5.3 Questions!

Here are some questions to answer in your notebook after the Evolution Test:

1. Why do scientists use the binomial system for naming species?
2. How was this method developed?
3. List the common names of 10 organisms that interest you and then list their scientific names using the proper format.  You should include a diversity of organisms, including at least one animal, plant, fungus, and bacteria.
4. List the 3 domains of life and then compare them to each other in terms of their characteristics (see chart on p. 261).
5. Which domain do humans fit into?
6. Which of the other 2 domains is ours most similar to?  Explain giving evidence from the chart.
7. List the principle taxa for classifying eukaryotes and figure out a way to memorize them.  Do you have a good mnemonic (memory aid)?
8. What does it mean to call the classification of an organism "natural"?
9. List several advantages of using natural classification.
10. Looking at the charts on pages 266-268, identify the category that:  a)  has vascular tissue but no pollen  b)  has bilateral symmetry and a mouth but no anus  c)  bilateral symmetry and segmented bodies with jointed appendages   d)  lungs with extensive folding and soft-shelled eggs   e)  Lungs with alveoli and teeth of different types

Will be checked off 11/6-11/7

The Week of 10/7/19

• Mon/Tues 10/7-10/8:  Evidence for Evolution.  Take notes and watch whale video.  Read 5.1 and do 2 of the DBQ's.  If time, read 5.2.  Pick a Science article to read.  Mesocosm write up due Thursday 10/10.
• Wed/Thurs 10/9-10/10:  Scientific Journal Assignment (due October 22).  Darwin and the principles of natural selection.  Watch Video on the Theory of Evolution and take some notes.  Do DBQ's on p 253 and 255-256 and get them checked off.   Mesocosm write-up is due today.
• Mon/Tues 10/14-10/15:  Take beak lab data and enter your data into the website.  Notes on speciation.  Read 10.3.
• Thurs/Fri 10/17-10/18:  Process beak lab data and introduce Populations Lab inquiry.  Brainstorm what you will do for Populations Lab.  Work on Journal Review.  Read 1.5.  Do 3 of the DBQ's in 10.3 by Wed/Thurs of next week.
• Mon/Tues 10/21-10/22:  Hardy Weinberg Simulation.  Notes on Origin of the first Cell.  Submit science journal review to turnitin.com by the end of the day on Tues 10/22.
• Wed/Thurs 10/23-10/24:  Check off 10.3 DBQ's.  Turn in Hardy-Weinberg packet. Notes on Origin of the First Cell and a little bit on Human Evolution.  Submit your Populations Lab proposal to me by today through turnitin.com
• Fri/Mon 10/25-10/28:  Review for Evolution Test to be take Tues/Wed 10/29-10/30.
• Tues/Wed 10/29-10/30:  Take Evolution Test.  Start Biodiversity.  Read 5.3.

Finishing up the Ecology Unit and Taking the Test

• Mon/Tues 9/23-9/24:  Review Whitaker Ponds Field Trip Assignment.  Notes on Climate Change.  Work time for 4.4 questions and mesocosm observation.
• Wed/Thurs 9/25-9/26:  Whitaker Ponds Field Trip due through turnitin.com Thursday 9/26 by 11:59 pm.  Go over lots of DBQ's.  Review for Ecology Test next week (see document on this website).  Go over Carbon Cycle (in 4.3 of book).  Mesocosm Observation.
• Fri/Mon 9/27-9/30:  Notes on the Carbon Cycle components.   Finish going over DBQ's from Option C.  Practice chi-squared test and Simpson's Diversity index.  Mesocosm Assignment due 10/10, but you can certainly turn it in earlier.
• Tues/Wed 10/1-10/2:  Examples of Invasive and Keystone species.  Kahoot review.  Ecology Test next class.
• Thurs/Fri 10/3-10/4:  Ecology Test!  Start Evolution.  Read 5.1 and do 2 of the DBQ's in that section.

Climate Change Questions! To be done in class 9/19 + 9/20 or for homework

Climate Change:  4.4 in the Oxford Text Book

1. List the 4 most significant greenhouse gases and their main sources.
2. Describe the 2 factors that determine the impact of a gas on its warming impact.
3. Describe how greenhouse gases warm the Earth (the process).  

Draw a diagram to help explain.

4. How did scientists go about linking temperature to carbon dioxide levels?
5. What other factors have an impact on global average temperatures 

(besides greenhouse gases)?

6. Describe the correlation between rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide and 

industrialization.

7. Some people argue that climate change is not occurring (or is not due to human action).   

Give 4 reasons why individuals might be skeptical about climate change.  

8. Give your 4 best arguments for getting climate change doubters to change their minds.
9. Read about the Precautionary Principle on p. 235 and discuss why it should be 

used in the case of Climate Change.

