7th Graders Only - Final Environmental Sustainability Work

Hey All,

In addition to the final requirements in your journal (posted May 3rd), please do a brief self- and peer-assessment for your planned town.

For yourself and each of your teammates, please identify one thing done well, and one thing that could have been improved upon. Please be as honest and descriptive as possible.

All of your work must be handed in by this Thursday at the absolute latest!

All Students - Thursday's Quiz

Please make sure that you are comfortable working with the following information for Thursday's quiz:

Understanding the "macronutrients" of carbs, proteins, and fats. All of this info is in your notes, including:
*composition of each
*sources for each
*importance of each
*different types of each

Be able to explain the four shifts in food in recent generations that Michael Pollan writes about:
*Whole Food to Refined Food
*Complexity to Simplicity
*Leaves to Seeds
*Food Culture to Food Science

Be able to apply the concept of whole foods vs. processed food-like products (according to Pollan) to your diet.

All Students - What to have in your notebook

Hey All,

Thursday is our last science class (fight those tears). We will be having a quiz (see details in the above post), after which I will be collecting your science notebooks. From earliest to most recent, the following items from our food unit should be in your notebooks:

1. Food log
2. Research on Carbohydrate, Protein, Fat, Sodium, or Potassium
3. Notes on the food chain (from the Chaparral House garden)
4. Reflection on Unhappy Meals (see the May 5th blog entry)
5. Reflection on your diet (see the May 13th blog entry)
6. Notes on Carbs, Protein, and Fat from May 19 and 20.

Dietary Reflection

Hey Everyone,

Please do the following two analyses of a representative breakfast, lunch, and dinner:

1. (The Michael Pollan Filter) Look at each item in these three meals and determine whether you are eating whole foods or processed food-like products.

2. Based on the handout and the information that we have about carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, do you feel like you are consuming an appropriate balance of these? Remember, not all carbs and fats are equal!

Sorry this got posted so late!

Food Science

Hi All,

Sorry I'm out today.

Finish reading Michael Pollan's "Unhappy Meals", and please write good thoughtful responses to the following prompts for Thursday, May 8th:

1. As you think about your diet, do you feel that you consume more "real food" (as defined by Michael Pollan), or processed food-like products? Please cite specific examples to explain your sense of your own diet.

2. Michael identifies four problematic shifts in how our diets have changed over the last few generations. In a sentence or two for each shift, explain why it is something to be concerned about:
From whole foods to refined
From complexity to simplicity
From leaves to seeds
From food culture to food science

3. Michael gives many tips at the end of the article about how to shift from a nutritionism-based diet to eating real complex foods. Which of these tips could be most useful to you? Why do you find these tips useful? Be specific!

FYI, if you Google "Unhappy Meals" you can refer to the article if necessary.

Environmental Sustainability and Stewardship

Hey 7th Graders,

Thanks for a great week and all of your hard work. Please make sure that you have completed and handed the following work into me by Friday, May 9th:

Journal with:
1. Research Index Card
2. Reflection on the economic, cultural, and environmental importance of the Works Progress Administration
3. Completed Save the Bay Worksheet
4. Point Reyes Observations
5. Any other notes from the week
Outside of journal:
6. Conservation, Preservation, Restoration Art
7. Town Plan

Remember that we will be presenting our Towns on Friday, May 9th, explaining how our choices reflect our interest groups.

Update and Additional Information

Hi Everyone,

Keep studying, and please email if you need clarification!

Please note that we will not get to the discussion of the Genographic Classmates in Wednesday's Science Workshop, but I will make the test a bit shorter than I otherwise might to accommodate a discussion on Thursday. However, the information in the genographic reading packet will help you to further understand the project and how it uses all of the material that we have been studying.

One thing that I want to make sure you all understand is the basics of the cell theory. There are three parts, and very simply put:
1. All living things are made of one or more cells.
2. Cells are the smallest living units, which provide organization for organisms.
3. All cells come from the division of existing cells.

Good luck!

Genographic Classmates

Hey All,

Great discussion in the classes today - please make sure that you understand why and how the Genographic Project traces one's father's lineage using DNA on the Y chromosome, and the mother's using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). To brush up on this, go to www.national geographic.com/genographic and click on "genetics overview."

We will be reviewing for Thursday's test (see the previous post) tomorrow and Wednesday. Please bring clarifying questions for your Tuesday or Wednesday science workshop.

Also for Tuesday or Wednesday, you are reading the genographic results for either, A.T., N.K., or A. M-S. (initials to protect the innocent).

