Learning Objectives: 

• Double Helix nature of the DNA molecule and ‘DNA backbone’ consisting of Sugar and Phosphate groups.
• Molecular Diagram of Nitrogenous Bases which, as organic compounds, leave the Carbon Atoms out.
• How A ‘goes to’ T and C ‘goes to’ G. and that those letters are used as short-hand for the names of those bases.
• How to create a Nature Journal (see examples linked into Kristin Link’s page at right). 

New Assignments: 

Page 1 of your nature Journal: Each entry will include the date, 3 observations of animal life (butterflies, birds, squirrels, etc.) 3 observations of plants (trees, flowers, bushes, dead or alive), 3 descriptions of sounds (bird songs, wind in the trees, etc), 3 questions you might have (I wonder what the birds are talking about? I wonder why this plant looks so dead) and three ‘action observations’ (the birds are swirling around the tree, the beetle is crawling up the stalk, etc). The student should practice their best art skills and utilize color (Clark provides colored pencils). We’ll do this once a week for the first two trimesters. i.e., there should be 14 entries total when collected at the end. We’ll do every two week check-ins as well. 

Weekly activities and discussion. This first week of school both introduced the first ‘big topic’ of discussion, human genetics and inheritance, and other secondary topics of interest including Nature Journaling (to capture Spring as it unfolds).

On the first day of class, Clark’ showed this youtube video of DNA ‘in action‘, highlighting all of the various ‘actions’ that take place inside and outside of the nucleus and as an introduction to some of the processes which we’ll be learning about (transcription, translation, etc.).

The first formal lecture was centered on introducing students to the DNA molecule itself including the double-helix structure (as illustrated in this youtube video) and the basic nature of the phosphate/sugar ‘backbone’ and the concept of a Nitrogenous Base. Students had the text books open and took notes while Clark moved between the whiteboard, the video screen and their text to highlight various points.  (see a model of the DNA molecule here)

Also introduced was the concept of creating a Nature Journal. As Spring unfolds (early this year thanks to Global Warming!).. we’ll see various plants ‘leaf out’, come into bloom and we’ll see various birds species migrating through our area. Of special interest this first week, is the Red Winged Blackbird with large flocks of males flying around campus right now.

Learning Objectives: 

• Double Helix nature of the DNA molecule and ‘DNA backbone’ consisting of Sugar and Phosphate groups.
• Molecular Diagram of Nitrogenous Bases which, as organic compounds, leave the Carbon Atoms out.
• How A ‘goes to’ T and C ‘goes to’ G. and that those letters are used as short-hand for the names of those bases.
• How to create a Nature Journal (see examples linked into Kristin Link’s page at right). 

New Assignments: 

SP Strawberry DNA Extraction Lab. This lab had students first crushing and then extracting DNA from strawberries, which appeared as white filaments floating in the alcohol layer. 

Article: Oldest Human Genomes Reveal how a small group burst out of Africa. Students were given a ‘hard copy’ of this article to Annotate during class time.

Page 2 of your nature Journal: Each entry will include the date, 3 observations of animal life (butterflies, birds, squirrels, etc.) 3 observations of plants (trees, flowers, bushes, dead or alive), 3 descriptions of sounds (bird songs, wind in the trees, etc), 3 questions you might have (I wonder what the birds are talking about? I wonder why this plant looks so dead) and three ‘action observations’ (the birds are swirling around the tree, the beetle is crawling up the stalk, etc). The student should practice their best art skills and utilize color (Clark provides colored pencils). We’ll do this once a week for the first two trimesters. i.e., there should be 14 entries total when collected at the end. We’ll do every two week check-ins as well.

Weekly activities and discussion.

• Structure of a Nucleotide
• Comparison of Deoxyribose to Ribose
• Hydrogen bonds in water
• Hydrogen bonds in DNA
• The California Buckeye
• The Wooly Mammoth will live again! 

Using the websites above as talking points, students were encouraged to draw sketches of their own while Clark discussed covalent bonds (as being very strong) and hydrogen bonds (as being very week). Also focused on, was the molecular structure of the Nitrogenous bases vs the Phosphate groups vs the Deoxyribose molecules.. as well as the structure of alcohols during the lab on Extracting DNA from Strawberries. 

Learning Objectives: 

• Genes become Traits through the following sequence.
• Transcription (the copying of the gene into RNA) is followed by:
• Translation (the assembly of proteins based on the Genetic Sequence). 

New Assignments: 

• Transcription of genes on-line simulation  Students viewed the first half of this web simulation, in pairs. After selecting a ‘gene’ to transcribe, the students wrote down the DNA sequence and the associated mRNA sequence which was generated by the Transcription process.
• Class DNA model building project/activity. Each student in the class chose one of the Nucleotides shown in here. After being given a piece of card-stock, the students copied the nucleotide onto the cardstock, providing mirror images on both side. (note: a nucleotide contains a phosphorus group, a sugar and a nitrogenous base!).

