BIOLOGY 2014-2015
FIRST QUARTER (first semester)
1) Peanut observation activity
2) Concept Map
3) Simpsons experiment
4) Printed maze
SECOND QUARTER( first semester) 1) Periodic table of elements
2) Organic Compound coloring
3) Atomic history project
4) Microscope handout
5) Microscope Lab report/ discovering cells
6) Cell membrane coloring
7) Cells venn diagram
8) Plant cell/ Animal cell coloring
9) Cell organelle project
10) Osmosis Worksheet
THIRD QUARTER (second semester) 1) Osmosis Eggs experiment
2) Cell size lab
3) Mitosis model project
4) Meiosis model project
5) Genetics with a smile
6) Bikini bottom genetics
7) Dihybrid Cross worksheet
8) Biography essay
FOURTH QUARTER (second semester)
1) Strawberry DNA
2) Peppered moth simulation
3) Evolution Book
4) Reflection essay
FIRST QUARTER ( first semester)
SECOND QUARTER (first semester)
plant cell
Animal cell
-centriole
-vesicle
-ribosomes
smooth endoplsmic -nucleus
-vacuole
-mitocondrion
-golgi apparatus
-cytoskeleton -genetic material
-cytoplasm
- Ribosomes
- plasma membrane -flagella
-cell
-cilia -wall
-capsule
prokaryotic cell
THIRD QUARTER (second semester)
FOURTH QUARTER (Second semester)
REFLECCTION ESSAY: Biology is the study of life, but do you actually stopped and think what does life means? This year when I came to Spain I actually did not realize how much I needed to work to get things that I really wanted. This subject I think it was the hardest one for me, because we needed to put so much effort not just to understand the concepts, we also needed to talk appropriately in English which in my cause is really hard, but thanks to this, I started looking things with another perspective in a sense of not having another choice, is just either do it or getting an F. I was not used to work this hard in any subject but when I realize school was not a joke and my future would depend on the effort I am contributing this year, so thanks to the work I done in this subject I started to work and take things more seriously in all the subjects. We have a book in which this year we saw five chapters. In the first chapter that was chapter 7; we studied cellular structure and function, then in chapter 9 we study cellular reproduction, later in chapter 10 the sexual reproduction and genetics, in chapter 12 molecular genetics, and finally in chapter 15 evolution.
In the first quarter we studied the history of the cell and we learned that a cell was the basic structural and functional unit of all living organisms, the cell theory which is one of the fundamental ideas of modern biology, we learned how to use a microscope and that there were two types of microscopes, we also learned the basic cell types, I didn’t know that a plasma membrane was a special boundary that helps control what enters and leaves the cell. In section two we saw the function of the plasma membrane, the structure of the plasma membrane, and we learned about the fluid mosaic model. Later, in section 3 we saw what cytoplasm and cytoskeleton was, we also saw the cell structures, the endoplasmic reticulum, the golgi apparatus, the centriols, the cell wall, the cilia and flagella an much more, and finally in section 4 we studied cellular transport. Thanks to all this things about cells we know how are body works and how the cells of all living things works.
In chapter 9 we travelled trough out the cellular reproduction, in which we saw the cellular growth, the cell size limitations, the cell cycle in which we had interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase and last but not least cytokinesis. We learned too about what those stages of mitosis do, like prophase is the first stage and the longest one and it is when the cell´s chromatin tightens into chromosomes. During the second stage of mitosis, metaphase is when the sister chromatids are pulled by motor proteins along the spindle apparatus toward the center of the cell. In anaphase the chromatids are pulled apart. Telophase is the stage of mitosis during which the chromosomes arrive at the poles of the cell and begin to relax, and the last stage is cytokinesis is the division of cytoplasm and creates two cells.
In chapter 10 we went through the sexual reproduction and genetics in which we studied meiosis that is different from mitosis but it has some things in common. We saw the homologous chromosomes, the genes which are the DNA on chromosomes when is arranged in segments, we also learned the haploid and diploid cells, and we started visualizing meiosis in which is divided in interphase I , prophase I, metaphase I, anaphase I, telophase I, prophase II, metaphase II, anaphase II, telophase II, and products. In section two we saw Mendelian genetics; how genetics began, he inheritance of traits, the F1 and F2 generations, the dominance, the genotype and phenotype, Mendel´s law o segregation, monohybrid cross, dihybrid cross, the law of independent assortment, the Punnett-monohybrid cross and finally the probability.
In the last chapter which was chapter 15; we done a lot of projects about evolution. We talked about Darwin´s theory of evolution by natural selection and Darwin on the HMS Beagle. We studied and visualize natural selection and its steps; variation, heritability, overproduction, and reproductive advantage. In section 2 we saw evidence of evolution, fossil records, ancestral traits, derived traits, homologous structures, vestigial structures, analogous structures, embryo biochemistry biogeography, types of adaptation; fitness, and camouflage, and last but not least mimicry.
Steve Jobs once said “That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” I really get inspired with these quote because for me it is really hard to concentrate, to be organized, and to put effort in things that I really need to work hard. For example, biology it is a really difficult subject and I do not like very much the study of life and living things but I knew that I needed to pass the subject even if I liked it or not because sometimes in life you do not have choices and you are always going to have to do something you don’t like at all but it is your job to still put the same effort in things you like or in things you don’t. Finally my conclusion is that I realize that no matter what you have to work hard, and this year in biology I finally wake up.