Cool Crab Video

Check out this video of a crab molting.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

Test Preparation Materials - 7th Grade

Here are the documents I handed out on Friday and today:
1. Topics for the test
2. Variables Practice
3. Practice for the whole test

Let me know if you have questions.
And, keep working on your study guides for Thursday.

Cumulative Science Tests - 7th Grade

We will be having our cumulative science tests on Friday (6/18), Monday (6/21), and Tuesday (6/22).

Remember, you are putting together your study guides and that these are due to me by Thursday, June 17th.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Abiotic Factors and the Oil Spill - 7th Grade

Your homework for tonight is to apply the turns we reviewed today (abiotic factors: temperature, light, water, soil, pH, weather) to the area around the oil spill.




Be sure to bring in notes.

Test Corrections - 7th Grade

As we discussed in class, you can do test corrections on the Cells and COL test you just got back.

Here's what you do:
1. Do you corrections on a separate piece of paper (not on the test itself).
2. Attach the corrections to the test.
3. Corrections -- For each wrong answer, please do the following:
a. Why is your answer wrong?
b. What is the correct answer?
c. Why is that answer correct?

You can turn these in to my by this Friday, June 4th.

Diffusion and Cells Study Guide - 7th Grade

Here is the study guide for our upcoming quiz on Diffusion and Cells.
Diffusion and Cells Study Guide

Remember, our quiz is on Friday.

Gulf Oil Spill Scrapbook

As we discussed in class, the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a catastrophe for that ecosystem.

To help with our study of Ecology, I am asking that you put together a scrapbook of articles that report on what happened, what effects these events are having, and what is being done to clean up the mess.

Here are some things to keep in mind:
1. The scrapbook can be real or digital (or a combination).
2. You can add other articles that help us to make sense of what is happening. For example, you can compare this spill to other oil spills. You can also report on what this ecosystem was like before the oil spill.
3. There are awards in the following categories:
a. Most number of articles
b. Most useful and detailed scrapbook
c. Most creative

Have fun. I look forward to seeing your work.

This is due this Monday, June 7th.

7th Grade Homework for Wednesday May 26th

You have two pieces of homework for tomorrow:
1) Bring in any gummy candies you promised to bring in.
2) Explain diffusion to an adult at home. Be sure to include the three ways we talked about it.
a) Stuff goes from more to less
b) Stuff goes from higher to lower concentration
c) Stuff moves down a concentration gradient.

Cell Video

Here is the cell video we watched in class today.
Please use it to review for Monday's test.

Cell Test - May 14th

We will be having a test on cells this Friday.

For the test, you should know:
1) The organelles for plant and animal cells -- what they are, where they are, what they look like, and what they do.
2) Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis -- the formulas in both words and chemical formulas.
3) Cells and the COLs -- how the cell performs the Characteristics of Life.

More Data Visualization - Period 3

You have done such a good job working with visualizing data. And, then, I saw that the folks at Google had developed their own tool.

So, this week, I want you to play with it and then write a two-paragraph reflection on what you did, what you learned, and what you think might make it even better.

You can work with the tool here:
Google Public Data Explorer

This work is due by Friday, May 14th.

Drawing Contest

I just saw this information about a drawing contest. The task is to design a sun to go packages of 8th Continent Soy Milk.
Winners can get $1000 for their schools' art programs.

Here's the info:
http://www.8thcontinent.com/sun/

Cell Organelle Flash Cards - 7th Grade

To help us learn about the cell organelles, I want us to make flashcards for each organelle we are studying.

For each card, please include the following:
1. The name of the organelle
2. What it does.
3. A picture. Please draw the picture. You can trace a picture, but I want you to make it.

These are due Thursday, April 29th.

Dealing with Data - Part 3 - Period 3

After exploring the Many Eyes site and playing with some of its visualizations, I thought it was time for you to make your own.

Your job for this week is this:
1) Go to the Many Eyes website: Many Eyes
2) Click on the link called "Data Sets."
3) Look at a bunch (between 6 and 10) of different kinds of data sets. As before, there is a search feature, so you can find a topic that interests you, like "sports" or "pets."
4) For the data sets you liked, create a visualization, save it, and post the link here. Then tell us about them on the blog. For each: a) put the link and b)say why you picked it and what you learned by visualizing it as you did.

This is due by Friday, April 30th.

Have fun!

Cells Alive Webquest - 7th Grade

This week, you will be working with a cool website called Cells Alive to begin to explore the parts of cells and how cells manage those COLs.

Here is a link to the activity:
Cells Alive WebQuest

You job is to put it into a Word document (or GoogleDoc) and work through this. It is due by Friday April 23rd.

Have fun!

Weekly Science Article Report - Cells - Period 3

We are just beginning our study of the cells.

So, for this week's Weekly Science Article Report, please find an article that addresses cells in some way and report back to us about it.

As a reminder:
1) Cite your article
2) Write a brief (no more than 2 sentence) summary of the article.
3) Write a reflection on the article, sharing about what your learned, what surprised you, and what questions you had. You should also add how it connects to what we have been studying in class.


This assignment is due by Friday, April 23.

Dealing with Data, Part 2 - Period 3

After exploring the New York Times thingee showing data on cab rides at various times of the day, many of you suggested other data you would want to "see."

IBM has put together a website called Many Eyes, which will let you do exactly that.

Your job for this week is this:
1) Go to the Many Eyes website: Many Eyes
2) Click on the link called "Visualizations."
3) Look at a bunch (between 6 and 10) of different kinds of visualizations. There is a search feature, so you can find a topic that interests you, like "sports" or "pets."
4) Pick the three you like the most. Then tell us about them on the blog. For each: a) put the link and b)say what you like about it.


Have fun!

Dealing with Data - Period 3

I found this cool article and set of graphics in the New York times. 

They used data from taxi rides to create graphics that show the behavior of taxi riders over the course of a week.

You can find it here:

Taxi Flows

Your assignment this week is to play with this data and see what you can learn from it. Then, write a brief reflection (two paragraph) that address the following questions:

1) What did you learn from the data about people's behavior or how to display data that you have collected?

2) What type of data would you like to see represented this way?

This is due by Friday, April 9th

Have fun!

COL Project - 7th Grade

I have put together the requirements for our COL project.

You can find them here:
Characteristics of Life Project

Please look them over carefully.

The project is due by Wednesday, March 17th. Monday, March 22nd. Friday March 26th

Have fun!

COL Project

We are starting to work on the Characteristics of Life (COL) Project.
The first step is to come into class on Monday March 8th with your top three choices of organisms that you would like to study.
These should be organisms that are unusual AND that you know little about.

Here are two places to help you in your search:
Tree of Life Project
Encyclopedia of Life

Have fun!