Just did Greg Landry's Two Day Lab Intensive

[sbaloue]

We just finished Greg Landry's Two Day Lab Intensive for Biology/Anatomy & Physiology, and it was excellent. I served as a parent volunteer and was there for both days.

 

Greg Landry is an excellent teacher. He explained things in a way the students could really understand.

 

There were about 24-25 students ranging in ages from 12-16 years old. There were about 15 boys and 9 girls in the Illinois lab. Also, I overheard two girls saying they were not homeschoolers.

 

Anyway, on day one we did the following: a DNA extraction experiment, blood typing of individual students' blood, a discussion of the human respiratory and skeletal systems, inflation of healthy and "smoker" pig lungs, an osmosis/diffusion experiment, a genetics experiment, a discussion of soils and plants, bateria cultures and ph testing. Greg Landy gave a detailed, indepth discussion of how to write lab reports.

 

On day two we did frog, cat, sheep uterus and cow heart, lung & trachea dissections. The students also tested their glucose levels over several hours after eating sugary foods for breakest. The students also conducted a hematocrit experiment.

 

On the first day students were give about five homework assigments. Some were to be done that night, and the rest were to be finished over the next days/weeks (baterial cultures and plant experiment).

 

Overall, it was an excellent experience. My 9th grade son, who couldn't care less about science, said he understands more of his Apologia Biology now. He also said he wishes Greg Landry were his science teacher. My 7th grade son says he wants to do all of the lab intensives. :001_smile:

[QumaCote]

Thank you for posting! Glad it was a good experience.

 

Does Greg Landry teach all the lab intensives?

[sbaloue]

In speaking with his wife, who was there, she did talk about doing lots of biology lab intensives. I am not sure if he does the ones for chemistry and physical science.

 

I should have asked :001_huh: but the days were busy.

Edited April 26, 2012 by sbaloue
more information

[LisaKinVA]

Thanks for sharing this! I'm planning on my son doing one of these next year.

[RanchGirl]

thank you for sharing this, it is really helpful. If I may ask a few questions...

 

What were the hand-outs like?

 

Did they do write-ups for the labs during the class time or do they send home paperwork that the kids can fill out later?

 

My son typically takes pictures of his lab projects to add to his notes, would that be intrusive there?

[sbaloue]

The handout was a big, spiral lab book; each student received one and kept it. He also passed out copies of the insides of frogs for the frog dissection.

 

 

They encourage taking pictures. Mr. Landry asked that pictures of the cat dissection not be taken because that might upset people who love or have cats.

 

The lab reports were done at home. There are plenty of lined papers in the lab manual for writing reports along with samples of lab reports. That said, my 9th grade son wrote the best lab report of his life after Greg Landry explained how.:001_smile:

[Running the race]

Glad to hear it. My son is signed up to take the one in Phoenix in April 2013.

[RanchGirl]

The handout was a big, spiral lab book; each student received one and kept it. He also passed out copies of the insides of frogs for the frog dissection.

 

 

They encourage taking pictures. Mr. Landry asked that pictures of the cat dissection not be taken because that might upset people who love or have cats.

 

The lab reports were done at home. There are plenty of lined papers in the lab manual for writing reports along with samples of lab reports. That said, my 9th grade son wrote the best lab report of his life after Greg Landry explained how.:001_smile:

 

That sounds like just what I was hoping for, thank you for the additional detail!

[lakerks]

Thanks for posting. I've been thinking about signing ds up for this for next fall.

 

Do you have an opinion on whether it would be more helpful to do the lab intensive before or after having completed most of your Apologia bio course?

 

Also, what prior lab experiences had your son had? Does this intensive take the place of the experiments in the Apologia text? (Some of them - dissecting a cat, for example - go beyond what I had expected we would encounter in a first-year biology course.)

[chirowife]

Thanks so much for posting. My daughter is signed up for the one in Pittsburgh in September! We are very excited, especia

lly after hearing such a good review!

[Guest oleyvalley]

There are different teachers for different intensives.

My two students have taken several Landry classes this year and we are very pleased

[sbaloue]

My older son had done about seven labs last year with Apologia Physical science. At the time of the lab intensive, he was on module six iof Apologia Bio and had done about three of the labs. I purchased the biology lab kit from www.hometrainingtools.com and we'll finish some additional bio labs with that. I am going to count all of the lab intensive labs towards his biology credit.

 

My younger 7th grade son has done lots of labs with Rainbow Science, but he had never written a lab report in his life. He was able to right a very good lab report on the blood typing experiment. His older brother and I did help him, and he also followed the examples in the lab manual.