I hope you had a pleasant spring break. This week we will be presenting the first two debates on Tuesday, March 16th. Dr. Goodman will guest lecture on March 18th and next week on Tuesday, March 23rd, we will have our last debate and prep for the outreach on March 25th at Jolley. We will meet at Jolley on March 25th in the office. I need to see your completed lesson plans on March 23rd. the following week we will be preparing our posters for IdeaFest and talking about the final paper.
Have a good week.
Dr. E
This week has been interesting and busy. My group presented the con side to Darwin's theory of evolution. I thought the debates for this week were entertaining and informational. The other groups debated on genetic engineering. Dr. Goodman showed a video in class from her trip to the Galapagos Islands. There were many interesting animals to see and some that are rare and extinct. My favorites were the turtles, penguins, and seals. This film inspired me to go on an ecotourism trip. This way I can donate to wildlife rescue efforts and take a fun vacation. :)
ReplyDeleteDuring this week's class two groups presented their debates. The first group debated genetic engineering. It was interesting to hear both sides of the argument. Both groups did a good job presenting their side of the argument and really showed that more research needs to be done before genetic engineering can become a common factor in our society. My group debated Darwin's theory of evolution. This was interesting for me because I had to oppose a theory I've heard about quite frequently throughout my school years. It was interesting to read about some of the opposing theories and how they have or have not impacted science. Dr. Goodman's video on the Galapagos Islands was very entertaining. I had never heard of an ecotourism trip before, and I found the aspects of her trip to be very interesting.
ReplyDeleteDuring this week's class two groups debated on genetic engineering, and two groups debated on Darwin's Theory on Evolution. I thought all of the groups did a good job in presenting the information. I found the opposing groups very interesting mostly because the information we hear in school is mostly related to the pro side. On Thursday we watched the video about the Galapagos islands. It was interesting and it is amazing to see how a lack of predation impacts the animals on the islands. They were able to get very close to the animals without frightening them.
ReplyDeleteOn Tuesday, the first two groups of students debated their topics which consisted of: genetic engineering and evolution. I thought each group did a good job of presenting their material, with some groups being more persuasive than others. However, whenever taking a side on an issue, it is difficult to debate any certain side, especially if people already have their minds made up. But, like I said, each group did a great job of presenting their side of the issues discussed.
ReplyDeleteOn Thursday, Dr. Goodman came to our class to show us a video about the Galapagos Islands. I thought the video was very interesting. Although it was a professional video of her vacation, the video provided much more than just photographs. The video was narrated and spoke of various aspects of the island: animal life, plant life, and so on. I thought it was very beneficial for us to watch the video. It looks like a wonderful place to visit.
On Tuesday, two groups debated on the validity of evolution/natural selection and another two debated on whether genetic engineering should be used. All groups did an excellent job at defending their viewpoints.
ReplyDeleteOn Thursday, Dr. Goodman came to class and showed a video of her trip to the Galapagos islands. It was called an EcoTourism cruise. It was really interesting. I especially liked the area of the video with all the dolphins. I would love to visit the islands some day.
Tuesday:
ReplyDeleteTwo groups did their debate to the class. This included Genetic Engineering and Evolution. My group was the con for evolution. I was very nervous about this in the beginning because I have never been in a debate before, but it was not that bad. Both Debates were interesting and very informative.
Thursday:
Dr. Goodman was our guest speaker and talked to the class about evolution and natural selection and she also showed us a video of her vacation to the Galapagos islands. It was also very informative and interesting. It was not a place I would have wanted to vacation to previous to the video but after watching it it looked like it could be very fun!
On Tuesday, the first two groups presented their debates. The first debated genetic engineering, and the second, my group, debated Darwin's theory of evolution. Both groups did a good job of debating their topics, and I found the project to be very interesting to research. If I were to ever use this activity in my teaching, I think it would be beneficial just through what they gained researching their topics.
ReplyDeleteOn Thursday, Dr. Goodman came to our class to show us her "vacation" video to the Galapagos islands. I enjoyed watching it, it was especially cool to see how the animals interacted with the people, and I learned quite a bit from this video.
Tuesday- Debate! My group went first. The format was a little different than I was used to- but I think it worked out ok. I wish there had been a little more "debating"/ or back and forth action! I guess it's hard to know what to expect when you're the first group. It is obviously challenging to know what point the opposing side is going to make- and to see if you can come back with a better answer is definately more challenging! I hope other groups learned from the first two groups what is expected- maybe it will help them out a little! Some points, in both debates, were hard to follow when they were simply read in paragraph form. I thought that the short, to-the-point statements were easier to follow.
ReplyDeleteThursday- video on the Gallapagos Islands. Very interesting. It was cool to see which animals/plants had originated there, and what they had to be done to keep others out. This was a good video for our group to watch because our topic for the outreach presenations is "island colonization;" it gave a true example of what colonization is like. This example was a positive example- keeping the island and its origins in the most natural state as possible, yet co-existing with the people that live there. Today I worked on our outreach presentation- and will be very excited to finally get there- and get it over and done with! :)
On Tuesday, there were two groups to do the debate. My group presented on the pro side of genetic engineering. I think we did a good job and we had a lot of research and sources to back up our argument where as it kind of felt like the other group was just stating opinions. This is just my opinion, no one has to agree with it! :) I also enjoyed the evolution debate. I learned a lot from both sides about fossil records, and the overall Darwin theory.
