Date
6/18
LAST ENTRY OF THE YEAR. Okay everyone, congratulations for surviving the Covid-19 experience. I'm still collecting final projects until midnight tomorrow. Thank you to those that did not procrastinate. Here is the final list of projects that people have either done, or have signed up for. Please don't select a topic that somebody already has. If you haven't done one yet, this is your last chance. I will not accept anything after tomorrow, understand? Other than that, have a wonderful summer. You deserve it!
6/12
Again, here's an updated version of out projects. GENTLE REMINDER: This project is worth 10% of your grade, so don't elect not to do it. Even if you're a senior, I'm still accepting them through next week. By the way,
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SENIORS. I truly will miss you, but all I can do now is wish you good luck as you move on to the next adventurous stage of your life. Take the positive lessons and memories from IHS and continue to learn and grow.
6/9
Here's an updated version of our projects, I love the ideas so far. Some people have finished already!
6/8
Sorry about the late start today, I just got back from a four mile hike this morning. Hopefully you've come up with an idea for your project. I'll be posting a table like this that shows all the Marine Biology people from all the classes combined. This way you can see what other people are doing, get inspired, and hopefully avoid repeats. I don't mind if two or three people have the same idea, but if 10 kids all want to do the same thing then it becomes a problem. Anyway, send me your ideas ASAP.
6/5
Nearing the end folks. I can't get to the school until Sunday, so if you still want your journals they should still be there through Saturday.
Okay, first of all, let's consider the Aquatic mammals assignment you got on May 29th as your last regular assignment. A few of you already sent that in, but now I'm officially announcing that it's due. Okay, so send it in and say Woo-Hoo! I really, really appreciate those of you who did everything. I know this has been weird, and it's been an adjustment.
I've decided to skip the "Final" and just have a Final Project. Don't let that name scare you. Here are the rubrics and here is the scaffolding/guideline. I'm not going to show you an example because I want you to be original. Please let me know if you have any questions or problems, my "office hours" are pretty much 24/7. Have a good weekend.
6/3
SCIENCE JOURNALS! I know some of you would like to get your science journals, which I happened to collect the day before Governor Inslee's declaration to stay at home! I put them all in a big box that's now sitting right in front of the main office. There's a cardboard box out there right now with a sign that says "SCIENCE JOURNALS" and the stacks are organized by period inside. But, I can only keep it out there until Friday evening. So, if you care about keeping your journal at all, go get it in the next couple of days. If you're not a senior, I guess you can come by early at the beginning of the school year next year.
Anyway, tomorrow I'll be giving you your last regular assignment. Afterwards we'll be getting into your FINAL PROJECT, and then, before you know it, the actual Final Exam (which will be kind of a joke really. But hopefully a good one.)
6/2
Please watch this video of a baby beluga playing with an American dipper. It will cheer you up.
6/2
Here are the assignments that have been given since the stay-at-home routine began. Thanks to those of you who have kept up with everything despite our not meeting in the class, I know it's been a pain. If you've missed something, turn it in still! I'll be putting scores in this week, and this is when we assess if you have remained engaged and can keep your quarter grade. If you get a zero for something but you're pretty sure you turned it in, let me know.
6/1
I can't believe it's June! Hope everyone is safe (we have more to worry about than just viruses now) and happy. I have a lot to do in the next couple of days with inputting grades and assessing possible incompletes. As I told the Biomed classes, I really do commend those of you who have kept up with this unconventional, and often frustrating, way to do school. Thanks for staying engaged and trying to get something out of this year. All I want you to do at the moment is to look over the Aquatic Mammals handout from Friday and check the names to make sure you are researching the right critter. In some cases you don't have to be that particular (for example, the adaptations of the harp seal are pretty much the same for almost every other seal.) Anyway, finish if you haven't, change names if necessary, but don't turn this in quite yet.
