Last day!

Students took the final evolution quiz and completed a lab about hominid skeletons to examine how humans have evolved over time.

We have had such a great year teaching you! We hope that you have the safest and most wonderful of summers :-)

Thanks!
Ms. Yee & Ms. Polzin

6/9 & 6/12: Comparative Anatomy

On Friday, 6/9 & Monday, 6/12, students finished learning about the lines of evidence for Evolution. Students watched a review video, finished the lecture notes and looked at real animal skeletons to compare anatomy.

Here are all of the notes and lectures that students may want to review for the final quiz on Finals day! The Final class will consist of a short quiz and a lab comparing Hominid Skulls.

Video:
Stated Clearly Evidence for Evolution

Evidence Lecture Notes:
Evidence for Evolution Lecture notes

Evidence Powerpoint:
Evidence Lecture Notes

Mechanisms Lecture Notes
Mechanisms Lecture notes

Mechanisms Powerpoint:
Mechanisms Powerpoint

Study Guide:
Study Guide for Evolution Quiz

6/7 & 6/8: Career Fair & Radiometric Dating

Wednesday & Thursday were all about radiometric dating. In class, students practiced aging fossils using radiocarbon dating and half lives. Then, students modeled radioactive decay using M&Ms and created a graph with their data. Radiometric dating contributes to our understanding of Evolution and the fossil  record.

Wednesday was the A-Community Career Fair in the morning, so Per 1 & 2 did not have Biology class. They were excused from the activity.

6/5 & 6/6: Natural Selection

The focus of this class was to explore the mechanisms of evolution with a focus on natural selection. Students took lecture notes for 20 minutes about the 4 mechanisms of evolution including: Mutation, Genetic Drift, Migration and Natural Selection. Then, students explored natural selection with an online simulation where they got to design bird species on an island.

The link to the simulation:
Natural Selection Bird Simulation

6/1 & 6/2 - Start Evolution unit

Thursday & Friday (6/1 & 6/2) is the first day of our short evolution unit. The evolution unit is only 5 classes and will consist of evolutions "greatest hits" since we wish there was more time! Students took some short lecture notes about the fossil record and relative dating. Then, students simulated being a paleontologist and discovered & made sense out of some fossils. See pictures below for some great paleontology work!

After the "Fossil Find" activity, students did the "Who's on First" activity to look at layers of rock and understand how relative dating helps us understand the general age of a fossil.

There is no large test or project for the evolution unit, so as long as students are in class and participate in the activity each day, they will get credit for their classwork.

Daphnia Lab: Last day

Tuesday & Wednesday (5/30 & 5/31) are the last days to work on the Daphnia lab in class. Students were given sentence frames for the analysis portion and made a chart & graph in google sheets. This should give students all of the tools that they need to be able to complete the lab report outside of class.

Lab reports should be submitted by Friday at 11:59pm on google classroom.

Example graph and data table in sheets

Sentence frames for analysis paragraph 1
The science question being investigated was _________________________.
The data showed _________________________.
Based on research about ____________________, heart rate should increase/decrease because _____________.
* Students should include a section about how Daphnia perform homeostasis. What is homeostasis? How was homeostasis being performed by the Daphnia?


Sentence frames for analysis paragraph 2
Possible sources of error are_______________.
To improve this experiment, the following changes are suggested _______________.


Sentence frames for analysis paragraph 3
The hypothesis was: If ________________ then ___________________ because __________.
The data collected supports / does not support the hypothesis. 
When _____________________was added to the Daphnia's environment, then the heart rate increased / decreased to ________________ beats per minute (bpm).

Framing the Question	1 point possible for each component
1 paragraph about Daphnia	1
1 paragraph about experimental variable	1
1 paragraph about experiment	1
Science Question	1
Hypothesis	1
In-text citations?	1
Designing an Investigation
Materials listed	1
Experimental set-up explained	1
Data Collection: Control explained	1
Data Collection: Independent variables explained	1
Collecting and Presenting Data
Data Table	1
Graph	1
Results summary paragraph	1
Multiple trials	1
Analyzing & Interpreting Results
Homeostasis	1
Paragraph explaining results	1
Paragraph explaining limitations	1
Paragraph restating hypothesis, supported?	1
Bibliography
Resources properly listed	1
TOTAL SCORE	19	57	/55

Daphnia Day 3

Thursday & Friday (5/25 & 5/26), students have been finishing up any daphnia data collection that was not completed the prior class. For those who have completed their data, the class is dedicated to research and writing the lab report.

Most students have their data collected at this point, which is good news, since our daphnia cultures seem to have been depleted, and there are very few left. More daphnia are on the way but they will not be here until Wednesday. If students need those daphnia to finish data collection, they will need to come by at lunch or after school to gather their data. While they are waiting, students should still be writing their lab report by doing background research, writing their introduction, procedure, materials, hypothesis and any portion but the conclusion.

Students will have one more class (Tue & Wed, 5/30 & 5/31) to write their lab reports during class time. If students need additional time and help, we will be available at lunch and many days after school.

We would like the lab reports submitted on google classroom by Friday (6/2) at 11:59pm!

The documents from google classroom are added below:

Daphnia online resources
Daphnia Lab Report Details
How to write a bibliography
Lab Report Template