Lesson 1 - Monday, Jan 29
Focus Question: What is passed on from parents to offspring and how does this happen?
What We Did…
Using the visual Human Reproduction Model we developed in Week 01, we continued working on two mini-research projects to investigate two important parts of our model: human sperm and egg cells. Using the textbooks provided by Dr. M in class, we set out to learn everything we could from our class resources about sperm and egg cells. Our guiding questions for these mini-research projects included the following…
- Where in the human body are sperm and egg cells made?
- When are sperm and egg cells made?
- Where in the human body are sperm and egg cells stored?
- What different structures comprise a sperm and egg cells and what are the functions of these different structures?
- What is the size and shape of a typical human sperm and egg cell?
- What are the typical pathways of human sperm and egg cells from their source (where they’re made) out of the human body?
What We Figured Out…
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How We Represented It…
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Homework: Students were asked to spend 20 minutes at home tonight trying to find more answers to the questions about human sperm and egg cells.
Lesson 2 - Tuesday, Jan 30
Focus Question: What is passed on from parents to offspring and how does this happen?
What We Did…
We continued working on our two mini-research projects to investigate human sperm and egg cells (see Lesson 1 above). If/when finished, students were asked to look more deeply into the nucleus of a sperm cells. About the nucleus, we tried to answer the following questions:
- What is a good definition of a (cell) nucleus?
- What is the general function of a (cell) nucleus?
- What substance or structures can you find inside of a (cell) nucleus and what functions do those substances or structures have?
- What is a good definition of fertilization?
- What are the stages of fertilization and what happens during each stage?
- What happens to the nucleus of the sperm and egg cells during fertilization?
What We Figured Out…
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How We Represented It…
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Homework: Students were asked to spend 20 minutes at home tonight trying to find more answers to the questions about either the human sperm and egg cells AND/OR about the organelle called the “nucleus” AND/OR the process called “fertilization.” The guiding questions for each of these topics can be found above, but also in the Google Science Classroom.
Lesson 3 - Wednesday, Jan 31
Focus Question: What is passed on from parents to offspring and how does this happen?
What We Did…
We continued working on our mini-research projects to investigate human sperm and egg cells (see Lesson 1 above) and the nucleus and fertilization (see Lesson 2 above). After completing this work In doing so, many students have found their way into a position in which they now feel ready to begin crafting an answer to our unit’s Driving Question (see the blue box below).
If/when students finished adding their answers to the above questions to their presentations, student were then asked to try to answer some questions about DNA:
- What is the structure of DNA?
- What is the function?
- What is the relationship between DNA and chromosomes?
- How many chromosomes are in a human body cell? How many in a human sperm cell? How many in a human egg cell?
What We Figured Out…
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How We Represented It…
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Homework: —
Lesson 4 - Friday, Feb 2
Focus Question: What is passed on from parents to offspring and how does this happen?
What We Did…
We continued working on our mini-research projects to investigate human sperm and egg cells (see Lesson 1 above) and the nucleus and fertilization (see Lesson 2 above). In doing so, many students have found their way into a position in which they now feel ready to begin crafting an answer to our unit’s Driving Question (see the blue box below).
What We Figured Out…
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How We Represented It…
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Homework: —
Announcements...
The DRIVING QUESTION of our current unit is: Why are the human beings different from one another?
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