The Biology Teacher's Survival Guide

THE BIOLOGY TEACHER’S

SURVIVAL GUIDE

Michael F. Fleming

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Copyright 2015 Michael F. Fleming. .

Cover Photo by Michael F. Fleming.

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isbn:

978-1-4907-5770-4 (sc)

isbn:

978-1-4907-5769-8 (e)

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Contents

About This Resource

About The Author

Acknowledgments

SECTION 1

INNOVATIVE CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES FOR THE TEACHER

1.1     The Message Square Activity

1.2     The Pic-A-Tag Technique

1.3     Music, Food, And Beverage In The Classroom

1.4     VOEs (Voluntary Oral Exams)

1.5     ICs (Instant Corrections Of Tests)

1.6     The Edible Model

Worksheet 1.6–1

Guidelines For Preparing And Presenting An Edible Model

Worksheet 1.6–2

Voting For The Edible Model Of The Year

1.7      Video Tape and 35-mm Slide Activities

1.8     Students Setting Career Goals

1.9     The Biology Classroom Career Resource Center

Worksheet 1.8–1

Selecting A Career Goal

Worksheet 1.8–2

Student Career Choices

1.10     The Biology Classroom Reading Center: Getting The Students To Read More

Worksheet 1.10–1

The Student Book Center Committee

Worksheet 1.10–2

The Student Book Review

Worksheet 1.10–3

The Student Book Examination

1.11     The Steps To An A Game

Worksheet 1.11–1

The Fully Assembled Game Board

Worksheet 1.11–2

The Top And Bottom Of The Game Board

Worksheet 1.11–3

The Sides, Boxes, And Dowels For The Game Board

1.12     The Study Clinic Minicourse

1.13     Developing Your Own Course Handbook For Students

Worksheet 1.12–1

Initial Problem Diagnosis And Remedy

Worksheet 1.13–1

Student Handbook Table Of Contents For A Course In Human Anatomy And Physiology

Worksheet 1.13–2

Extra Credit: The Disease Of The Week

Worksheet 1.13–3

Extra Credit: The Occupation Presentation

Worksheet 1.13–4

Proposal For Teaching The Class For A Period

Worksheet 1.13–5

Teacher-To-Parent Forms

1.14     Activities In Creativity

Worksheet 1.13–6

An Example Of An Inspirational Message That Could Be

Part Of The Course Handbook For Students

Worksheet 1.14–1

A Soap Carving Creativity Contest

Worksheet 1.14–2

Form For Judging The Entries In The Creativity Contest

Worksheet 1.14–3

A Toothpick Construction Creativity Contest

Worksheet 1.14–4

Creative Drawing Contest Entry 1

Worksheet 1.14–5

Creative Drawing Contest Entry 2

Worksheet 1.14–6

Creative Drawing Contest Entry 3

1.15     The Classroom Invent-A-Fair: A Science Fair Alternative

1.16     Organizing Daily Lesson Materials: The Manila Folder Approach

Worksheet 1.15–1

The Classroom Invent-A-Fair:

