Updated Course Packet

Not much has changed. I streamlined the course overview, re-arranged a couple of items, included details of our new lab policy and changed the dates to reflect the 2008 Regents exam administration.

I changed the grading policy a bit as well. I lumped together tests, quizzes, projects, and classwork because I found that in a given marking period, I assign radically different amounts of each of the categories - sometimes there are just a lot of tests and not many projects, for example, which gives an undue weight to a single project if I gave each category its own percentage. As a group, they are now 70% of the grade, which is what they would add up to if I separated them out. That allows me to keep the 20% for labs and 10% for homework. Both of those components are fairly consistent.

Course Packet 2007-8

Are You Tone Deaf?

No, I mean literally. This was a fun online music test. Took about 15 minutes. I can't stand to hear myself sing, so maybe that in itself is a sign that I'm not actually tone deaf - I KNOW I can't sing.

The test involves listening to a series of paired musical snippets. Each pair is either identical or slightly different, and you have to identify which are the same and which are not.

Check the results of the study for a nice histogram. Potential tool for a long term study for a student project as well. It would be nice to get a better breakdown of the results - false positives vs false negatives, for example. You may be able to contact the study authors and get more details. I suspect I would do better on a second trial, but I won't explain why - it might influence your results.

Article

Predator-Prey & Population Dynamics

Here's a predator-prey simulation game that I got from Queen's University (Canada) Science Teacher Resources page and modified.

Simulations are always tricky, and depend on students following some rather complex and precise rules, having the patience and focus to go through multiple generations of a process, keeping meticulous records along the way, engaging in the spirit of the exercise rather than looking for loopholes to get it over with, and being willing to start over when they realize they've made a big mistake - that's a lot of conditions for a group of 9th/10th grade kids to adhere to.

To make matters worse, there are two simulations that follow similar patterns, but are just different enough that I can't combine them, so the kids have to endure two tedious simulations during the year. One is this predator-prey game, the other is the natural selection game, which of course involves a predator-prey relationship, but examines changes in the frequency of a particular characteristic - visual acuity or camouflage - in the two populations. I'll write about that one later. Here's my version of the predator-prey simulation. I bought some "poker chips" to use for the rabbits, because the paper was just such a mess.

Predator-Prey Population Dynamics Lab

Fossil Tracks Lab

I revised this lab from last year and added the image to the document for teachers to use. The source of the image and basic idea for the lab are from some now forgotten edition of the BSCS series. It is a set of hypothetical fossilized footprints that can tell a story. The set of prints is divided into 3 sections, and revealed sequentially as students hypothesize about the limited information they are given. As new information is "uncovered" students are given a chance to revise their hypotheses. I use this as a basic introduction to the scientific method (hypothesis testing, logic, etc.) I've added a little section on basic logic - valid, sound arguments - which may or may not go over so well with my 9th grade level students.

Fossil Tracks Lab

Back From Vacation

A few vanity photos from my "torturous" bike ride from Port Jervis to Jeffersonville, NY. Lots of hills, about 50 miles. I've done 50 miles in the city without much pain, but it's a pretty flat circuit around the island of Manhattan, so the hills really killed me...

Starting in Port Jervis - already annoyed at the long train ride that turned into a bus ride because a bridge was shut down. A very hot day with blazing sunshine, but not a hint of sunburn using 70 SPF sunscreen.

Along the Delaware River...

...and about half-way there at a little roadside "market" (general store really) in Barryville.

Finally a few miles outside Jeffersonville, exhausted.

Forcing a Vacation

I admit it. I'm a workaholic. I've got quite a bit done this summer in preparation for September, and I still feel like I need to do a lot more. Teaching and all the preparation that goes into it consume me. I neglect things that need to be done around the house. Other than for exercise I hardly leave my apartment, and instead sit at the computer planning, writing, reading, and so on. I don't spend enough time with my kids. I don't go out. All work and no play and all that.

I know the only way I will stop working is to put myself in a place where I can't work. So I'm going out of town this week to a place where I won't have access to a computer. I've even asked my wife not to bring her computer. I'm not taking books or any other kind of work-related materials. It will be a bit of work de-tox. I just hope I can handle the withdrawal don't find myself wandering into some cheap, sleazy internet cafe in the town where we're going.

Sadly, my real motivation here is to come back refreshed so that I can get more work done before school starts. It's like the heroin addict putting himself through withdrawal in order to experience a better high afterward. I really do have work to get done. But more on that after the vacation.