Science Classes in Full Swing
Study Skills and Helpful Web Pages
by Louie Keim
September 29, 2008
As we approach the end of the first quarter I am very pleased with how classes are going. This is one of my favorite times of the year in the classroom. We have gotten through all of the introductory materials and are really sinking our teeth into more complex science. In Biology we will be wrapping up our chapter on photosynthesis. For a lab activity we collected leaves and identified the stomata. We will have a quiz bowl type tournament to review this concept. I am very please with the effort many of the students are demonstrating to pick up this very tough topic. In advance biology we spent some time going over the introductory classification before diving into bacteria and viruses. This class will be pretty lab intense.
Our anatomy class has completed our unit on organization, covering tissues, and just finishing our chapter on the skin. This week we will begin our unit on the skeletal system, which traditionally has been a favorite with students.
In Health we have been looking at mental and emotional health, decision-making, and anger management. One of my favorite activities in this class is the current events the kids bring in for discussion. This is mostly a class where kids need to get involved in lectures, and become health advocates. We will not be having many tests and quizzes but mostly focusing on discussion of ideas, concepts in the book. Completing homework is vital! This is a class the student have every other day with PE so each assignment is worth a big percentage of their grade. Urge your students not to take zeros, or hand in incomplete assignment.
As you can see all of these classes are getting into some very challenging material. I cannot stress enough the need for kids to spend time outside of class learning this material, studying for quizzes and exams. We spend time reviewing and getting prepared before tests but there is not enough time in a class period for anyone to commit it all to memory. I urge my students to take the notes home each night, use the book and the resources it has to go over what we talk about in class. This method is proven to be more effective at committing material to long-term memory. Students always talk about how long they study the night before a test. This cramming not only raises the students stress level regarding the test but it does not give them much opportunity to come in and ask for help on the topics giving them fits while studying. Another resource students have is… me. I think it is great when kids come in and get help, either by themselves or in small groups. Do it early though, the morning of the test is not the best time to bring major questions to me. I will do what I can to help but usually the student is under a lot of pressure and anxious about the test that day so their attention span is lower. Here is an article I found on “The Omaha World Herald” web page. It discusses study habits and gives some great advice. http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10143457
I have included some web pages associated with the textbooks we use in class
Modern Biology - http://go.hrw.com/hrw.nd/gohrw_rls1/pKeywordResults?keyword=HM2%20HOME
http://science.nhmccd.edu/biol/bio1int.htm
Modern Chemistry – http://go.hrw.com and www.scilinks.org
Anatomy – http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/ap/holeessentials/
