Introducing the Final Project

Today we watched some of the videos from last year that students created as well as looked at web pages and powerpoints.

Homework tonight:

Each group needs to have 5 articles that relate to their topic from a current news source. You also need to make a summary table for each article (see sample table on this post). This is due on Thursday in class. We are meeting in the ARC on Thursday.

Remember, these articles should be from news sources, not websites.  For example you could search: 

Newsweek

The New York Times

Rolling Stone

The Boston Globe

Time Magazine

F Block here are your project assignments:
Will - Greenhouse Effect
Kacie - The effect of climate change on animals
Morgan - Various HIV treatments (AZT, Neviraprine, non traditional methods)
Molly - HIV in South Africa vs. the U.S.A.
Lindsey & Shelby - The Dissident view (Peter Duesberg, Mbeki & others) vs. the scientific community's on HIV.

Replication of HIV and The Denialists

Today students learned about how HIV replicates using host DNA and the structure of virus. Students watch an animation and took notes using a graphic organizer.

E long block started to read the article The Denialists which was published in The New Yorker in the March 12th edition. Below is an excerpt from the article, to read more click here.

ANNALS OF SCIENCE about the AIDS denial movement in South Africa. Zeblon Gwala is a 50-year-old South African who sells ubhejane, an untested herbal remedy he claims will cure AIDS. On a typical day, as many as 100 people come to his clinic. Ubhejane has been endorsed by South African President Thabo Mbeki’s health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, and by Herbert Vilakazi, the head of Mbeki’s Presidential Task Team on African Traditional Medicine. Vilakaze believes that the toxicity of antiretroviral drugs, or ARVs-the only successful treatment for millions infected with H.I.V.-causes more harm than good. Like Mbeki himself, he’s convinced that a cure for AIDS is more likely to be found in traditional African medicine rather than Western pharmaceuticals. AIDS denial plays a corrosive role in the health policies of many countries, but South Africa provides the most extreme and enduring example. Five and a half million of the country’s 48 million people are infected by H.I.V.

Catch up!

I know I've been remiss in my blogging duties so here is a quick recap of Monday and Tuesday (we don't have class today so I'll be posting again on Thursday).

On Monday we moved from the social justice aspect of HIV to the biological side. Students learned some general information and then we talked about the stages of how the disease progresses.

Yesterday was Earth Day and to celebrate we went down to the river and talked about the book The Giving Tree, what we can to do give back to the earth and had a period of silent reflection. Lindsey and Shelby created some environmental art using downed branches.

Continuing in a State of Denial

Today we continued watching State of Denial and students answered more questions about the movie.

Homework: Check out the AIDS Clock, and answer the following questions:
1. How often does someone contract HIV?
2. How many people are living with HIV?
3. How often does someone die of AIDS?
4. Click on the red box "resize the map." Describe what happens. What do you observe?
5. Drag your cursor over the map and write down the number of people living with HIV in 5 different countries.
6. What country surprised you the most regarding the number of people with HIV?

State of Denial

Today we started to watch the film State of Denial, a documentary filmed in South Africa that chronicles the lives of several people living with HIV as well as those individuals who care for them and the policy makers who deny the link between HIV and AIDS.

Film Synopsis:

"South Africa was the country that was supposed to show the rest of Africa the way. With the triumph of the anti-Apartheid struggle, and with the advantages of resources, infrastructure, and popular government, South Africa was best positioned to overcome the continent's triple plagues of impoverishment, civil war, and despotic rule. Then came HIV/AIDS.

As powerfully revealed in "State of Denial," many high ranking members in the popularly elected government — sincere heirs to Nelson Mandela — don't believe the HIV virus causes AIDS. This single decision to doubt the link has turned a crisis into a catastrophe. With five million people infected and nearly two thousand new infections occurring daily, South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world." Read the rest here.

While student watched the film they completed a graphic organizer to help them follow the movie. At the end of class students completed a 3-2-1 (3 things you learned, 2 things you want to learn more about and 1 thing you have a question about).

