Mitosis/Meiosis with playing cards

Science of Tatooing

Science 10 'Remind' App

Science 10 - Period 4

Biology 30 - Period 5

Why you should take notes by hand — not on a laptop

Read article here

2014 St. Joseph Canoe Trip

Final Exams

Before final exams I ask the kids to hand in their phones ... quick count netted 24 iphones, 1 blackberry, 1 Nexus, and 1 Android.  Total cost estimate was about $24 000 in phones on my desk.

Comments like this:

My last question to my students online often involves some interesting responses.  I liked this one:

10. Well, it’s been a lot of fun, hasn’t it? A bit sad to see you go. Enjoy your life, don’t worry about the money, be good to your friends and family. I hope you learned a bit of biology and can take something from this course that you can apply to your life. I don’t believe in saying goodbye….so until we ‘meet’ again.

Solid advice. Also I want to express my gratitude because I have eliminated some of my previous flawed belief systems thanks to your course! I was suspicious of GMOs and feared ‘chemicals’ in my food, some of which I now know are naturally occurring in our bodies. I learned that ‘chemical’ isn’t synonymous with ‘scary toxic sludge they’re using to poison us!!!’ because everything is made up of chemicals after all, and no, not being able to pronounce an ingredient does not indicate that it’s bad for your health. Now I am equipped with a more educated perspective with which I can differentiate between science and pseudoscience. Thank you and take care! :)

First Nations girl chooses traditional medicine over chemo

First Nations girl chooses traditional medicine over chemo

A very interesting story to follow.

E-cigarette ban for minors proposed in U.S.

E-cigarette ban for minors proposed in U.S.

We trust our students with...

Chemistry - strong acids and bases, Bunsen burners, sharp glassware..

Biology - scalpels, needles, microscopes
Home Ec. - ovens, knives, blenders, microwaves, hot oil
Shop - drills, saws, planers, solvents, welders
General - driving to school, driving friends to school
Sports - wrestling, football, archery, northern canoe trips

... but we don't trust them with free accessible wireless internet availability ... 

So long as there are people who claim homeopathy works, we must never tire of explaining that it doesn’t

Australia's Health and Medical Research Council has produced a 300 page report stating that homeopathy is useless.  Read the article below:

LINK TO ARTICLE

A polarizing view on 'kids these days' - Thoughts?

Mitosis images in Biology 30

Student images of mitosis taken with iPhone today.

SAT overhaul to make essay optional, end penalty for wrong answers

The SAT college entrance exam is written by 1.7 million students and will be undergoing a significant series of changes in the next few years.

Read more here

Chem 20 Vid

We will watch the first half of this video today:

Cellular Respiration rate of meal worms

Respiration rate = %/min/g

Slope of graph = y = %/min

I challenged my Bio 30 students to calculate the carbon dioxide and oxygen requirements for 3 meal worms.  The Vernier probes worked excellent. 

Using water baths of different temperatures the metabolic rate was graphed and best fit lines were used to compare temperature effects. 

Chem 20 Video - History of the Atom

A bit of Pokemon morbidity ... with a Science based twist

I'm not a game player and really have no idea what Pokemon is but a student shared this video with me and I thought it was interesting.  Enjoy.

Significant Digits in the Olympics? Skiers Should Never Tie.. Or should they?

Read the article: HERE

It was the first gold-medal tie in Olympic alpine ski racing history. And although the racers seemed to take it in stride—“I’m sure glad I get to share this gold with Tina,” says Gisin—the fact is, they didn’t actually tie.