Today we finished up the first section on how a cell prepares to divide and moved into the Eukaryotic cell cycle. We started with the following daily questions. After that, these are some of the slides that we used to answer the cell reproduction and Eukaryotic cell cycle notes.
Monday January 14th
Which Cell provides the most efficient surface-area to
volume ratio and WHY?
the FIRST cell (the smallest) because it would have the largest surface area to volume ratio. This is important because molecules are moving into and out of the cell all the time, and the more surface area there is for substances to travel the more efficient the cell would be.
Before a cell can divide what must the cell make a copy
of?
ALL of the DNA found in the cell must be copied so that each new cell has a full copy (not just half)
Draw out what a duplicated chromosome would look like
labeling the different parts. Then
describe how the two sides are related.
There IS hope even if you didn't do to great on your midterm.
I gave you all the following announcement - But..........For BlOG READER ONLY (and any body who has me from 5th period on) I changed the date to TUESDAY instead of Monday!!!
Midterm Exam
Corrections
The DEAL of
a lifetime – RIGHT here – RIGHT now!!!!!!!!
You have the
opportunity to gain half of the points back that you missed on the midterm by
doing the following. You will
WRITE OUT the question (you don’t have to draw diagrams or charts) and WRITE
OUT the answer (don’t just tell me the letter)
Bring this
back by Tuesday – With your
original answer key and you will receive a half point for each corrected
answer.
Remember –
these questions do NOT require you to just “look up” something in your notes or
the book.FIRST you need to tear the
question apart and determine what I am asking.THEN take the information I have given you and APPLY it to the situation
I am giving you!Very few of these would
be found directly in your notes or the book, it requires more thinking than
that.
If you decided to do this hopefully you picked up a copy of the exam. If not - Check Edline, I put an electronic copy on there as well.
In addition, there was an end of the nine weeks extra credit option. This was answering writing prompts from a National Institute of Healh publication called "The New Genetics" For each full page you complete it was worth 5 bonus points. (So you could recieve up to 25 bonus points on this alone!!!)
Today we were back to keystone exam questions and I grouped you up to go through these daily questions and not only tell me the correct answer but HOW you got to the answer (this required much more thinking!!!) Which sequence of terms represents a decrease from the greatest number of structures to the least number of structures present in a cell?
(1) nucleus → gene → chromosome (2) gene → nucleus → chromosome (3) gene → chromosome → nucleus***** Correct answer - How did you get their? FIRST you had to do decide which term represented the LEAST number of structures in a cell. A cell only contains ONE nucleus. Within that nucleus are MANY chromosomes (humans have 46) and those chromosomes contain THOUSANDS of genes. (4) chromosome → gene → nucleus
Chromosome is to nucleus as DNA is to (1) cytoplasm (2) gene** Correct answer - Look at the relationship between Chromosomes and the Nucleus. Chromosomes are structures found inside the nucles (they are a smaller part of the nucleus.) All of our DNA is made up of smaller sections known as genes. (3) cell membrane (4) chloroplast
Many cells have a nucleus that contains chromosomes. These chromosomes carry genes that are composed of (1) hormones (2) DNA molecules** Correct: Why??? Because it was a Vomit question - Chromosomes are made up of DNA - its right from our notes! (3) minerals and water (4) undigested food molecules
After that we continued through our discussion of the reading you did as we move through the basics of the DNA replication and how a cell prepared for cell division.
With the exception of a few students, you have all taken the midterm exam. As of now there will be a 2% curve on all tests because the highest score was a 98% Everyone will receive these two % points. You will ALSO have the opportunity to correct your answers to receive half of your points back. Stay tuned for that tomorrow along with an extra credit option.
When you weren't taking your exam, you were reading through the next couple sections in the book and filling out a reading guide on these. Today we started with the following daily questions.
