Alternate Assignment: Monday, June 3 to Wednesday, June 5

If you are not able to participate in the invasive removal project Monday to Wednesday, you will complete an alternate assignment.

Below is a link to an article by famous food/nature writer Michael Pollan about our microbiome—the bacteria that inhabit our body, outnumber our own cells many times over, and are critical to our digestive health and many other aspects of our physiology. To get to the article, click on the link below:

Pollan: Microbiome Article, NY Times Magazine

Your job is to:

1. Read the article (all 8 pages)
2. Take notes about aspects of the article that are interesting to you or generally important
3. Do a little background research to understand some of the ideas better 
4. And create a short presentation (≈ 4-5 minutes) about the author and the content of his article on Powerpoint/googledocs/Prezi/etc., to present to your classmates on finals day (Thursday or Friday)

Friday, May 31: Alternate Assignment

Below are two links to official government websites about invasive species in the state of Oregon.

Your task:  1. Choose one of the websites and dig deeply into a topic that interests you (like invasive species on tsunami debris) and look up articles or information that add onto this knowledge OR  2. Look through both sites and compare and contrast the type of information presented and the way it's presented.

Submit your response as a comment to this post. For full credit, it should be well-written and several paragraphs long, and you should cite all sources you use in your submission.

 Oregon Fish & Wildlife Invasives Page

Oregon Invasive Species Council

Invasive Species—Days 1 & 2

Here's the link to the video we're watching in class Weds & Thursday on invasive species in Oregon:

The Silent Invasion

Engineering Design Work Sample

Writing up the Work Sample: Due Thursday, May 23

You will write up all the work from your dichotomous key-making, testing, and refining as an official work sample following the State of Oregon's rubric for engineering design, which Mr. Herlands has provided you with a copy of.

To achieve a passing score, you must receive a score of 4 or higher in each of the 4 categories of the rubric. To do this, your work sample should be written using scientific language, and it should answer each of the topics below with enough description to show what you have done and what you have learned. You may use all available resources when writing up your work sample—all your work before and during the activity, any handouts from the teacher, and online resources that help you with background ideas or conclusions.

**Note: All submissions on the work sample must be your own; handouts given to you by the teacher are meant as a guide, but they do not replace you creating and handing in your own unique work.**

Topics that must be addressed, and some questions to help you focus your thoughts:

• IDENTIFY PROBLEM: Describe the problem you were trying to solve.
          *What is a dichotomous key? What is it used for? How is it similar to other kinds of trees, like phylogenetic trees or family trees, that we studied? What are conifers, how many were used, and did you use the whole trees or just a part?

• RESEARCH BACKGROUND: Describe background research that helped you design a solution.
           *You worked through a dichotomous key of some of these same conifers earlier.

• DETERMINE CRITERIA AND CONSTRAINTS: Describe the criteria and constraints that affected your design solution.
          *What are the rules of making a dichotomous key? (dichotomy= 2 groups) What are the difficulties of dividing a large number of things into only 2 groups?

• DESIGN SOLUTION: Accurately and precisely draw and label your design solution.
          *Your first key and your second re-designed key are to be neatly drawn out on an 8.5"x11" paper.

• TEST SOLUTION: Record data and observations gathered while testing of your design solution.
          *Show data in clear and appropriate format. Chart/table of results is required, additional graphical or other visual analysis improves this section.

• EVALUATE SOLUTION: Describe the strengths and weaknesses of your design.
          *Use your data as evidence to answer the prompt above. Which dichotomies were most successful and which were least successful for your testers, and why did this appear to be the case? Did you anticipate these problems when you were making the key (were they the hardest dichotomies to create), or were testers' struggles with them a surprise? Explain. This is your opportunity for reflection on the process of making a key

• IDENTIFY IMPROVEMENTS: Describe at least 2 changes that would improve your design or solve the problem in a different way.
          *Which areas did you choose to re-design, and why? Be descriptive. How did you go about this process with your partner(s)?

• REDESIGN SOLUTION: Accurately and precisely draw and label your redesign solution. Describe results of second round of testing, including difficulties and successes and/or failures in your re-design.
          *Then, describe at least 2 changes you would make to improve your design for a third round of testing, and why those changes are needed.

Scoring the Work Sample

To view examples of work samples that meet (scores of 4), exceed (5-6), or don't meet (< 4) the standards, click on the following link, go to the bottom of the page, and select any of the high school examples and scoring descriptions in each category. We looked at the "Circadian Rhythms" HIGH score shown below in class. Note that it is an inquiry work sample, not an engineering design, so it is scored and written differently than you will write yours.

