The Third Quarter:
The third quarter of this class is dedicated to the understanding of the origin of life specific to the Earth. Not that we've found it elsewhere, but the basic assumption is that if it happened here it can and statistically is happening elsewhere.
Predictable Randomness leads to Life: "In the beginning" there was very little. Or, you could say, that there was very much condensed into a package that was very small. Like most contradictions resembling a really big thing in a little package there is volatility. Things like that tend to go BOOM!! That, you see, is what we call the Big Bang, though it was too big an explosion to sound like a bang (beside the fact that you can't hear in space). During this quarter, we'll be exploring the idea that most of everything is nothing at all and that life formed here due to understandable scientific principles.
During the Third Quarter: The year is divided into four sections (4 sec. = 4 Qtr = Go Figure). As we return after Winter Break the third quarter will be spent concentrating on the natural history of animals. That is the story of how basic chemistry and exploding stars can lead to our diverse living systems today.
We finish the year with the biology of us.
So, without further verbiage, you will find below your Basic Biology Classroom Schedule for the 2009/10 school year categorized by semester. Week Beginning dates reflect the time of presentation and there will be notice of the assignments due. Follow the links provided to print any additional needed material, though you'll usually be provided a hard copy in class.
--Time and Tide waits for no man -- John Skot's "Everyman"
A Natural History of Life and Animalia -- THMS Semester 2, 2010/11, Quarter 3 In the Beginning ...the Shocking Origin of everything that is anything... Here we'll be dealing the beginning of everything. Our best idea of how everything in our existance came to be is called the Big Bang Theory. This theory is one of the most supported ideas in the history of scientific thought and does a great job of peicing together the evidence brought to us through the science of astronomy.
Downloadables:
AFT: Specifically Strand 1, Concept 2: Observations, Questions and Hypotheses
Describing Time and the Odd Notion of Defining Life Time is an interesting subject due to it's relative nature. This lifetime of a sixteen year-old is rather insignificant is terms of the entire history of the United States. That being said, we'll try to bring a better prespective by looking into the entire history of the Planet Earth.
The beginning of life, clocked at 3.8 billion years ago, can after a series of physical and chemical events that began the construction of the building blocks of organismal structures. Understanding those events allows us to begin to understand the audacious idea that life comes from a set of chemical events that produce a recipe that produces life in a very spontainious nature.
Downloadables:
AFT: Specifically Strand 1, Concept 2: Observations, Questions and HypothesesProtista: Single Celled Eukaryotic Life (Arg!! The mess of Registration for NEXT YEAR!!!) The beginning of life, clocked at 3.8 billion years ago, came after a series of physical and chemical events that began the construction of the building blocks of organismal structures. The simplest form of life comes in the form of bacteria. It would take more than a billion more years for the advent of eukaryotic life that would lead to us. Here, we'll be conducting a study of basic pond muck.
"Pond Muck" will be our representative ecosystem for understanding single-celled Eukaryotic life.Downloadables:
AFT: Specifically Strand 4 (Life Science), Concept 2: Molecular Basis of Heredity
The Amazing occurrence of Multicellularity (Plantea, Fungi and Animalia) H
Downloadables:
AFT: Specifically Strand 1, Concept 2: Observations, Questions and Hypotheses
How Multicellularity and Organismal Movement Changed Everything... G
Downloadables:
AFT: Specifically Strand 1, Concept 2: Observations, Questions and Hypotheses
How a Head and Protective Armor Changed Everything... M
Downloadables:
AFT: Specifically Strand 1, Concept 2: Observations, Questions and HypothesesHow a One-way Gut and Jointed Limbs Changed Everything... M
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AFT: Specifically Strand 1, Concept 2: Observations, Questions and HypothesesHow Acquisition of the Land and Flight Changed Everything... We live on an Arthropod Planet. It is a simple fact this the dominant life form expanded in our oceans and was the first to acqure the land. It was very different up here and the Arthropod exoskeleton was just the most adaptive to holding water and gaining oxygen from a depleted air-based environment.
Downloadables:
AFT: Specifically Strand 1, Concept 2: Observations, Questions and HypothesesHow Standardized Testing Changes Everything in Public Education: AIMS Testing Mess!!! We'll continue looking into the dominant life form on the planet.
This is the week for the AIMS Writing (01 Mar) and Reading (02 Mar) Examinations. Though this blows a big hole in the middle of a good story, we need to look at this as an important exercise.
Downloadables:
AFT: Specifically Strand 1, Concept 2: Observations, Questions and Hypotheses
How the Ultimate Animal Format (not us) and Chordata (that's us) Changed Everything... D
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AFT: Specifically Strand 1, Concept 2: Observations, Questions and HypothesesHow a Basic Tetrapod Design (a fish with limbs) Irreparably Changed Everything... D
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AFT: Specifically Strand 1, Concept 2: Observations, Questions and HypothesesEnd of the Third Quarter NOTE: This schedule is meant as a guide and is subject to change for reason or whim.
Biology: Concepts and Applications: Here's the web site for the THMS Biology book. That is, our class's main book. Here you will find help with studying, flashcards and sample tests. Books in an inquiry-based classroom are often used as a reference. THMS Biology in this class does not follow the text directly, but it does use it in class to back-up instruction. instruction is intended to back-up student learning. In the end the student learns and the infrastructure of the classroom is there to assist the student.
NOTE: In the never ending quest for informative teaching, there is a bit of Administrative "Flap-trap" (AFT) listed to let the "THMS Head-shed" in on my compliance with the Arizona State Standards for Science. So, you'll see a notation at the end of each week's listing that denotes the specific (or not so specific) part of the standards being covered in the classroom during the week. Also note that Strands 1 thru 3 are ongoing and continual.
Cross curricular standards dealing with non-sciencie-type subject matter, including mathematics, are not included.
Work Always in Progress