Thursday January 10th
About how many cells does your body make EVERY day?????? 2 Trillion
Where do these cells come from? Pre-existing Cells
What limits the size in which cells can get? The Surface Area to Volume Ratio and the DNA
BEFORE a cell divides, what MUST happen first?? All the "equipment" a cell needs to function needs to copy (including the DNA) After this, using the online book we went through the first couple pages of our first guided reading. Remember, you ALL have access to this book by going to edline, clicking on the Online Book link and using one of the usernames to log on. (here is the list of them, it doesn't matter which you use, they were automatically generated).
Use any of the following user names To access the online book go to http://my.hrw.com
These are the following assessment anchors that I have based the test on. Keep in mind I will be more concerned about OVERALL processes on this. See the description below each anchor for more info on what I will expect.
PLEASE bring your notecard with you tomorrow, put as much as you want on it, but remember, these are the KEY areas I will be assessing!
Be able to tell me where photosynthesis and cellular respiration occur. Be able to describe how each organelle (chloroplast and mitochondria) are involved in different energy transformations.
Be able to discuss how light energy is transformed into chemical energy during photosynthesis and then during cellular respiration how one organic compound it transformed into another more usable form of energy for the cell to use. Know the products and reactants of each as well as how the two processes are related.
Be able to discuss how there is energy stored in ATP and that the splitting off of one phosphate group releases energy for the cell to perform biochemical reactions
The second part of
photosynthesis does not depend on light and therefore is known as the
Light Independent.
During this stage Carbon
from Carbon Dioxide is added to an organic molecule found in the chloroplast to produce
Glucose. The enzyme that
catalyzes this reaction is called Rubisco
Where does the energy come
from to fuel this reaction?
From the ATP and NADPH created during the light dependent reaction.
I then had you answer today and Friday's daily questions on another sheet of paper (using your notes) so there is NO reason anyone should have scored less than an 8/8 on that!
We moved into the cellular respiration notes. Since I want to get through this before break I printed out an outline and you filled that in as we went. Here were the slides (Not every class got through each of these, but we will by tomorrow.)
Please be familiar with this diagram and what it represents - We will
spend more time on this tomorrow
Obviously I don't expect you to know all these steps of glycolysis, the reason
i even put this in the notes was to show you how the carbons are transformed
and also to show you how many enzymes are required to aid in these. I do
not want you to forget how important enzymes are in biochemical reacions.
Again - these last two slides will NOT be tested on in detail but it
did give me a chance to show you where/how this all happens and once
again point out important enzymes.
During the first stage of photosynthesis there was a
transformation of energy. Which of
the following best describes this transformation.
A. ATP
to Chemical
B.
Chemical to Heat
C. Heat
to Chemical
D.
Light to Chemical - Light energy (in the form of electromagnetic waves) is transfered into Chemical energy in the form of different energy storing molecules.
This energy transformation resulted in two energy-storing
molecules known as ATP and NADPH. How do these molecules store energy? Within the chemical bonds of these molecules. Recall we have been focusing a LOT lately on the importance of understanding that energy is stored in chemical bonds and when those bonds are broken, energy is released.
After this we finished up notes on photosynthesis going through the following slides. These focused on the light independent reaction (also referred to as the dark reaction because it does not NEED sunlight - but it can still occur when the sun is out)
During the first stage of photosynthesis energy is
captured in the form of Electromagnetic Waves.
The colors that we SEE are the wavelengths of light
that are Reflected.
The energy that is captured causes what to happen in
the Thylakoid membrane? Electrons get excited.
That causes Water to be split into H+ +
O2.
First we emptied all the contents of our photosynthesis bags
We were able to SEE how this happened while we did the following activity. Check out the images and their descriptions to see what we did.
Then water molecules are split to form Hydrogen ions
and oxygen.
Oxygen molecules bond with each other to form O2 which
is the Oxygen we breathe
After this we continued with the light dependent reactions. This included the following slides of notes and activities:
Adenosine TRIphosphate is a molecule made up of
THREE phosphate groups. This is created by added a phosphate
group (the red bead) to a molecule of Adenosine DIphosphate ADP
(the yellow bead)
Why did I WANT you to know this?!?!