For your classmate, please answer the following:
1. Whose results have you read?
2. Was this student's mother's or father's lineage tested?
3. How can you tell in question #2?
4. What happened in Africa 50,000 years ago that resulted in migration?
5. According to the results, what was the pathway that your classmate's ancestors followed?
6. Do these results seem to make sense? WHY or WHY NOT?

Remember, be descriptive and analytical - you are scientists!

Test This Thursday

Hi All,

I wanted to give you a reminder about what to expect on the test this coming Thursday, February 28. If some of you missed school this week, please get back up to speed ASAP. So what's on the test? The following:

1. Cell Theory
2. The basic organelles of the animal cell, as detailed in the ANIMAL CELL THEATER, and how they work together in the functioning of a cell
3. The basic differences between the organelles in plant and animal cells
4. Information on chromosomes in the nucleus of human cells (22 number pairs + the XX or XY = 23 pairs or 46 total chromosomes)
5. Dominant and recessive traits (more to come this week)
6. DNA - sugar and phosphate backbone, nucleic acid bases (adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine)
7. The importance of the Y chromosome in males, mitchondrial DNA in females, and how mutations (markers) enable us to trace our ancestors from east Africa to where we are today.

I think that is enough. Please email me with any clarifying questions that you have about this information, or bring them to class on Monday. If you are missing notes, please check in with a classmate ASAP.

Going Nuclear

Hey All,

Sorry for getting this post up later than I wanted to.

This past week was a great one in class. I think that you all did a great job of engaging in the animal cell theater, and asking good questions as we worked to understand how the chromosomes work in the nuclei of human cells. If you missed either of those two classes, or Monday's Cell Theory information, make sure you get up-to-speed ASAP.

Remember:
THERE IS A TEST ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28TH ON CELLS, GENETICS, AND DNA.

For homework due Wednesday, February 20:
1. Spend 20 minutes researching WHAT DNA IS.
2. Spend 10 minutes writing a summary paragraph on WHAT DNA IS.

Of course, I will be interested in the content that you discover and summarize, but I will also be interested in the sources and approaches you use to research and summarize.

Have a great couple of days off!

Cellular Biology

Hi All,

Time to get busy in this genographic unit! As mentioned last week, before we get back to DNA and the genetics work being done in the National Geographic Genographic Project, We need to (re)view some basic cellular biology. In class, we discussed the five kingdoms of life, noting that Monera and Protista tend to be single celled, while Fungi, Animalia, and Plantae are typically multi-cellular. In class, we reviewed the scales of organization in humans from the organismic to the cellular/organelle levels. For homework, due Tuesday 2/5 or Wednesday 2/6 (depending on when you have science workshop), do the following:

1. Finishing reading the animal cell and plant cell handout, and generate whatever questions you have about the two types of cells, their organelles, and how they work.

2. Make a venn diagram with organelles found only in animal cells in the left circle, organelles found only in plant cells in the right circle, and organelles found in both types of cells in both circles (in the overlapping area).

See you in class!

Journey of Man Part 1 and Living Cells

Hi All,

At the halfway point of the Journey of Man, I hope that you are enjoying the scientific and cultural intensity of this film. Spencer Wells sums up the common difficulty of bridging science and culture when he asks, "What do you do when everything you believe in flies in the face of everything you know?" As a good scientist, he sets out with a set of hypotheses to gather data and test those hypotheses. Please answer the following two questions in your science notebooks for Monday, January 28th:
1. For you, what was the most profound or useful scientific information or phenomenon addressed in the film so far? How and why did it affect you?

2. What was the most interesting or profound cultural element addressed in the film so far ? How and why did it affect you?

Finally, also for Monday, 1/28, please freewrite in as much detail as you can in response to this prompt:
What are living cells?

Last Gasp for Extra Credit

Hey All,

One last chance for extra credit:

In the previous post, I gave the details for the reflection on Sylvia and David's talk on 1/10. Please follow those guidelines, and have your reflection to me by the end of school this Friday, 1/25. The talk is about 1 hour and 20 minutes long, and it is on all six of the computers in the main room in the Save the Bay folder on the desktop. The file is nearly 1 GB in size, so a high capacity flash drive will be needed to take it home with you (feel free to do so). Please be detailed in your reflections.

Reflection on Sylvia McLaughlin and David Lewis

Please respond to the following prompt in a DETAILED PARAGRAPH (1 point):
What are three things that you heard in Sylvia or David's presentations or answers that surprised or impressed you? and why did this information affect you?

Prompt #2 (.5 points):
Based on the information, what is one SIGNIFICANT thing that you can do to protect the Bay? Explain why this action has a significant effect.