Weekly activities and discussion.

Discussion/review of Molecular Structure of DNA and specifically, how ‘genes’ appear as a sequence of Nitrogenous Bases. Secondly, that in order for Genes to become ‘stuff’ (proteins).. a ‘copy’ must be made first.. Technically speaking it is not a true copy, but instead a ‘complimentary copy’ with A-T and C-G. The entire process of first ‘copying’ the gene is called Transcription. Also discussed, was that the copy was made of RNA instead of DNA, and the differences between them.

Activity: predicting a mRNA sequence based on a DNA sequence. 

Activity: Students worked to make ‘copies’ of Nucleotides, the goal being to assemble the four-class set into a large, class DNA model. Example of Nucleotide to look at.  Students also used the illustrations on page 294 of the in-class text book.

Nature Journal Entry #3. Please review the Nature Journal posted previous weeks for examples of what yours should start to look like!

Also, two new Aps you can install on your cell phone.

• I-Naturalist
•  
• Merlin Bird ID

Learning Objectives: 

• Translation (the assembly of proteins based on the Genetic Sequence).
• What are amino acids? What are enzymes?
• How does the Transfer RNA (tRNA) work to bring together Proteins? 

New Assignments: 

• amino acids and peptide bonds
• Enzymes and Hydrogen Peroxide – CER – Google Docs
• Creature hiding in California lake reveals evolutionary secrets from 650 million years ago (See the original article here) 

Weekly activities and discussion.

Introduction to enzymes, transfer RNA and how proteins are assembled.

The Miller-Urey experiment

What are enzymes? (explained along with exploring DNA replication)

What are Amino Acids 

From DNA to Protein

Learning Objectives: 

• The building blocks of Life.. Where do they come from? How are they formed?
• What can we learn from Asteroids that we cannot learn from rocks on Earth? 
• What is a Virus and how are they different from Bacteria? How do they operate? 
• review guide for test 1_spring 2025

New Assignments: 

• To Benu and Back. An overview of the mission to a near-Earth asteroid. Students were to follow along and answer questions on the guided question worksheet: OSIRIS-REx mission question sheet
• Another short video with better graphics (but less science).
• Notes on these three videos introducing Viruses and how they related to our studies of genetics. 1. What is a Virus? 2: Dr. Dave gets detailed! 3: What are Bacteriophages. 

Weekly activities and discussion.

This week began with a discussion of the space mission OSIRIS-REx which was an amazing engineering feat in, and of itself. The aspect that was most relevant to our class, was the discovery of the ‘building blocks of life’ on the Asteroid, bolstering the theory that Amino Acids occur naturally in our Solar System, and are not limited to Earth.

Next, we delved into VIruses and how different they are from bacteria. Also discussed was what ‘bird flu’ meant, and that all ‘flu’s’ are fundamentally, Bird flus. Students watched the three short video clips at left and were instructed to take notes while Clark added his overlay of commentary.

Learning Objectives: 

• Meiosis
• Mitosis
• Haploid vs diploid
• Dominant vs recessive alleles.
• review guide for test 1_spring 2025
• NOTE! Students who construct a page of notes based on the Review guide, will receive extra credit on the test for doing so. This is not for using during the test, but simply as evidence that the student studied for the test. Must be hand written and address topic described on the Review Guide 

New Assignments: 

• Notes on the video: Fresh!  This film considers our industrialized food production system

Student notes 

• student notes_Feb12_haploid

Weekly activities and discussion.

This week began with a discussion of the space mission OSIRIS-REx which was an amazing engineering feat in, and of itself. The aspect that was most relevant to our class, was the discovery of the ‘building blocks of life’ on the Asteroid, bolstering the theory that Amino Acids occur naturally in our Solar System, and are not limited to Earth.

Next, we delved into VIruses and how different they are from bacteria. Also discussed was what ‘bird flu’ meant, and that all ‘flu’s’ are fundamentally, Bird flus. Students watched the three short video clips at left and were instructed to take notes while Clark added his overlay of commentary. As an addition to this conversation, students watched the documentary Fresh which highlights how our industrial food production system has increased the number of antibiotic resistant bacteria because of the unregulated use of antibiotics in farm animals.

The last major topic of the week was an introduction to Dominant and Recessive Alleles and the processes of Meiosis and Mitosis in creating haploid or diploid daughter cells. As part of this discussion, students tasted PTC paper to determine if they carried the gene which allows a person to taste it. 

Learning Objectives: 

New Assignments: 

Student notes

Weekly activities and discussion.

Discussion: How protein folding gives them shape and function.