ReplyDeleteOn Thursday, we watched a video about the Galapagos islands, and I really enjoyed it. My group is presenting to the afterschool program, and the Ideafest about the Galapagos islands so we're also using this as a resource. Although our main focus is the penguins that are on the Galapagos, it was cool to see all the other life that is on the islands.
Class this week was engaging and interesting. On Tuesday we had the first few debates on genetics and Darwin's evolution. All of the sides to both debates had interesting points and I liked learning more information about these subjects that I had not known previously.
ReplyDeleteI was not in class on Thursday but I have seen that the video was very interesting and am sad I missed it. My group is doing research on island evolution for our outreach to the school and hopefully they can tell me more about it next week in class.
On Tuesday my group debated on the topic of genetic engineering, I feel that the pro side won the argument. I also feel that my group wasn’t as prepared as we should have been but we thought the form of the debate was going to be different. We thought that there would be more back and forth debating between the groups so we didn’t have prepared statements that we could read like the others groups did. But all in all I feel that the debate went well and it was an interesting experience as I have never been part of a debate before.
ReplyDeleteOn Thursday we watched a movie about the Galapagos Islands which I found very interesting. The animals there were amazing creatures and amazingly not that afraid of people. It’s amazing that the islands are so well preserved and not harmed by the effects of people. The islands would really make an place to vacation to and visit.
Tuesday:
ReplyDeleteMy group presented on the Pro side of Darwin's Theory for our debate, I felt it went fairly well overall, although it seemed like the closing statements had to be tailor-made on the spot to deal with what the other group was presenting. I suppose that at least kept us paying attention.
Thursday:
The video on the Galapagos Islands raised an interesting question for me. At one point, there was a bird mentioned that had lost the ability to fly over a few generations and it was referred to as having undergone "reverse evolution". I felt that this was probably a misrepresentation of how evolution operates, that is, to say that it was going in reverse implies that there is some type of end-goal in mind for evolution in the first place. Additionally, it wouldn't necessarily be going in reverse, simply adapting to a different environment that didn't call for flight. It is certainly not the case that a bird that lacks flight is any less complex than a bird that possesses it.
This week we listened to two groups talking over Genetic Engineering and Darwin's Theory. Both groups made positve arguments for their sides and ultimately I kept my point of views prior to the debate and some comments about the genetic engineering disturbed me because of the blindsided-ness of the group and not actually approaching a farmer. The system works now like they were trying to tell us not to let happen in the near future. Hybrid corn and fossil fuels are the future and the help of technology could ultimately greater the outcomes.
ReplyDeleteAlso we watched a documentary on the galapagos islands and I seen very many beautiful sceneries and lots of extant species to observe. The team that headed the expedition might be trying to keep the ecosystem in balance and as undisturbed as possible but the presence alone of all the people on the island day in and day out are causing the animals to become unafraid of a possible dangerous species (humans). And the movie wanted me to take the trip and fill the camera memory card every day.
On Tuesday my group debated the pro side of genetic engineering. It was rather interesting to learn more about this topic but I found it somewhat difficult to argue something I wasn't truly passionate about. Many things that the con team argued against I completely agreed with because they made some very good points. I think our group as well as the con team presented our arguments very well and formed a great discussion.
ReplyDeleteThe other debate was over Darwin's Theory both groups did a great job in this argument as well. I definitely learned some things that I didn't know or probably would have never known if I wasn't listening to this debate.
On Thursday, Dr. Goodman came and spoke to us and showed us an ecotourism video from a tour she took of the Galapagos. This was very interesting, informative, and key to our group specifically because this is what our IDEA Fest poster is covering. I'd like to thank her for contributing some of the photos of penguins to our research.
Class was great, creative and interesting. We started off the week by having debates on genetics and Darwin's evolution. The points of arguments were both inspiring and helpful to my thoughts on the subjects. Both debates groups had interesting points to their arguments. I learned a lot of interesting points.
ReplyDeleteThe video that Dr. Goodman showed was great because it was something new to the class format. Watching the video has inspired me to visit the Galapagos Islands. The video showed very interesting aspects of the nature of the Galapagos Islands and also why the Islands are important to the evolutionary process.
I had a great time formulating our debate for this project. I enjoy arguing and it is fun to me to try and out-smart the opposing team. Although I didn't get to finish my portion, I was very happy with how my argument turned out. I think our whole team did a great job of making sure we were prepared and had relevant information. I think the other team had it a little easier though. While they still needed to prepare by researching the topic, all they had to do was combat what we said. Either way, it was a lot of fun and definitely feel that I learned quite a bit about genetic engineering through the process.
ReplyDeleteThis week the Genetic Engineering and Evolution groups debated. Both of these topics are incredibly interesting and worthy of discussion; however, I feel there is little room for left in the debate over evolution. One section of the evolution debate that rings clear in my mind was the argument of "missing links". First, a continuous fossil record is an impossibility. Such would require the conditions needed for fossilization to be present at all times throughout the presence of life. It is clear that the conditions for such are not always present and it would be highly unlikely that every species along a lineage would be preserved. Second, vestigial structures (remnant limbs in snakes for just one example) illustrate change over time within a species or lineage without a need for "missing links".
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