8 students, can rotate throughout class):
-Homologous chromosome (2 students)
-Sister chromatids (additional 2 students)
-Centrosomes (4 Students)

Materials
-4 jump ropes
-4 large hula hoops
-2 pairs long blue socks (soccer socks work well)
-2 pairs long orange socks (sock color doesn't matter, just need two different colors)
-1 pair blue ankle socks
-1 pair orange ankle socks

Procedure

Interphase
-Normal state of cell activity (non-dividing)
-homologous pair put a long sock on one arm and one leg (same side of body)
-boy (representing chromosome from dad) wears one color
-girl (representing chromosome from mom) wears the other color
-put socks on the arm and leg that is next to their homologous pair
-homologous chromosomes stand side by side inside the hula hoop
-show that at this point they are chromatin (ex. make arms wavy and loose)
-2 students with the "COPY" sign join their original chromosome in the hula hoop and link arms
*NOTE: Emphasize that when the copies are made they are attached to the original
chromosome from the beginning
-Copies wear the same color socks on their arm and leg as their orignial chromosome, but
put on outside arm and leg
-Copies and Originals link arms (non-socked arms) to be bound by the centromere
-"Socked" arms and legs between the sister chromatids should make an "X" when held out
-Now you have two sister chromatids in the hula hoop (nuclear membrane)

Prophase
-Nuclear Membrane (hula hoop) disappears
-Chromatin condenses into chromosomes (sister chromatids make an "X" with socked arms/legs
-2 centrosomes come out and stand by each other holding jump ropes bundled up
-Centrosomes slowly start to move away towards opposite ends of the cell, releasing jump rope (spindle fiber) as they move along, expanding cellular membrane
-Demonstrate ability to cross over by putting ankle sock of the opposite color over the ends of the soccer socks

Metaphase
-Tetrads line up on imaginary metaphase plate in the middle of the cell
-Centrosome students hold one end of the jump rope and sister chromatids hold in the linked arms
-Linked arms represents the centromere so the hand can represent the kinetochore
-Emphasize Spindle fibers attach to the kinetochore which is on the centromere

Anaphase
-Once spindle fibers are attached centromeres reel sister chromatids towards them to be on opposite ends of the cell
-Emphasize Meiosis I is all about separating the homologous chromosomes, or separating the tetrad

Telophase
-nuclear membranes reform around sister chromatids (2 hula hoops)
-spindle fibers disappear
-cellular membrane separates
-Prouduct: 2 haploid cells with copies (sister chromatids), MUST GO TO MEIOSIS II TO SPLIT COPIES FROM ORIGINALS

MEIOSIS II
-Repeat process of Meiosis I except this time instead of separating the tetrad you are separating the sister chromatids from each other
-Outcome: 4 haploid cells-4 hula hoops with one person each

Reflection on Wednesday, March 24th

I went through all the stages and phases of Meiosis in one period today. Ideally this would not be my first choice in how to attack this material, but my advising professor was coming in the next day to observe and I wanted to do an activity while he was there. In order to do the activity a certain amount of background information was required so we plowed through it.

In the future, I would break the lecture up into Meiosis I and Meiosis II over two days because the one period of information is overwhelming and doesn’t give students a long time to process what is happening.

Wednesday, March 23rd

Stages and Phases of Meiosis

There are two stages of Meiosis and four phases that occur within both of those stages. Essentially the outline of Meiosis is as follows:

Meiosis I

-Prophase I

-Metaphase I

-Anaphase I

-Telophase I

Meiosis II

-Prophase II

-Metaphase II

-Anaphase II

-Telophase II

Before a cell can enter into Meiosis it is in Interphase, which is when a cell is in it’s normal non-dividing activity. During Interphase, before the cell enters into Meiosis, all of the chromosomes undergo replication.

A chromosome and it’s replica are joined together around the middle and together make up a structure known as a sister chromatid. When a sister chromatid is separated it becomes two chromosomes, giving the cell enough genetic information to divide into multiple cells later on.

Summary of Meiosis:

Meiosis starts with a diploid germ cell and results in a final outcome of four haploid cells.

Questions to Consider:

1. What is a diploid cell? What is a haploid cell?
2. What is the product of Meiosis I? What is the product of Meiosis II?
3. What is being separated in Meiosis I? What is being separated in Meiosis II?
4. Why is it essential that Meiosis produces haploid cells? What would happen if sex cells were produced by Mitosis? How would this affect sexual reproduction?

Resources to Help:

Meiosis Diagram

https://dbscience3.wikispaces.com/file/view/meiosis-big.gif/63281204/meiosis-big.gif

Meiosis Video

http://www.khanacademy.org/video/phases-of-meiosis?playlist=Biology

Assignments:

-Meiosis Vocabulary Sheet-Due Friday, March 25th

-Diagrams of Meiosis I and II on back of vocab sheets-Due Friday, March 25th

Tuesday, March 22nd

Beginning Meiosis

Today we used half of the period to introduce our new topic of meiosis. Meiosis is a type of cell division that is specific to sexual reproduction, essentially the production of gametes. Remember gametes are the sex cells produced by individuals (sperm for males and egg cells, (ovum for females) that produce an embryo when combined in fertilization.

In order to fully understand and appreciate Meiosis, it is important to have a basic background in another type of cell division known as Mitosis.

Some questions to consider:

1. What types of cells are used in Mitosis? What types for Meiosis?
2. What type of cell does Mitosis start with? What type of cell does Mitosis produce?
3. What type of cell does Meiosis start with? What type of cell does Meiosis produce?
4. How many chromosomes do humans have in a cell (not gametes)?
5. How much genetic information is contributed by each parent? How many chromosomes is this in humans?

Assignments:

Read Section 11-4 in Textbook and take notes to be turned in Thursday March 24th