OneStepAtATime Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 DD and I have been looking things over and she would like to do Biology first, instead of Integrated Physics and Chemistry. She has been watching a lot of DVDs on animals and insects and plants and it has rekindled her interest. Only she does not want to do dissections at all. She did dissections in elementary (pretty advanced science classes at her school) and she watched dissections during her Marine Biology class this last semester. She feels she has done her part. If we still did experiments and labs, just not dissection, is it still a High School level course? I do have the AGS Biology textbook, the lab book, and the TM. I also own the CLE Biology Light Units. I just need a lab kit and we'd be ready to go. ETA: I don't know if this matters but she will need help with vocabulary and reading. She still struggles with understanding content reading in Science and History. I will be working closely with her to make sure there is understanding. It will take time. We will probably continue Biology through the summer to give her time to really understand the material. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 Modern biology courses like Miller/Levine have no dissection at all. It has totally gone out of vogue and most courses are now dominantly about evolution and biochemistry. I have no clue why providers like Landry are still so heavily bent toward dissection. Do other labs and move on. Joy. :) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 If your DS is interested in attending a 4 year uni, contact them and discover what they want to see on a transcript. Son's school of choice wants to see two sciences w/lab. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted June 27, 2015 Author Share Posted June 27, 2015 If your DS is interested in attending a 4 year uni, contact them and discover what they want to see on a transcript. Son's school of choice wants to see two sciences w/lab. The local Uni (where DD wants to go) does require two lab based sciences. DD was thinking she could do labs for Integrated Physics and Chemistry and do labs for Biology but not do dissection. There is a lot to Biology that doesn't tie to dissection. She wants labs. Just not dissection. She is more than willing to do labs. She will need another Science, possibly 2, beyond Biology and IPC. Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy or Marine Biology are the ones she has been thinking about and are all acceptable by the local Uni. She would like to do labs for as many as possible. DS is just starting 6th grade. He likes labs, too. He wants to be doing whatever science DD does. He doesn't want dissection either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 http://www.froguts.com/ Maybe ask over at the High School Boards. For me personally, a frog, annelid worm, and a perch would be the required minimum number of dissections for high school bio. If that means watching a video, so be it. I signed DS up for his labs, and he had absolutely no say in the matter. He also dissected leaf stomata and a ton of other things. Do what fits your student. I think bio labs/dissections are easier than the math in college chemistry. With son's math issues, bio seems the safer bet if he is given the option in college, so I'm preparing him that way for later down the road. I have no clue whether my thinking is right. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 OneStep, we're doing bio labs right now, and my favorite source, of all the places I gathered from, is this http://www.explorebiology.com/regentsbiology/labs/ They're for a Regents biology class, which means they're normal, rigorous, standard, and there's NO DISSECTION in them. Go check it out. They're structured, easy to pick up and use. Each lab you click will have a pdf you can download with all the pages. They're well-structured and very, very practical. I've spent hours fiddling around with a bunch of other manuals, but these are my absolute favs. If you google around, you'll also sometimes find LabPaq manuals free online. I've been using labs from this one http://degree.astate.edu/documents/LabKit_Manual.pdf but this also might work ‎kristyarthurtutoring.weebly.com/uploads/2/2/0/4/2204353/bio_210l_lab_manual.pdf Pick a lab for each chapter or unit you're covering. Then, from that pile, pick 2 to do complete lab write-ups on. Done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted June 27, 2015 Author Share Posted June 27, 2015 Thanks everyone! I must admit I am relieved that we are switching back to Biology. I had a great Bio teacher in High School and remember more of that by far than Chemistry. I am pretty happy to wait to face Chemistry and/or Physics until we are further down the road, when reading and math are further along. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted June 28, 2015 Author Share Posted June 28, 2015 Any fun game suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 You mean doing Winogradsky columns isn't fun enough? :D http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/winogradsky-columns-microbial-ecology-classroom?utm_source=BioInteractive+News&utm_campaign=2efb0e1e95-BioInteractive_News_Vol_496_9_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_98b2f5c6ba-2efb0e1e95-69240497 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 Cell Craft? http://www.carolina.com/teacher-resources/Interactive/online-game-cell-structure-cellcraft-biology/tr11062.tr oh cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 http://www.biologycorner.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted July 1, 2015 Author Share Posted July 1, 2015 Awesome! Thanks! DD was asking last night what sort of "cool" things we could do for Biology. I will attempt to make this as "cool" as possible. On a side note, does any of this appear on the SAT or the ACT? What should my goal be with this course? Besides just a credit on a transcript? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Awesome! Thanks! DD was asking last night what sort of "cool" things we could do for Biology. I will attempt to make this as "cool" as possible. On a side note, does any of this appear on the SAT or the ACT? What should my goal be with this course? Besides just a credit on a transcript? Just peeking at the science portion of my ACT prep cards, reading and analyzing charts and graphs seems to be important. The ACT and SAT website have free online practice exams, so maybe check there. A curriculum that teaches reading non-fiction skills would help, and Scholastic sells books for that. Teaching your DD to read a textbook would help with that too. I am not suggesting she use a textbook for a course, but she would benefit from knowing how to read, gather, and analyze data from one as a skill. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 Just peeking at the science portion of my ACT prep cards, reading and analyzing charts and graphs seems to be important. The ACT and SAT website have free online practice exams, so maybe check there. A curriculum that teaches reading non-fiction skills would help, and Scholastic sells books for that. Teaching your DD to read a textbook would help with that too. I am not suggesting she use a textbook for a course, but she would benefit from knowing how to read, gather, and analyze data from one as a skill. Thanks. I appreciate the feedback. Textbooks confuse her no end. We have worked on this and of course she had textbooks from Kinder onward when she was in school. She just sees it all as a muddled mess. She does better with CLE because there isn't a lot of distraction and side stuff and only a couple of muted colors. She did o.k. with the Young Explorers textbook from Apologia, too. Even though there was color there was not a bunch of side stuff. Conversational tone. Text goes across the whole page. It worked. Unfortunately, most textbooks are not like that. AGS has a great kind of textbook tutorial at the front so I intend to run her through that at the beginning so hopefully she can pull out needed info more easily. I will look at the other resources you suggested. Thankfully so far she does well with reading most charts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.