HOMEWORK:
Period 4 - no homework tonight

Periods 1, 2, 3:
Read The Dust Bowl, Human -Caused Soil Erosion, p. 1
Fill in the blanks on pages 3 & 5.
Remaining pages (bubble sheet and writing) are due on Friday (so do it all tonight if you want to get it finished early).

Homework for tonight:

Reflection: Minimium 5 sentences

a) What is soil?

b) What could be wrong with Chris' garden?

My classes rock!! (That's a geology joke......   :  )

Homework for Wednesday 3/18/15:

Copy the following vocab words into your science notebook:

Clay - microscopic particles of rock found in soil.

Decomposing - breaking down.

Nutrients - basic chemicals from organic matter that plants can use to feed and grow.  Ex: N, P, K.

Organic matter - decomposing plants, animals, fungi, bacteria.  Matter is organic if it is, or was once, alive.

Particles - small pieces of matter. Ex: Broken particles of rock found in soil include sand, silt and clay.

Rock - Naturally-formed solids made up of one or more minerals. Ex: granite, sandstone, basalt.

Sand - largest particles of rock in soil, other than pebbles, grains of sand can be .05 to 2 mm in diameter.

Silt - particles of rock smaller than sand found in soil.

Weathering - how natural forces wear down rocks over time. Ex: break down from wind & water or from falls; from freezing and warming cycles, and from chemicals like acid.

Been a long time since a Blog post!  It's been so long, the snow is almost melted. 

So, tonight's homework is to fill in 4 Frayer diagrams to learn the earliest set of vocab words in our soil unit.  The vocab words should be picked out of the word bank in the top right corner of the homework sheet. 

Homework:
You guys rock!  Great effort on our Kahoot! 

Tonight: Take a few minutes to read through your study guide to lock down your background knowledge of genetics.   Test is tomorrow, Thursday, March 12.

EXTRA CREDIT AVAILABLE: As stated on Remind service, you can get 10 POINTS EC on your test if you study 30 minutes or more for your genetics test, as stated in a note signed by a parent or guardian that you bring me tomorrow.

Selected answers from Study Guide are below.  If you need one that isn't shown here, ask me by email this afternoon ( mgoldsmith@ci.stamford.ct.us  or MGoldsmith@StamfordCT.gov), or before the test tomorrow!

2. What are some differences between Sexual reproduction and Asexual reproduction?

a.    Number of parents                             _____2_____                  _____1___

b.    Compare parents to offspring  each contribs1/2 of genes   __identical_______        

c.    Cell types taking part                _sex cells_                   body (somatic)

d. Number of steps                      does not apply--error 

e.      (blank)                                            does not apply--error

f. Which organisms reproduce in each way (answer next parts with yes or no)

g.    Can humans?                           __yes__________        _no______

h.    Can plants?                              __yes__________        __yes__________

                  i.     Can bacteria?                           ____no__________    __yes____________

17. How would you symbolize the dominant gene for yellow peas seeds?  Y

21. Genetic shorthand: If round shell shape is dominant and shown by R, then how would you write the symbol for the wrinkled recessive gene? __   r

24. What is probability?

The likelihood of each possible outcome. Ex: Mendel found that the probability of a seed being green was about 1 out of 4 in every third generation of pea plants. Also, a branch of mathematics studying the type and number of results to expect in a given number of trials or chances.

 

      25.  What does it mean to say that something is “random”?

unpredictable, without reason or pattern

26. Contrast Marfan's syndrome (discussed in class) with AIDS/HIV or Ebola or Influenza or  Tuberculosis or Hepatitis C (studied in our Cell Biology unit).  How are they caused?
 Marfan's Syndrome is a genetic disease, caused when a person inherits the genes that, when expressed, cause the symptoms (heart trouble, elongated features, loose joints, unusual height).  AIDS/HIV, Ebola, Influenza, Tuberculosis or Hepatitis C are caused by a virus (except that Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria). 

29 . How are meanings of the terms similar and/or different?
                                                 




32. What is Diversity?  In the context of Genetics, "Diversity" refers to a

variety of traits that can be found in different offspring from two parents. As we examine more traits, we find even greater diversity.  Diversity is beneficial because when members of species have different advantages, abilities and strengths, some of them are more likely to survive no matter what challenges they face.  In other words, diversity makes it more likely that the species will survive. ..

1.      36. Nature vs. nurture - Scientists often argued about whether an organism’s traits are caused by the world around them (ex: strong from lots of exercise) or because of the genes they inherited from their parents (ex: lizard’s green skin, dog’s blue eyes).  Answer (1-5 sentences each) these questions on a piece of paper that you attach to this guide:

a.    Is a person’s body height caused by genes or environment?  For example, are 2 adults who never grow taller than 5 feet likely to have a child over 7 feet tall?

Can their child grow taller, however, because the child got better nutrition than the parents, or because the parents were exposed to disease or toxins that the child avoided?

For example, height is affected both by genetic inheritance, and by environmental exposures to toxins, infectious diseases, and by good nutrition (or the lack of it), etc. 

37. Do you agree with this statement or not: “…effective effort drives development. In other words: people get smart by working hard”. From The Efficacy Approach, http://efficacy.org/Strategy/tabid/246/default.aspx#/?CSSTabID=1, The Efficacy Institute, 2012. 

Yes -  I’ve seen students and others working harder and quickly showing objective improvements in test scores and other indicators of mental function.  There is plenty of scientific evidence to back up the idea that people can improve their intellectual function by their effort.