Blog Archives - Button's Place

Day 70

11/30/2017

Day 70?? That means the school year is 2/9ths of the way complete. Only 7/9ths left to go!
The AP Biology students did practice injections of food coloring into agarose gel. What the heck is that, you ask? Oh, you don't? I thought you were asking. Well, in case you were, the students practiced injecting stuff in the gels to prepare for the real thing with DNA.
The Chemistry students began Part 1 of the Stoichiometry: Making 2.0 Grams of an Ionic Compound. The students worked through some review problems in order to receive their very own reaction upon which to use to prepare those aforementioned 2.0 grams of an ionic compound.

Day 69

11/29/2017

http://www.sciencegeek.net/APchemistry/APtaters/EquationBalancing.htm

http://education.jlab.org/elementbalancing/

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/chemistry/chemical-reactions-stoichiome/balancing-chemical-equations/e/balancing_chemical_equations

http://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/balancing-chemical-equations/latest/balancing-chemical-equations_en.html

http://funbasedlearning.com/chemistry/chemBalancer/

http://www.softschools.com/quizzes/chemistry/mass_mole_conversions/quiz1122.html

http://www.chemteam.info/Mole/Grams-to-Moles.html

http://www.sciencegeek.net/Chemistry/taters/Unit4GramMoleVolume.htm

https://www.quia.com/cb/33492.html

https://www.wisc-online.com/learn/natural-science/chemistry/gch1504/stoichiometry

http://www.purposegames.com/game/stoichiometry-game

http://www.softschools.com/quizzes/chemistry/stoichiometry_mass_mass_problems/quiz1196.html

Day 68

11/28/2017

Today seemed easier to get into. I think the students are officially back in school mode.
The Chemistry students continued practicing a bunch of stoichiometry problems by, well, practicing a bunch of stoichiometry problems. I even colored-coded an example on the white board which I thought was a pretty good idea. Of course, if someone still doesn't know how to figure out molar masses, that's a problem.
The AP Biology students finished up the discussion of DNA by talking about Okazaki fragments, leading and lagging strands and replication forks. The Chapter 16 Reading Guide is due tomorrow BTW. I think we may start the Gel Electrophoresis Lab tomorrow too.

Day 67

11/27/2017

And......we're back. It pretty much seemed that nobody wanted to be here today and, believe me, I get it. It's tough but somebody has to do it.
The Chemistry students were re-introduced to the idea of stoichiometry as a vehicle to predict the mass of a product produced in a chemical reaction. It was slow going but we made it through for the most part. Some students' math skills are, shall we say, not good. We will work on this over the next 3 days.
The AP Biology students began a 2 day look at DNA and the replication thereof which means the replication of DNA which means the copying of DNA. We did some structural stuff too.

Day 66

11/17/2017

Today was pretty chill which is what all the cool kids are saying nowadays. One week off is here!!!
The AP Biology students finished up the Fly Lab and turned that baby in. Next stop, the complex world of DNA!
The Chemistry students shot rockets for candy today. I put a big target out there and the students, for the most part, hit it often and well, often. I also spent some time with some particular students that were having some trouble balancing equations and I think a few made break throughs.

Day 65

11/16/2017

And, I'm back. Chico was cool but I'm glad I'm back. That's a lot of I'm's in a short time.
The AP Biology students went over the chi square test which is a way to determine if the results from the Fly Lab met our expectations. In other words, using the math from genetic crosses and a little bit of Mendelian stuff, we can see if our results were close to what we would expect, statistically speaking. And it seems that all groups had great results.
The Chemistry students had the Balancing Equations quiz today and it took a lot longer than expected. Like the whole period. And there were only 8 problems. That is probably not a good sign, but we'll see.

Day 64

11/15/2017

See yesterday's post and, yes, I'm still in Chico which, by the way, is pretty cool. What a lovely campus.
Both AP Biology students and Chemistry students continued with the work that I described in yesterday's post.

Day 63

11/14/2017

Today and tomorrow I will be at Chico State University for a conference on the Next Generation Science Standards. And guess what? The geniuses at the California Department of Education have decided that it is a good idea to test seniors, yes I said seniors, in May, yes I said May, on this science stuff. This is a really bad idea.
The AP Biology students will be working on the Fly Lab and the Chapter 16 Reading Guide during the next 2 days.
The Chemistry students will be working on a graphical representation of the rocket launches during the next 2 days.

Day 62

11/13/2017

Wow, one more week until Thanksgiving break. Yay!!
The AP Biology students made the final counts of the F2 generation of fruit flies today which is just counting the grandkids. It seems like yesterday they were squirming maggots but now their full-fledged adults with only thoughts of fruit and love. We will put the wraps on the Fly Lab this week.
The Chemistry students shot rockets with earnest and vigor today. Does that make sense? I think so. The point of the vigorous shooting of rockets was trying to determine the exact mix of oxygen and hydrogen gas that produces the most vigorous and earnest flight.

Day 61

11/9/2017

Today began my wife and I began our annual Veteran's Day camping trip. We went to the coast and had most of the Redwood National Forest to ourselves. Awesome, isn't it?
The AP Biology students worked on the Fly Lab. We will wrap that baby up next week.
The Chemistry students worked on some balancing equations problems and some mole to gram and vice versa conversions. This will help with the big stoichiometry problems coming up in class.