www.roomd113.com/TAKS%20TEST.htm taks prep
www.s8int.com
www.khouse.org/articles_cat/2008/technical/ incredible resource about spirituality and science
www.cellsalive.com bringing invisible biology to life
www.unmuseum.org various stories about remnant species possibly still around.
Our classes will learn how living systems work. This will include cells and structure, the scientific method ( Hypothesis, the nature of science, experiments and how to design them, etc.). We will also learn the scientific and anti-scientific ideas about current evolutionary ideas such as mutations creating all of nature. Evolution 'theory' must be learned for TAKS and future college courses. Genetics is also a required topic and can be quite entertaining to learn about using traits of the student and their families. I will attempt to cover all living things on Earth and many extinct life forms. This could be anywhere from 1 to 100 million species! Ecology and the environment is another required topic. This includes how organisms interact ( predator/ prey, parasites, etc.) and recycling of different nutrients constantly such as Phosphorus, water, Carbon, and Nitrogen. Adaptations is possibly the most interesting subject in living sciences. A few examples are woodpeckers pecking twice as fast as a machine gun with their spiked tongue wrapped around their skull to turtles having no known life spans and are able to climb fences! Adaptations are advantages that allow a species to survive and reproduce. A pet quote from science history is from Einstein who stated "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious" and mystery is the reason for all science. Biology is one field where we learn so much new data that our textbooks will literally be impossible to lug around. Science data doubles every 2.5 years! So current events and the discovery of new species are often taught. Just one example is an average, quite by accident, of 7 unknown species of fish found every week!
My favorite subject if properly taught is DNA. It's discovery was in the 1940's and 50's and here is what we know for sure:
1.It is a digital, self replicating, self correcting, submicroscopic supercomputer that knows how to design every organism from a mushroom to a whale to a tree!
2.Your DNA, from one single cell, would stretch to the MOON!
3. Your DNA code if written in book form would fill the Grand Canyon with text!
4. The biggest mystery in biology, with nothing a close second, is the invention or accidental invention of DNA. Science simply has no idea where something this complex could come from.
Following DNA as a favorite topic is camouflage in various species. This seems somewhat uninteresting until you see my photos and remember one very important fact: No matter how incredible the detail, THE ANIMAL OR PLANT HAS NO IDEA WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE! even its behavioural camouflage is usually inborn.
On a serious note, almost the only children that fail the TAKS or class have 1 or both of these habits: truancy or cheating. With that being said, let's see some great photos and facts.