Work Samples & Scoring

Here's the official State of Oregon rubric/scoring guide for your work sample:

Extra Credit Opportunity: Presentation

As in previous trimesters, you can do an extra credit project on a biology topic you're particularly interested in. You must get pre-approval by the teacher before beginning (to determine the appropriateness of the project focus and depth), but the difference is that this trimester all projects must be submitted as presentations to the whole class, not simply as a paper. Presentations must be pre-screened by the teacher before presented in front of the whole class (so, no last-minute extra credit can done on the last day of school).

You can earn up to 10 points added to a test or quiz score. The presentation will be scored according to the following categories:

Presentation skills (5): Length (2), Overall Quality (2), References (1)

Biology (5): Accuracy (2), Depth (2), Appropriate vocabulary (1)

Please talk to Mr. Herlands as soon as possible if you are considering doing an extra credit project.

Good luck!

Evolution Unit: Study Guide

The evolution unit test is on Wednesday.

Here's the study guide, due on Wednesday as well:

Linnaeus & Taxonomy

Here are the powerpoint pages of notes from Tuesday's short lecture about Linneaus and his system of classifying species into groups based on levels of similarity:

"The Day the Mesozoic Went Extinct"

Here's the link to the video from class today about the asteroid impact theory that explains the dinosaur extinction (and broader mass extinction) at the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary:

The Day the Mesozoic Went Extinct

Thursday's Assignment: The Geologic Time Scale and Life on Earth

Today you'll be exploring what we know of the history of life on earth, from the beginning of the planet's formation 4.5 billion years ago (= 4,500,000,000 years ago) to the dawn of life (over 2 billion years ago) through all the changes that have lead to the world as we know it today. The understanding of radioactive decay and its use in radiometric dating has allowed scientists to put absolute dates on the fossil record, leading us to a better understanding of when changes took place, and giving us some new insights into how those changes may have occurred.

Your assignment for today is to:

1. Explore the websites below, one at a time.
2. On the geologic timeline handout, record what you learned about major events or changes of life on earth during each of the eras/periods/epochs. Both words and drawings can be helpful in illustrating these details. Be as neat as possible.

Click on the link below and take your time going through the interactive website as you explore geologic time, fossils, and major changes on the earth, taking relevant notes as you go:

Link 1—Geologic Time Interactive

Link 2—Geologic Time Interactive

Helpful Geologic Time Link 1

Helpful Geologic Time Link 2

Please keep your filled-out handout with you—don't turn it in yet. If you need to add to your work at a later time, you can always re-visit this blog to further work through the websites. We'll go over this assignment on Monday.

If you finish before the period is done, work through this interactive site about fossils:

Fossil Interactive Site

Friday's Assignment: Mass Extinctions

Today, you'll be learning more about mass extinctions—the  major events in the history of life on earth where enormous numbers of species went extinct at the same time. Scientists use these mass to divide the earth's history into different time periods, like the ones on the geologic time scale you learned about yesterday.

Here's today's assignment:

1.  First, clink on the link below to read the article and answer questions on the handout:

National Geographic: Mass extinctions article

2.  Next, click on the links below to watch each of these videos about the two biggest mass extinctions of all time. If you have earbuds/headphones, this is the perfect time to use them—plug them in to the CPU and listen to the videos in peace! During/after watching each video, answer the questions on the handout associated with each one.

1st video: Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction: The mother of all die-offs

2nd video: Cretaceous-Tertiary Mass Extinction: Bye-bye, dinosaurs :(

Just like yesterday, take the handout home with you; they'll both be handed in on Monday. If you didn't complete the assignments in class, you can finish them up at home or in the library.

Have a great weekend!

Radioactive Decay & Radiometric Dating

Natural Selction Video: Rock Pocket Mice and Camouflage

Here's a link to the 10-minute video we watched in class:

HHMI Natural Selection Video

Main ideas to focus on:

1) Genetic mutations to the DNA code that cause changes in a trait are random events (they aren't predictable)

2) Once mutations have caused some variation in a trait, the process of natural selection on that trait can occur; Important: Natural selection is not random, but mutations are.

3) Generally, natural selection will predict that individuals with a version of the trait that help them survive and reproduce more than others will have more offspring in the next generation

4) Since the trait is genetic, offspring will inherit the favorable version of the trait from their parents, and each generation more and more individuals will have this version of the trait.

Just So Stories, Lamarck, and Natural Selection

Today we watched an animated version of "The Elephant's Child," one of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories from the early 1900s. Here's the link for the 12-minute video:

Elephant's Child animated video

The idea that an individual can change in its lifetime and pass on this change to its ancestors is known as Lamarckism, for its founder, or "Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics." All strange traits can be explained this way, as the adaptation of an elephant's trunk was in the story—stretched out by a predatory crocodile, a trunk was useful, so all elephants after that had long trunks.

