Apologie Biology: Human Anatomy Crash Course

I've been thinking about Anatomy for my Bio class. One of the moms especially wants her daughter to have some anatomy.  We can complete comparitive morphology and apply it to humans.  This outline looks pretty good. (I never reinvent the wheel.  If it's out there on the web and looks good, I use it.). I've been teaching Anatomy to the little kids using pologia's Young Explorers. My plan is to have the girls learn systems and vocab first before applying the morphology they've learned via dissections.

As for hands on ideas, right now, the girls are practicing taking blood pressure readings. Ni got out my cuffs to see if they both worked before using them with my Anatomy class.  I'll get more hands-on activities and coloring sheets.

One of our first lessons is planes and positions.  Learn these terms!  The Anatomy book (It's gigantic!) I use for illustrations has a similar overview including terms, planes, sections, and positions.  Between the outline above, this anatomy book, and ideas from the Young Explorers' Anatomy, I have it covered.

Apologia Biology: Comparitive Morphology Modules 11-14 and 16

I located the Blog from last year on comparitive morphology.  Apologia Biology basically uses comparitive morphology to compare differences in animals.  I like this approach.  As the class dissects, they'll complete an elaborate chart comparing different representative species.  I allow the kids to use their texts, dissection packets, lab manuals, and the Internet to complete these comparisons.  We did Ecology, Module 10, last fall.  I'll do a fast plant overview, Module 14, after, and finish our course with Human Anatomy.  They read Evolution, Module 9, on their own.  They just need an idea of the theory.  If you are interested, try this site about phylogeny.

We're going to compare several representative species, their taxonomy, and symmetry using MRS C GREN.  Below is a more detailed comparison chart.  We will make modifications according to the relative complexities of the organisms.

comparitive morphology chart example

Apologia Biology Update

The class is completing their Designer Baby blogs.  Finally.  Yes,I sat on top of them in class.  I still think the time investment is worth it.  We talked about landmark legal cases and choices in terminology, such as gestational carriers, not surrogates, or embryos, seldom babies.

The next topic is a comparison of mitosis and meiosis.  Mitosis blog has information about mitosis.  The girls are going to draw the stages of meiosis and them compare all of the similarities and differences between mitosis and meiosis.  I'll post charts in about two weeks.  BTW, I'm working on a comparative morphology chart and Human Anatomy crash course for the girls.  Stay tuned!

Apologia Young Explorers: Blood Systems

Today, we learned how to take a pulse, made blood models, typed blood again, and finished tidal volumes.  First, we typed and retyped blood.  A few kids had cross contaminated their samples.  The kids really enjoyed this activity, probably because it's personal.  Recall we used a blood typing simulation kit first last week.  Next was the blood models.  Our differed from Apologia's, which uses candies.  Before we made the blood models, we spent time reviewing the terms, scientific names, and Greek origins.  We talked about their respective functions, the size differences and relative numbers of red and white blood cells.  Then the kids made their models.  After, I had the kids copy a few notes on the components of blood and correlate them to their model.  The younger children dictated their answers to an adult.  The younger children did some copy work of the scripture while the older children completed more detailed notes.  We learned how to take a pulse.  First they ran a minute.  It makes it easier to locate the pulse point in the neck.  Don't use the thumb; it has a pulse, too.  Be careful not to press too hard; you might pass out.  Today, we finally repeated the tidal volume lab.  I insist on a minimum of three trials, primarily as part of experimental design.  Each child collected data for three trials.  Next class, we'll compile their data in a chart and calculate the average before comparing three resulted with an average tidal volume of 500 mL.  Next week, we need to catch up on vocabulary and notes.  We've spent the past few weeks doing several activities.