An Introduction And Participation Form

Worksheet 1.15–2

Official Student Entry Form To Be Used By The Judges

Worksheet 1.15–3

A Sample Format For Judging Student Prototypes

1.17     The Student Cumulative Folder

1.18     Basing The Course Final Exam On Tests Given During The Year

Worksheet 1.16–1

Format For The Cover Of Each Manila Folder

1.19     Making Research Papers Interesting: An Audiovisual Approach

Worksheet 1.19–1

Evaluation Sheet For Audiovisual Presentations

1.20     The Anatomy Awards Program

Worksheet 1.20–1

An Introduction To The Anatomy Awards Program

Worksheet 1.20–2

The Anatomy Awards Costume Construction Guide

Worksheet 1.20–3

Release-From-Class Form For Participating In

The Anatomy Awards Program

Worksheet 1.20–4

Forms For Assigning Food

To Be Brought In For The Program

Worksheet 1.20–5

Anatomy Awards Certificate Of Participation

Worksheet 1.20–6

Nameplates For The Judges

Worksheet 1.20–7

Costume Rating Sheet For The Judges

Worksheet 1.20–8

Sample Classroom Program For The Anatomy Awards

1.21     Lesson Planning

1.22     Student Note Taking And Organization Of Material

Worksheet 1.21–1

Lesson Plan Overview For A Unit Of Material

Worksheet 1.21–2

Sample Lesson Plan Overview For A Unit Of Material

Worksheet 1.21–3

A Format For Daily Lesson Plans

Worksheet 1.21–4

A Sample Format For Daily Lesson Plans

Worksheet 1.22–1

Note Organization Exercise 1

Worksheet 1.22–2

One Example Of Logically Organized Notes

Worksheet 1.22–3

Note Organization Exercise 2

Worksheet 1.22–4

One Example Of Logically Organized Notes

1.23     Developing Effective Listening Skills In Students

1.24     Behavioral Objectives

Worksheet 1.23–1

Listening Techniques Notes To Be Given To Students

Worksheet 1.23–2

Student Format Sheet For Note Taking

Worksheet 1.23–3

Teacher Format For

Map Drawing Listening Exercise

Worksheet 1.23-4

Student Format For Map Drawing Listening Exercise

Worksheet 1.23-5

Completed Sample For Map Drawing Listening Exercise

Worksheet 1.23-6

Teacher Format For Geometric Drawing Listening Exercise

Worksheet 1.23–7

Student Format For

Geometric Drawing Listening Exercise

Worksheet 1.23–8

Completed Sample For Geometric Drawing Listening Exercise

SECTION 2

SUCCESS-DIRECTED LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM

2.1     The Need For Accountability In The Classroom Teaching-Learning Interface

2.2     The Result Of Accountability In The Classroom Teaching-Learning Interface

2.3     Initiating A Success-Directed Learning (Sdl) Program Of Accountability In The Classroom

2.4     The Student’s Introduction To Success-Directed Learning

Worksheet 2.4–1

A Parent’s Introduction To Sdl

Worksheet 2.4–2

Sdl (Success-Directed Learning): A Student’s Introduction

Worksheet 2.4–3

An Sdl (Success-Directed Learning) Guide For Studying

Worksheet 2.4–4

Sdl (Success-Directed Learning) Testing

Worksheet 2.4–5

Sdl Course Achievement

And Grade Average Log

Worksheet 2.4–6

The Sdl Thursday After-School

Study Techniques Sessions

SECTION 3

GENERAL CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

3.1     Dealing With The Student Who Does Not Want To Dissect

3.2     Teaching Evolution And/Or Creationism

Worksheet 3.2–1

Letter Formats For Inviting Guests And Notifying Parents Or Guardians

Worksheet 3.2–2

Information Data Table For Notes On Creationism

Worksheet 3.2–3

Information Data Table For Notes On Evolutionism

3.4     Preventing Teacher Burnout

Worksheet 3.3–1

Classroom Laboratory Safety Preparedness

3.5     Handling The Parent/Guardian Conference

Worksheet 3.5–1

Teacher-To-Parent Letters Of Communication

3.6     Handling The Chronic Discipline Problem: The Student Contract

Worksheet 3.6–1

The Student Contract

3.7     Handling Student Lateness To Class

3.8     Handling Student Requests To Go To The Nurse, Restroom, Telephone, And So On

3.9     Keeping Current In Subject Matter Content

3.10     Parent’s Night And Ideal Teacher-Parent Rapport

3.11     Seating Arrangements For Students

3.12     Self-Evaluation Techniques

Worksheet 3.11-1

Four Examples Of Classroom Seating Arrangements

Worksheet 3.11–2

A Sample Classroom Seating Chart

(Desks In Room Arranged In A Rectangle)

Worksheet 3.12-1

An Example Of An Evaluation Instrument

Worksheet 3.12–2

Hypothetical Evaluation Summary (Teacher Notes In Boldface––Selected Behaviors Only)