5/29
Time to review a little. This handout shows some of the critters you've learned so far, plus some others. Some are in the "Semi-Aquatic" stage, others in the "Beyond Amphibious" stage, and the last row represents two mammals in what I call the "Fully Committed" stage--where they are so adapted to an aquatic lifestyle that they couldn't even move on land. Do what you can to identify these animals and fill in their adaptive characteristics to living in or moving in the water. Save it for next week, and have a great weekend.
5/28
You all watched the little videos yesterday, right? Okay, now it should be fairly easy to do this assignment on pinnipeds. Turn it in sometime tomorrow. Get outside today, if you get a chance. Springtime is beautiful.
5/27
The next step, beyond being semi-aquatic, is what I call "Beyond Amphibious." This refers to animals (primarily seals and sea lions) that still have the ability to move on land, but with less mobility than the semi-aquatic ones. They are much more adept in the water. The first thing to do is be able to distinguish between seals and sea lions. This little video distinguishes between the two groups (although I hate the robot girl voice of the "narrator.") The next step would be to learn of the different species within each group. This shows the variety of seal species and their ranges, and this shows the sea lion species. The final step is to explain just how the seals came to be. Did they evolve from dogs who loved the water? Not quite, so watch this video. Please watch all of these today, so when the assignment comes tomorrow, you're not scrambling. Have a wonderful day.
5/26
Your assessment for the Aquatic Birds unit is a pretty straight-forward Identification Quiz of the 20 species. You will need the assistance of an adult for this. If you are extremely camera shy, or have some sort of technical difficulty with the final step, have a parent email me with the result. Have fun, and send it to me by tomorrow.
Next we move on to Aquatic Mammals (everyone's favorite.) We start with the Semi-aquatic mammals--those that are amphibious and are just as mobile on land as they are in the water (unlike seals, and definitely unlike whales or manatees.) You're supposed to first notice how certain adaptations, both physical and behavioral, enable these critters to live this way. So, as an easy introduction, just watch these videos on this select group of critters. This is an "Awww, so cute" assignment.
5/21
For the fourth and final step of your bird table, I'm going to have you do some virtual-online-socially distanced-non-contact-armchair bird watching. Really, it will be fun. All you need to do is find a YouTube clip of each species, paste the link/URL into the last box, and write 2-3 things you learned about each species in that box also. Again I did the first one as an example, so you only have to do 25. But you have all weekend to do it (Monday's a holiday.) Send me your finished product by Tuesday morning (or earlier if you get restless.) Here's the modified table again.
5/20
On to the third step for your bird table. We begin by going to another teacher's bird lecture, I'm sure he won't mind, heh heh. His name is Mr. Gray, I don't know him, and he teaches way over in Kentucky. Sounds like his class already went to their Aquarium (probably the Newport Aquarium.) Anyway, start by watching the entire (only 18 minutes) Power Point lecture, taking note of six bird groups that are not in our 20 bird selection. Next, within the new bird groups, select a specific species. So, for example, in our 20 birds, we have Glaucous-winged gull (most common in Puget Sound), but Mr. Gray is using the laughing gull. Anyway, come up with a specific example of the six groups, and paste a picture and a short list of recognition characteristics. I did the first one as an example, so now you only have five to go. Here's the table again (newly modified.) We still have another step tomorrow, so nothing to turn in still.
5/19
It sure is a cold May (I guess because of the sun's lock down.) Back to the birds. Now go back to the table you started for Step Two, and use this Power Point to fill in the next column. Please pay attention, because the order in the power point is not alphabetical like the list & table. Still don't turn it in, and have a wonderful Tuesday. Enjoy visiting the school today seniors.
5/18
Thanks for turning in your marine reptiles quiz. You may have noticed that #6 on the first page was a faulty question, because there was NO CORRECT ANSWER. This was not a trick question, it was just a typo (question "b" should have ended with female, not male.) Thanks to those individuals who spotted the flaw and brought it to my attention. Yes, it will be a free question.
