First Test is Tomorrow

Test over ecological interactions is Thursday, Sept. 27. Please take advantage of all of the materials available on the wiki. The test will have 50 multiple choice questions and one written response question. Good luck.

Lesson Plan for Friday Sept. 21, 2012

Today is an independent learning day. Here are the tasks you should be working on in class today:

1. View the part 6 of 6 prezi on ecology from D. Knuffke's class

• http://prezi.com/cnzjlxnghand/ecology-6-human-impact-a-collaborative-student-project-2011-2012-version/
• you will need to manually slide the images around as not all of the paths have been completed.

2. Complete your blog entry for the week and make comments on others. Hopefully the prezi above will help give you ideas. You will most likely need to link videos on a computer that is not connected to the school's network.

3. Go to http://www.quizlet.com  Once there, use the following search: AP Biology Ecology Chapter. You should find a plethora of vocab sets for the ecology unit that are organized by either chapter or groups of chapters. Go into these and begin studying for Wednesday's test.

4. Print off items from the wiki as needed.

5. Extra credit: If you complete all of the above, you can go look for pillbugs outside. 1pt. extra credit per bug found (max 10 per person)

Good luck and have a great weekend. Instead of new readings this weekend, use your time reviewing your notes.

Week 3 Blog Entry - Human Ecological Stupidity

Here's your week 3 blog entry topic (adapted from D. Knuffke & __. Memis)

A survey of human ecological stupidity:

1. Pick an example of human ecological stupidity (aka things humans do that have a negative impact on the environment). Examples may include but are not limited to:

• Acid Precipitation
• Wetland Destruction
• Loss of Biodiversity
• Ozone Depletion
• Water Pollution
• Deforestation 
• Habitat Destruction/Fragmentation
• Climate Change
• Biological Magnification
• Introduction of Non-Native Species
• Overexploitation of Natural Resources

2. Explain the topic and how it affects life on Earth. Keep in mind that your entry is available to a worldwide audience so demonstrate your intelligence :)

3. Explain how we might solve the issue.

4. Include a picture that demonstrates some aspect of your topic.

4. Embed (or at the very least include a link to) a short video clip that demonstrates some aspect of your topic.

Things to do prior to Monday's class

PLEASE COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING BEFORE MONDAY'S CLASS:
1. Complete reading chapters 50-53 (this should already be done)
2. Complete week two blog entry.
3. Read Lab Investigation 10: Energy Dynamics in your lab manual.
4. View the two videos posted below
5. Enjoy your weekend (I know that might be a little more difficult due to the work being poured onto you from AP Biology :)

GROWING WISCONSIN FAST PLANTS


BUTTERFLY LIFE CYCLES

ECOSYSTEMS

Populations & Communities Videos

Please take time to view these prior to Thursday's class.

Communities & Population Dynamics r and k Selection

Notes for Ecology Unit

The first two sets of notes from the prezi in class is now available as a pdf thanks to the efforts of Emily L. You can find them in the notes from class folder in unit one - ecological interactions folder on the share site. Emily said she is working on the other ones as well. Great job Emily!

Proper commenting and Week Two Entry

What a great start to the semester. I haven't had a chance to look very closely at your blogs yet, but I look forward to doing so this week. I thought I'd take a minute to discuss commenting on other people's blogs.

There is nothing worse than pouring your heart and soul into a published work and getting a response like "Nice!" or "Good job!", other than getting negative responses to your work :) Think about when you've posted something spectacular on Facebook or told a friend or family member about a great accomplishment, and all they have responded with is a simple statement. Well, blogging is the same way.

When people blog, they do so with the intent of getting constructive feedback from their readers. Often this feedback reinforces the feelings/thoughts of the author while at other times it may challenge them into going farther into the topic. That is what I am hoping for with these blogs.

Therefore, I'd like to request that when you leave comments for your fellow classmates, please take the time to make thought provoking and/or constructive feedback. For example, instead of making a comment that says, "Yeah, me too", instead say "I'm taking three science classes right now too. Maybe when can study together since we have so many classes in common." You should always try to include a part of the author's blog entry in the comment to show that you truly read and reflected upon the author's entry. Feel free to look through some of last year's blogs to see examples of proper commenting.

For more information on good blog commenting, check out this source:
http://bestbloggingtipsonline.com/10-reasons-no-one-notices-your-blog-comment/

Here's the prompt for your blog entry this week:

• What topic are you most looking forward to in this class? Why?
• What topic are you least looking forward to in this class? Why?
• Anything else you wish.

Lesson Plan for Thursday September 6, 2012

Good morning everyone. I decided to change things up today, so we will continue our discussion on behavior on Friday. Today's topics are going to be looking more in depth at scientific inquiry (even though the tutorial says scientific method) and setting up your blogs (which is actually going to partially act as the "publish your findings" portion of scientific inquiry.

Several housekeeping items before you get started. First, the unit one wiki/sharesite is completely stocked with all of the resources you will need to be successful throughout the ecology unit. Remember to put @sparta.lan at the end of your user name.

Additionally, your goal should be to have chapters 50 & 51 read by the end of the weekend.

Here's the plan for today's block:

1. Complete the textbook quality inventory sheet.

2. Subscribe by email to the blog. Put your email address in the box at the top and click submit. You can also choose to become a follower.

3. Create your blog. There are many free blog providers out there including www.blogger.com, www.edublogs.com, www.wordpress.com (this requires you to download free software so may not be the best option if you work on this at school), www.weebly.com, Google apps (available from the school website under "Other Information", or others that you can find by a simple google search. If you have a GMail account, blogger is my preference as it comes with your Google account and it is relatively easy to use. Google apps is a safe one that requires no signing up as you already have an account as a Sparta student. Please don't hesitate to ask for help with getting this setup.

• Your blog can be as fancy as you want it to be. You can jazz it up similar to the ones I use for my classes or you can use the basic formats that are provided.
• Create your first blog entry. The topic for your entry should be as follows, and should be written in a paragraph format (don't just answer the questions):
• Brief introduction of yourself (interests, career aspirations, etc.)
• Why are you taking this course?
• What do you hope to get out of this course?
• Include a picture of some sort that relates to your posting.
• Send me an email (mrlandryshs@gmail.com) that includes the URL to your blog so I can link it to my blog.

4. Go the following website tutorial on the "scientific method" and complete the tutorial and then the experiment activity. http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/biology/glacier/scientific_method/

5. Check out all of the materials available on the learn site (wiki). Look for the link on this blog.

6. Find a good book to read during reading time for the next several weeks, unless you prefer to read your AP Biology :)

Have a good day everyone. Be ready for behavior on Friday as well as some more scientific inquiry review for biology I. Chapter 50 will be covered in class on Monday.

Who is Mr. Landry

Check out this glog if you are interested in learning more about Mr. Landry

Day One and Homework Already?

Hopefully after day one, you are still in the class :) Just a reminder of things that you need to do before Thursday:

1. Complete the quality inventory sheet for your textbook. Please click the link below to access the document:
QUALITY INVENTORY SHEET - MR LANDRY AP BIOLOGY

2. Turn in AP Biology contract.

3. Begin reading chapters 50-55. See wiki for extra credit reading guides.

4. Design blog and send link to Mr. Landry (due by Monday)