We started of today with a Bellringer that outlined our major topics of discussion for the next week, as well as reviewed some old vocabulary. Below is a Distinguished Student Sample of the Bellringer and Class Notes:
After the Bellringer, we watched a video from TED-Ed on "The Wacky History of Cell Theory" by Lauren Royal-Woods, paying special attention to the meaning or origin of the term "cell," the scientist responsible for coining the term, and the technological advancement that enabled scientists to first discover and investigate them.
This video also does an fantastic job of illustrating the Nature of Science in the real-world, as opposed to the idealized, sterile, step-by-step Scientific Method so often emphasized in class. A brief discussion on the occasional "messy" nature of scientific discovery and the history of Science followed.
Finally, students were provided a text-based passage on Prokaryotes, and we asked to carefully read, employing the Literacy Strategies learned in Language Arts class, and afterwards to follow the instructions to color-code the diagram of the prokaryotic cell. Ten Check-for-Understanding questions followed. Worksheets that remained unfinished were to be completed for HOMEWORK. These color-coded diagrams will be used later in class to draw comparisons and distinctions between other eukaryotic cells.