Instead, biologists understand that these strange features are brought about by natural selection, a slow process that results in generation-by-generation changes in a trait. Natural selection starts with random genetics mutations that create a new version of the trait that give individuals a survival and/or reproductive advantage. Then, the genes that cause those traits get passed on to more offspring in the next generation.

How could natural selection have worked to fashion an elephant's trunk from ancestors who didn't have a trunk?

2nd assignment: Birds descended from a dinosaur ancestor that had 4 legs and no wings. Describe how birds might have first developed wings:

a) as a "Just So Story."
b) using the step-by-step ideas of natural selection. Thus, rudimentary (basic) wings must have been advantageous, even if they weren't complete like the wings of modern birds.

Important Scientists in the Understanding of Change & Natural Selection

Genetic Disorders Assignment

Single Gene Genetic Disorders

Your Task:  Research the following information about a single-gene genetic disorder of your choosing and write up a short summary on your Google account or on MS Word, which you will then copy and paste into a comment on this blog post.

1. Choose any one of the single-gene genetic disorders listed below and research it. You can highlight the disorder, copy it, and paste it into a Google search.
2. Learn if the disorder is sex-linked or autosomal and dominant or recessive.
3. Find out which chromosome the mutation is on, and what problems are caused by the mutated gene.
4. Describe the phenotype of people with this disorder.
5. Include references of where you got your information.
6. Submit your typed paragraphs as a comment on this post:
      a. Click on “Comments” at the end of this post
      b. Type in or paste your paragraphs about the disorder you chose to research and click “Publish”
      c. You will be required to log in to your Google account to create a blogger profile, which should be your first name and last initial (mine would be Ryan H), which identifies the comment as yours
      d. Make sure your comment appears as you want it
      e. Log out of your Google Account
      f. You're done!

Familial hypercholesterolemia             X-linked vitamin d-resistant rickets
Polycystic kidney disease                     Colorblindness
Neurofibromatosis type I                      Achondroplasia (dwarfism)
Hereditary spherocytosis                      Male patterned baldness
Marfan syndrome                                 X-linked ichthyosis
Huntington's disease                            East syndrome
Sickle cell anemia                                Gunther disesase
Cystic fibrosis                                      Diastrophic dysplasia
Tay-Sachs disease                               Apert syndrome (webbed digits)
Phenylketonuria                                   Niemann–Pick disease
Mucopolysaccharidoses                       Xeroderma pigmentosum
Lysosomal acid lipase deficiency         Vici syndrome
Glycogen storage diseases                  Oguchi disease
Galactosemia                                       Sabinas brittle hair syndrome
Duchenne muscular dystrophy            Roberts syndrome
Hemophilia

Non-Mendelian Genetics

Some characteristics aren't inherited in a simple dominant and recessive fashion, in which the heterozygote has the identical phenotype to the homozygous dominant individual. Although genetics gets even more complicated than this, we'll explore 3 trickier situations: incomplete dominance, codominance, and sex-linked traits.

Incomplete dominance: situation in some genes in which the heterozygote is an intermediate (blend) of the parent phenotypes. One example is flower color in carnations and snapdragons. cR= red and cW= white, and red and white individuals are homozygous. The heterozygotes made by crossing these 2 purebred homozygotes are all pink. See the diagram below.




Codominance: there exists more than 1 dominant allele; sometimes there's also a recessive allele. A prime example is with the ABO blood group. "A" indicated the presence of the "A" antigen (glycoprotein) on the surface of the red blood cells, "B" indicates the "B" antigen, "AB" indicates the presence of both, and "O" indicates no antigen is present. The O phenotype is caused by a homozygous recessive condition, while the other phenotypes are caused by the presence of one or two dominant alleles (A and B are both dominant). All possible combinations of alleles and phenotypes are listed below.



Sex-linked genes: Genes found on the X or Y chromosomes (not the autosomes, chromosomes 1-22) are inherited differently between the sexes. Generally speaking, women are XX and men are XY. Any disease associated with the Y chromosome will only be found in men, since women don't receive that chromosome; the X works differently. If a man inherits a recessive (non-functional) allele on his one X chromosome, he is out of luck—he can't make the necessary protein! Women are better off, since they need both X chromosome alleles they inherit to be recessive to show the recessive (diseased) phenotype. Check out the Punnett Square for the sex-linked condition of red-green colorblindness, which is much more common in men.