Category Archives: Matter

Cells, Homeostasis, Matter

Cells & Homeostasis: Egg Lab Data Day 2

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Class began with a brief review of where we left off yesterday with the Egg Lab, followed by students writing today’s steps of the experimental procedure.  After being checked off for having written out the steps, students put on gloves and carefully rinsed their eggs and cups.  They took the mass of their eggs (the “after water – 9/23” mass) and recorded it in their lab notebooks.  Finally, they chose one of the offered liquids (distilled water, 30% salt water, 50% corn syrup, 10% dish soap, or canola oil) or used a student-supplied school-appropriate liquid.  Liquid was added to the cup (enough to cover the egg) and the cups were scattered around the room for observation.

After adding the liquid, students shared out their egg mass data along with their selected liquid.  The data were collated and will be available as an Excel file for analysis on Friday.  The students then toured the room, making observations about the eggs after they had been in liquid for 15-20 minutes.  During the last few minutes of class, students began thinking about how they would draw a model to represent the movement of matter across the cell membrane.  Students also received a reading packet and are responsible for reading pages 76-80 before the quiz on Friday.  Students were encouraged to look through the reading this evening and to come to class prepared with questions to discuss during class tomorrow.

Energy, Matter, Organization

Energy, Matter, and Organization: Ocean Acidification – Day 1

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We kicked off the lesson with an entry task focused on why we use fossil fuel combustion (to produce energy).  Students were then asked to consider one unintended consequence of fossil fuel combustion (releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere).  We followed that discussion with a video about ocean acidification (below) before concluding the lesson with an experiment in which students re-created the conditions of ocean acidification by measuring the change in pH after exhaling through a straw placed in water for one minute.

 

Energy, Matter, Organization

Energy, Matter, and Organization: Combustion – Day 2

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We continued our study of combustion with a review of why burning candles lose mass.  We watched a video in which Mr. Anderson describes not only the process of combustion but also the concept of Conservation of Mass.  At the end of the video, he mentions how neat a candle burning in the space shuttle looks, so I also included a video of the recent FLEX2 experiment aboard the International Space Station.  After the lesson, students completed a quiz connecting the concepts of combustion, cellular respiration, and photosynthesis.

Energy, Matter, Organization

Energy, Matter, and Organization: Combustion – Day 1

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The lesson for Monday centered on the concept of combustion.  We dove into vocabulary about chemistry and even balanced an equation!  We then created a table comparing photosynthesis, cellular respiration, and combustion.  Because some classes were ready, we also discussed the combustion of paraffin wax in a burning candle.  Yesterday’s lesson can be viewed by clicking here.

Energy, Matter, Organization

Energy, Matter, and Organization: Revising a Scientific Conclusion

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We began class with an entry task asking students to ponder: where do trees get their mass from?  Students had some time to think about the question and write or draw pictures describing their ideas.  Selected students or small groups of students were asked to share their ideas publicly on the class white boards (pictures below).  The ideas were labeled as possible hypothesis statements.  Students then had to select the hypothesis they believed to be the most correct and then wrote a conclusive statement explaining their understanding of the science behind the hypothesis statement.

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We followed that with a video:

After the video, students received the first draft of their conclusions back for more focused editing.  Slides 3 and 4 of the attached slide deck helped the students focus their scientific writing on clearly articulating the claim, evidence, and reasoning for their revised conclusion.

End of Course, Energy, Matter, Organization

Energy, Matter, and Organization: Writing a Scientific Conclusion – Day 2

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Lots of writing today.  We began class with an entry task in which students were instructed to describe the trends in the data found in the graph on page 2 of yesterday’s case study.  Students were provided with the sentence frame:

Plants grown in _____ hours of light increased/decreased in height over _____ weeks.

After some private think/write time, students shared their work with their table partner.  Students selected at random were asked to publicly share their learning by writing an assigned trend sentence on one of the class white boards.  After we reviewed the example trend sentences for plants grown in 0, 12, 17, or 24 hours of light, students were provided with an EOC-style conclusion worksheet (page 2).  Students had 20-30 minutes of silent write time, and students who finished early were encouraged to exchange papers with a friend and look for the 5 elements on pages 4-5 of the conclusion worksheet packet.

End of Course, Energy, Matter, Organization

Energy, Matter, and Organization: Writing a Scientific Conclusion – Day 1

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Welcome to second semester!  It was nice to see everyone, and I look forward to a second half of the year equally as full of learning as the first half.  Today we turned our sights to the Conclusion section of a scientific lab report.  Writing a conclusion statement requires higher-level analysis and is a skill all students should master.  Additionally, the Biology End-of-Course Exam will test the ability of students to write a scientific conclusion statement.

After starting off the lesson with a nuts-and-bolts slide, students read through a fictional scientific experiment case study.  I had the opportunity to read through student lab reports from the Baggie Garden experiment this weekend, and there were a few common recurring items that required addressing.  The case study was written to include the following:

  • An incorrectly written research question
  • A hypothesis statement not directly connected with the research question
  • Many clearly defined controlled variables
  • A graph with data that conflicts with students’ experience from class

After reading through the case study, students publicly identified the research question (bottom of page 1), the hypothesis (first paragraph of page 2), and the experimental variables (manipulated, responding, and at least three controlled).  We will continue our work tomorrow, with students using their learning to write a conclusion statement.