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7th & 8th Grade Science Teacher
Years of teaching experience: I’m a new teacher (but I’m also the mother of a 7th grader and both of my boys have always attended charter schools).
College you graduated: Masters in Ecology from UC Davis
Hobbies/interests outside of school: I love to cook and bake. I love day-hiking and camping. I do love to read but it doesn’t seem I have much time for it anymore.
Educational philosophy: I’m basically a constructivist, which means that I believe people learn best by doing. Whenever possible, I like to set up learning situations that lead students to make discoveries of their own.
“Tell me, and I forget. Teach me, and I remember. Involve me, and I learn.”
Benjamin Franklin
Bullet format of things students will learn this year:
7th grade, Life Science:
• Cell Biology, including the parts of a cell and their functions, cell division and cell specialization
• Reproduction and Genetics, including sexual and asexual reproduction, dominant and recessive traits, DNA and chromosomes
• Evolution, including natural selection, evidence for evolution, adaptation, and species classification
• Earth and Life History, including plate tectonics, catastrophic events, mass extinctions, the rock cycle, radioactive dating and the fossil record
• Structure and Function in Living Systems, including tissues, organ systems, bones, muscles, animal and plant reproduction, and the structure and function of the human eye and ear
• Physical Principles in Living Systems, including properties of visible light, magnification, and the physical properties of bones and muscles, joints, and blood pressure
• Investigation and Experimentation, including utilizing the Scientific Method to ask testable questions, collect data and display meaningful results, as well as evaluating sources of information for scientific purposes
8th grade, Physical Science:
• Motion, including position, speed, velocity, acceleration, and interpreting graphs displaying these parameters over time
• Forces, including Newton’s Laws of Motion, gravitation, and friction
• Density and Buoyancy, including the calculation of density and Archimedes’ Principle
• Structure of Matter, including atoms and their components, molecules, states of matter, and the periodic table of elements
• Chemical Interactions, including conservation of mass, conservation of energy, chemical and physical reactions, and acidic, basic or neutral solutions
• Chemistry of Living Systems, including the central role of carbon in living organisms, as well as the other five elements (and macromolecules) important to life
• The Structure and Composition of the Universe, including the solar system, stars, galaxies and measurements for the vastness of space
• Investigation and Experimentation, including utilizing the Scientific Method to ask testable questions, collect data and display meaningful results, evaluating data, distinguishing between variables and controlled parameters, and recognizing linear relationships
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