Prentice Hall Chemistry Resource

 I use the Apologia Chemistry textbook, Exploring Creation with Chemistry.  However, in another life, I used the Prentice Hall Chemistry textbook.  (Every private and public school uses different textbooks.  The content remains largely the same.)  I liked some of the resources in the Prentice Hall textbook.  For example, look at this Chapter 10.3 excerpt.  Scroll down to p.308, Quick Lab, ‘Percent Composition’.  This is the format for the teacher edition, a ‘wrap-around’ textbook.  ‘Wrap-around’ means that the teacher notes, answers, examples, and tips are written just outside the student version.  The lab manual, core teaching manual, and small scale lab manual are all useful if you can find them online in expensively.  Below are screenshots with the ISBN for each textbook or manual.  

Biology on a Budget: Predator-Prey Simulation

 The Lynx eats the Hare is one lab I do every time I teach Biology.  Here is the simulation.  Below are pix of the set-up for the lab simulation.  Do a trial run or two before collecting data to analyze and graph.  (My husband, Rob, does the spreadsheet instruction.  I can assemble a spreadsheet; he can teach kids how to enter data.  I can show his Algebra II kids how to enter data to analyze in the graphing calculators. Rob loathes the TI 84 graphing calculators the kids use in Algebra II.)  Here is a slide deck about the lynx and hare.  (Evidently, terms such as slideshow or PowerPoint has been replaced by the term, ‘slide deck’.)  This lab is worth the investment time to make copies and cut out the little hares.

Biology on a Budget: Owl Pellet Dissection

 Time permitting, the Biology Co-op class is going to dissect owl pellets.  You do NOT need expensive equipment for an owl pellet dissection—just the pellets.  Here Is the post from July about buying owl pellets and optional T-pins.   Home Science Tools has this dissection project.  Here is an extremely detailed lesson plan. This lesson plan has an owl pellet dichotomous key, an inventory of skulls worksheet,  Here is a one page lab report worksheet to use if younger children in your family are dissecting, too.  Here  is the bone-sorting chart we use.  Use disposable, paper plates and toothpicks.  Make a list of the prey located in the owl pellets as a group.  My class uses this list to research the prey’s diet to creat a food web.  Below are pix.  I’ll post more next week.  Below are the owl pellets I ordered from Amazon.  There are about $5 each; the larger pellets usually have more heads, which are easier to identify.

Biology Scribble Notes

The first time I taught a Co-op class, my friend, Diane, introduced me to lapbooks.  Many home-school families use interactive notebooks, especially for science topics.  I think Scribble Notes or Doodle notes arose from the Cornell Note Taking System. I like to use a huge variety of resources; but, I’m always open to new strategies.  In the past, coloring pages are useful for some topics.  I want to try some of Matthew Simmons’ Scribble Notes.  Open the website’s home-page for links to social media.  Mr. Simmons posts his scribble notes to the Facebook Group, National Biology Teachers, with pdf links for student work.  Below is a screenshot of a sample of Mr.Simmons’ work.  Astounding.  

Biology on a Budget: Levels of Organization

 Next week, Biology begins with Ecology.  The kids bring in long lists of local organisms to edit as a class.  We’ll use the list to create food webs.  First, we’ll do Levels of Organization.  I just use plastic cups.  I assign kids into groups and give them a stack of cups and ask them to put the levels in order from smallest to largest.  Here are extensive notes; I don’t do a lengthy lecture.  Instead, I refer to the levels of organization as we review different organisms and systems.  The second photo is one of the sets I made with plastic cups.  I bought stacks of cups from the Clearance section at Walmart to use for Levels of Organization. I teach Biology often; it was a worthwhile investment.  Use disposable cups instead.  Tiny, Dixie cups are fine.  I’m getting excited to teach!

Science on a Budget: How to Measure Labs

 On the first day of any science class, make sure your kids know how to measure correctly with scientific, lab tools.  Now is the time to document all of the labs with photos for your digital portfolio, too!  Start here with Measurement to review qualitative vs quantitative, accuracy and precision, and  reading a metric ruler, graduated cylinder, thermometer, and triple beam scale.  Combine these skills and to this density lab (or Density Challenge, It’s all about Density!, Discovering Density, Beverage Density.)  You may want to just do a measurement lab. These labs are all quite quick.  I would launch my home-school science classes with a series of labs.  Take photos!  Below are two videos about how to use a digital scale.  