3.13     Keeping Inventory Of Major Laboratory Equipment And General Supplies

Worksheet 3.12–3

An Evaluation Instrument For The

Inquiry Instructional Mode

Worksheet 3.12–4

Hypothetical Evaluation Data

Worksheet 3.13–1

An Inventory Of Major Laboratory Equipment

Worksheet 3.13–2

An Inventory Of General Supplies

Worksheet 3.13–3

Major Laboratory Equipment And

General Supplies Needed For Next Year

3.14     Personal Expenditures Record Table

3.15     The Art And Science Of Teaching

Worksheet 3.14

Personal Expenditures Record Table

SECTION 4

AN INQUIRY APPROACH TO EXPERIENCING THE SPIRIT AND NATURE OF SCIENCE

4.1     A List Of The Major Laboratory Materials Required For Teaching The S-A-S Units

4.2     Important Safety Caution Concerns For The S-A-S Units

4.3     An Introduction––The S-A-S Approach To Teaching Science

4.4     A Sample Unit Using The S-A-S Approach

Worksheet S-A-S 1

The Molasses-Yeast Problem

Worksheet S-A-S 2

The Laboratory Log Format For Laboratory Investigations

Worksheet S-A-S 3

The Laboratory Log Format For The

Classroom Seminar

Worksheet S-A-S 4

An Example Of Some Initial Experimental Procedures That Students Might Design For The Molasses-Yeast Problem

Worksheet S-A-S 5

Slips For Requesting Lab Materials

4.5     A Second S-A-S Unit

Worksheet S-A-S 6

An Example Of Two Basic Procedures That Students Might Design To Investigate The Two Variables Associated With The Yeast-Molasses Problem

Worksheet S-A-S 7

An Example Of An Experimental Procedure To Study The Effects Of Two Plant Foods Upon The Growth Of Bean Plants

4.6     A Third S-A-S Unit

Worksheet S-A-S 8

An Example Of A Data Table For Recording Data Collected From A Study Of The Effects Of Two Plant Foods On The Growth Of Bean Plants

Worksheet S-A-S 9

Examples Of Experimental Procedures

Investigating Carbon Dioxide Production

Worksheet S-A-S 10

The Calculation Of The Variance

4.7     A Final S-A-S Unit

Worksheet S-A-S 11

Examples Of Experimental Procedures And Data Tables Used In Investigating The Relative Amounts Of Vitamin C In Fruit Juices, Fruits, And Vitamin C Tablets

SECTION 5

SPONGE ACTIVITIES

Answers To The Sponge Activities:

About The Author

For my brother, Dave,

and his wife, Susan

About This Resource

Biology Teacher’s Survival Guide was written for the sole purpose of making your teaching of biology fun, enjoyable, and profitable for you and your students. It is packed with scores of novel and innovative ideas and activities that you can put to use immediately in your classroom.

Section 1, Innovative Classroom Techniques for the Teacher, presents a variety of techniques to help you stimulate active student participation in the learning process. It includes, among other things, an alternative to the written exam, a technique to elicit student responses to questions and discussion topics, ideas to develop students’ appreciation of career possibilities, a technique to keep students’ attention focused on the task at hand, and a way to allow students to participate in the correction of their tests.

Section 2, Success-Directed Learning in the Classroom, explains how you can easily make your students accountable for their own learning. Techniques presented focus on teamwork between you, the student, and the parent or guardian in assuring student achievement and success; the goal is no marking period grade below a C. Individual achievement is placed in the student’s hands, and your role of villain in the grading process is virtually eliminated.

Section 3, General Classroom Management Techniques, addresses and provides solutions to a wide variety of classroom management issues that you face in creating an ideal rapport with students. Such issues include the student opposed to dissection, student lateness to class, and the chronic discipline problem. This section also explores such topics as self-evaluation techniques, keeping current in subject matter content, preventing teacher burnout, and the art and science of teaching.

Section 4, An Inquiry Approach to Experiencing the Spirit and Nature of Science, details an effective approach to teaching scientific inquiry (the spirit) and research technique (the nature). It is complete with three fully planned inquiry units that you can begin using with the basic materials of test tubes, graduated cylinders, yeast, and molasses. Please be sure to read the list of important safety caution concerns in 4.2 first.

Section 5, Sponge Activities, gives you 100 reproducible activities you can use at the beginning of, during, or at the end of class periods. These activities cover a wide range of biology topics including the cell, classification, plants, animals, protists, the microscope, systems of the body, anatomy, physiology, genetics, and health. Moreover, the format of the activities ranges from crosswords and matching to message squares and fill in the blanks.