Anyway, we now move on to Aquatic Birds. I hope you like birds, because you have to learn 20 of them. Wow, a whole 20! First, open the first link to see your list of 20 birds, then start to fill in this table. You only have to do step one today. We'll work on the next step tomorrow. For now, just start getting familiar with their names and how they look. Happy birding! Don't turn anything in today, we'll wait for the whole table to be finished.
5/15
Your quiz is only two parts (normally it's seven!), so make sure you see both pages. Since it's take-at-home-open-note, I've included things you may not have learned yet, but are important to the study of herpetology. So do your research before you answer. Take your time, and send it to me by Sunday evening. Have a great weekend!
5/14
Where are your TURTLES? Go back and check the 5/8 announcement. I guess I didn't make it clear that it was an actual assignment to turn in, and only a few people did (thanks for your excellence, btw), but the majority did not. So, sorry I was unclear, and if you haven't done it yet, please do so and turn it in.
Speaking of turtles, we usually do a fun activity called Turtle Tracker based out of the Sea Turtle Conservancy. So, if you get bored or curious, go to that site and investigate what they do. Also, click on Turtle Tracker to see who's being tracked. But it's not an actual assignment.
Otherwise you have the day off as I work on Q3 grades, HOWEVER we are going to have another "quiz" tomorrow (which happens to be my son Benji's 17th birthday), so gather all your marine reptile resources together. Also, turn in your Mary Anning assignment tomorrow.
One more thing, because of time considerations, we had to leave out one reptile group (the crocodilians.) There are only two crocodilians that prefer salt water: The salt-water crocodile from Australia, and the American crocodile from the Gulf of Mexico. So, sorry to those the crocodile lovers out there.
And feel free to send Benji a happy birthday greeting.
5/13
Now that you've learned about ancient marine reptiles, it's time to look into their discovery. This is an important topic, because the discovery of the ichthyosaur coincides with historical changes (in the 19th century) in women's role in science, as well as general beliefs about the history of life on Earth. So, learn about Mary Anning, who was younger than you when she discovered the first ichthyosaur fossil. These are the four (super short) videos to watch:
Some background info in a cool cartoon.
More info in this short documentary about women paleontologists. Very interesting and inspiring.
More facts with that fast talking guy (all true, except when he calls a cuttlefish a fish.)
Her discovery of a pterosaur (hosted by good 'ol David Attenborough.)
If you can't find all the answers in these YouTube videos, don't worry, there are many other videos and articles on her.
Since I have a lot of grading to do, let's not turn this in until Friday.
5/12
At this time we usually learn about ecological niches and convergent evolution and the Mesozoic Era, because there were Dinosaur Age marine reptiles that were quite spectacular. At least learn about the ichthyosaurs starting with this easy little introductory video. Then watch this one, which is much more informative. Nothing to turn in today.
5/11
Time to compare the Chelonians, all things turtle. This assignment is due tomorrow, so have fun. It's the same process you did with the sea snakes & sea kraits, just a little more complicated.
5/8
Happy Friday, and happy turtle time. Now that you know about sea snakes, and the one and only sea lizard, let's turn to the next reptile group: Turtles! There are only 7 species of sea turtles, and I'm only going to have you learn 5. So there are two things to do with this turtle paper. 1.) Identify them and 2.) List, alongside the illustration, the identification features. Use this dichotomous key to figure that out.
Then go out and get some sunshine this weekend. If you go anywhere cool, send me pix. Don't forget Mother's Day Sunday!
5/7
Hopefully yesterday you taught yourself something about marine iguanas, so now check your answers with this Power Point.
I had to shorten it so I could post it, so not everything will be on it. Hold onto this (still no need to turn it in.)
5/6
Now that you know about sea snakes & sea kraits, it's time to learn about other marine reptiles starting with the only marine lizard--the Marine Iguana. Here's the worksheet we normally do on the critter, so go online and answer as much as you can. I'm not going to have you turn this one in, but the information on it will be on our upcoming Marine Reptile quiz (more on that later.)
