DNA -> Chromosomes-> Genes-> Trait

The next step in the study of biology with my younger students was to translate the DNA into actual traits one can see. Once again the people from the University of Utah provided a great activity, A Recipe for Traits.

Paper strips of symbols represent genetic code for the characteristics of a dog. The students pick the different strips, arrange them like genetic code, and translate the strips into characteristics of a dog, body and head shape, color,etc. Then they draw their dog. This is harder to describe than to do. They are holding up their genetic code, each short colored strip is a gene. They also are showing their drawn dogs. The pictures were taken with Shoshie's phone so they aren't the best. But the kids had fun. And may have learned something. PRM

Bad hair day

Lab 3 in Cafeteria Caper was an examination of hair samples from the 5 suspects and the evidence recovered from the scene of the "crime". One of the suspects had black hair, one red and three had bleached blonde hair.
The detectives learned to make wet prep slides and hair scale casts. I learned a lot about hair myself. The FBI site had some good info on basic structure of hair, identifying human and animal hair. I did wet preps and scale casts of Jasper and Krunk's hair to illustrate the difference to the young detectives.

The hair samples were provided by a mom, a detective and a beautician friend of the mom. It was clear that the black hair did not match the evidence which was light in color. The red hair sample was very pale and did not show the difference in the placement of pigment granules toward the medulla, rather than toward the cortex, as seen in other hair colors. The bleached blonde hair of suspects 2, 3 and 4 matched the evidence. The samples did not show the damage to the cortex that one would expect in bleached hair.

Next week will be our last lab. We will do the Lesson 4, Blood, Chromosomes and DNA Analysis. This will be a good review of Punnett squares and other things we studied last fall. Then we will have an end of lab lunch party here at our house. I hope the weather is warm enough to sit outside. PRM

Science for the secular homeschooling family

is always a challenge. Over the 8 years we have homeschooled, I have bought waaay too much science curriculum. We've tried Young Scientists Club, Singapore Science, Science in a Nutshell kits, TOPScience, Janice Van Cleave books, textbooks and some whose name I can't even remember. I have looked at even more - Noeo, MSNucleus, Real Science 4 Kids, R.E.A.L. Science. Not all of these are from secular companies.

Below are selected reviews with the caveat that Noach much prefers hands-on ,and frankly, I have given up on much writing. Until recently he hated to write anything. I think that the "too much writing" problem has been recurrent because I found the writing a burden as much as he and his siblings did. Blowing things up is preferred.

Young Scientists Club
Pro - Noach LOVED getting these kits in the mail. He could not wait to do the experiments. I was happy to find all the supplies in the box so we were never without the needed material. He did not want to do the writing in the kit but who says you have to follow all the instructions. We are homeschoolers, right? We can do it our way.

Con - I wanted more reading with the experiments so I had to plan ahead to have the right library books available to flesh out the experience. Also cost.

Science in a Nutshell from Delta Education
Pro - Complete kit with 10 - 12 activities per kit. Each kit has enough material for 3 kids. Rock Origins, Electrical Connections, and Ponds and Streams were favorites.

Con - I needed to coordinate the reading and there was too much writing for my kids. These are pricy but I have gotten most of ours on ebay. Watch for incomplete, used kits, though.

TOPScience
Pro - cheap. We did the Electricity unit for younger kids many years ago. It was fun. The circuits were made with tape, folded aluminum foil and paper clips. The worksheet/instructions were perfect. Draw your results, answer a few pertinent questions. Also we did Green Thumb:Radishes and Oxidation. I have to say that I really liked these units. I have some to use with high school chemistry next year.

Con - More reading needed.

Janice Van Cleave books
Pro - Cheap, if you can get them from the library or buy used. Many have lots of good reading material with the experiments. We have enjoyed Physics for Every Kid and Biology for Every Kid this year.

Con - I can't really think of any unless you want worksheets and I don't.

So, what did we do for the 5th Grade? For the early part of the year, we did Cub Scout science. Noach needed to complete some of the pins so we did weather, astronomy, engineering and science requirements. I added in some relevant Van Cleave experiments.

We studied evolution for a month, reading The Voyage of the Beetle and Horrible Science, Evolve or Die. We do the reading aloud rather than having him read to himself.

We have done Science in a Nutshell kits, The Human Machine and Vision and Hearing and Biology for Every Kid most recently.

Next year? First I have to decide whether I will do a group lab for 11-14 year old kids. I am thinking positively. Yesterday the mother of one of the biology lab kids asked me to do a chemistry lab next year. I'm not sure I can do both.