To help you quickly locate appropriate worksheet activities in Section 5, the Contents includes a list of all 100 worksheets in this section in alphabetical order, from Algae (Worksheet 5-1) through Vitamins and Minerals (Worksheet 5-100).

This entire book is supplemented with reproducible teacher and student worksheets and evaluation forms, all designed to streamline your classroom management and free your time for accomplishing the numerous other tasks that you face. You can photocopy any of these reproducibles as many times as required for use with individual students or an entire class.

For the beginning teacher who is new to the classroom as well as for the more experienced teacher who may want a new lease on teaching, this resource is designed to bring fun, enjoyment, and profit into the teacher–student rapport that is called teaching.

Michael F. Fleming

About the Author

Michael F. Fleming, Ed.D.,

The Pennsylvania State University, has taught general science, basic biology, anatomy and physiology, microbiology, and behavioral science for over 30 years in the Council Rock School System, Newtown, Pennsylvania. He has participated in curriculum development and is vitally interested in new and novel approaches to motivating students to experience learning as an ongoing and enjoyable process.

Dr. Fleming has been awarded National Science Foundation summer grants and research grants from the Heart Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania. He has also presented papers at conventions of the National Association of Biology Teachers.

In addition, Dr. Fleming created and has carried out for over 15 years a voluntary student participation activity, known as The Anatomy Awards, involving the Leukemia Society of America, Inc. This activity engages students in designing costumes based on structures studied in biology and wearing the costumes in community-related activities to raise money for the Society.

Dr. Fleming has published several articles in professional journals, including Protists, Photomicrographs and Sterezooms: A Study Unit in Biology in Focus, and The S-A-S (Science As Science) Approach to Teaching Second Level Biology, Organ Alley: Pathway of Learning in a Biology Classroom, and The Incredible Edible Model: Food for Thought, in The American Biology Teacher. He is also the editor and coauthor of the Science Project Cards series, the Life Science Labs Kit (1985), and Science Teacher’s Instant Labs Kit (1991), all published by the Center for Applied Research in Education.

Michael F. Fleming, nephew of the author and artist for this activity book, is a graduate of the John Herron School of Art at I.U.P.U.I. in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Acknowledgments

Sincere thanks and appreciation to Sandra Hutchison and Connie Kallback, whose generous editorial help was always available and invaluable. Thanks also to Barbara O’Brien, whose assistance was invaluable in the fine-tuning of the manuscript. Special thanks to my nephew, Michael F. Fleming, whose artwork is a major contribution to this book.

SECTION 1

Innovative

Classroom

Techniques

for the Teacher

The first section of the Biology Teacher’s Survival Guide presents 24 innovative techniques you can begin to use at once to motivate real student interest in the learning process. These are accompanied by over 50 reproducible worksheets to help you implement the suggested techniques.

Among other things, you’ll find an alternative to the written exam (voluntary oral exams, or VOEs), a way to elicit student responses to questions and discussion (Pic-a-Tag Technique), and a method to allow students to participate in the correction of their tests (instant corrections, or ICs).

1.1   THE MESSAGE SQUARE ACTIVITY

Perhaps the best way to introduce your students to the Message Square activities that appear in Section 5 of this resource is to select one of the activities, prepare an overhead transparency of it, and project it on the classroom screen. Next, review the following procedure to be used in solving each Message Square Activity. As you explain each step of the procedure, illustrate using the overhead transparency.

1. Using a 3 × 5 card, cover the instructions that direct you to write particular letters in particular squares.

2. Read the hint.

3. Move the 3 × 5 card, revealing one letter at a time, and write that letter in the proper square(s).

4. At any step along the way that you think you know the answer, write it in the anticipated-answer column before proceeding. (This step is important, because the temptation for the student is to fill in the squares quickly, disregarding this step.)

The Message Square Activity can be used

• as an individual student activity, or

• as a full-class exercise using the overhead projector.