I REALLY want you see that energy is stored in the
chemical bonds of organic molecules. We will actually
use this molecule during the next stage of photosynthesis
to provide energy.
NADPH was created by adding a hydrogen ion (blue) to
a molecule of NADP
Then.... SOME classes were blessed with watching the following rap that is actually a VERY accurate descrpition of the stages of photosynthesis.......
THEN - some of you watched the following video that gives you an even better demonstration of how light is absorbed and reflected. This concept really can blow your mind, but it is an awesome demonstration to see!
Diagram the flow of energy
through an ecosystem labeling the following things: Names of the two processes,
where they occur, the reactants and products of each and how they are related.
Then -in WORDS describe the relationship between the products and reactants of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. The PRODUCTS of photosynthesis are the Reactants of Cellular Respiration (and then the Carbon dioxide that we breathe out will be used again in photosynthesis.)
After This we started into the Photosynthesis Notes. These are the slides that we got through. Please check Edline for all the notes!
*There are two main
processes that occur that allows energy flow in an ecosystem. The first is photosynthesis, which
captures energy from the Sun and converts Carbon Dioxide into Glucose.
*The second is cellular
respiration. During this process
cells take the carbon from Glucose and turn it into Carbon Dioxide.
After this, we went through the Basics of Bioenergetics notes. Instead of having you write these down we went through the packet and filled in all blank spots. The area I focused a lot on was the diagram that showed the flow of energy in an ecosystem.
This is crucial for you to understand how energy is neither created nor destroyed but it does change forms. ALSO make sure you know that during cellular respiration ATP is made but that is NOT light!!! This diagram has ATP and Sunlight both in yellow just to show that they are both forms of energy. You do NOT make light though!!
After going through the first section I had you answer the "Quiz" questions and turn in for credit.
You are all working well on the directed reading that I made up for you so I gave you time to finish up the first two sections today. We will start into the notes on this chapter on Monday. I did start you off with the following daily question.
How do organisms use and store energy? They store energy in the form of chemical bonds found in organic molecules. The breaking of these bonds releases energy for the organism to use during biochemical processes.
We started today with an overview of how you scored on the CDT's. Please refer to yesterday's post as to what everything means. In the near future I will be giving you each individually your scores. The goal is to see progress throughout the year as we take this test at least 2 more times.
After that we got into today's daily questions:
Thursday December 6th
Ultimately, all the energy
that we have originates from where?
The Sun
What is the name of the
process that turns energy from this into chemical energy?
Photosynthesis
What macromolecule is our
MAIN source of energy?
Glucose
What molecule is that then
turned into for our cells to use?
ATP
After this you did introductory work out of the book and we will start into the first section of notes tomorrow.
Many of you have been complaining about how difficult these CDT's were. REMEMBER - we are only a quarter of the way through the content that it was testing you for! This is just to see where you are at. ALSO keep in mind though, if you scored in the green area that does NOT mean that you are ready to actually take the keystone. It is a nice starting point but by the time the test comes around I would like you all in the blue in all four areas!! No complaining guys!!
This is a sample of the data that I receive after you have taken the exam. I am glad to see that there was a majority of you in the green in the first two sections. We have covered the first section and half of the second section (Bioenergetics, Homeostasis and Transport). I am also not CONCERNED that many of you were in the low green or red areas on the last two. These are topics that you have covered in previous science classes but will not learn in detail until the second half of the year. My goal is to see you improving throughout the year. Again - Just because it is green does NOT mean you are Keystone ready, but it DOES show me that we have a nice starting point!
For the next couple of days we will be taking our first CDT exam to get a baseline of how you are progressing in this class. We will be taking this at least two more times as we continue through the year. Hopefully I will see progression as we take them throughout the year!