I'm still thinking. PRM

Who Dun It, Pt 2

Continuing with the Cafeteria Caper, we need to determine if the culprit is a member of the Philophiles, a club of science geeks who revere Philo T. Farnsworth. The club website explained that the initiation ceremony requires each initiate to eat raw liver and drink a large quantity of soda. So we will be interested in determining if the "stomach contents" found at the crime scene contains liver and soda.

All labs will run control experiments with known substances before examining unknowns, in this case the "stomach contents". This is what we did today.
Prior to the lab, Noach and I prepared the monosaccharide, disacharide and polysaccharide solutions. We did not want to make the full 700ml solution as described so we had to figure out how much solute to add to 150ml distilled water.Then we had to measure and add.We used Benedict's indicator to show the presence of monosaccharides. The light blue indicator turned orange, test tube #2, in a large amount of monosaccharide after warming in a hot water bath.
Iodine, normally orange or brown, turns black in the presence of polysaccharides, test tube #4.

We did not complete all of the control tests this week. We will finish next week and do the "stomach contents" then.PRM

Who Dun It?, aka Biology Lab 3/31

A crime scene, could be in anyone's home but today it is in ours.Someone has broken into the kitchen and vomited. How rude is that! S/he also left a blood stained calling card and a knee high stocking with hairs.
Shoshie, a CSI fan(atic, in the past) hands out the plastic gloves so everyone can gather the evidence.The evidence is bagged, labeled and sent to the lab.

This is a multi-week lab from Forensics in the Classroom. We are doing the Cafeteria Caper, adjusted to our kitchen. This group of forensic lessons centers around biology/biochemistry which made it perfect for an end of year project. Much of it will review genetics, chromosomes, Punnett squares, as well as detecting carbohydrates and protein. And it should be fun. Today was just the set-up.

There were some interesting theories as to who committed the crime and why. We'll just have to see what the evidence shows. PRM

Biology lab 3/17

It was pulmonary lab day. I used Breathing and Holding Your Breath Lab as a guide.I always modify for my group but this was the starting point.

First we made model lungs. This would be appropriate for a much younger group but the teens seemed to enjoy it as well.

A balloon makes a better diaphragm but we used a vinyl glove. A glove fingertip is the miniature lung and the stiff cup mimics the stiffness of the chest.



One of the teaching points was that the brain detects a fall in blood oxygen level and then, stimulates a diaphragm contraction that creates an intake of air, or a breath.

So they timed how long they could hold their breath. Then hyperventilated room air, thereby raising their blood oxygen level, and compared how long they could hold their breath again. Each was able to hold it a bit longer.



Then they breathed into a bag, dropping their oxygen level, and could not hold their breath as long afterward.

Each kid was encouraged to develop his own technique for this. I like this one.






Finally we measured lung capacity by doing water displacement. The competitive swimmer had the best lung volume.

Then we brought in pizza. It was a pleasant day and the kids could eat on the porch. The teens jammed in the basement. Yakov was home and always wants to take any opportunity to play with the lab drummer. PRM

Starfish dissection 3/10

Unwilling participants
I read the guide on this page and adapted it for my own. Then I laminated the instruction sheets so they could be wiped off and used again. I also found some pictures of dissected and labeled starfish and laminated those.
Girls at work
Ambulacral grooves

Biology lab today

The living room is vacuumed and the bathroom cleaned because it is lab day.

Planned-
Shoshie may share her comparative anatomy project
cow eye dissection
blind spot mapping
retinal vascular visualization
then, lunch out as usual?

Mystery class follow-up -Pictures later

Finally, the Y and Cub Scouts.

It's nonstop Monday. PRM

Grasshopper dissection and lunch

and, of course, I forgot to take pictures. Of the 2 girls and 3 boys, only one boy was willing to actually do the dissection. One of the girls thought she would dissect but the reality was too disgusting. I did the cutting of their grasshopper and the other boy eviscerated his specimen. It was possible to see much of the GI tract and the eggs, spiracles and tubules and Malpighian tubules. I think they enjoyed it somewhat but I always wonder if they learned anything.

I used these resources for preview
http://www.sparta.k12.il.us/SID/Bugs/grasshopperanatomy.htm

and I adapted my instructions from this and other sources.
http://www.smithlifescience.com/GrasshopperDissection2.htm

I printed the instructions and anatomy pictures and then laminated them. That way I can re-use them after an antiseptic wipe-down.

Then we went off to lunch. And AGAIN, we found our original destination was a restaurant that had recently closed. That makes 4 of our favorite, or at least common, dining choices to go out of business. Is this a comment on the local economic condition? Or is the restaurant business unusually prone to failure? Probably both.

