e hënë, 9 mars 2009

It's time for Animals!

Well, maybe it's not animal time for some of us, but it sure is for me. I mix the lessons on the human body systems in with the same systems in all animal phyla (if relevant), throw in classification, development and cell signaling and there's one hell of a unit. So here's some development vids for y'all. I have linked to various sites, but I thought that a kind of one-stop shopping mode might be nice. I looked for good clean videos and put them in what my mind envisioned as a kind of temporal order.

One - Ovulation

Two - Sperm

Three - Fertilization to Blastula

Four - Human Embryo Development

Five - Stem Cells to Tissues

Six - Apoptosis

e enjte, 5 mars 2009

The Furious Fourth Quarter

Well folks, once again we have but a scant quarter left of this marathon that we call AP biology. Some of us are ahead and thankful for it, some of us are behind and feeling the pressure, and the rest are about where they should be. And I'll bet you a beer that you know what all three situations feel like.

It's crazy season. I am, as always this time of year, speeding up the pace, the Seniors are checking out, and the Juniors are just overwhelmed. I doing on a daily basis: content- content-theme-content-theme content overdrive, delivering it in a manner that enhances student focus, in many learning styles, all the while checking for understanding. I am beginning to think Sisyphus had it easy. However, it is the energy I get off of my colleagues that drives me on. I hope to provide some for you.

I found this video recently. It reviews Central Dogma in a truly unique way. RIKEN is the Japanese government's science & technology powerhouse. The images are stylized and set to a Japanese rave track. It provides great images for a quick review of protein synthesis.

Other great video links can be found at Molecular Movies.