Apologia Biology: Designer Baby Blog Update

The girls are working on their blogs.  Essentially, I'm using class time to talk them through the issues.  Each girl has a decent overview of IVF; next, we're tackling where the Catholic Church stands morally.  I think all Christians struggle with the issues surrounding IVF.  The Catholic Church emphasizes that life begins at the moment of conception.  An embryo fertilized outside the womb raises a number of issues.  Will all of the embryos be implanted in the mother's womb?  Are any of the embryos going to be frozen?  Will any of the embryos be destroyed or used for stem cell experimentation?  What if the embryos are frozen and never reimplanted?  And we haven't even touched on three parent embryos, Savior siblings, surrogates, or donor eggs.  These are thorny issues. You can cover a lot of ground.  I think families could work together on this blog and spark meaningful discussions.  What does your faith teach?

Sophie asked how stem cells were extracted from embryos. Great question!  Be sure to talk!  The girls are researching the legal issues, mainly ownership.  Be sure to include case studies.  There have been incidents where the wrong embryos were implanted in mothers.  Most of the issues regarding IVF relate directly to embryos NOT reimplanted.  Are they stored indefinitely?  Are leftover embryos used for stem cell research?  Are they adopted?  What happens during a divorce?  Will a reluctant parent have to pay child support if the embryos are implanted after a divorce? Did you know surrogates legally may seek an abortion?

Yes, we're examining all of these issues.

Apologia Young Explorers Human Anatomy: Circulatory System

The Co-op class did both a simulated blood typing lab and blood tests with the Eldon cards.  The Simulated Blood typing kit is a useful tool.  The kit has fake anti-sera for the fake blood.  The Eldon cards have anti-sera droplets impregnated into the cards.  Using the fake sera first helped them to understand how the cards work.  I think the kids are going to make a Model of blood, next.  Sure I could show them the models; personal experience trumps any online images.  There are eight children in my class; so, I ordered the red water beads and ping pong balls online through Amazon for about $16.  The American Heart Association has an excellent kids program.  I need to check in with my class to see if they want to use elements for their next outreach program with the Head Start class of four year olds.  I'm looking for more.  This Heart coloring page looks okay, especially in conjunction with this circulatory sequence.  These paper models would make great additions to my kids' science journals for their portfolios.

Apologia Biology Blood Dihybrid cross

Last time the kids worked on dissections.  I did a quick Punnet square quiz with an unusual cross.  Sophie's parents are A- and B-.  They have at least one child who is type O-.  I had the girls figure out   the parents' likely genotypes, the correct Punnett square, and percent phenotypes of their children.  Mom is Boii and Dad is Aoii.  The children have a 1/4 chance for Aoii, Boii, ABii, or oil, A-, B-, AB- and O-.  The family has nine children.  Mom is sure that two ate O-, two are A-, and at least one is AB-.  Cool right?  I use real situations whenever possible to help kids understand blood types.  It does creep the girls out when I use examples such as my husband's and my blood types and kids' blood types for a dihybrid cross.  I encourage you to use the Eldon cards to derive the blood types and  talk about your family's genotype when you do Punnett Squares.  This link has good information about blood type genetics.

Apologia Biology Dissections

The dissections are optional in the Apologia Bio course.  Our Co-op elected to do dissections.  I decided.  Personally, it helps kids see the similarities between organisms when we do comparative morphology.  We're doing the series now at my house to ensure the girls get through all of the dissections.  I have several Zoology lab manuals, a photo atlas, and several dissection guides, supplemented with online images. Take and save screen shots of internal anatomy.  Apologia's and Home Science Tools are both fine.  The problem lies with the fact the specimen never resemble the diagrams; each picture has different details and information.  Consequently, I pull out six or seven references in addition to the iPads.  Here are a few photos.  I ordered a specimen set from Amazon.  The girls dissected the worm, clam, and grasshopper this morning. I have detailed questions in the packets for the crayfish, perch, and frog.  We plan to do these three specimens after Easter.  I have two dissection trays and three tool kits.  I bid on sets through eBay and shopgoodwill.  Amazon and Home Science Tools both carry sets at good prices.  Disposable plates, pins, and a sharp pair of scissors will work, too.  Have several toothpicks to use to probe or tease apart tissue.  Be sure to supervise.  It's not dangerous; the kids have a tendency to gloss over the details, which is why packets are so useful.  The class has to read and look carefully at each specimen as they work.  Get cracking!