MEL Chemistry Starter Kit

Good Will online frequently has the MEL Starter kits available.  MEL Chemistry starter kits have a beaker, flask, safety glasses, and a mini camp stove for heating solutions with Sterno, tea candles or solid fuel pellets.  I’ve bought three MEL Starter kits from Good Will.  If you can snag one for $20-25, it’s a good deal, especially if you’re teaching Chemistry.

Bones!

 In college I had an Anatomy instructor who put bones in a garbage bag to identify.  Good Will online has a bunch of human bones available for you to wrap in garbage bags to quiz your kids, too!  BTW when I teach Anatomy, the kids memorize the major bones in the human skeleton; but, I don’t wrap them up to identify.

Dissection kits for squeamish kids!

 First, I do dissections with real specimens.  However, I have had my fair share of squeamish students.  My husband and grandson, Paul, are extremely squeamish.  We used Owl Brand Discovery Toys’ piranha and frog. Both Rob and Paul were green cutting up synthetic toys.  While I don’t understand why they don’t think dissections are cool, I pick my battles.  Right now, Good Will online has two simulated dissection kits.  I’ll continue to teach with dissections; if your teen just can’t do dissections with specimens, buy the toys.

Science on a Budget: Walmart is your science store!

What can you buy for science experiments at Walmart?   Buy loads of household chemicals and supplies for labs: isopropyl alcohol (DNA extraction), Dawn, Epsom salts (Magnesium sulfate), washing soda (calcium carbonate), baking soda, vinegar, citric acid, Driveway Heat (calcium chloride), Soil Moist ( polyacrylate crystals), iodine, q-tips, wooden coffee stirrers (wood splints for flame tests), household ammonia, food coloring, cupcake liners (weigh paper), coffee filters (chromatography), plastic paint pallets (reaction plates for 0.1M solutions), craft sticks (stir sticks), magnets (extract Fe from cereal), Elmer’s glue (polymers), Tums (calcium carbonate), sea salt, Alka-Seltzer tablets, borax (polymers), ream of copy paper (concept maps), several packs of paper and pencils (hand to students), colored pencils (sketch slides), construction paper (graphics), multiple colored paper clips (DNA transcription/translation), pipe cleaners and yarn (mitosis/ meiosis), mixed beans (Beanium), and Dixie cups, steel wool, disposable gloves, distilled water, ziplock bags, lighters, candles, camp stove and fuel pellets.

Now for a few links to experiments and activities.  Here is a Chemistry link for several chemical reactions with household chemicals, such as sudsy ammonia and Epsom salts.  Here are instructions for Ghost Crystals, DNA Extraction, Beanium lab, DNA Structure and Protein Synthesis Simulation, and Alka-Seltzer labs.  Don’t forget to shop your kitchen, pantry, desk, bathroom, and garage first before you shop at Walmart!  

GLOBE

 Are you familiar with GLOBE?  GLOBE is an international program; kids can collect and post data.  However, I find the best use is for supplementing programs.  Take a look at Biometry.  Browse the contents.  Kids can make and use a clinometer, read a compass, build and use a densimeter, investigate with MUC codes, and measure tree heights.  Keep scrolling because there’s even more information!  Biometry has several field guides and data sheets.  I learn something new every time I browse GLOBE.  I hadn’t seen the term, graminoids, before.  At the bottom of Biometry is Biosphere Learning Activities.  GLOBE can be daunting.  Don’t let it intimidate you.  Just pick one interesting activity, such as Investigating Leaf Pigments, to see what your kids might enjoy.  I’m planning to use Green-up/Green-down in Bio this year.  Don’t let the volume of materials overwhelm you.

Teach Co-op Science!

 In another life, I taught science in both private and public schools.  New Co-op instructors can find organizing for a new term daunting.  Start with the space.  I teach in my basement.  Before I taught at the library, in our Church’s CCD classroom, and in school classrooms.  If you teach outside your home, do an inventory of your teaching space.  I taught in the library’s MakerSpace.  The room had a sink, counters, tables, chairs, and outlets.  I organized supplies into bins and caddies for class.  There was a portable whiteboard I used.  Our basement has one sink, several tables, chairs, and whiteboards.  (My husband, Rob, wanted two large whiteboards for math problems—especially in Physics.  I use a portable whiteboard most of the time.)  If you don’t have a sink, bring jugs of water and a bucket for waste for lab.  In any case, see what amenities your space has—like a rest room nearby!

Set up Google Classroom.  I post everything.  You can set deadlines and keep track of grades.  You can load documents from Drive and links from the internet.  I like to copy a link or document for a lab into Classroom in case a child is absent or loses the document.  I load slideshows into Classroom and publish homework, too.

