biologist's+thoughts+3

It is my intention that I will keep a record of my thoughts after each lesson. Feel free to respond 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 week 1& 2 biologist's thoughts week 3 & 4 biologist's thoughts week 7 & 8 biologist's thoughts week 9 & 10

**Lesson 13 (Monday 23rd February 2009)** Hmmm... a weekend where I started marking their SACs. Interesting reading so far. But I'll say no more. Right, why is that I started class today with only 4 out 17 of them there? What is going on here? I don't know if they realised that I didn't make a big deal of it, largely because all the latecomers entered quietly and didn't disturb the proceedings. Subsequently they avoided an outburst of my anger or worse still, they may have found the door locked. The latter won't happen as long as they continue to enter the class in the respectful way they did today. Today they were exposed to just how complex photosynthesis is in reality. New substances, new roles and more specific detail. I kept it to a minimum (they probably didn't think this) and relied on the animations to try and explain some of the extra knowledge they need to have this year. Did I highlight the key points, I think I did. I wonder what they will do for homework to try and gauge what they understood and what is still unclear. Will they do their own diagram or flow chart? Will they read the text book again (or maybe for the first time)? Will they go over the course notes? Will they check out the web resources that I have referred to or perhaps find their own? If they are going to do a glossary then doing one on photosynthesis and cell respiration is very useful. The 40min went so quickly today. Thoughtful questions continued to be put forward and as usual there were some that really were going into the fine detail but I feel even these were answered at some stage. Their prior knowledge (from last year) gave me confidence at the start of the lesson. This is important as there won't be too much more class time spent on photosynthesis. Tomorrow I will recap quickly today's content (perhaps a test, perhaps not) and then move straight into respiration.

**Lesson 14 (Tuesday 24th February 2009)** What a lesson! I really hit them hard with the detail associated with cell respiration. It was one of these where I really just lectured to them, although there were several animations to reinforce what I was covering. It is always difficult determining the depth that needs to be covered. In some ways I am trying to really cater for those students that are more capable (in the sense that they grasp concepts relatively quickly). This was going to lose some of the other students (at some points on the way) who are not as quick at grasping a concept (that in no way means they are weaker, we all have different abilties in this area). The key (as I have said to them many times already) is that they work on the basics and over time try to build their understanding as much as possible. I really struggle to come up with a way of trying to set up a learning experience in this area, given that I am limited to being able to spend just one double lesson on it. I could so easily spend 2 or 3 double lessons, make the learning more effective but it is just not possible in the whole scheme of unit 3 biology, especially as it is such a relatively small area of the course. Any way, it was great that some of them have already developed an excellent understanding of photosynthesis, no doubt due to the homework they did the night before. This is exactly what is required with the respiration. I also think that those that had spent time doing some pre-reading (as I suggested) made more sense of today than those that didn't. They must realise that to really benefit from class experiences, they must have already done some reading and spent time thinking about the concepts (what they understand and what is a concern). They will not learn as effectively if listening to me and what I get them to do in class is their first experience of trying to make sense of concepts. Now, I also had a sense of satisfaction when the animation of ATPsynthase astounded a particular student, especially after they asked a question about it. If they could have a tenth of the appreciation that I have in the beauty of life at the cellular level, then they will be among an elite group on this planet who are truely priveleged. But I digress. If anything today's lesson was a good indication to them that biology will be complicated at times (and there are a few more lessons that will be like the one today, particularly in the immune response section). Finally, I do have to commend them on their attention and focus throughout this very difficult lesson. They did well and it will serve them well.

