A diagram of a neuron and its functions.
Balloon rockets, naked eggs, and biodomes ... so many hands-on ways to learn!
Interactive Notebooks? Warm-Ups? Bell Ringers? Exit Slips? Whatever you want to call them, they are a great classroom management tool and a wonderful way to teach, review, and reinforce vital concepts in biology. A few days ago I wrote a lengthy blog post about my success in using "warm-ups" for my biology classes last year. Click this link to see that blog post. In this post I described the materials I used in my first unit of the school year. This blog post is about my second set of interactive notebook inserts or warm -ups. This set covers a unit on cell structure and physiology. This ended up being a set of 59 warm ups or pages that cover cell structure and function, photosynthesis, respiration, and mitosis and meiosis. As discussed in my previous blog post, these activities turned the first few chaotic minutes of my class into a time of meaningful learning. But the absolute best thing to come out of this was that it created a fabulous study guide for my semester exam. The content that is covered is evident from the titles: Cell Structure and Function Titles (16 pages): · The History of Cell Studies · Cell Structure 101 · The Animal Cell · The Plant Cell · The Size of Cells · Surface Area to Volume Ratio in Cells · Internal Organization of the Cell · The Cell Membrane · Ribosomes and the Endoplasmic Reticulum · Mitochondria and Chloroplasts · The “Other” Organelles · Plant versus Animal · Cellular Organization · Transport Across the Membrane 1 · Transport Across the Membrane 2 · Thinking Critically About Cells Photosynthesis Titles (11 pages): · Energy Flow · Chemical Energy and ATP · Introduction to Photosynthesis · Light! Pigments! Action! · The Chloroplast · Electron Carriers · Overview to the Stages of Photosynthesis · Light Dependent Reaction · The Calvin Cycle · Alternatives to the 3-Carbon Pathway · Thinking Critically About Photosynthesis Cellular Respiration Titles (14 pages): · Chemical Energy and ATP · The Relationship Between Photosynthesis and Respiration · Overview of Respiration · Glycolysis · The Fate of Pyruvic Acid · The Mitochondria · Overview of Aerobic Respiration · Krebs Cycle · Electron Transport Chain · ATP Accounting · Respiration Recap and Review · Fermentation · Comparison of Photosynthesis and Respiration · Thinking Critically About Cellular Respiration Cell Division (Mitosis and Meiosis) Titles (18 pages): · Introduction to Cell Division · Chromosomes · The Cell Cycle · Let’s Draw the Stages · Name That Stage! · Interphase · Prophase · Metaphase · Anaphase · Telophase / Cytokinesis · The Mitotic Spindle · Differences in Animal and Plant Cell Mitosis · Results / Importance of Mitosis · Asexual versus Sexual Reproduction · Cell Division and Chromosome Number · Meiosis · Comparing Mitosis to Meiosis · Thinking Critically About Cell Division The above pictures show the student pages. Each is also accompanied by a teacher answer key. Click above picture to see my product listing on TeachersPayTeachers.com
If I were in Harry Potter World, I would expand time between when I teach Volumes of Revolution and the AP Exam. This way, I could do a hands on project to actually embed the knowledge in the student brains. But alas, I'm just stuck with regular old days and a time-crunched teacher and students who are teenagers. This year, I had my students do this project for the days they were in class. It's the first time I've done it, so I made notes in my document for when the inevitable things went wrong this year that I want to improve upon for next attempt of this project: You'll be shocked to learn that students can't convert between ruler tick marks and decimal numbers. SHOCKED, I tell you. You will also be floored by the fact that directions are for "other people", when you are doing a project, you should just keep asking about the next step. Anyway, I liked how they turned out: It was a good mix of freedom for their creativity, an in-depth practice of regression and degrees of polynomials and piecewise functions and graphing. It was a sad awareness of just how shallow some of the students' knowledge was of how to find a volume of revolution. I don't have a grading rubric (everyone is a winner!), but I think I may add one next time.
I’ve been rethinking all of my lessons this year. My hope has been to get my students to reason more. To think independently. To not be sponges. I’d like to think it…
Turn these two free resources into invaluable tools for teaching AP Biology - the Curriculum Framework and Free Response Questions.