And now the fun part!  Please do 3 of the 4 data-based questions on pp 233, 234, 236, and 237 

(because these charts and graphs are just so darn important to understand, really they are ☺).

Beginning of the Year!

Welcome back!  Usually I update the blog sooner than this, so apologies on the delay.  Listed below is what we have done already and what we will be doing for the next week:

• Wed 8/28:  First Day of School!  Quick intro to class and Bingo Mingle.
• Thurs/Fri 8/29-8/30:  IB Learner Profile Characteristics.  Pick your top 3, share with your group, come up with your group's top 3, and then share out.  Start work on Ecology by doing 4.1 bookwork.  Read 4.1.
• Tues/Wed 9/2-9/3:  Go over Ecology concepts, especially how to do Chi-squared test.  Go outside to take some quadrat data on the school lawn.  Read C1.  Start C1 questions in your notebook.  Hand out Whitaker Ponds field trip forms to get signed.
• Thurs/Fri 9/4-9/5:  Go over C1 concepts and work on C1 DBQ's.  Introduce quadrat data-processing assignment.  Read C2.
• Mon/Tues 9/8-9/9:  Finish checking off C1 work.  Introduce mesocosm assignment and build class mesocosm using Whitaker Ponds "muck".  Testing water through macroinvertebrate sorting using Whitaker Ponds "muck".  Fill in the Field Trip prep worksheet as you go.  Work on Quadrat Data-processing poster.  Mesocosm Observation.
• Wed/Thurs 9/10-9/11:  Water quality testing using chemical tests.  Go outside and measure the height of 3 trees using a clinometer and tape measurer.  Mesocosm observation.
• Fri/Mon 9/12-9/16:  Check off C2 work.  Field Trip permission forms should be turned in.  Hand out field trip assignment.  Simpson's Diversity Index.  Finish the last part of the field trip prep hand-out.  Finish quadrat data group posters.  Read C3 and C4 and do 4 of the DBQ's in those 2 sections.  At least one of them should be from C4.  These are due Thurs/Fri 9/19-9/20 because the field trip is before that.  Pack up supplies for Field Trip.  Mesocosm observation.  Jane Poynter video on Biosphere 2.
• Tues/Wed 9/17-9/18:  Whitaker Ponds Field Trip!  Make sure that you come to Room 214 (11:45 for PM field trips and 8:10 for AM field trip) so that we don't miss you.  When we return from the field trip. bring supplies back to the classroom and enter your data in the class database.
• Thurs/Fri 9/19-9/20:  Debrief Whitaker Ponds field trip and make sure that everyone understands the assignment.   Check off C3 and C4 DBQ's.  4.4 questions on Climate Change.    Mesocosm observation.  I expect that many students in Periods 6 and 7 might miss this class due to the Climate Strike.  I will make the Climate Change Assignment available on-line so that students can do it on their own.
• Whitaker Ponds Field Trip Assignment is due 9/25-9/26 through turnitin.com!

C2 Work

You'll notice that C2 has many concepts in common with 4.2, but it goes into more depth.  As you read through the section, answer/do the following in your notebook.

1. How can an owl pellet be used to determine information about the owl's community?
2. Use the information in the sidebar on p. 615 to construct a food web.
3. Do the DBQ on p. 616.
4. Explain how food conversion ratios can be used to eat more sustainably.  Use numbers to back yourself up.
5. Examine the Whittaker climograph on p. 617 and describe what it shows.
6. Examine the net primary productivity listings on p. 618 and propose why some are very high and some are very low.  Use specific examples.
7. Do Question #2 in the Activity listed on p. 618 (draw 2 energy pyramids, compare, and explain).
8. Examine the Gersmehl nutrient cycle diagrams on p. 619 and do the Activity questions related to it on p 620.
9. Do the George Vancouver DBQ on p 621!
10. Read about respiration rates and biomass accumulation and do the question on p. 622.
11. Do the secondary succession question on p. 623.
12. Describe how humans can interfere with nutrient cycling.

Mesocosm Assignment

One of the 7 required practicals for IB Biology is to study a mesocosm in the classroom.  

The write-up will be due in 2-3 weeks (will be finalized after I see how the mesocosms are doing) through turnitin.com and should include:

1. Detailed observations from at least 6 separate days.  Include water clarity, condition and growth of plants, types of animals, behavior of animals, condition of muck and other debris, etc. Make it clear which mesocosm goes with each observation and which day.  You can include details about the classroom conditions (temperature, light, etc) if you think they are relevant.
2. Use vocabulary from the ecology unit to try to explain what you think is happening in the mesocosms.  For example, information about cycles, energy, and types of nutrition would be appropriate.  You don't have to know exactly what is going on or know the names of the organisms, but do your best to give reasonable explanations.  If you use outside information in your explanations, state where or how you got the information.
3. Predict what you think will happen in the mesocosms, giving a reason for your predictions.