biologist's+thoughts+13

It is my intention that I will keep a record of my thoughts after each lesson. Feel free to repsond to anything I have written. Hopefully my thoughts will inspire, motivate and allow you to improve your understanding of biology as well as get the most out of our classes. Link back to inside the mind of the biol guru Link to biologist's thoughts 10 biologist's thoughts 11 biologist's thoughts 12 biologist's thoughts 14 biologist's thoughts 15

The whole 80min lesson revolved around the class getting data using the drosophila simulation software. I expected it to be a challenge for them to get all four experiments done but some achieved this. The main thing was for them to get a minimum of three which I think pretty much all of them did. Which was great and I think the time I spent modifying the handouts that come with the software package paid off. Anyway, there really wasn't much for me to do in the lesson. They were on task, they knew what to do so the lesson ran itself. A couple of times I had to deal with queries but that's ok. What was a real benefit for me was the opportunity to observe them work. I don't have much time to do this in year 12 classes because of the hectic nature of the course. But I enjoyed watching them work. It was interesting to see how they approached the task. Some worked as pairs others decided to go solo. Then there is the "autocount" feature. I had set up the program so that this feature couldn't be used until they had examined 25 offspring in a generation. The feature gives them the breakdown of the offspring phenotypes, for lets say 1000 offspring, without them having to actually correctly identify the phenotypes of 1000 offspring. Some chose to rely on this feature and actually didn't bother to identify the initial 25 offspring. Hmmm...I really didn't want them to take this approach but I did mention to them at this point that if they wanted to modify the method from what I wrote then that is fine, as long as they understand the impact of the modification. I hadn't planned for this but in the end I think it will be a really good point of discussion for later. Even though this is not a "true" experiment I still want them to understand the method they are using and thinking about what must have been included in the programming to try and simulate what happens in "real life". A fantastic question cropped up along these lines. When doing the two gene inheritance experiments, one student asked if the program had taken into account crossing over. Here the simulation had gotten a student to really think about the underlying theory (meiosis/formation of gametes). I was happy with my response in so much as saying, "well the results you get for a particular experiment should indicate to you whether this has been taken into account". I will have to remember to bring this up in tomorrow's lesson. Wow, for a lesson where not much happened, I seem to have been able to reflect quite a bit about it. I guess the final thought that occurs to me is "How beneficial is doing a simulation like this in getting them to understand?" Apart from providing variety, I know that the question sheet I gave them is really probing there understanding, as a few have already come and asked me to clarify a few things after class (which is fantastic off course). Hmmm... and to think I had taken my time to go over the steps involved in previous lessons. I know... never assume they understand what is explained, or at least understand correctly or fully. I think I'll stop it here.
 * Lesson 67 (Monday 10th August 2009) **

An interesting lesson today for a couple of reasons. First of all, the lesson was being filmed for research purposes. Did I feel the pressure, a little. Did it influence my behaviour, perhaps. If I get an opportunity to see the film, I guess it will provide me with the reare oppoortunity to analyse my teaching from a prespective that I haven't done since my dip ed year. Now, did it influence the students? I don't think so. They pretty much behaved the same way they normally do and that's because they are a really good class to teach and work with. In some ways I wish I had been covering a more exciting area of biology (because of the filming). As it turned out the emphasis was on understanding pedigrees. Pretty boring really. As such, I felt the lesson needed to centre around them (the students) doing work in small groups. And they did this really well. The conservations were thoughtful and they were probing each others understanding of the types of inheritance. It was really good to hear input from the non-regular contributors too. I hope they all took in the message from the guest speaker earlier in the day about what they need to do to help them remember content covered in class. All the variety I try and provide them with during class and the types of homework tasks I set are designed to get them not to just listen and read but to SAY and DO. I was very satisfied with their ability to correctly determine the modes of inheritance and I have total confidence in their knowledge of this part of the course as they should have too.
 * Lesson 68 (Tuesday 11th August 2009) **

I decided to split this lesson into two parts. The first half was on covering polygeneic inheritance and the role of environment on phenotype. The last half was to allow for questions and preparation for the upcoming SAC. I don't think there was anything that stood out in this lesson that I would consider to be a "new" experience with this class. The lesson contained the usual insightful questions, I gave explanations, showed some animations and they had the opportunity to work through some questions. Hmmm... Is this my general lesson plan here? Anyway, I will find out soon enough just how well they have understood the inheritance section of the course. I am confident that many have got a pretty good understanding but the inadvertent pressure of a SAC does affect them, even though they should now be able to approach a SAC with so much more confidence after having done a few of them already.
 * Lesson 69 (Friday 14th August 2009) **

Well they had the inheritance SAC today. I was concerned a little about how they would go in terms of time and the challenging nature of a few of the questions. It seems that there were a number of them who found it hard according to the "gossip" after the lesson. This baffles me to some extent because I felt I had taken time to go over the different areas during class, in fact maybe too much time. I also gave them lots of pratise questions and even last year's SAC to look over. What have I done wrong here that so many of them have struggled with understanding this section? I know one reason is that they simply have not been working hard enough outside of class over the last couple of weeks, especially when the theory was being covered. On top of that I was getting questions about the experiments at the end of last week when they should have been well and truely completed earlier in the week. Yep, it is going to be stressful for them and me but I warned them about term 3 and particularly about making sure they are constantly go over what we do in class. Hopefully, they have still shown a good understanding in the SAC but more importantly they have learnt how to approach the work over the remainder of the term. They cannot let things lie.
 * Lesson 70 (Monday 17th August 2009) **

I thought today's lesson went reasonable well. The course now enters an area that really is quite different in that it leans more towards a humanities type component. Anyway I started off with an anecdote that I feel summarises the main point of what natural selection is about. I tried to make the story interesting by incorporating someone in the class, along with myself. I think they found it amusing and hopefully they were able to connect with the point that I was trying to make. I think, as a teacher, that anecdotes and short stories play a useful role in grabbing the students' attention as well as providing some sort of thread to tie a lesson together. The IWB was useful in preparing a presentation that allowed me to move images around. I also tried to emphasize to them that discussion becomes an important part of trying to understand this area of the course. I guess with the end of the year approaching quickly I really want eveyone in the class to be involved. I know I will have failed from this perspective if some of the quieter students remain in their shells. Now to the SACs which I have just finished marking. Hmmm... is all I have to stay. I have posted my general thoughts on the SAC page but the key is that they are now much more aware of the way they need to approach inheritance questions and what is required for them to improve.
 * Lesson 71 (Tuesday 18th August 2009) **

No teaching done on behalf today. Instead a guest speaker (cancer expert) gave a fantastic talk to the students about cancer from a gene and inheritance perspective. I guess it really is up to the class to contribute here about what they thought of the talk. Was it useful? Interesting? Relevant to the course? Otherwise the next lesson is a Sunday 3 hour session. This will be demanding from me as such a long session can easily lead to boredem and mental tiredness. For this reason they will be doing a couple of activities to investigate some population genetic concepts.
 * Lesson 72 (Friday 21st August 2009) **