Wednesday April 13th - Macroevolution intro (Isolation Mechanisms)

Don't forget..... Daily Question Quiz TOMORROW!!!!

Today's Daily Questions went a little like this....

Then we started into MacroEvolution:

We watched for the first couple minutes and last couple minutes of this crash course that describe #1.  What a species is and #2.  How reproductive isolation aids in the development of new species.

Then took notes on the different isolation mechanisms he referred to:

AAAAAnd then had kinda sorta a BLAST looking at different mating rituals of nature:

Well THAT was an interesting class period :)

Tuesday April 12th - Finish up Microevolution

We had the same reminders and goals as yesterday.  We just went through the rest of the forms of microevolution.  Our daily questions.....

We had a bit of review about natural selection:

Then moved into more examples of microevolution

I have included a good YouTube clip that details these:

Monday April 11th Natural Selection Continued and intro to other forms of microevolution

We continued our discussion on Natural Selection and our goal was to see how OTHER form of microevolution impact allele frequencies.   We will spend more time tomorrow on those other processes.

Today's Daily Questions:
I had you read through two pages in the Keystone Finish Line book before answering these:

Then we continued through notes and discussion about natural selection:

 We watched a little video about what being the "fittest"looks like:

We started into other forms of microevolution as well - I will put ALL of those notes in tomorrow's post.

Friday April 8th - Evolution by Natural Selection Daily Question Quiz and Finish up 3rd term benchmark exam

Friday April 8th......

You know the routine - click below for the quiz!!

Evolution by Natural Selection Daily Question Quiz.

When you are done - finish up the "Third Term Benchmark Exam" on Study Island!

You also were to turn in:

Thursday April 7th - Natural Selection Continued

Today's announcements and goals were the same as yesterday.  We just moved a little deeper into an understanding of natural selection and its impact on allele frequencies.  Specifically, we looked at WHAT allele frequencies would change and why.

Daily Questions:

I spoke a little more about Charles Darwin and his findings - but to give you a little better look - we watched the first 2 minutes of this clip:

We discussed this video a bit and wrote down the following slide:

Finally - we talked about how he related this to artificial selection (or selective breeding).  That led to some INTERESTING discussions in some classes!  Valuable none the less :)

Missed any discussions on natural selection?  You can get a crash course from Hank RIGHT HERE!!!

Evolution by Natural Selection Intro

Tuesday was our Genetic Technologies wrap up day.  You had THREE things to do.
#1.  "Gene Technologies in our Lives" and "Gene Technologies in Detail" Active Readings
#2.  Genetic Technologies Wrap Up Part 1 (The basics)
#3.  Genetic Technology Article Summary

You had the entire period to work through these - anything that was not completed in class yesterday is due on Friday.

Today we started into the next topic - Evolution.  
Our Goals:

You received a study guide to give you and intro and will also be used throughout the next two weeks.

Using that information - you answered the following daily questions.  The majority of the class period was spent on these with some very animated discussion about how natural selection works:

So THAT was a fun conversation for sure!!
If you would like to READ about what I discussed today during the daily questions - here are the book pages that are associated with this topic. (today's discussion would be off page 380-381)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B36SoMWuuJZEbXdCSDV2aXdkbms/view?usp=sharing

  Today's discussion would go along with page
Next up.....  More intro stuff....

Aaaaand - Just for fun....since the evolution WE are talking about it changes in the genetic makeup of organisms over time... I thought it would be fun to watch the changes in DANCE moves over time ;)

(He has since come out with 2 more versions - They are HILARIOUS!!!)

Genetic Technologies all packaged up into one enormous post.....

I didn't do any posts last week because I felt it easier to give you a main wrap up.  The topic of our discussions were different genetic technologies.  We used our understanding of genes, gene expression, mutations, etc to understand how scientists have used this information to impact the fields of medicine, agriculture, forensics, etc.  Last week we focused mainly on the impact it has on the HEALTH field.  Here were some of the Daily Questions from Wednesday and Thursday of last week.

 

 Here are some of the clips that we watched last week the referred to gene splicing / gene therapy / etc.

I also had you see how the movie industry uses genetic technologies to enhance their stories!!

 Later.....  we talked through the whole concept of cloning.  I started with a news cast of when the first Mammal was cloned, and then we went through a couple more clips and discussed how this technology can benefit or harm society!

In regard to the Jurassic Park Idea....

Then into cloning Clones and a GOOD question at the end!! (Imagine he inserts the word HUMAN for cows......) 

Which brought us to the inevitable..... cloning of humans.

Today we looked at GMOs (Genetically modified organisms).  The goal for today:

Ultimately I wanted you to know 

#1  WHAT GMOs are

#2  HOW GMOs are made

#3  What the "debate" is all about

#4 How to evaluate those claims (considering sources)

The daily questions for today:

Like last week - today I went through a couple different videos that have different takes.  The first video really just talked about GMOs and a little bit about the debate.

The next two videos I had you consider the source.  The first was published to YouTube by Mercola. Who/What is Mercola....

Note - a proponent of alternative "all natural" medicines etc. 

I encouraged you to even consider the "feeling" you get with this clip.  The music is very "dooming"

NEXT..... was published by Monsanto.... Who/What is Monsanto?!?!

 

Monsanto is the biotech company that produces these Genetically modified seeds AND is the producer of the herbicide "Round Up"    Soooo again.... consider how THEY would be presenting GMOs

This video has a much "lighter" feel to it.

To describe HOW GMOs are actually made - we went through this video and  I stopped it at points to discuss the genetics behind it all.

Using our understanding of Gene expression - we discussed how inserting a gene from another organism and the subsequent expression of that gene leads to the production of a protein that would not normally  be produced by the organism.  The debate is whether these additional proteins are harmful to HUMANS when ingested.

Again... my goal was not to take one side or the other but simply to get the facts.

The final clip came from the first half of the following video:

SOOOOOO

There ya go - Lots to think about with genetic technologies!!