Here are some of the things students learned:

* Women sold themselves for money and as a result contract HIV.
* There are 2000 new HIV infections each day in South Africa
* HIV is spreading rapidly
* Antiretroviral drugs cost 10x more in South Africa than generic drugs elsewhere in the world.
* People don't die of AIDS they die of opportunistic infections
* What Apartheid was.
* The previous President of South Africa, Thado Mbeki did not believe in a connection between HIV and AIDS.
* HIV and AIDS are not the same thing.

Test Today

Today both classes had a test on population and community ecology.

Chapter 35 Reivew:

Today students worked independently, reading and answering questions, to prepare for a test tomorrow on Chapter 35.

Homework: study for the test.

Reviewing Population Ecology & Introducing How Species Interact

During E block students compiled a list of all the concepts and words we have learned so far in chapter 35. After this students looked up information on the three main modes of interaction in biological communities (competition, predation & symbiotic relationships). Students then taught each of their section to the class.

During F block students finished the world population data scavenger hunt and we got a little side tracked. We looked at google maps to see where many of the countries they are learning about are located, discussed the British colonization of India and how that influenced infrastructure compared to nations that were part of the USSR and even listened to the anthem of the USSR. Despite our tangent we managed to get back on track and finish with notes on sections 35.4.

Homework for both classes:
Create a visual that contains all the bold, blue and purple words/concepts from section 35.5. This is due in class on Monday.

Analyzing World Population Data

After reviewing the homework, students made predictions about how many people are in the United States and the world. Thanks to the U.S. and World Population Clocks we are able to access current figures on population growth. In the D block class at 11am this morning there were 303,822,429 people in the U.S. and 6,660,440,000 people in the world. At 11:45am when class ended there were 303,822,663 people in the U.S. and 6,660,446,739 in the world!


Today students analyzed the world population data sets from the Population Reference Bureau that contained information for all of the countries in the world on:

crude birth and death rates
rates of natural increase
migration
projected populations in 2025 and 2050
infant mortality
total fertility
life expectancy
percentage of people in urban areas
percentage of people living with HIV or AIDS
percentage of women 15-49 using contraception
government view of the birth rate
GNI PPP per capita
percentage of population living below $2 U.S. /day
area of square miles
population density
percent of surface area protected
population with improved access to sanitation

Homework: none.

Population Growth

After reviewing the homework, we did a simulation for students to experience what it is like to sample a population using the mark and recapture technique. We also discussed sources of error and how much confidence they had in their total population sizes. Moving forward we compared linear population growth with exponential population growth.

Homework: Read sections 35.2 and 35.3. Answer the concept check questions for each section. This counts for two homeworks, so make sure you do it!

Quiz on Biomes,Weather & Climate Change

Today students had a quiz on biomes, weather, and climate change.

Homework: Read sections 35.1 and answer the concept check questions 1-4 on page 768.

Enough with the negative! What can YOU do?

Did you know...
....each year about 5 billion tons of CO2 is released into the atmosphere in the United States alone.

For each person in the country that's 20 tons --four elephants--worth of CO2.


Today students watched the video "In Hot Water" which is produced by the New England Aquarium and the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. This video talks about specific way you can reduce your carbon footprint to save polar bears, coral reefs, marsh lands and more.
Corals have a very narrow temperature range that they can function in, even a change of only one degree can kill the corals. Coral reefs can contain as much biological diversity as the rain forests! The corals above are dead (bleached) because of an increase in water temperature.
The melting of the ice in Arctic areas means that polar bears are no longer able to hunt ring seals as easily as they used to.

In addition to watching the video, students came up with infomercials for products that can help reduce CO2.

Homework: Study for a quiz on ecosystems & climate change on Monday.

Climate v. Weather

Today we discussed the difference between climate and weather. Here's an easy way to remember the difference: climate is what you expect and weather is what you get. We watched and discussed video clips on what causes the gulf stream and ocean temperatures and climate pattens. Lastly students saw several pictures to introduce them to the consequences of climate change.

Homework:

Part 1: Watch the animation from NASA on "Taking the Earth's Temperature." This may be slow to load so be patient! Write down three things your learned.

Part 2: Come up with a list of at least five consequences for climate change (hint: what will happen to the biome you did your project on? How will it affect oceans currents? etc...)