5/5
Happy Cinco de Mayo a todos. Now that you've read the article on sea snakes, I'd like you to do some research to compare sea snakes to sea kraits (most people just assume sea kraits are sea snakes) using a Venn diagram. Use this template for your report. For their differences, research these five topics:
- Their anatomy (are they both equally adapted to swimming?)
- Their reproductive strategies.
- Are they poisonous? If so, what type of venom do each have?
- Their ancestry/ terrestrial relatives.
- How many species of each group are there?
Include an illustration, and turn in Wednesday evening.
5/4
Happy Monday. Now that we've mastered Oceanography, it's time to learn about different groups of vertebrates that have "returned to the sea." The first will be the reptiles (lizards, snakes, turtles, and crocodilians.) Starting with snakes. As you know, snakes are terrestrial (land-living) animals, but some have moved into the water and become either semi-aquatic, or full on marine. Start teaching yourself about sea snakes (and sea kraits) by reading this article.
5/1
Happy May Day! As promised, here is your first Covid era quiz. Since this is a take-home-open-note quiz, feel free to use whatever resources you can (but please have the integrity to avoid texting your friends to "compare answers.") Take your time, and please don't send it to me until Sunday. I need to finish a lot of grading, and then input grades on Saturday.
4/30
Now I'd like you to learn about water pressure in the depths. This video does a good job of explaining how organisms survive the extreme pressure of deep water. So does this one. And this one includes even more information. These are fun to watch and you may want to take notes (tomorrow's quiz is "open note", but that basically means you can use all your resources, including the Internet, to answer questions.) The central question is "What adaptations do organisms have that allow them to survive in the high-pressure depths?" But I also want you to be able to answer questions about how pressure changes with depth, how exploration of the depths is possible, and what animals live on in the super deep parts of the ocean.
4/29
Buenos dias. Most of you are doing an excellent job with this distance learning, so thanks for being committed students. Now that you've learned a little about tides, it's time to learn a little about ocean currents. Namely:
- What, by definition, is an ocean current?
- How are currents initially formed?
- What factors influence how currents move (their speed & direction)?
- What do currents move around (besides sea turtles in Finding Nemo)?
- What are some of the major ocean currents, and what are they usually named after?
Check in again tomorrow and Friday because I need to explain some details about how I'm grading this semester. And on Friday we going to have a quiz! Yes, this will be an at-home-open-note quiz (I know, very unusual.) We will be wrapping up our Oceanography unit on these topics:
- Zonation
- Seafloor features
- Tides
- Currents
- Water pressure
4/28
Now that you know something about ocean tides, it's time to show you can read a Tide Chart. So here's a simple exercise for you to do today. You should be able to turn this in sometime today. Also, thank you to those who know it's easier to grade these when you fill in your answers with a different color.
4/27
Welcome to Week Two of distance learning. So far (most of) you are adapting well to the circumstances and I'm receiving lots of assignments. Now, in case you're wondering about the adaptive grading situation, this is the advice we got from the capital.
To continue learning about Oceanography, here's an assignment on the basics of Ocean Tides. All you have to do is copy the information down from this Power Point presentation (Questions and Answers.) Since I have most of your journals, just copy it onto a separate sheet of paper. Then send me an email confirmation.
4/24
Two things:
1.) Most of you have turned in your Deep Sea Adaptations assignment, but 90% of you didn't quite read the directions. All four examples were supposed to be FISH. Most of you used the squid for counter-illumination (because the was the first example you saw), but a squid 'aint a fish! So, don't erase the squid, just add a fish (with an explanation) to that category. In the "choice" category, many of you selected an amphipod or an isopod demonstrating gigantism. I saw some amazing illustrations, but again, those are invertebrates, not fish.
Soooo, if you need to append your assignment do so and resubmit it this weekend. Make sure you write REVISED in the subject window.
2.) Three weeks ago you were assigned a little poster project to combine Ocean Zonation and Sea Floor features. Did you do it? If not, do so this weekend. If you want to see my (rather sloppy) example, here it is.
Okay, have these both sent to me by Sunday evening. Otherwise have a good weekend.
