Genetics Background 2014

Since we have a diverse group of students, ranging from sophomores to seniors and starting biology to completed AP biology, it is important that we all have a fundamental background in genetics to start building from.  So each of you should go to the DNA From the Beginning website and complete items 1-24.  Items 1-14 are under the heading “Classical Genetics” and items 15-24 are under the heading “Molecules of Genetics”.  You should see these on the right side of the browser window.  For each item you should, at least, view the ‘Concept’, go through the ‘Animation’ and complete the ‘Problem’ as a self-test.  You can look at more for each if you want (e.g. Gallery, Video, etc…), but the Concept, Animation and Problem should be good enough for most of them.  This is a considerable amount of material so you should do a little bit each night or you will be overwhelmed at the end.

The website is located at: http://www.dnaftb.org/1/

Due: 11/13/14

Epidemiology Readings

Read the following pages relating to some of our country’s top causes of death…

M&M Peer Review

You will peer review the Morbidity & Mortality report of the group that I assigned you in class.  They should have shared their Google Doc with you.  You should also make sure you share your Google Doc with your assigned reviewers.  You should use Google’s ‘insert comments’ feature to make comments on the document you are reviewing.  You can use the rubric used for junior research as a good starting point for providing feedback as a reviewer.  That rubric can be viewed here: Junior Research Rubric (note: it has been slightly edited for this assignment).  After you receive reviews for your report, do not delete the comments.  Simply make any changes you deem appropriate and mark the comment resolved.  When I grade your paper, I will look at the comments that the reviewers made.

Morbidity and Mortality 2014

From a life and health science viewpoint, obtaining accurate information on the top causes of death is very important. The news all too often takes on a ‘pet disease of the month’ and may distort people’s views on how common that condition truly is versus others that are not reported. This lesson is designed to give you an opportunity to use more reliable data to see what diseases and conditions are the most cause for alarm here in the United States and throughout the world. This will allow you to make more informed choices and make recommendations regarding how resources (time, money, etc…) should be distributed in disease research.

Go to my wiki page on Morbidity and Mortality and follow the instructions there to create a report using data from the CDC and WHO.  The report should contain graphs and statistical analysis to support your claims.  Your paper should be in typical APA format and should have a title page, an abstract, a brief introduction, a brief materials and methods section (in paragraph format), results, and an extensive discussion.  The discussion should contain conclusions and insights and not just restatement of the facts I could simply see myself by looking at the data.

Due: Thursday, 9/18/14 at the beginning of class

NYT Cancer Free Mastectomy

Read the following article and look at the “Living with BRCA Gene: One Family’s Story” family tree located on the left side of the first page.  Answer the following questions in your notebook and be ready to discuss them in class.

Cancer Free at 33, but Weighing a Mastectomy

What were the important issues for Deborah Lindner?  Was the information presented well by the author?  Would you change the way the author presented the data regarding risk and the interpretation of the genetic test?

Frog Drugs

You should complete the following items for homework:

Due: Friday, 5/9/14

 

 

4th Quarter Tests and the Final Exam Schedule

Each of my classes will have their last exam for the 4th quarter on the following day…

Period B Forensics – Tuesday, 5/13

Period C Neuroscience – Tuesday, 5/13

Period D Genetics & Epidemiology – Tuesday, 5/13

Period E Forensics – Wednesday, 5/14

Period G Anatomy – Wednesday, 5/14

Period H Anatomy – Wednesday, 5/14

This test is in addition to any other projects that are due.

Remember that all students will take the final exam together with the seniors during the week of 5/19.  The final exam schedule for the week of 5/19 is as follows:

Senior Exam Schedule:

D & A Exams on Monday, May 19th: Block D (7:49 am – 9:09 am) & Block A (9:13 am – 10:33 am)….The day’s schedule will be D, A, C, B

H & E Exams on Tuesday, May 20th: Block H (7:49 am – 9:09 am) & Block E (9:13 am – 10:33 am)….The day’s schedule will be H, E, G, F

C & B Exams on Wednesday, May 21st: Block C (7:49 am – 9:09 am) & Block B (9:13 am – 10:33 am)….The day’s schedule will be C, B, A, D

       – All Teachers and Students will keep the same lunch schedule…”A Block” just           replaces your “C Block” class during this time (lunch).

       – “A Block” study hall, which meets down in the cafeteria, will be relocated.

G & F Exams on Thursday, May 22nd: Block G (7:49 am – 9:09 am) & Block F (9:13 am – 10:33 am)…The day’s schedule will be G, F, E, H

       – All Teachers and Students will keep the same lunch schedule…”E Block” just          replaces your “G Block” class during this time (lunch).

       – “E Block” study hall, which meets down in the cafeteria, will be relocated.

Tuesday, May 27th: Makeups

Students will simply report to class at its scheduled time that day and take the final instead of having normal class.

Genomic Medicine Guided Questions

As a table group, you will create one Google document and share it with me.  That document will include guiding questions for students while they are watching the HHMI Medicine in the Genomic Era videos.  You will create questions for all 4 parts  You will include the answer to each question directly under each question.  You should use your notes from the videos to determine what is important for viewers to answer and what is not.

Due: Wednesday, 5/7/14