Apologia Young Explorers: Water Tests Totally Unrelated

One of the moms wants to borrow my limnology kit to test the water at the creek near her house.  After we finished blood testing, we decided to learn how to perform the water tests.  We started with Eco check for control.  Next was pH  and temperature.  We did the tests in order of difficulty.  The class was able to,squeeze in nitrogen and chlorine tests.  I explained it was a good thing that the tap water tested zero.  The church has well water.  High nitrogen levels in water have been linked to 'Blue baby syndrome'.  My limnology kit is from Lamotte.  The tests are very easy to perform, with the exception of the dissolved oxygen (DO) test.  Only cold, fast moving streams will have high oxygen levels.  The DO test must be performed at the stream to get accurate results.  You can fix the oxygen and finish later.  Best to complete the test immediately.  The kids got the hang of the tests immediately.  I love how engaged they are!

Apologia Young Explorers Human Anatomy: Blood Tests

My Bio class  used the Eldon cards to type blood.  It turns out two of the girls contaminated their cards.  Sigh,  I want both my Bio class and my Human Anatomy class to type blood.  So I ordered a blood typing simulation kit, too.  The Bio class practiced typing with the simulated blood test kit.  The background information in this kit is exhaustive--meaning the kids will never read all this.  We skipped to the procedures after a quick review of blood types.  The girls tests the fake blood with the fake sera.  We checked the key to see if their results matched the key.  Nope.  This is good!  It pays to try and see what you're doing incorrectly.  The second trial worked well.  We used straws to stir the samples.  Be careful not to cross contaminate the samples.  The Bio class helped the Anatomy with fake blood after I explain blood types.  We'll see how things go.  There is enough fake blood and fake anti sera for 40 trials.  Here are photos.

The Anatomy class had a lesson in blood types.  Then we used the fake blood type tests.  We used the Eldon cards to test.  Here are the photos.

Apologia Biology: Mitosis in Module 7

I know this feels as though I'm jumping around.  I teach Genetics before DNA replication, transcription, and translation, and finally mitosis and meiosis.  It sounds backwards.  Try it.  I go over and over these confusing concepts with the kids to see how DNA replicates.  It isn't easy for kids to understand that the DNA codes for traits.  I have found that if they get the connection between genes and alleles, then alleles and chromosomes, kids usually better understand the significance of DNA and are ready to understand mitosis.  Today, we tackled mitosis.  First we reviewed how to test blood with the fake blood kit because the Bio class is helping with the Anatomy class this afternoon.

Now on to mitosis.  I spent 15 minutes making sure the girls understood just what mitosis is.  I used diagrams of the cell cycle to help the girls understand that DNA must make a copy when the cell divides which is part of the Cell Cycle.  Mitosis outlines the division of chromosomes into two daughter cells.  The organelles divide during the Gap phases or G1 and G2.  (Sometimes the organelles are dispersed between the two daughter cells and not duplicated.). DNA replication takes place during the S phase.  Once the girls completed paper plate models of the phases of mitosis, they did a paper plate Cell Cycle activity.  I brought up several images with examples.  We concluded with  corn tip microscope slides that show stages of mitosis.  No, we didn't get to meiosis.  We have two sessions next week; Monday begins the dissections.  We'll work on meiosis Wednesday.

I use several resources for dissections.  It pays to have a detailed lab packet when the kids dissect.  They can also use the material in Apologia; the packets provide more detail and better results.  I have several manuals we use during the dissections.  Get different dissection images online in advance for comparison. It's not easy to identify the hearts in an earthworm.  I bought a dissection specimen kit from Amazon distributed through Nasco.  Home Training Tools provides excellent specimens, too.  The specimens from both companies are smaller, but have been dyed.  Wrap up the specimen tightly if you haven't finished.  It will keep.

