Students did a lab with agar cubes of different sizes to see why cells aren’t larger than they are (oxygen can’t diffuse to the middle fast enough). I did a demo with eggs with shell removed with vinegar. One was placed in distilled water and it gained weight due to osmosis and one placed in salty water lost weight. We started a DNA unit on friday with a informational packet that had them answer questions and color the different parts of DNA.
Students prepared for and took a Cell Test. Then students did a diffusion lab involving dialysis tubing that is permeable to iodine but not starch. Iodine turns purple in the presence of starch so they can quickly see that only iodine diffuses across the selectively permeable membrane. Next week they will do a lab involving different sized agar cubes and determine what limits cells from being larger than they are.
We finished up talking about and taking notes on the function of the different organelles. Students then worked on their analogy project. On Friday students worked on microscope skills by looking at the letter ‘e’ from newsprint and then looked at a cheek cell. Next week students will review for a test and then we will begin the diffusion/osmosis unit.
We were at Frost Valley for team building for wed., th., and fri.
On monday students learned about the heirarchy of life and they looked at the characteristics of life (vs. not living). They brainstormed ideas with an excercise that had them think about a story about a martian sent to earth to bring back a lifeform but instead brought back a car. They think about how that car somewhat resembles life and how it does not. Next week students will do an analogy project that has them compare the different parts of the cells with the differnet parts of a city (or something similar).
We covered the scientific method and experimental design. Students designed there own experiements when given a question. They also ‘created’ a question on their own. Question: What is the effect of ___________ on mold growth in bread? They designed and began these experiments on friday. Next week students learn about the heirarchy of life from atoms to bioshpere and they look at the characteristics of life (vs. not living). They then begin looking at cells. Students will look at the letter ‘e’ from newsprint under microscopes to develop technique and they will look at cheek cells and Elodea (plant) cells. They will also begin learning about the different organelles.
Students took the last test of the year on vertebrates. They will work on a travel brochure (or travel log) about the digestive system for the rest of the week. The pamphlet will talk about what happens throughout the ‘tour’. There is no 7th grade science final. I took another 10 kids to the museum last friday.
Students will take the invertebrate test. We then start learning about vertebrates and will do a frog dissection. Content comes from the textbook and lecture. Last Friday I took 9 kids to see the Hall of Human Origins at the Nat. Hist. Museum. The trip was voluntary. We studied evolution earlier this year before the new hall was open. I will take kids on Friday afternoons until every student that wants to go gets a chance to (Most likely no more than two more weeks).
This week we are dissecting a clam and reviewing for the test next week. The test is over invetebrates. It will cover the readings and dissections that we have done for the past few weeks. Students also have one day of Sex Ed.
Week of April 23:
We learn about echinoderms and arthropods. Students do a crayfish dissection. The content comes from lecture, textbook, and pre-lab readings.
The week of April 9th:
Students finished working on a comic strip outling the steps of the immune system. (David Roberts spent at least 12 hours doing an epic graphic novel). They then studied fungi for two days. They did a lab on fermentation involving yeast. The lab tested how temperature effects rate of fermentation. Balloons captured CO2 as it was released from flasks.
Week of April 16:
There was a brief quiz on fungi. Some students are making corrections to their comic strips. We started a large unit on animals. We start with invertebrates. They did a dissection of earthworms on tuesday and will do a dissection of sea stars (starfish) on Friday. Yes, you can do a dissection in 40 min. (just not a very good one). Go Red Wings!