One of the moms asked me if I was interested in doing labs with younger kids. I don't remember if she was specifically talking about biology or science in general. She was speaking of Noach's age group, 10 -12, maybe 9. I have to think about that. Physics and chemistry are easier to entertain younger kids than biology.

It has appeal, I must admit. But sometimes I find myself really dreading lab, especially the preparation. Younger kids also mean more parents and they get in the way. My kitchen will only accommodate a few people. Something to think about. PRM

Evolution and Natural Selection labs

We started Monday's lab with the Great Fossil Find. Here the two boys are trying to figure out what creature their fossils come from. The point was to see how biology can be unsure of the answers. You need more info. You need to work together.

We also did Teddy Graham natural selection. Always a tasty lab. After that we went to lunch together.

Tonight is the last night of Hannuka. The potatoes are grated and I am just waiting to start the frying. PRM

Back to homeschooling

We went back to work yesterday. There was less whining than I expected. But the expected amount of dawdling. Kids weren't up until almost 11. It is hard to finish if you start so late.

I spent too much time on the computer, trying to catch up with the too many blogs I read. I also need to read my book club book. The next meeting is tomorrow! I started yesterday afternoon and there is a lot to go.

I began to organize an American History course for Yakov to start in January. I am following some of the online APUSH syllabi. I wish he could take the APUSH exam but he cannot get prepared by this next May. He can certainly do the work.

Biology lab this week is genetics. I can't find a really good online tutorial. And I have too many lab options to choose from. Spongebob genetics vs dragon genetics vs pipestem babies. The choices! The decisions to make! There are worse things. PRM

And why is this post so small?

About that sock

I continue to work on it. Especially today. Hours. And hours. But I have turned the heel and am working on the foot. I wish my feet were smaller. And then I have to just do it all again! So cool. I have really enjoyed it.

Yesterday Noach ran a few errands and then I spent 2 or 3 hours getting ready for biology lab on Monday. I will be trying to teach them mitosis and meiosis. They will be able to look at mitotic cells from an onion root tip. I have created some chromosomes to demonstrate both processes. As always I just hope they get something out of the experience.

The religious school kids did the service last night at shul. They did an excellent job. We stayed for the oneg and visited with friends.

PRM

Biology, pizza, and then, engineering

Biology lab went well and very quickly. Two kids were absent and the other 4 just went to work. We were modeling DNA transcription to mRNA and then translation into amino acids. Twizzlers and colored marshmallows were involved. You know, colored marshmallows do NOT taste good. The kids like Twizzlers, though. And I have MANY left over.

University of Utah has the coolest website for DNA information. There are lesson plans and virtual labs. You can replicate DNA and there are visually appealing explanatory sites. It has really been a mother lode for me as I mined for labs and prelab instruction websites for the kids to look at.

After lab, as always, the teens headed outside to socialize. And we moms chatted. Someone mentioned getting pizza on the way home and, the next thing I knew, we were all at ZPizza. I recommended ZPizza because they have generous-sized, cool-ingredient slices at $1.50 for lunch. They were only $1.00 when they first opened but they are a tasty bargain at $1.50. Yakov met us there as he was coming home from GTCC classes.

We had a great time lunching with our friends. Another perk of homeschooling.

I had volunteered to help Noach's Webelo II den meet the requirements for the Engineering activity badge. So off we went to Cub Scouts at 6:30. Shoshie went with me. The boys got to build an electrical circuit with a Dcell battery, lightbulb and on-off switch. They also built a block and tackle and saw how that decreased the energy needed to lift a weight. And, best of all, they built catapults out of shoe boxes and launched marshmallows at the wall, and inevitably, at each other. Nasty tasting colored marshmallows were ideal for this. I even sent some home for boys to launch at their big brothers at home. Good riddance.

It was a good day. PRM

Monday morning biology lab

Most Monday mornings, I get up a bit anxious. At 10:30, it is time for biology lab. Six teens, including one of mine, comes into my kitchen and we examine, model, or discover something in biology. My challenge is to find informative and fun stuff to do. There is so much on the web these days that I have largely been able to avoid using any kind of textbook. I also have to keep at least one lab ahead so I can give them material to read before the next lab. Usually I email them web sites to look at before the next lab as well.

They are fun to be around. I really like teens. At least in small groups.

And a large part of my anxiety each Monday am is making my house presentable for company. I have to get the kitchen clean, vacuum the living room for the moms who wait and clean the guest bathroom. It's good to have to do those tasks occasionally as they are often avoided until outside pressure or fear of humiliation supervenes.

PRM