Plan the program.  You don’t need to organize the entire year!  Plan for the first class.  Here and here are Day One for Chemistry.  Guess what?  Day One can take two or three classes.  I want to have a plan for the miscellaneous topics I cover initially: lab safety, lab equipment, syllabus, assignments, textbooks, etc.  What textbook are you using?  When is class?  

Lastly, plan the first lab.  Here is Apple Mummies—an excellent first lab to teach experimental design.  You can review safety, remind kids to wear safety glasses, introduce spreadsheets, etc.  Below are pix and here is a post about our basement classroom.  You can do this!

Biology on a Budget: Watershed Science

 Are you familiar with watershed studies?  There are loads of resources available; watershed, forest, and stream studies are excellent supplements to Biology.  My undergrad degree was in Biology.  I took Botany and Zoology.  Guess what?  If you don’t practice field botany you can forget the names of species.  I like to work with a forester or watershed educator from the local Soil and Water Conservation District.  If I’m planning a stream study, I bring an expert.  If I want to take kids to a park and identify trees, I bring an expert.   

Where should you start?  Make a DIY Watershed; this site has very detailed instructions and questions.  I live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  The USGS has an educational packet, Our Water, Our Lives, The Chesapeake Bay Watershed.  The packet is designed for Grades 4-6.  However, the lesson has the basic terms and concepts for watershed studies: estuaries, headwaters, stream flow, and runoff.  Here is the USGS home page with water lessons: Our Water, Our Lives: California, and Our Water Our Lives: Floods—more than you need to learn about water!

One organization is Save Our Streams, sponsored by the Isaac Walton League. (This website has basic water tests.)  Here  is an introduction to BMIs or counting benthic macroinvertebrates, insect larvae, which are indicators of the stream’s water quality.  

The environmental organizations and volunteers can be a lot.  I encourage students to focus on the science and the experts’ knowledge.  I stick closely to these volunteers when my teens do a study and keep the emphasis on the science and off opinions or politics.  I get to know the science experts and learn who to trust.  Sad, isn’t it?  Usually, the volunteer wants to teach the kids about the stream, the riparian buffer, or how to identify macroinvertebrates.  

The number of free resources about streams and watersheds is astounding.  You can study streams with simple, inexpensive equipment.  The problem often is the political bent of some organizations.  You may want to do your own research and stream studies.  Start with benthic macroinvertebrates and go from there.  

Physical Science on a Budget: Soda Pop Science

 No, this post is NOT about dropping Mentos into soda.  Please.  These labs will help round out your Physical Science or General Science class.  First, Changing the Color of a Penny.  Here are details about the penny and soda lab.  Next is Clear Cola or Invisible Soda to see the effect of mixing cola with milk.  The instructions call for 2% milk and diet cola.  Test regular cola and different percentages of milk.  Test the pH of cola (and loads of household substances) with this lab with pH test strips.  

Here is the Neutralization of a Soft Drink lab.  This experiment is a bit more advanced for Physical Science.  However, many kids can understand neutralization in terms of a base and an acid forming a salt and water.  Vinegar, a weak acid, neutralizes baking soda, a weak base. The American Chemical Society, ACS has these labs: The Secret Science of Soda Pop.  Your kids will love all of these labs.  Oh!  Save the aluminum cans to do the Collapsing Can Experiment.

Biology on a Budget: DNA Extraction

 I paid $40 for a DNA extraction lab the first time I did the lab.  At the time, other Bio teachers were using Everclear alcohol for their extractions.  Guess what?  You do NOT need expensive materials.  Here are the instructions.  I used dry, split peas.  Really.  Any type of detergent, dish liquid, or shampoo works.  Any type of alcohol, even rubbing alcohol works.  The key is to use fresh meat tenderizer; the enzyme important.  My DNA extraction lab is inquiry-based.  The kids use the lab instructions but compare one variable.  For example, one group tests iodized salt vs. sea salt.  Another groupe compares rubbing alcohol and ethanol.  Another team compares Dawn and Ajax dish soap.  The kids observe which produces more DNA.  We’ve had the best results with Dawn dish detergent.  Below are pix from lab.  It helps to pulverize the pea solution in a blender.  However, we’ve used a mortar and pestle successfully, too.  The DNA are white strands—a bit underwhelming.  You do NOT need test tubes; cups and kitchen utensils are fine.  

Biology: Matthew Simmons

 Matthew Simmons is a Biology teacher who draws these amazing diagrams on his classroom’s whiteboard.  Here is the unit on Cells, from his website, Simmons Science.  He posts in the Facebook Group, National Biology Teachers and other social media sites located on the website.  Take a look! 

