Help -- Miller-Levine Dragonfly Biology book, and labs

[happypamama]

I scored an amazing deal on the M-L Dragonfly Biology book, and it arrived today, along with a teacher edition, a test pack, and a lab manual.

 

I'm overwhelmed by all the labs.  The book itself has quite a few of them (of varying levels of difficulty/involvement, it seems), the lab manual has a bunch more, but they look to be different and not just recording sheets for the book labs (it's this book: http://www.amazon.com/PRENTICE-MILLER-BIOLOGY-LABORATORY-STUDENTS/dp/013115284X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1444267289&sr=8-4&keywords=miller+levine+biology+lab+manual),and then there are lab collections online which seem to be correlated to the M-L book (here: http://www.biologycorner.com/bio1/index.html#ch1 and here: http://www.thehomescientist.com/kits/BK01/miller-levine-dragonfly-correlation.pdf)

 

I'm pretty sure we aren't going to do ALL of those labs, even at Honors level.  Do I just pick one of the four collections and go with it and be happy?

 

If I use the lab manual book for labs, do I need to then come up with a different lab report format, or are those fill-in-the-blank sheets sufficient?  (Maybe they're just for collecting data?)  I know there's the Kolbe book on lab reports -- should I get that and use it regardless?  I am not a science person; it's been twenty years since I wrote a lab report, and I really don't remember anything about how to do them.  

[JanetC]

Here's what I'd do: Decide which chapters/topics you're doing in Dragonfly and how many weeks per topic. Plan on one lab every one or two weeks. (When you do short labs, do another one the next week, when you do a longer, more complex lab, call that good for two weeks.) Then, for all your various lab resources, look at the labs for the chosen topics, and choose ones that are going to be most interesting or most practical to do at home with easily available equipment.

[Luckymama]

I'm jealous of the test pack. I just spent hours putting together the lastest test for dd. Yucko.

 

 

Here's what I'd do: Decide which chapters/topics you're doing in Dragonfly and how many weeks per topic. Plan on one lab every one or two weeks. (When you do short labs, do another one the next week, when you do a longer, more complex lab, call that good for two weeks.) Then, for all your various lab resources, look at the labs for the chosen topics, and choose ones that are going to be most interesting or most practical to do at home with easily available equipment.

I agree. It's basically what I did when planning bio this past summer. I didn't have the ML lab manual, but I did have various websites for labs. I matched the topics for the chapters with all the labs from all my sources (you have it easier!), and then I chose the best mix of labs----some short, some long, some multi-day (had to plan those carefully to start on the correct day), a few using paper or manipulatives (like genetics), and so on.

[happypamama]

I'm jealous of the test pack. I just spent hours putting together the lastest test for dd. Yucko.

 

 

There's no way I am a sciencey enough person to put together high school tests! I was pleased at how good they look, from multiple choice to short essays in one test. Homeschoolclassifieds for the win!

 

The books also came with the Kolbe plans and exams, but I'm having an ethical dilemma about whether to use those or not; they were a freebie with the other four books. I didn't realize that they say that Kolbe requests that you don't resell or copy them. Technically, they were neither, and I wouldn't have purchased them (the teacher edition has plenty of planning help), but since I have them. . . Still thinking about that one.

 

I agree. It's basically what I did when planning bio this past summer. I didn't have the ML lab manual, but I did have various websites for labs. I matched the topics for the chapters with all the labs from all my sources (you have it easier!), and then I chose the best mix of labs----some short, some long, some multi-day (had to plan those carefully to start on the correct day), a few using paper or manipulatives (like genetics), and so on.

Thank you, luckymama and JanetC -- I'm glad to see that this is a viable approach. A lab every week or two would give us around twenty labs, which seems like a good number. She says she isn't doing a dissection. I think you can't claim to have done a decent bio 1 without at least one dissection. She will like the other labs, though. I just need to figure out how to work lab time into our schedule.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I'm going to disagree that an actual, physical dissection is a must for biology lab.  There is a ton of biology content that lends itself to labs that doesn't involve cutting up a dead animal. If that's really distasteful for whatever reason, do that one as a virtual lab. It's more important to see what's there than to have actually handled the tissue yourself.  It's fine to have your hands-on labs focus on micro, genetics, botany, ecology, and other topics.

[Luckymama]

We're only dissecting flowers and mushrooms!

[Penguin]

Here's what I'd do: Decide which chapters/topics you're doing in Dragonfly and how many weeks per topic. Plan on one lab every one or two weeks. (When you do short labs, do another one the next week, when you do a longer, more complex lab, call that good for two weeks.) Then, for all your various lab resources, look at the labs for the chosen topics, and choose ones that are going to be most interesting or most practical to do at home with easily available equipment.

This is pretty close to what we are doing. I chose labs from several sources (including the M-L lab book). Lots of my filtering was based on supply availability. I don't have the access that I would have in the states. We are doing a fair amount of field work (Grinnell field notes/journal method, making an ethogram) and microscope work because that is what we CAN do. He will have to write some full lab reports from scratch and we will use frogguts for virtual dissections. Bio lab can have many flavors.

 

Oh, and I blocked two hours on Friday for either lab or fieldwork. But if we skip lab occasionally - no big deal.

[happypamama]

Huh. This is good food for thought. I had assumed it would be necessary to do at least one dissection. This is my animal-loving child; if it would be acceptable to do a virtual lab for the dissection and stick with flowers and mushrooms for the hands-on work, she will be grateful for that! (I suppose we could always do a dissection later in high school if she starts leaning toward some sort of biology related field for college, which I could see happening, so that she's not totally put off by dissection in college.)

 

Penguin, I have no idea what you mean by Grinnell field notes -- do you have a source that I could check out for more information? And if you have any suggestions on where I could learn more about writing full lab reports, I would love those too! I'm really, really out of my element here but am willing to learn.