Apologia Bio: Designer Baby Project

The Bio class is creating blogs as part of a project.  Here is a status update.  Lydia's blog is coming along.  Not so much for Sophie and Meg.  This morning, I'm supervising their research.  The place to start is for the kids to come up with a working definition of designer babies, largely in the context of IVF and preimplantation genetic diagnosis.  I have the girls locate germane video and web sites.  Get them to read web sites and watch the videos.  Otherwise they'll cut and paste randomly.  The goal is three-fold: what does the Catholic teach, what are the moral issues surrounding this controversial topic, and the integration of technology into the curriculum.  I like to incorporate technology--but, not for the sake of adding technology.  A blog feels more authentic.  People earn their income through blogs!  I deliberately have the kids add video, photos, and links for their blogs.  We use Imgur as a work around to add photos since my iPad stopped inserting images.  Arrggh.  Meg and Sophie are now online.

Apologia Biology: Blood Types

Last class, the girls used the Eldon cards to type blood.  It turns out two of the girls contaminated their cards.  Sigh,  I want both my Bio class and my Human Anatomy class to type blood.  So I ordered a blood typing simulation kit, too.  The Bio class practiced typing with the simulated blood test kit.  The background information in this kit is exhaustive--meaning the kids will never read all this.  We skipped to the procedures after a quick review of blood types.  The girls tests the fake blood with the fake sera.  We checked the key to see if their results matched the key.  Nope.  This is good!  It pays to try and see what you're doing incorrectly.  The second trial worked well.  We used straws to stir the samples.  Be careful not to cross contaminate the samples.  The Bio class is going to help the kids Wednesday type with fake blood after I explain blood types.  We'll see how things go.  There is enough fake blood and fake anti sera for 40 trials.  Here are photos.  And here, too!

Young Explorers Human Anatomy: Blood Tests

I have a biology class and they just used the Eldon blood test cards.  I hadn't used these before, only the sera.  Recently, in both public and private schools, blood testing was banned.  I had used blood simulation kits such as This blood type simulation kit.  So I ordered both.  My biology class tried the Eldon cards.  One of the girls cross contaminated hers.  Live and learn.  ( I ordered more test cards.). The biology class is going to repeat the tests next week with the Anatomy class.  I know the children are supposed to test their own blood.  I'm anticipating some issues.  I decided to offer real tests and have everyone test with the simulation kit.  Pick your battles.

Apologia Biology: More Genetics

We finally finished the PTC Genetics activity the girls had begun weeks ago.  The class tested folks at church and then took home PTC paper to conduct more tests. Naturally, the girls forgot to collect more data.  This activity was consequently postponed.  We spent three classes working on DNA.  Today, we dug out the lab papers and finished calculating the population frequencies. Basically, dominant tasters should appear more frequently than non tasters.

Next we tackled genetic conditions and pedigrees.  We looked at Queen Victoria's pedigree to understand the convention for writing the symbols.  Then we tackled Woody Guthrie's pedigree for Huntington's Disease with this worksheet.  The girls became familiar with the pedigree format.  Then,  they did a Karyotype activity online before we looked at Trisomy 21 karyotes.  Next we did the dihybrid cross on Punnett square from Apologia Experiment 8.1.  (Older edition and 8.2 in the newer edition.) We're going to test blood.  Before, I wanted to have the class do a dihybrid cross for Meg's parents, one of whom is AB+ and another is O+.  Here are the crosses and the girls working on the karyote online.  I ordered A Blood type simulation kit and Eldon blood test cards.  The girls tested their blood; one student cross contaminated hers.  Live and learn.  I hadn't used the cards before--just bottles of sera.  Recently, I had only used simulated blood owing to school rules.  So, next time, we'll try the test again and do a simulation before we repeat these tests with the young children in the Anatomy class.

