Monday, June 23, 2008

Reading About Science

I love to read - reading is my number one "hobby." In the summer and during school breaks, I usually read as many books as I have time for - last summer (2007), I read 18 books! I like to read all different kinds of books, including Harry Potter, but historical novels are my favorite. I've most recently been reading a series of novels about a "finder" or private detective in ancient Rome!

During the school year, I have less time for pleasure reading, but I still read a lot. I read the newspaper each morning, I read Newsweek each week, and other magazines such as The Science Teacher and Guideposts monthly. Most weeks, I run across an article or two in The Eagle or Newsweek that I think will apply to something we will be studying about in biology. Usually I cut them out, take them to school, and put them in a file. Most of the time, they remain in the file.

This year, I am planning to handle these science articles differently - I plan to reference them in this blog. Be prepared to occasionally read an article and answer a few questions about it, or to participate in a class discussion on a topic from the article. If possible, the article will be about a current topic of study, but remember - although I control the sequence of topics in class, I DON'T control the newspapers or magazines! But that's okay - it's perfectly fine to digress from time to time.

If possible, I'll include a link to the article so you can read it in its entirety. If not, I'll edit it down and quote the pertinent parts. I hope by doing this I can show you that biology is present all around us, all the time - not just in class at school. Biology is, after all, the study of the living world - including you, your family, your pets, your yard, etc. It's a subject we should all be interested in all the time.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

The Scientific Method

The scientific process most often used by scientists is called the scientific method – controlled experiments leading to conclusions based on observations. You've learned about the scientific method since you were in elementary school. Can you remember the steps? What does all scientific discovery begin with?