I was quite excited about this lesson. First of all I had another quiz planned, after which, they would complete a group activity that I felt was needed to try and recap all the information that had been thrown at them in the previous two lessons. I was interested in seeing how they would go in both. As usual something always goes wrong. The software for doing the interactive quiz was on the blink so they had to do the quiz on paper. Oh well, at least it reaffirms just how useful and beneficial the interactive quiz software is. Hence a little more time was taken for the quiz. Anyway, now to the "slomation" activity. Here I am doing an activity that I have never done with a year 12 class before nor would I have ever thought of doing it. But I just felt it would be ideal given where some of the students were with these current concepts. I was really hoping that they would enjoy this and that it would be a nice break from the full on lecture type lessons we had earlier in the week. It was designed to be a chance for them to reflect on their understanding (several of them had already seen me about not understanding ideas covered in these lessons) and to also work with each other, communicating their ideas. And this is exactly what happened! I felt some real satisfaction simply from the fact that there were conversations going on and they pretty much completed the task in about an hour. What an effort! If only I could afford more time, the activity could be taken to an even more detailed and deeper level. Perhaps if I had thought of the idea earlier, I could have got them to create storyboards for homework. But then again I wouldn't be responding to how they cope with the lesson. This is very important to me. I can plan ahead but if I am not flexible then I am not as likely to create a lesson that really tries to deal with their current situation and links more effectively with the previous lesson. So now, how much did they gain? I am sure some of them enjoyed it. Was it effective in their eyes? Was it a good use of class time? Did they learn anything new? I don"t really know the answer to these questions. I am hoping that those who read this will write a comment below. I need this feedback from them! I have also created a survey on the home page of this wiki that directly aims at getting feedback from them so I hope they do this. Oh well, they can look forward to their next SAC now. Based on the quiz results, some are in a really good position, others not so. Half way through the term, how time flies. I wonder if they think about just how much we have covered already. And there is so much more to come. But it will be oh so very interesting and that is because it is biology! Feedback time: I found the slomation useful in many ways in that it allowed me to clarify my understanding of photosynthesis which i thought was pretty good already. In addition, using the plastesine and paper put my thoughts into images which is helpful as well. Doing the story boards gave me an idea of how i can visualise each step and hence clarifying the processs. In the negatives column, i think i didn't take advantage of the activity enough because photosynethesis is a topic i already feel i understand quite well, it would have been better for me to do one of the respiration topics to clarify that stuff but photosynthesis is what the group chose and i guess i was happy to do that topic because i felt confident in it. whilst watching the slomations on the wiki, with no disrespect to the other movie makers, i don't feel it taught me that much. it was hard to follow some of them considering the frames moved so quickly. perhaps if there was 3 or 4 seconds per frame that may have been better. maybe if it was done by professional artists that would have been easier. Did Picasso do anything like this?? Maybe there is one on respiration in his bedroom...
 * Lesson 15 (Friday 27th February 2009) **

Thx for the insightful comments. A couple of things I would like to respond to. Yes, it would have been better for you to choose a topic that you are least confident in. I did mention this to the class but may be I should have stressed this more. Neverthetheless, even if you knew the topic, there would still have been the challenge of summaring the key ideas in minimal frames. For me an advantage of this type of acitvity is that allows every student the opportunity to get something from it that caters to their needs. In an attempt to get the animations done quickly for you, I chose 2 seconds for each frame but it is easy enough to alter this to 4 seconds which I will try and do and then you can see if that makes a difference. Ideally I wanted each group to decide on the timing but we just ran out of time-always a dilemma in teaching. Hmmm... a bit of humour at the end. Well, I don't think Picasso had one but Biology and Art are linked in many ways. A quote from Seneca the Younger " All art is but an imitation of nature". The important thing is that I expect YOU will have one on your bedroom wall-some type of artistic impression of photosynthesis and respiration. In my view that places you on a higher pedestal than Picasso! VM

**Lesson 16 (Monday 2nd March 2009)** Well I had the liver catalase experiment for them to do today. I was pretty happy with the way that they went about getting it done. They really do seem to be thinking more about how they do experiments, errors invovled and ultimately thinking about the results. They are especially looking for how they relate results to the theory that they know. This is really good but they must remember to take the results at face value. It astounds me that at Year 12 drawing an appropriate graph and set of axes can be difficult for some of them. Hmmm.... Anyway, what is important is that they can read and interpret graphs correctly. Tomorrow I have an "exciting" lesson (as usual) planned for them using software that simulates protein structures and relating it to applications in medicine. Hopefully they will really be able to connect with the visual side of things and link it to the knowledge they have.

