Revolting post ahead (or so Gary tells me 🙂 I have no filtering... ). Sensitive constitutions should exit ASAP. You have been warned. Learning about reproduction with five teenagers can be humorous, not to mention embarrassing...for them. I was adamant that I would teach this to them without all the embarrassed giggles one might expect…
Category: Biology
Genetics: Cell division – Meiosis
We are currently working through the specification for an IGCSE in Biology. The following is copied straight from that specification and is all the information we need to know about meiosis: Understand that division of a cell by meiosis produces four cells, each with half the number of chromosomes, and that this results in the formation…
Genetics: Cell division – Mitosis
We are currently working through the specification for an IGCSE in Biology. The following is copied straight from that specification and is all the information we need to know about mitosis: Understand that division of a diploid cell by mitosis produces two cells which contain identical sets of chromosomes. Understand that mitosis occurs during growth, repair,…
Genetics: DNA Replication
We have looked quite extensively at the structure of DNA as well as carrying out a study on the scientists who first discovered its structure and making our own models: The next thing the children needed to know about was DNA replication. This would be fairly important for their cell division lessons on Mitosis and Meiosis…
Illustrating Mendelian Genetics: Mr and Mrs Apple-head and their Applettes
Breeding Mr and Mrs Apple-heads to create some Applettes Yesterday I posted about our Gregor Mendel scientist study. We finished up our study with a bit of fun, making our own father and mother Apple-heads. It was a really great way to check the children fully understood the new vocabulary: allele, phenotype, genotype, recessive, dominant,…
Scientist Study: Gregor Mendel – Simple Genetics
Who is Gregor Mendel? Gregor Mendel is regarded as the first ever geneticist. He overcame poverty and the death of his father, funded his own education and finally joined the abbot to continue with his studies. He spent much of his adult life trying to answer the following question: How do mothers and fathers -…
Genetics: Fingerprint Lab
Over the past week we have been learning about Mendelian genetics (or simple genetics). As a fun introduction we carried out a fingerprint lab. Why a Fingerprint Lab? I wanted to show the children that there is only one of them. This was quite important for the girls to see, given that they are twins…
IGCSE Biology: Genetics
Our biological science is based on the specification of Edexcel for their Biology IGCSE. My goal is to very gradually work through the specification with the hope of digging a little deeper than is required and letting the children follow areas of interest. I aim to make this study as hands on as possible and…
Biology: Genetics – DNA
We have just finished Microbe studies and together we have chosen to look at Inheritance and Genetics next. Again, I will be using the Edexcel IGCSE specification as guidance. Our studies will hopefully be in-depth and very hands on before we settle down to answering past exam papers to test how much the children understand.…
Biology : Extracting Your Own DNA
Actually this post will describe how to extract DNA from a banana, a tomato and from yourself. The method is similar for all three. Extracting DNA samples I gave the children the choice of extracting DNA from tomatoes, bananas or from themselves. It is very easy to do requiring nothing more than water, salt, surgical…
IGCSE Biological Science – Microbes
Our biological science is based on the specification of Edexcel for their Biology IGCSE. My goal is to very gradually work through the specification with the hope of digging a little deeper than is required and letting the children follow areas of interest. I aim to make this study as hands on as possible and…
Biology: Microbes – Protoctista
Protoctista The last micro-organism we need to cover for their IGCSE Biology is the Protoctista. This is basically the 'rubbish bin kingdom'. Every organism which is living and eukaryotic but is not an animal, plant, fungi or bacteria belongs to this kingdom. Protoctista are more complicated than bacteria, containing a cell nucleus, but less complex…
2014-2015 School Year: Science
I always maintain science is our weakest area in our little homeschool. I am so pleased I keep a blog because to my surprise, when I looked over the past year, I found we had done a reasonable amount! Over the past year we have done some Incr-Edible science (self penned food science), Spar-Klean science…
Microbes: Ebola Virus Study
When I chose to study Ebola as an example of a virus, it was in January, before the out break in Africa. It was a difficult decision to go ahead with the study, when the children were being exposed on a daily basis, through newspapers and radio reports, to the ravaging affects Ebola was having…
Microbes: Fungus and Bacteria – Intrinsically Linked
I probably don't need to say this, but did you know that fungi can kill bacteria? Most antibiotics used today were found originally in fungi, although many of these chemicals are now synthesized in factories. Strictly speaking, antibiotics are substances made by microorganisms that stop growth of other microbes or kill them outright. The first ever antibiotic…