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what to do with a 9th grader who is very excited about biochemistry?


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With the help of these forums, I chose Campbell's Biology: Concepts & Connections and an assortment of lab manuals for my 9th grade son's science studies this year.  I knew he liked biology before we began, and that he's possibly interested in a career in medicine or bioengineering.  Somehow, though, I wasn't prepared for him to be *so excited* about the things he's learning in this textbook about cells, genes, RNA and DNA, etc.  His eyes light up and he narrates to me the things he's learning in the text as if they're the most fascinating things he's ever heard in his life.  Now, I feel like the science plans I had for this year (just to read the textbook & discuss each chapter, do some cheap/easy hands-on labs like isolating DNA from a strawberry, have him take the SAT II in Biology at the end of the year) don't do justice to his level of interest in the topics covered.  I want to find some kind of enrichment opportunities or more interesting labs for him to do this year, but a) I don't know where to begin to look, aside from googling 'biochemistry for high school students', and b) our budget is fairly limited, so an online class or hundreds of dollars of lab equipment would be a stretch for us.

Does anyone have a suggestion of anything specific I could point him towards, or even just how to search for resources?  What I'm running into is that there are interesting opportunities (summer internships, etc.) for older students, but he's only 14 and in 9th grade; and his interests are really in the tiny things like cells and DNA, not so much animals or plants (he belongs to a 4H club and gets plenty of opportunities to deal with things on this larger scale).

Any help appreciated!

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Lol, my dd feels exactly the opposite about that book! As in, "finally... we're done with that cell-stuff, and I can learn about things I can actually see!"

 

Do you a university nearby? The first thing that comes to my mind is to visit the chemistry department and see if there are any biochem professors that would be willing to give you a tour of their lab and talk about what they do. I don't think this is common, but the university I attended was heavily invested in undergrad research, and most of the professors would have welcomed an interested high schooler to do some work in their lab.

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I don't have suggestions for classes (although I'd love to have him in my Bio II class at our co-op!) but if he's interested in independent reading, Campbell Biology is a level harder than Concepts and Connections.  Biochemistry textbooks (such as by Stryer or Voet) are pretty hard-core, but the textbook Genes or a molecular biology textbook might be of interest.  Watson also has a DNA Technologies book.  They're all pricy college texts, but if you can find a cheap older edition at a used store or amazon it would still have plenty of interesting material. 

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Do you have a subscription to The Great Courses Plus?  They have two courses he could watch.  Each course comes with the study guide which has essential and supplemental reading recommendations.

 

Here are the titles: (the price for GCP is $19.99/mo & can cancel anytime or $180/yr.)

EdX.org: (free, self-paced courses)

  • Principles of Biochemistry (this is an archieved course, but you can still access the material)
  • Useful Genetics Pt. 1: How Our Genes Shape Us
  • Useful Genetics Pt. 2: Genes & Genetic Inheritance 

Other online resources:

Books that may be of interest:

In addition, Ellen McHenry's Carbon Chemistry unit study includes elements of Biochemistry.  It's for grades 5-9.

 

There is also a 2009 Minecraft game that was designed using molecules to explain basic biochemistry called Molecules in Minecraft. Here is the article about it.

 

That's all I've got!

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Some ideas for biochem experiments:  1) Google Bryn Mawr science for high school; you will find a wealth of biochem stuff there; 2) Pop me a PM and I can email you a few excellent biochem experiments I have on pdf, 3) Buy a decent lab manual online and choose a few experiments from it.  You can buy supplies for most at Carolina Biological or Home Science Training Tools; 4) Use common household items (licorice, small colored marshmallows, toothpicks, etc) to model DNA, RNA, transcription, and translation. 

 

Some examples of suggestion #4:

 

http://www.greatscience.com/media/2765/6-2-3-bmt-puzzle-of-life-pdf.pdf

 

https://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_edu/waldron/pdf/TranscriptionTranslationProtocol.pdf

 

 

With the help of these forums, I chose Campbell's Biology: Concepts & Connections and an assortment of lab manuals for my 9th grade son's science studies this year.  I knew he liked biology before we began, and that he's possibly interested in a career in medicine or bioengineering.  Somehow, though, I wasn't prepared for him to be *so excited* about the things he's learning in this textbook about cells, genes, RNA and DNA, etc.  His eyes light up and he narrates to me the things he's learning in the text as if they're the most fascinating things he's ever heard in his life.  Now, I feel like the science plans I had for this year (just to read the textbook & discuss each chapter, do some cheap/easy hands-on labs like isolating DNA from a strawberry, have him take the SAT II in Biology at the end of the year) don't do justice to his level of interest in the topics covered.  I want to find some kind of enrichment opportunities or more interesting labs for him to do this year, but a) I don't know where to begin to look, aside from googling 'biochemistry for high school students', and b) our budget is fairly limited, so an online class or hundreds of dollars of lab equipment would be a stretch for us.

Does anyone have a suggestion of anything specific I could point him towards, or even just how to search for resources?  What I'm running into is that there are interesting opportunities (summer internships, etc.) for older students, but he's only 14 and in 9th grade; and his interests are really in the tiny things like cells and DNA, not so much animals or plants (he belongs to a 4H club and gets plenty of opportunities to deal with things on this larger scale).

Any help appreciated!

 

Edited by reefgazer
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My ds loved biochemistry (and is a freshman neuroscience major now)

Howard Hughes Medical Institute has some wonderful educational materials.  Ds loved the Holiday Lecture DVDs, and they are free for streaming on their Biointeractive site:

https://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive

More here:

https://www.hhmi.org/educational-materials

 

I really think you could make an entire course from their materials.

 

ETA: Before streaming was a thing, I signed up as a teacher at HHMI and got the DVDs free.  We also still get their quarterly magazine with research and education information, including programs for young people.  Everything from HHMI has always been free.

 

 

Edited by Joules
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My 11th grader loves Biochemistry as well.  I would recommend the MIT's Open Courseware as well as looking ahead to Chemistry class.  My son is currently taking both AP Biology & AP Chemistry and is finding the Chemistry both more challenging and going into more depth into all of the molecular level aspects.   

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