Verzweiflung, Einsamkeit, Erschöpfung: Kaum jemand illustriert menschliche Gefühle so berührend wie der japanische Künstler Avogado6.
If you are looking for a new rhetorical analysis activity, I've got just the thing for you: a collaborative rhetorical analysis poster project!
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Three years ago, I fell and got a concussion — my fourth. I started drawing Little Brain comics about my traumatic brain injury so family and friends could understand what I was going through. While…
As I graded 500+ essays for the 2020 exam, I created a skills list of roses and thorns (positives and negatives) to help inform our instruction in AP Lit for the upcoming school year using the new rubric. I have compiled a list of important writing skills that we need to focus on in the upcoming sc
Easy at home science experiments using simple materials: salt and water experiment, egg in salt water, salt and ice. No-prep quick STEM activities kids love.
This year I will be teaching The Phantom Tollbooth to my Pre-AP classes, and I could not be more excited! I didn't teach it last year because, well, last year was crazy. I happened to read the book during our MIRP time and LOVED it! I don't know in which quarter this will happen, but I'm gathering/creating resources already because I'm THAT excited. One of the characters is not just two faced, he is twelve faced! Therefore, he is known as the Dodecahedron. I stumbled onto the following concept on Pinterest and made my own activity for Mr. Dodecahedron. Can you say cross curricular? I can see a discussion of the other geometrical affixes happening at some point. Anyway, here is what I came up with! (Link to template here) My example. The kids will spend more time on theirs than I did on mine :) Work is so much fun when you can do it at home with coffee and Facebook! Eleven more days until school starts. Woohoo!
These STEAM activities are perfect for homeschool classes or co-ops. Put science, technology, engineering, and math into hands-on homeschool STEM learning.
“A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
Rube Goldberg (1883-1970) was a scientist and cartoonist who produced satirical work on people's overly complex problem solving methods. In his comical cartoons, he linked together chain reactions with simple machines to complete basic...
Testing median, radial and ulnar nerves
Try this algae and pollution experiment with your kids when you're studying ecology. All you need is pond water, jars, and some pollutants to add to it.
Here are 7 great ideas to teach ecosystems, food webs, and food chains to your students.
Free essays, homework help, flashcards, research papers, book reports, term papers, history, science, politics
Unleash the power of OneNote for your Projects. Checklist, SWOT, Schedule, Meeting Agendas, Strategic Planning, Manage Issue & Risk.
Do you have stakeholders, investors, and other important figures hounding you for updates on your project(s)? Wouldn’t it be great if you could professionally, efficiently, and attractively present them with the information they’re asking for without having to scramble to throw something together? Well, with our Project Status Reports now you can! Featuring 24 awesome and professional templates, you’ll now be able to quickly and painlessly provide updates without having to stress overthrowing something together. So, go ahead and relax because, with these templates, you’ll leave inquiring minds totally impressed! Features - Includes 24 ready to downloads templates for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. A great resource to have on hand for anyone in charge of projects with investors and stakeholders involved. Helps foster stronger relationships between investors/stakeholders and project managers. Templates covered - Templates Included in the Download - Client Status Update Excel Template Daily Status Update Daily Status Update Excel Template Daily Status Update Word Template Daily Update Template Excel Detailed Project Status Report Template Email Update To Manager Email Update To Stakeholders Excel Weekly Status Report Template Executive Summary Template Word Executive Summary Template Monthly Status Report Template Monthly Status Update Template Multiple Project Status Report Excel One Page Weekly Status Report Template Online Business Dashboard Program Status Report Excel Template Project BRMS Approval Required Project Health Card Template Project Scope Template Project Status Report Excel Project Status Report Heatmap Project Status Report PPT Template Project Status Report Project Status Update - Zumba Project Update Brief Outlook Template Project Update Detailed Outlook Template Project Zumba - Open Action Items Project Plan Sharing Template QA Status Report Template Excel Quarterly Sales Report Template RAG Status Definitions Simple Project Status Report Status Update (24-05-2021) Status Update Request Template Task Update Action Required Team Status Report Template Team Status Report Dashboard Timeline Status Report Template Weekly Status Update Minutes of Meeting Weekly Status Update MOM Outlook Template Weekly Status Update
Everyone is looking for project planning templates. Here are five templates and resources for templates anyone can use.