**Lesson 17 (Tuesday 3rd March 2009)** What can i say but today's lesson was a debacle. One of the worst I have experienced. Why? Because today was a rarity (at least in recent years) in that the technology failed me. In fact a whole series of things, like room changes, not having computers for everyone contributed to the problem. In addition, the videos on drug design probably were too complicated for them (not necessarily all of them though). Finally, I was surprised that some of the class did not utilise the waiting time to carry on with other biol work, its not like they don't have a SAC next lesson! What is going on here? Do I need to tell this group how to utlisie their class time. It's not all about me. Surely they know that if I haven't got something for them to do every minute of the class ( maybe I am too organised in this sense) then they can utlise it themselves. What will they do if I am not in class for some reason. Is it worth setting them work because if today's lesson is any indication, why would I bother, if they are not going to do it. And why didn't anyone say to me, "let's do something else instead?" Have I got them to rely on me too much already? Maybe they just didn't really care enough in that lesson for whatever reason. Anyway, I look back and think why didn't I change my lesson plan as soon as I started having trouble with the computers? Why was I determined with continuing with trying to get them to use the 3D software? Hmmm... I did have an alternative ready for them anyway but I could have given this to them much earlier to allow for more discussion. Although i was pretty happy with the way this activity ended up going. So back to the initial inflexibility. Maybe the end of the day had something to do with, lack of clear thinking, nothing jumped out at me or maybe I just felt it was important to do this now. Had I been in the normal classroom I probably would have given it up and utilised the IWB in some way which I really couldn't do in the classroom that I was in. But I will come back to this software later on because their knowledge of the immune system and how viruses infect us will be better and therefore the application of drug design will be clearer. It will also be good revision on protein structure prior to the exam. Proteins come up everywhere in the course, so they must really try to connect with the idea of the final 3D shape being a key to how they function. Enzyme SAC is written (I think I have got something challenging for them) so i guess I can now focus on getting the next set of course notes ready and starting Area of Study 2-homeostasis and stimulus-response. vojtech vojtech vojtech....... yes, i must agree it was quite a blaaa lesson for some reason... but dont doubt us! and can i just say, if you happen to be absent for a lesson (god forbid) i ASSURE you any work you leave us will be done/attempted with much focus and relevant discussion. true guys?! (back me up here..). and yes, believe it or not, also technology lets you down.......but we will always have pens and paper! =D)

A thoughtful and heartening response. But don't ever think I doubt your abilities. You are all very capable, I know how easy it is for you to not use them (abilities) all the time and to their fullest as so much is going on in your school lives and probably outside of school too.

Gave the enzyme SAC this lesson. If only I wasn't suffering a head cold, then I could have sat there and really enjoyed the peace and quiet of them writing for 80min. I was satisified in that I think I had just the right length for this SAC. It kept them busy and thinking for about 75min, with a few going right up until the end. Sitting there watching them is interesting. It gives me an idea of how they are handling the situation (even though I have little idea as to how well they are actually answering the questions). Not much response from them as they left, perhaps they were happy that it was over and now they could look forward to a long weekend. And with a four day break before our next lesson, I am wondering how much biology is going to be on their minds. A couple of comments though were aired and related to the SAC being pretty fair. One student even said they "enjoyed doing it". What a priceless moment. I would think that this student will do quite well but it is so important for them to actually try to enjoy and look forward to assessment. It puts them in the right farme of mind and will only assist in them thinking clearly about questions. I can do nothing for them in this sense. They have to find it within themselves. Oh well, many hours of marking ahead of me. After a quick glimpse, I think some will do very well but others may be in for a disappointment. BUT there shouldn't be any surprises for them at this stage. Surely, they would already know the quality of their written responses and how well they understood concepts. But as I will keep on saying to them, it's all about continually developing their understanding AND communication of biology, so SACs need to be viewd as a learning tool by them.
 * Lesson 18 (Friday 6th March 2009) **