Alternative 2.12-2.14 assignments

If you have not yet started assignments 2.12, 2.13, and 2.14, you can choose to watch those videos or to instead complete some book work. The videos are what I had planned, and you may still use those for the class, but since we will no longer have the laptops in class, I am making book-work available for those who cannot watch the videos.

When you take the unit test, I will ask questions based on whichever assignments you completed for the unit.

Here are the alternative assignments:
2.12 -- Read pages 510-528, and answer questions #1-2 on p. 515, #1-3 on p. 522, and #1-3 on p. 528. Here's a link to the chapter PDF.
2.13 -- Read pages 538-552 , and answer questions #1-4 on page 544, and #1-4 on page 552
2.14 -- Read the article, "Less jaw, big brain: Evolution milestone laid to gene flaw" from the NYTimes. Write a summary explanation of how a gene flaw helped lead to human evolution. Then read the article, "How language may have evolved to help our ancestors make tools," from Science. Write a summary of the evidence connecting language development and tool-making.

Becoming Human videos

Here are some ideas on what you need to know from the Becoming Human videos.

Episode 1
Where is Afar? Why is it important?
Who was Selam? Why is Selam important?
What is important about Selam's teeth, skull, spine, shoulder blades, feet, kneecaps, and tibia?
Who was Lucy? What is it important?
What is important about Lucy's knees and pelvis? Compare the upper and lower halves of her body.
Describe Afar 3-4mya (million years ago)
How has Afar changed? How did that affect species?
What hyptotheses are there to explain why hominids evolved bipedalism?
What physical adaptations are found in chimps? How does their walking compare with humans?
What is the molecular clock and how is it used?
Who was Toumai?
How have hominids changed over time (for example, skull changes)?
What are endocasts and why are they important?
What did scientists learn from Selam's endocast?
What do we know about stone tools? What do we still not know?
Who was Homo habilis? How was H. habilis important? How do we know?
Compare Australopithecus and H. habilis.
What environmental changes were important for changes in brain size?

Episode 2
For this episode, I'll be a little more general. Your notes from episode 1 should give you an idea about the types of specific information you should be looking for. So, for this epsiode, know about:
H. erectus
Turkana Boy
pubic lice
persistence hunting
maternal commitment
hominids leaving Africa
Dmanisi, Georgia
Flores, Indonesia

Episode 3
H. heidelbergensis
H. neandertalensis 
Atapuerca, Spain
Gran Dolina
Pit of Bones
Scladina, Belgium
language development
parietal and temporal lobes
extinction of Neandertals
H. sapiens
diet
Pinnacle Point, South Africa
Blombos, South Africa
technology
Klasies River Caves

meiosis homework

Watch the Bozeman Science video about mitosis and meiosis, and then answer the questions listed below. Write your answers on a paper and bring it to the next class meeting.


Here's the video


Here are the questions:

1. What is the centromere?
2. What do the beads represent in this simulation?
3. What's the goal in mitosis?
4. What two things does a cell do before it divides?
5. What happens during prophase 1 that leads to variability?
6. Why is independent assortment important?
7. What is "a little bit different" about egg formation during meiosis?

SQ3R notes

In today's class, I went over how to take SQ3R notes, which is a great system of note-taking designed specifically for studying from text books. If you were in class, then we created notes for 2.1 together. But, if you were absent, you can get a basic overview from the video below.

Science vs Pseudoscience

Here's the Eyes of Nye: Pseudoscience video that we watched in class.