Jason Teacher Argonaut

I'm now living in China and teaching at Concordia International School Shanghai. I'm loving my new job. Before the school year ended I applied to be a teacher argonaut with The Jason Project (www.jason.org). Well, I've been accepted, so this July 23-25 I will be aboard the E/V Nautilus ship as I take part in Dr. Ballard's expedition of the Black Sea. Check out www.nautiluslive.org to see the live event and read my blogs.

Thailand Has Earthquakes?

My students felt an earthquake last night.  Read the Aritcle that was posted on the Bangkok Post website.  Just click the title above.

Swarms of Fish Hit the Beaches of Mexico

Today, right before Earth Science class, one of my students told me about large schools of fish that showed up off the coast of Mexico during this past weekend.  Is this a result of the Japan Tsunami?  Who knows, put it sure is an interesting phenomenon.  I think sometimes as humans we underestimate how closely we are connected to this Earth and the other organisms we share the Earth with.  So enjoy the pictures and post any comments about what you think.

Amazing Photos from the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

A boat sinks into the ocean after a surge caused by a tsunami in Santa Cruz, Calif. on Friday.                    (Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP)

Tsunami and Earthquake Hits Japan

Please click on the title above to see the videos of what is happening in Japan. Pray for those people there. You can make a difference. There are many relief organizations that are ready to help. Please support them if you can.

Protein Synthesis Skit

It's great to see my middle school students try to review their science concepts in a creative way.  I look forward to the next skit that the students do.

Wow, What a wild story!

Click on the title to check out the following story.  Is this natural selection at work, or just bad luck?

Evolution and Hardy Weinberg

The Hardy-Weinberg's principal in hard for students to understand, and use to make predictions about gene frequency, but the concept can be learning without even teaching students the mathematical equation, which is what i did with my 6th grade life science class.  We did two different experiments in which we simulating breeding in a population.  Students had to predict how their population would change over time, and then collect data from 5-10 generations of breeding to see if their hypothesis was correct.  After we finished, I think students understood that populations can change over time, and for different reasons, the environments, the adaptations found within the population, disease, immigration/emigration, etc.  Above are some pictures as students keep track of how many alleles were in each generation.

How Fossils Form: A Student View

Grade 7 Earth Science Teaches 1st Graders

One of the best ways to learn is to have the opportunity to teach someone else. Some of my students presented to the 1st grade class about how fossils were formed. After showing the student a video they made, my 7th grade class worked one on one with the 1st graders making sure they understood how fossils formed, and also letting them color some pictures of extinct animals from the Mesozoic Era.

Protein Synthesis Student Project.

My students did projects to show their understanding of protein synthesis. I will post the few that I have. Enjoy.

Protein Synthesis Activity

Students are learning about the process of transcription and translation. Here are a few pictures from activities we did in class this week.

2011 Google Science Fair

Google is having a global online science fair, and you are the perfect student to enter.  Check out the rules at www.google.com/sciencefair to see if the competition is right for you.

"Green" Christmas

My school had a homeroom competition where students were supposed to decorate in front of their classrooms with a "green" (recycling) theme.  My students did such a great job, and I was proud of all the effort they put forth.  Here are some pictures of what they did.

Genetically Modified Food (GMO's): What Do You Think?

Sometimes we think genetically modified food is stuff from science fiction films.  However, my students were able to see some real life applications of GMO's, and this helped us have a discussion on whether it's OK to genetically modify cows using human DNA.  Here are some pictures of the genetically modified soybeans the students and I tasted.  Just so you know, I never would eat soy products if it wasn't for the great invention of recombinant DNA techonology.

Modeling Mitosis While We Learn About Cancer

Students learned all about how mutations in your DNA can ulitmatly lead to tumors (both benign and malignant: cancerous). As we went through a case study to learn about a girl who was infected with ovarian cancer we reviewed the process of mitosis. We learned that changes in the cell cycle can cause uncontrolled growth, and if left unchecked can result in death of the patient. Here are some pictures as we reviewed the cell cycle.

Students were lucky to hear a presentation from Mr. Ray about his survival of cancer.  Now students have a basic understanding of what cancer is, and things they can do to reduce their risk of getting it.

Random Class Pictures

So now you know, I have a weakness for cute pets!!

More Soil

Students have been learning about what soil is, how it's created, why it's important, and how to conserve it. Here students are examining soil that was collected from different regions of Thailand.

DNA

I think most people really underestimate how important it is to have healthy DNA, that is to keep your DNA seqence from being broken or changed. But right now I am just trying to get the concept of DNA structure across to my students. So far we have learned that DNA is made from nucleotide monomers (a sugar, phosphate, and a base). These nucleotide monomers come together to make the DNA double helix. Here are some pictures of students as we discussed DNA. We also make a 3-D foldable of DNA and I will try to get that picture up soon.

Reebop Baby Pictures

Some pictures of our reebop babies.