The Research Questions for Text or Library can also be used in various ways:

• as an in-library activity for helping the entire class practice library skills

• as an extra-credit reward for the first student to answer the research questions correctly (of course, the student must provide the source of the answer). You might continue to award extra credit to other students, as long as different sources are used in obtaining the correct answers.

1.2   THE PIC-A-TAG TECHNIQUE

At times a facilitator is needed to catalyze student participation in the classroom. One effective facilitator that students enjoy is the Pic-a-Tag Technique. It keeps students alert because anyone’s number can come up, and it accomplishes this in the spirit of classroom cooperation, not coercion.

The Pic-a-Tag Technique allows you to select students randomly (eliminating student complaints of you always call on me) for such activities as answering questions, going to the chalkboard, participating in a lab demonstration, and oral reading of classroom articles.

Key tags are excellent to use for the Pic-a-Tag Technique. For example, if you have 25 students in your class, simply number the key tags from 1 to 25. Place the tags in a small container in which they can be mixed.

The following example of the Pic-a-Tag Technique assumes that students are sitting at desks or lab tables arranged in a rectangle. If your students are sitting in a circle or rows or some other arrangement, the counting procedure can be easily modified. Let’s assume that you need a student to answer a question, and you decide to use the Pic-a-Tag Technique. You announce to the class that you are going to pick a tag and start counting from, for example, the back left of the classroom. If the number picked is even, you might want to count in a clockwise direction; if odd, in a counterclockwise direction. If you then need another student, pick another tag and start the count from the previous student selected.

There are several variations that you can use with the Pic-a-Tag Technique. For example, you might wish to ask for a volunteer prior to picking a tag. If a student volunteers, then he or she can select the next student needed. Another variation is to allow any student selected by a tag to choose the next student needed.

Students enjoy the technique of being randomly selected by tags and having the opportunity to personally select other students. Indeed, when given a choice, whether to use the Pic-a-Tag Technique or not, students will invariably select Pic-a-Tag.

1.3   MUSIC, FOOD, AND BEVERAGE IN THE CLASSROOM

Having a radio or tape player in the classroom can do a lot to enhance student enjoyment of learning. Music can provide a relaxing ambiance in which to carry out lab activities or accomplish desk work. The volume can easily be kept at an acceptable classroom level so that it does not interfere with occasional teacher instructions.

You might wish to expose your students to some alternative music types, such as classical or light jazz, from time to time. Other than that, students can be allowed to select the music that they desire. It can also be fun to give each student an opportunity to select the day’s music.

It would be a rare administration that would not allow music in the classroom. However, when it comes to food and beverage (other than edible models), it would be a rare administration that would approve.

It can be argued that there are times when permitting some food and beverage can be advantageous to the learning situation. It is yet another way to make learning more enjoyable for students. Having a soft drink or a cup of tea or hot chocolate during desk work does nothing to interfere with students’ learning. Enjoying a sandwich or a candy bar during desk work is not disastrous.

SAFETY NOTE________________________________

Obviously there are class activities, such as those involving potentially dangerous laboratory materials, during which it would not be safe to allow food or beverage under any conditions.

As long as students clean up after themselves, what can be the harm of a classroom snack during suitable class activities?

It is important for you to strive continually to make the classroom ever more pleasant and enjoyable for students during their daily 40- or 50-minute stay.

1.4   VOES (VOLUNTARY ORAL EXAMS)

Voluntary oral exams are, as implied, voluntary on the part of students. You might want to administer them one or two days prior to when you plan to give the entire class a written test.

The VOE provides a refreshing avenue for student evaluation, and once students become used to the idea of oral exams, many will take advantage of them.

VOE questions are prepared on 3 × 5 cards (one question per card) and cover all materials on which students are to be tested. Questions often range from recall of textbook information to identification of structures on actual laboratory models or on diagrams projected on the classroom screen. The prepared cards can, of course, be used from year to year.

The student volunteer comes to the front of the classroom. If you like to ham it up, consider having a lectern, microphone, and microscope-lamp spotlights. Students enjoy this bit of levity.

Beginning with the top 3 × 5 card, read the question to the student. If the student answers five out of six questions accurately, he or she earns an exam grade of A. There is no penalty if the student does not correctly answer five questions (the student earns an A or