Lesson 1 - Monday, Jan 13
Today in science: After reminding students there are only two weeks remaining in the Fall Semester (including this week), Dr. M asked students how they would currently answer the Driving Question. Students responded with various answers: “Organs,” “Tissues,” “Cells,” “Atoms,” and “Molecules.” He used this brief exercise to remind students that our last activity prior to the Winter vacation was to look at “animal tissue samples” under the microscope. What did we see? To answer this question, Dr. M asked that students begin uploading their animal tissue slide photos to a pre-formatted Google Document he created for each student in the Google Science Classroom. Throughout this week students should add formatted photographs to this document outside of class.
Homework: Students have been asked to upload and format (crop, resize) ONE photo of EACH animal tissue type they observed with a microscope to a pre-formatted Google Document he created for them in the Google Science Classroom. For each animal tissue type (e.g., bone, kidney, heart, vein, etc.), students should choose their clearest, most focused, best illuminated image regardless of magnification. The assignment is called “Animal Tissues (Prepared Slide) photos” and Dr. M showed students examples of properly formatted photos during Monday’s science lesson.
- D PERIOD Animal Tissue assignments are due on WEDNESDAY, 15 JAN.
- E PERIOD Animal Tissue assignments are due on THURSDAY, 16 JAN.
- Don’t forget to submit (turn in!) your assignment when finished!!!
Lesson 2 - Tuesday, Jan 14
Today in science: To get an even better first-hand look at the basic shape(s) of cells and the visible structures found within them, but also to develop some important laboratory skills (e.g., making slides, staining tissues, and using monocular microscopes), students were shown how to make a “wet-mount slide” of onion ‘skin’ (tissue), which is actually a small sample of a plant storage organ (aka. an onion), which consists of onion tissue, which consists of onion cells. Thus, today we photographed an example of a plant cell typically found growing in soil. Dr. M created a document in the Google Science Classroom in which students were asked to upload all three of their required photos–40x, 100x, 400x–and then find and add a plant cell diagram in which the structures called “organelles” are shown and labelled.
Homework: Students have been asked to upload and format (crop, resize) ONE photo of EACH animal tissue type they observed with a microscope to a pre-formatted Google Document he created for them in the Google Science Classroom. For each animal tissue type (e.g., bone, kidney, heart, vein, etc.), students should choose their clearest, most focused, best illuminated image regardless of magnification. The assignment is called “Animal Tissues (Prepared Slide) photos” and Dr. M showed students examples of properly formatted photos during Monday’s science lesson.
- D PERIOD Animal Tissue assignments are due on WEDNESDAY, 15 JAN.
- E PERIOD Animal Tissue assignments are due on THURSDAY, 16 JAN.
- Don’t forget to submit (turn in!) your assignment when finished!!!
Lesson 3 - Wed, Jan 15 (D) & Thu, Jan 16 (E)
Today in science: To get an even better first-hand look at the basic shape(s) of cells and the visible structures found within them, but also to develop some important laboratory skills (e.g., making slides, staining tissues, and using monocular microscopes), students were shown how to make a “wet-mount slide” of cheek tissue, which is actually a small sample of human (animal) tissue, which consists of human cells. Thus, today we photographed an example of a animal cell typically found in our mouths. Dr. M created a new document in the Google Science Classroom in which students were asked to upload all three of their required photos–40x, 100x, 400x–and then find and add animal cell diagram in which some of the structures called “organelles” are shown and labelled.
Homework: Students have been asked to upload and format (crop, resize) THREE photos of EACH of the tissue type they observed with a microscope to over the past two lessons: onion cells and cheek cells. A pre-formatted Google Document has been created for both of these investigations in the Google Science Classroom. Students should include 40x, 100x, and 400x photos for each cell type, plant and animal. The two assignments are called “Plant Tissues (Wet-mount slide) photos” and “Human Cheek Tissue (Wet-mount slide) photos.”
- D & E PERIOD Plant Tissues & Human Cheek Tissue assignments are due by the END of class on FRIDAY, 17 JAN.
Lesson 4 - Friday, Jan 17
Today in science: Students were given additional time to complete all four of the recent cell-related microscope assignments. This means students spent their time…
- Uploading and formatting their Meat Tissue sample images (4 required).
- Uploading, formatting, and identifying their Animal Tissues sample images (no ideal number required).
- Uploading and formatting their Plant Tissue sample images, including both onion and Elodea (6 required).
- Uploading and formatting their Human Cheek Tissue sample images (3 required).
- Finding and inserting labelled animal and plant cell diagrams into the correct assignments (2 required).
With any significant time remaining in the lesson, Dr. M asked students to begin looking at a special resource he prepared for them…
- comparing an onion cell image with the labelled diagram of 1) an onion cell, and 2) a generic plant cell.
- comparing an human cheek cell image with the labelled diagram of 1) a cheek cell, and 2) a generic animal cell.
Homework: —
Announcements...
The DRIVING QUESTION of our current unit is: What am I made of?
D period homework collection days: Wednesday & Friday.
E period homework collection days: Tuesday & Thursday.
Including this week, there are 2 weeks of school before the end of the Fall Semester.