Biology on a Budget: Cheap and Free Activities

 My teens do many labs and activities.  We start with Ecology.  Let me share some of my favorite activities.  First is Camouflage.  Here is another Camouflage lab using colored construction paper and floral fabric.  You need to use a hole punch to make 100 small disks for each group.  The lab suggests timing each trial at 30 seconds.  I’ve found that 30 seconds may be too long of a time period.  Sorry, I don’t have any pix.  I’ll try to remember to post photos when we do the lab this fall.  

The Lynx Eats the Hare is another favorite; it demonstrates predator-prey relationships.  Here is the slideshow I prepared with the data graphed.  Just below are pix showing the game set up.  We repeat the simulation at least twice.

Another Ecology lab we do is Mark-Recapture with white beans.  Here is a slideshow explaining how ecologists estimate populations.  Below are pix from the white bean, mark-recapture, lab.

Here is Bean Biodiversity.  Biodiversity can be measured several ways; the relative biodiversity is a measure of an area’s resilience.  I have bean mixture with at least 15 different types of beans I use in Chemistry for the Beanium Isotope lab.   All of these labs use inexpensive materials, such as construction paper, painter’s tape, and dry beans.  All of these labs offer high level, Bio instruction.

Biology on a Budget: Energy Pyramids

The first unit I teach in Bio is Ecology.  The kids learn how to make food chains and food webs.  One sticking point is ecological or energy pyramids.   Start with this label, color, cut, and glue Ecological Energy Pyramid (or here). BTW my teens make and label many models and graphics as study guides.  We start with an Owl Pellet Dissection. The kids use the types of moles, birds, shrew, etc to create food chains and food webs.  

N.B. Use toothpicks and paper plates for the owl pellet dissection.  Print bone sorting charts.  Below are pix with owl pellet prices.  The large and jumbo pellets have more skulls—which are infinitely easier to identify than small vertebrae or other bones.

Take your owl pellet dissection to the next level and calculate the biomass.  Carolina’s Biological has Owl Pellets Food Webs: A Model of Energy and Mass Transfer.  There are teacher notes. You’ll need to dissect several large owl pellets to obtain decent data.  This type of activity works well with a larger Co-op class. Here is a detailed description of the entire process.  Read the teacher notes and the student notes to understand an owl’s diet and the biomass calculations.  If you invest in owl pellets, it pays to get as much instruction as possible out of the lab.

Student Centered Experiments

 In another life I did some consulting, teaching teachers how to set up inquiry based experiments.  If you teach Co-op science classes, join the national groups for Chemistry, Physics, or Biology groups on Facebook.  I like to see what the current trends are.  One trend is ‘student centered instruction’.  I can hear you laugh!  Yes, all home-school instruction is student centered.  Let me suggest a tip.  Start with the lab or experiment at the beginning of a lesson, chapter, or module.  Hear me out!  I have two examples I really use.

1. Chemistry: Day One the kids do Reaction in a Bag.  I make sure they have on safety classes.  I go around and ask them to record observations.  I ask what happened and if the calcium chloride or the baking soda made the reaction warmer or colder.  Then we jot down observations as a group.  We repeat and substitute phenol read with Universal indicator.  After we clean up I ask the kids to tell me the purpose of the lab.  Reaction in a Bag has questions to ask the kids.  See if they know terms such as exo and endothermic reactions.   This experiment is my way to explain the scientific method.  For me the scientific method is about testing a question.  Here the question is ‘What’s a chemical reaction?’

2. Biology:  The first day of Biology, we step outside in my backyard and observe organisms.  What do they hear?  Can they see any organisms?  Which ones? The kids jot down as many organisms as possible.  BTW I live in Northern Virginia, near Quantico.  My backyard is a postage stamp.  But there are trees and a retention pond behind the house.  I give the kids five minutes to write as many species as possible.  We compile a class list.  We discuss what the different organisms eat and add those species.  Now we have the basis for a few food chains and food webs.  We can organize the organisms into energy pyramids.  We can categorize the species into producers and consumers.  We can discuss scientific names.  When I lead these discussions, I ask loads of questions.  What is an animal which eats plants called?  Can they differentiate producers and consumers?  Next we do an Owl Pellet Dissection.  We use this information to identify species owl eat, species mice or voles eat, and create food chains and food webs.  This approach allows me to gauge what kids already know and fill in gaps.  Whenever possible, start with a lab or an activity—even the experiments right in your textbook.