NSTA Book Review

The Sugary Secrets Behind Candy by Ellie O' Ryan is a jewel for young readers.  Who doesn't like candy?  When I first leafed through this book, I was disappointed there weren't any experiments, references, or lists of websites.  Instead it's a nonfiction reader perfect for a rainy afternoon.  That said, Sugary Secrets sparks ideas for hands-on explorations.  Chapter 1 discusses how taste buds detect sweets.  Kids can map their tongues.  A picture of a microscope on page 12 might inspire children to inspect candies with a hand lens to compare differences in crystal sizes among candies.  Sugary Sweets discusses how to control the size of crystals through cooling on pages 16 and 17.  Kids can use this information to make their own rock candy or use isomalt so popular on cooking shows. The book explains the underlying processes.  I learned something about citric acid in Chapter 3.  Did you know that Aspergillus produce citric acid?  There are interesting international candies, a little history, and an odd bit, a Hershey time line.  Sugary Sweets is right on target.  O'Ryan has successfully sugar coated some sound science.  I just know that when kids read about wintergreen candies making a spark or how Mentos make an explosion in soda, kids will want to try it for themselves.

Apologia Biology: Bean Genes for Module 8

Bean Genes is an alternative assessment for monohybrid crosses.  Here are the photos.  I like this because it takes about 20 minutes to do the activity, tally, and answer the questions. Done!  The goal is to do a quick review of major topics: genotype so, phenotype so, genotypic ratios, phenotypic ratios, Punnett squares, monohybrid cross, complete dominance, incomplete dominance, and codominance.  The girls each had cups of red and white beans and completed 25 trials.  We averaged their data to derive the phenotypic averages.  One child working alone should get a 1:3:1 genotypic average and a 3:1 phenotypic average.  The more kids, the more trial, the closer your data will be to these ratios.  This link explains the differences among complete dominance, incomplete dominance, and codominance.  Since this activity was a form of alternative assessment, I had the girls write out their answers and date the material for their portfolios.  BTW, save photos of samples with dates as part of an electronic portfolio.

Apologia Biology: DNA Transcription and Translation Module 7

I'm a stickler for kids to understand the process of DNA transcription and translation.  Actually, we already extracted DNA and did some preliminary genetics.  I like to wait to review transcription and translation.  First, they made a paper DNA model. (Here are photos.) Once they finished the models, we reviewed the process, labeled nucleotides, purines, pyridimines, codon, anticodons, and peptide chains.  The girls took turn orally reviewing the process and finally wrote a summary paragraph as an assessment.  I used this DNA replication site to explain leading and lagging strands, etc., but didn't require them to memorize Okazaki fragments.  Yes, this takes time.  Almost six hours! As the kids write their paragraphs, I have them elaborate and differentiate between the DNA and RNA molecules.  Details matter!

Update!  Check out these DNA bracelets!  You can code your name in a DNA bracelet!

Apologia Human Anatomy: Respiration

Sorry to be offline so long.  I was very ill for months.  I'm back.  The kids completed nutrition and digestion; today,mew taught the Head Start class which meets at our church in the Knights' building.  The class had designed board games, bingo (YUM--they are only four years old), digestion, spinal cords, and place mats.  Yes, I do add activities to ensure all of the little ones are engaged.  The kids arrive early to set up and review materials.  Thankfully, my Bio class helps.  Here are photos.  We linked milk with strong bones as we taught them about bones in the body and made spinal cords.  We had loads of food photos of both healthy food and treats.  I made copies of  My Plate for the kids to draw favorite foods.  When we plan these activities, we divide the class of twenty into five groups of four and rotate through the stations. It helps to have six stations, in case one station is fast.  I like to host ahead Start.  The little ones love it!  My kids grow as leaders.

Apologia Biology

The class is creating DNA paper models to describe replication, transcription and translation. The girls are still gluing the model.  I showed them a section of DNA that translates into an amino chain.  Show your kids the amino acids structures and codon charts to emphasize the relationship  between the DNA and the proteins produced.  You can buy a protein kit. I keep sets of Tangles and use them to demonstrate how individual amino acids form chains which fold into protein molecules-more of a model.  Next time,me plan to type blood, finish the model, and finish a PTC genetics lab. The girls tested everyone at church and took home more papers to test their families for more data.  The PTC paper is available from Home Science Tool.