Sunday, March 29, 2015
Saturday, March 28, 2015
3/27 Biology update and homework due 4/3
Hi folks,
Well, a depressing class this week. We've been talking about ecology and ecosystems and I wanted to tie in that information with some of the threats that are facing them at the moment. We talked about deforestation, desertification, non-native species, over-harvesting and pollution. Next week we will cover the biggie, climate change. We also took a look at all the "services" the environment provides for us (46 trillion dollars worth!).
One of the issues we discussed this week was the idea of genetically modified crops. Are they good or maybe not so good for the environment and for us? For homework this week, I would like you all to take some time to prepare for a debate on this issue. The topic of the debate will be "Genetically Modified Crops: Helpful or harmful to the human race.
Each of you will take a side of the debate (I'll email you separately letting you know what "team" you're on.)
Then in class next week we will take some time debating the issue.
After the debate, I'll collect your notes to make sure you've done some research.
I will also give extra credit to folks who make some nice, well researched, points during the debate.
Be sure your sources are reliable (no Food Babe :) ). When you state your points you may very well want to also state where you found it.
Feel free to bring in graphs or data. If you want me to project it, send it to me ahead of time.
I'm working on a way to figure out a "winner" of the debate. There may be more extra credit points available if I can come up with a good way to do that.
Have fun with this folks. We've had some great discussions in class so far and I'm looking forward to seeing what you all do with this.
Well, a depressing class this week. We've been talking about ecology and ecosystems and I wanted to tie in that information with some of the threats that are facing them at the moment. We talked about deforestation, desertification, non-native species, over-harvesting and pollution. Next week we will cover the biggie, climate change. We also took a look at all the "services" the environment provides for us (46 trillion dollars worth!).
One of the issues we discussed this week was the idea of genetically modified crops. Are they good or maybe not so good for the environment and for us? For homework this week, I would like you all to take some time to prepare for a debate on this issue. The topic of the debate will be "Genetically Modified Crops: Helpful or harmful to the human race.
Each of you will take a side of the debate (I'll email you separately letting you know what "team" you're on.)
Then in class next week we will take some time debating the issue.
After the debate, I'll collect your notes to make sure you've done some research.
I will also give extra credit to folks who make some nice, well researched, points during the debate.
Be sure your sources are reliable (no Food Babe :) ). When you state your points you may very well want to also state where you found it.
Feel free to bring in graphs or data. If you want me to project it, send it to me ahead of time.
I'm working on a way to figure out a "winner" of the debate. There may be more extra credit points available if I can come up with a good way to do that.
Have fun with this folks. We've had some great discussions in class so far and I'm looking forward to seeing what you all do with this.
Monday, March 23, 2015
3/20 bio update and homework due 3/27
Hi folks,
This week we had a bit of fun with a game/model of a small ecosystem. The students represented different parts of a food chain and we saw, first hand, how changing the predator/prey relationship had quite an impact on the system.
We also discussed the four major biochemical cycles, hydrologic, carbon, phosphorous and nitrogen.
Homework for this week is to:
Read pages 371 - 374
Do questions 1-8 on page 374
This week we had a bit of fun with a game/model of a small ecosystem. The students represented different parts of a food chain and we saw, first hand, how changing the predator/prey relationship had quite an impact on the system.
We also discussed the four major biochemical cycles, hydrologic, carbon, phosphorous and nitrogen.
Homework for this week is to:
Read pages 371 - 374
Do questions 1-8 on page 374
Sunday, March 8, 2015
3/6 bio update and homework due 3/20
Hi folks,
Today we did a bit more with classification and we also took time to get into how energy moves through an ecosystem.
Note!!! No class next week due to Spring Break. Our next class will be on 3/20.
Homework due 3/20
Read pgs. 366-369Questions 10-17 on page 376
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