 

Thanks, everyone!

[Penguin]

happypamamma, Sorry for the name-dropping without links!!

 

Don't worry, I didn't know what any of the stuff I mentioned was either until I had to find labs we could do with minimal equipment.

 

For writing lab reports, I keep recommending this book from Novare science:  The Student Lab Report Handbook. You can also order it from Rainbow Resources. While Novare is not a completely secular company, this book is secular.

 

An ethogram is a detailed observation of animal behavior.  I got the idea from E.O. Wilson's free biology book (download from itunes), but I like this project I found better:

 

http://academic.reed.edu/biology/professors/srenn/pages/teaching/2008_syllabus/2008_labs/week2_stuff/zoo_20080820.pdf

 

It is a college level assignment AND we get to go to the zoo.  What's not to like about that? :hurray:

 

Oops gotta run.  I will come back with links for Grinnell field notes/journal.

ETA: See the next post.

[Penguin]

I know we have some scientists and biologists on the forum.  Maybe one will chime in and tell us if these ideas are any good or not. :laugh:

 

OK, here is another ethogram at the zoo project.  This one is specifically for birds.  It comes from a list of free projects on this site - look to the left sidebar for Ethogram. I might use this one, or blend the two together...idk yet.  We will wait for spring :)

 

 

Now for the "Grinnell Method" of field notes/field journals, the ah-ha moment for me was that you make detailed observations in the field first then you distill them and write them up in the field journal afterward. In my mind this is very different than trying to make a pretty nature journal. DS did his field notes by hand and the field journal on the computer.

 

We have only done this once so far, but it was a smashing success IMO. We went to a nature preserve (this one if you are curious), but that is absolutely not necessary.

 

Links:

 

The historical background and theory

 

And for more of the how-to:

 

http://www.fieldjournaling.com/2011/11/field-notes-traditional-basics/

 

http://instruct.uwo.ca/biology/320y/fj.html

(Make sure you read all the way through...the first set of directions is for the field journal and the last set is for the field notes, but you take the notes before you make the journal.)

[Lori D.]

The books also came with the Kolbe plans and exams, but I'm having an ethical dilemma about whether to use those or not; they were a freebie with the other four books. I didn't realize that they say that Kolbe requests that you don't resell or copy them. Technically, they were neither, and I wouldn't have purchased them (the teacher edition has plenty of planning help), but since I have them. . . Still thinking about that one.

 

If you do use the exams, just write out answers on your own paper to keep them clean. And either way, whether you use them or not, just *give* the Kolbe plans and exams away free when you resell the rest -- that honors Kolbe's request, as you would be neither reselling nor copying. And it would continue to the "freebie" aspect, as you were given those materials as a gift, unasked for. :)

[happypamama]

I know we have some scientists and biologists on the forum.  Maybe one will chime in and tell us if these ideas are any good or not. :laugh:

 

OK, here is another ethogram at the zoo project.  This one is specifically for birds.  It comes from a list of free projects on this site - look to the left sidebar for Ethogram. I might use this one, or blend the two together...idk yet.  We will wait for spring :)

 

 

Now for the "Grinnell Method" of field notes/field journals, the ah-ha moment for me was that you make detailed observations in the field first then you distill them and write them up in the field journal afterward. In my mind this is very different than trying to make a pretty nature journal. DS did his field notes by hand and the field journal on the computer.

 

We have only done this once so far, but it was a smashing success IMO. We went to a nature preserve (this one if you are curious), but that is absolutely not necessary.

 

Links:

 

The historical background and theory

 

And for more of the how-to:

 

http://www.fieldjournaling.com/2011/11/field-notes-traditional-basics/

 

http://instruct.uwo.ca/biology/320y/fj.html

(Make sure you read all the way through...the first set of directions is for the field journal and the last set is for the field notes, but you take the notes before you make the journal.)

Penguin, thank you so much for adding all of those links! Making an ethogram looks like fun, and like a really good way to learn about an animal. (Incidentally, it reminds me of a similar project I did in college in my child development class, where we observed and counted behaviors and took notes on the toddlers in the child development lab/daycare, which was a lot of fun.).   That preserve you went to is beautiful! The field notes thing is a lightbulb moment for me as well -- notes first, then a joirnal. Makes total sense. And I love the looks of the lab book. Thank you thank you!

 

If you do use the exams, just write out answers on your own paper to keep them clean. And either way, whether you use them or not, just *give* the Kolbe plans and exams away free when you resell the rest -- that honors Kolbe's request, as you would be neither reselling nor copying. And it would continue to the "freebie" aspect, as you were given those materials as a gift, unasked for. :)

Thanks, LoriD! I definitely wouldn't resell them. I still feel like they didn't intend for the plans to be given away either, but they didn't explicitly state that. And I know that technically once you buy something, the publisher has no say on what you're allowed to do with it, but I'm trying to decide what's in the spirit of their request and what's not. I am probably overthinking it. :)

[Lori D.]

Thanks, LoriD! I definitely wouldn't resell them. I still feel like they didn't intend for the plans to be given away either, but they didn't explicitly state that. And I know that technically once you buy something, the publisher has no say on what you're allowed to do with it, but I'm trying to decide what's in the spirit of their request and what's not. I am probably overthinking it. :)

 

Yes, that was my thinking, too, trying to stay within the spirit of their request. Giving it away, esp. since they gave it to you, would do that. If you feel really anxious about it, you could always choose to not use it at all, and give it away. :)

 

Sometimes, when publishers have an older edition, or the end of a press run, and they just can't sell or get rid of it because people want the new edition or the new printing, they just give away the old ones, as their choice is to give it away, or throw it away. Giving it away at least gives them the chance to build up a grateful clientele. :)