2013

Next year we're going to start looking at how cells in our bodies and plants work. We're also going to look at some physics (questions 6 - ) that we'll be dealing with later in the year.  Answer the following in your books:

1. What are organelles?
2. Write down an organelle that both plants and animals have:
3. Write down the name of part of a plant or animal cell, and explain what it does.
4. Complete this activity, explaining what white blood cells do to protect the body:
5. What things from the nucleus get randomly distributed when things reproduce?
6. Say when the skater has the most kinetic energy:
7. Complete this challenge. What do oppositely charged and same charged particles do to each other?
8. Try this interactive, explaining what happens before a cell divides:

Writing assignments

To help with writing assginments, I've made some writing frames which help you with what to put down for each section of the assignment tasks. They are on the shared area here, and you should use them to complete the sentences yourselves and then save the work in your documents.

Today we need to get all the parts that we haven't done so far finished so we can move on next week. If you finish as assignment, put it in the blue folder so Mr. Cole can mark it.

Assignment catch-up

Today we're going to be finishing off assignments we've already looked at in class. The assignment sheets for everything we've done so far are in the shared area here.
Everyone has things they haven't finished yet or can improve on, so we're going to spend today working on those different assignments.  Use the assignment sheets or ask Mr. Cole if you need help.

You need to have completed 5 assignments to be up to date.

Assignment 2 task 2

Task 1 for this assignment is the poster about the 4 ways humans affect the environment.  For task 2, you need to explain how indicators can help judge levels of pollution.

Explain how each of the following can be used as an indicator:

1. Lichens
2. Stone Flies
3. Nematode Worms

You will also need to write up the experiment we did in class today, and two others. Include a heading, equipment needed, method, results and graphs for each experiment. Use the photos from the shared area  for your write up.

Changing the future

Today we're going to look at how we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we produce, which would help to stop climate change. Complete the following activities:

1. Think about your lifestyle at the moment, and write down one way that you produce lots of carbon dioxide. Use this list (at the bottom of the page) for suggestions if you aren't sure. 
2. Use this carbon calculator to calculate how much carbon dioxide you produce each year. How big is your carbon footprint? What part of your footprint is the biggest?
3. Give one way that you could produce less carbon dioxide:
4. Use the image below to name the country with the lowest carbon emissions per person. Why might this be?
5. What problems are associated with burning fossil fuels?
6. What are renewable energy sources?
7. Why are renewable energy sources better for the environment? (Think about what they DON'T  produce)
8. Check the temperatures in your experiment, filling in your table. What does the glass beaker represent?                               
9. Complete these sentences - Today I learnt ........... One question I have is ...........

Extension - Imagine you are in charge of deciding which renewable energy sources Oxford should use to produce less greenhouse gases. Describe which would you choose (it can be more than one), and why you would choose them.

Climate change - causes and effects.

Today we're going to look at climate change and how it effects the environment. Answer the following in your books:

1. What type of radiation do greenhouse gases absorb?
2. How much of the atmosphere is carbon dioxide?
3. Which atoms make up carbon dioxide? Write the chemical formula too.
4. Roughly how much carbon dioixde do people create each year?
5. List two effects of climate change occurring on the Earth now:
6. How would hydrogen cars (like the one in the picture) create less carbon dioxide?
7. Watch this video. How much could the Earth's average temperature increase over the next 100 years?
8. Why is protecting trees improtant for stopping climate change?
9. Watch the video below. Has the Earth's climate always stayed the same or fluctuated? What is different about the last 100 years?                              
10. Try this activity. What different ways are there that the city can get the electricity it needs?
11. Try and run this country to avoid climate change! In what ways can the government reduce carbon emissions?



BP oil spill

For the last part of this assignment, you need to produce a word document about the BP oil spill. You can also find other sites with articles from google, these are just to get you started. Save your work, check with Mr. Cole before printing out.

Biology Assignment 1 task 3

Today we're going to do the last part of the first assignment.  Watch the video below, then complete the questions:

1. Open a powerpoint. You then need to find a picture of a hummingbird, and identify three characteristics that are determined by it's genetics.
2. What would happen if hummingbirds lived in a different envrionment? Explain what might happen if they needed to blend in to a different background, or feed from a different type of flower.
3. Birds originally evolved from dinosaurs. You need to find a diagram that shows how this occurred (like the one below), and describe the changes that happened along the way. What advantages did evolving wings give to Dinosaurs/Birds?

Assignment 1 task 2

Today we're going to finish a part of assignment 1 that I wasn't aware we had to complete.
In a powerpoint, complete the following tasks:

1. Use this link to create a food web (different to a food chain).  Once you've done this, list at least three ways that the plants and animals need each other APART from for food. 
2. Explain how the population of a group of animals can change over time, depending on the numbers of other animals. Complete this in a few sentences on a separate slide.

CHECK YOUR WORK WITH MR. COLE BEFORE PRINTING IT.