4/23
Nothing new today, just finish up your Adaptations assignment and turn it in today. But make sure to check in tomorrow.
4/22
This will be a two day assignment because it should take more than 25 minutes to do a quality job. Feel free to contact me with questions (my "office hours" are open-ended.) Since this is a two day assignment, email your finished product by Friday.
4/21
Good morning. Today's assignment is very enjoyable and that is to watch two TED talks on oceanic organisms that either fluoresce under colored light, or actually glow. In fact, that's your first lesson: Learn the difference between been FLUORESCENT vs. being BIOLUMINESCENT. Watch the fluorescence one first, and then the bioluminescence one. Now, since we're only supposed to assign 25 minutes of work per day/class, I'll leave it at simply watching the videos today. But please do watch them in their entirety, they're quite fascinating.
4/20
Okay young quaranteens, here's your first assignment for our distance learning: Review of Oceanographic Terminology. I'll be posting a weekly plan shortly, but in the meantime you can just work on this and turn it in via email (take a picture or scan), by tomorrow.
4/8
Hey everyone, these are the essential standards for the rest of the year. When we begin distance learning on April 20th, these are the topics we will be studying.
4/1
This little comic is more relevant to Biomed, but it can pertain to anyone really.
3/31
Here's an instructional video about ocean zonation that is fairly good (maybe not the best.) It's only 13 minutes, so watch the whole thing. I would suggest finding others on the same subject, and feel free to send me a link to one you find particularly interesting/clear/informative. There are many such videos on this topic.
3/28
Now that you've read the website, perhaps you may want to attempt this little project: Ocean Zonation mini-poster.
3/25
How is everyone doing? This certainly isn't the way I expected the year to go, and I sincerely feel bad that you're missing out on some (usually) stimulating learning opportunities. At this time we should be learning about Ocean Zonation, how the ocean is subdivided into levels depending on depth and sunlight. So, just begin by reading over this website and getting familiar with the terminology:
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-geophysical/chapter/layers-of-the-ocean/
Also, do me a big favor and let me know if you have internet access from home. Just send me an email with the message "I have internet access at home."
Thanks everyone. Now, when it's not raining go outside and take a nature walk (I'm making my 16 year old walk with me every day), maybe read a book or two, laugh at the latest social distancing memes, catch up on Netflix, help your parents with gardening or those home fixits that usually get set aside.
3/13
NO SCHOOL FOR A WHILE, but check back periodically for any updates.
3/12
- Worked on these chapter 11 questions using these pages in the book.
- Virtual Beach-combing lab. For the first part, match the specimens you see at the lab stations (this link and this link) with the descriptions of the worksheet.
- Began Zonation unit; Notes on The Intertidal Zone
- FISH UNIT TEST
- Movie day: the Fish episode from the BBC Life series.
- Reviewed for the upcoming Fish Unit test
- Catfish notes
- Ichthyology lab practical
- Discussed some of the opposite pairs; Watched film clips of various examples (flat fish, Antarctic ice fish, lion fish predators, troglobites, and blob fish.)
2/25-26
- Finished projects (shortened periods due to assemblies)
- Homework version of the Fish Opposites
2/24
- Fish Opposites group project
2/14
- Journal Notes (N-16) on the Colors of Fish
2/13
- Page Two of Fins handout
- Went over the Chap. 8 questions packet
2/11-12
- The Many Functions of Fins handout, page One
- Shallow Seas movie (first 30 minutes)
2/10
- Food Fish notes
2/7
- Chapter 8 questions packet
2/6
- Discussed the lab
- Notes on "Fish are Food" species
- Started the Fins packet
2/4-5
- Integument Lab
2/3
- New seating charts
- Discussed Coastal Seas
- Started the Fish are Food cut outs
1/28-29
- Finished the Perch Dissection (save the lab packet please)
1/30
- Corrected the Watershed Test
- Started the Coastal Seas video
1/31
- Finished the Coastal Seas movie, taking notes