Biology 30 – Carla Cooper

Hello all!

I teach my B 30 course a bit different, my students become Jurassic World lab technicians! You can find everything on my blog as well – just keep in mind that I deconstruct my blog in the summer, so check back in September 🙂 

Evolution of the Aardvark from Flickr via Wylio
© 2011 T. Michael Keesey, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio

Welcome to Biology 30!  Below, I have listed important sites for you to become very familiar with and why:

  1.  WordPress (the same blog site that I am using) – I require you to start your own wordpress blog – this will be a site that we will use from here on out for all of your science classes.  You will be required to make a page for Biology  (I will show you how to do this).
  2. Snapchat – search cooperscience – you will see a photo of Tyson!
  3. Read over the rubric very carefully!

 

This semester, you are going will become Jurassic World lab technicians!  Throughout this course, we will be looking at current events as well as past events that have shaped our world as we know it today, and how we have adapted and mitigated those natural as well as man-made events.  

As young up and coming scientists, we will be thinking about big ideas including Life where we will explore how scientific understandings of life and its characteristics change in light of new evidence. We will also examine the significance of Evolution as a key unifying theme in biology through the principles, processes, and patterns of biological evolution.  One of the cornerstones of creating a solid lab tech team in Jurassic World is to understand how Life is Organized.  We will investigate cell structure and processes, including energy transfer, and transport of materials, in unicellular and multicellular organisms which are representative of each kingdom. Compare the anatomies, physiologies, and behaviors of multicellular organisms including protists, fungi, plants, and animals. Finally, we will explore how the dynamic nature of biological classification reflects advances in scientific
understanding of relationships among organisms.
  The task that we have been handed as lab techs will be to create a “Superfly”.  In order to create the perfect organism that has all the characteristics we have been asked to produce, we must have a solid understanding of Genetics and Biotechnology.  We will be exploring classical (i.e. Mendelian) and current (i.e. chromosomal) understandings of biological inheritance.  Mastery in investigating how genetic information is stored, transmitted and expressed at the molecular level will be displayed.  A solid understanding of the power we hold as creators of the Superfly will be visible through our exploration of the impacts of historical, current and emerging biotechnologies on self, society, and the environment.

Throughout this course, you will also do your own independent research on a topic that you are interested in and is related to our job (curriculum).  Your student-directed study does is the perfect time to spread your wings and take control of your own PD.

You will further develop your critical thinking skills as you dig deeper into this course.  It is important that you are willing to openly collaborate and communicate with others in and out of our lab.  Allow your creativity to flow, become innovative scientists.

Ready to become lab rats???  

 

 

 

You will find resources from Carla Cooper here.