DNA revision

Today we're going to look at what we've covered with DNA so far, to help us prepare for after half term. Complete the following:

1. Watch this video. Write down two things that you didn't know the cell did.
2. How do the four bases join up?
3. Complete some of the activities here. What do the different parts of the body have in common? What are some differences?
4. Give the size of one chromosome:
5. Roughly what length of DNA is contained in each cell?
6. How many pairs of chromosomes do human cells have? What is the difference between male and female cells?
7. What makes a firefly glow? 
8. There are lots of good activities on this link, try whatever you like.

DNA

Complete these questions once you've submitted your first assignment:

1. Which three scientists discovered DNA?
2. Watch this video. Who was the other Scientist who almost discovered DNA's structure but got a crucial part wrong?

3.  Use this animation to describe what the nucleus in a cell does.

4.  Write down the function of ONE other part of the cell, using the link above. 

5.  Complete this activity. List three characteristics that can get passed on from parents to children.

6.  Watch this animation, and complete the questions on the way through.

7.  For the link above, what are the sex cells called?

Assignment 1

Today we're going to print out the powerpoint for the first assignment, and submit it in a plastic pocket with the assignment sheet. Make sure you ask Mr. Cole to check your work before you print! Once you're done, complete these questions:

1. Complete this activity, writing down one thing you didn't know before. 
2. Which things have DNA in them?
3. What are some similarities between you and a plant in terms of DNA?
4. What are some differences between you and the plant? (use the link above).
5. Explain what genotype and phenotype mean:
6. Complete this activity. How long would it take you to reproduce a genome at the rate you work at?
7. Copy the image below onto your page, and explain what it is, using the information on this page to help. What are the different coloured sections representing?                                                                                                  

Today we're going to look at some more used for DNA. Answer the following questions in your books:

1. Describe briefly how plants AND animals can be cloned 
2. Why might people want to clone farm animals (make sure you mention the point about farm animals)?  
3. What are plasmids and what kind of living things have them? 
4. Look at the diagram below.  How are plasmids different from normal DNA in Bacteria? 

                    
5.  How can plasmids be used to make medicine from Bacteria?

6. Watch the following video.  What are the advantages and disadvantages or genetic engineering like this? Come up with at least one of each and write them down.

7. What other genetically modified organisms exist? - Name and explain two others from this site - 
8. What is golden rice? What problem could it solve? 

Finally, try any of these activities.

Today we'll be working on the ecosystems powerpoint from last lesson (the post below this one), and completing these questions in your books if you've already done the assignment:

1. Define sexual and asexual reproduction.
2. Using the link from question 1, what type of reproduction leads to variation in a population?
3. What does DNA in genes code for?
4. Use the image to place the following in order from smallest to largest - Nucelus, DNA, chromosome, gene.                                   
5. Apart from genetics, what else can influence how an organism looks?
6. Briefly describe what cloning is and outline one way that it can occur:
7. Play this game, what things are randomly separated to determine what the offspring will look like?

Try any of these once you're finished.

Assignment 1 - Ecosystems

Today you need to make sure you've finished the first assignment and put everything in your red folder, so Mr. Cole can mark it for you. That means you need:

• 2 keys (one for snakes, one for plants).
• The answers to the questions from the post below this one.

1.  For the next part of the assignment, you will need to create a powerpoint.  List the 5 kingdoms of living things , with one on each slide. Make sure you give two examples of each kingdom, and a picture or drawing of them.

2. You also need to explain the difference between invertebrates and vertebrates.  This should be about two sentences of writing, giving an example of each.

3. Finally, list the five classes of vertebrates here and give three features of each of them.

Save your work as you are doing it, and check with Mr. Cole before you print anything off. 

Classification of organisms

Today we're going to look at classification of living things into different groups. Answer the following in your books:
1. Why is classification in Biology important?
2. Give one feature that each group in this image. Include your answer in a table, and use this link to help you.
 
3. Use the link here to write down a fact about one animal you find.
 Complete this activity, then answer the following questions about it.
4. What is an omnivore?
5. What will happen if there are no frogs in the food chain?
6. What organism is the producer in the northern food chain?
7. Complete this activity, and explain what decomposers do in a food chain.

Bouncing balls experiment

Today we will be completing some questions about the practical we did earlier. First of all, save this address in your favourites, write it in your planner and put it in your phone as you will be using it often this year. click on the green links in the text for help answering the questions.

1. At what point did your ball bounce the highest?
2. Explain how you can give something gravitational potential energy or kinetic energy . Make sure you also havea look at the pictures and video further down the page.
3. Complete the activity on this link . In what units is eergy measured?
4. Complete the activity on this link by clicking 'run now'.  What is the relationship between kinetic and potential energy?
5. For the link above, what can you alter on the side to make the skater travel differently?
6. Watch this video, if it doesn't show on ou page try the link here . where would the bouncy bals have the highest potential energy? Where would they have the highest kinetic energy?
7. What things might have affected the height the balls bounced to?
8. Try this activity, or any of the options from this page.