Project Management is a skillset that marketers need, but few have proper training in. Here is a list of the best project management training for marketers.
The Best Tool to Keep Your AP Studio Students On Track Classroom Management % %
Are you looking to pass the PMP exam or PMBOK? You need to check out these PMP cheat sheet and free PMP PDFs resources before they are taken down
What's the difference between a Project Manager and Scrum Master? This article clearly lays out scrum master vs project manager roles and responsibilities.
Three years ago, I fell and got a concussion — my fourth. I started drawing Little Brain comics about my traumatic brain injury so family and friends could understand what I was going through. While…
As I graded 500+ essays for the 2020 exam, I created a skills list of roses and thorns (positives and negatives) to help inform our instruction in AP Lit for the upcoming school year using the new rubric. I have compiled a list of important writing skills that we need to focus on in the upcoming sc
Hey there, Matt from Digital: Divide & Conquer, and I just wanted to share why you should be pushing project based learning with your students and in your classroom. I’m sure you’ve seen or read plenty of articles about it, but I felt like a little first hand knowledge would go a long way with this. In fact -I’m going to let you know five of my favorite double-secret probation reasons why PBL needs to be in your classroom ASAP. Secret ONE: Picture Books Kick Butt! You know those love affairs you have with books...well, you get to continue them with PBL. Picture books are perfect (for almost every single grade level). No matter the topic or idea, there’s a book for the topic. Books are the "easy button" of PBL. They’ll pull in your learners, give them ideas, and expand their knowledge of subjects. You use picture books for every subject, so why not continue that when there’s project based learning involved. Secret TWO: Pop Culture Happy Hour! Pop culture isn’t just something I have to read about on magazine covers while waiting in line at the grocery store. Nope. Pop culture can be a driving force because nowadays EVERYTHING becomes sensationalized (this is good and bad, don’t get me started). Find those pop culturally relevant moments and turn them into projects and problems for kids to solve. Some of my favorites involve zombies, food trucks, and lost islands in the Pacific that might have dinosaurs. Photo by @shammanaj One of my all-time favorite PBL activities is seeing if students can design their own tiny house. The past couple of years has been a tiny home explosion on television and in cities around the world. If you want your students to understand area, perimeter, and design a house, this is it. Not to mention -you can throw in real-world pop culture from HGTV shows and even have home builders come to school. Secret THREE: BFFs with STE(A)M Science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics....if there was only a way to weave them all together...wait a second... Project based learning extends to this STEM realm because it is the constant force for problem solving. Rather than just hitting each of the identified content areas in STEM, adding PBL portions helps take it to the next level. If you’re already implementing STEM go further and target more than one area of content. This could take a little time, but it’s worth the effort. Secret FOUR: Attack of the Arts Quite possibly my favorite part, the arts play such an important role in PBL because so much of it relies on students using their creativity, imagination, willingness to explore, and opportunities to take chances. I highly encourage my students to draw and design throughout all the stages of PBL (maybe more than most) but I feel it’s necessary and allows students to really get into what they’re working on and learning. When I say "the arts" I'm not just talking about drawing. I'm including visual design, storytelling, music, technology, and so much more. The arts are a crucial and under appreciated part of PBL. Secret FIVE: It Is For All Learners If someone tells you that PBL is just for the talented and gifted, (take a deep breath) and feel free to laugh at them. But maybe not too much. Seriously though, if we’re only giving “top” students a chance at PBL we’re missing out. All kids need opportunities to show off their own differentiated sets of skills. And the chances are pretty great that many kids are craving opportunities to show that they think differently. Give them that chance. As a special education teacher, PBL gives me unlimited abilities to engage my students with the material and concepts AND give them space to create and solve problems in ways I never even imagined. PBL is worth it. So if you're looking to unlock double-secret probation reasons of project based learning that no one ever told you about check out some of my PBL resources to get you started. It's easier than you think. You can find more from me at Digital: Divide & Conquer where I tackle project based learning, technology, and the space in between. SaveSave
