Tag Archives: Teaching Biology

bioboost, graphing

Exploring Cell Phone Usage versus GPA With This Graphing Activity

Leave a comment

Are you a science teacher looking for engaging ways to incorporate real-world data into your lessons? This Cell Phone Graphing activity is a fantastic way for students to explore the relationship between cell phone usage and academic performance through hands-on data analysis. By graphing actual research findings, students will gain valuable insights into the scientific process and strengthen their graphing skills. Let’s dive into how this biology graphing activity can be an impactful addition to your curriculum!

Scenario Overview

In this activity, students will analyze data from a hypothetical study that investigates whether there is a correlation between cell phone usage and academic performance among college students. This setup helps students explore questions related to the impact of screen time on GPA—a relevant topic in today’s digital age.

Background and Relevance

As smartphones have become integral to daily life, researchers have raised concerns about the potential effects of screen time on academic outcomes. This study specifically examines whether the time spent on cell phones correlates with students’ GPA. By diving into this investigation, students will better understand how lifestyle choices can impact educational performance, making the data both relatable and relevant.

Experimental Design in Focus

For this activity, students will work with data collected from a sample of college students who participated in an experiment:

  1. Data Collection: Each participant’s cell phone usage was automatically logged using an app installed on their phone, tracking hours per day spent on the device.
  2. Academic Performance Measurement: Students’ GPAs were recorded as a measure of their academic performance.
  3. Controlled Variables: To ensure consistency, participants reported having similar study habits and extracurricular commitments, providing more reliable data for analysis.

Student Graphing Task

Using the data provided on cell phone usage and GPA, students will graph the results to visualize potential trends and correlations. They will learn how to interpret the graph’s structure, identify patterns, and discuss any observed relationships between the variables.

Teaching Objectives

This biology graphing activity aligns with core educational objectives in science:

  • Data Interpretation Skills: Students will practice interpreting theoretical data by plotting hours of cell phone use against GPA, which encourages critical thinking.
  • Understanding Correlation: This activity introduces the concept of correlation versus causation, helping students recognize that even if a trend exists, it may not imply causation.
  • Real-Life Application of Biology Concepts: By examining the impact of technology on biological behaviors like study patterns, students will see relevance to everyday life.
Click here to download activity

Why Include This Activity in Your Lesson Plan?

Integrating this science graphing activity into your curriculum helps students engage with real-world scientific research and develop essential graphing skills. Students will leave the activity with a deeper understanding of how researchers design studies, analyze data, and draw conclusions based on evidence.

This Cell Phone Graphing activity makes a valuable addition to any biology or science class, fostering scientific inquiry and helping students develop practical data interpretation skills. Give it a try and watch your students become more proficient in scientific analysis!

For those seeking engaging science graphing activities, this is an ideal resource for your classroom. It brings abstract research concepts into a relatable context for students and provides a unique perspective on the impacts of cell phone use on academic performance.

Click here to subscribe

Biology Lesson Plans, Biology Online

How to Setup your biology class for remote and in-person instruction

Leave a comment

Teaching students who are remote learners while you have students in the classroom

Due to COVID-19 many teachers are expected to teach in creative and challenging ways. Some students may not feel comfortable or safe enough to be in the classroom so teachers have to teach students who are in their class and at home at the same time. This situation offers many challenges for teachers like classroom management concerns, posting assignments online and making copies for in-person students and technology issues just to name a few. Read below to learn how I setup my classroom to teach students who are in class and remote at the same time.

Tools To Use for Teaching Students Remotely

To have a setup that allows you to easily manage your class and your remote learner you will need a few key tools that many teachers already have access to.

-SMART Board (Though is is optional, it is extremely useful to write on the board while screen sharing and your students at home can see you write)

-Wireless earbuds

-Computer and projector

-Ipad, tablet or phone as a secondary device with a stand to hold it up near you.

Wireless Earbuds

This Setup Puts Remote Students In Your Class

Now that you have the necessary items I will describe how this works and why it is so beneficial.

How does it work?

Using the smart board connected to the computer I can annotate from the board and it shows up on the screen. Having the annotations show up on screen is great for your remote learners who will be able to see everything you write via zoom screen share.

How will they see your annotation?

Using zoom you will simply be able to share the screen and students will be able to see everything you write. When doing this, use the computer to host the zoom session.

Next, you want to log into your zoom session using another device like an iPad , phone or another computer but you want this one to be close to the board so student can also see you when the zoom video is enabled.

Click here to subscribe

Dealing with Audio Feedback for Remote Teaching

With two devices in the same room on zoom audio issues arise and feedback becomes a problem. To solve this you will connect wireless earbuds to the device at the board (Ipad, phone, tablet or another computer). When you do this the audio output is not picked up by your other device so feedback is eliminated.

When presenting with the main computer that is running the zoom session and screen sharing you will want the zoom mic muted as well as your speaker output.

With the device at the board you will be able to hear your students using your wireless earbud and they will be able to hear you where ever you are located in the room because the wireless earbuds are also equippred with a mic.

Caution! Do not forget you have a mic on when walking are the room conversing with the students.

One way to be deal with this is to leave the mic on the “chalk tray” and tell your remote learning to use the raise hand function if they need you. When they raise their hand you will see a notification pop up on the screen.

I often use this strategy even if I am at the board because teaching with an earbud in your ear can make it difficult to hear the students in your class talk and you can’t read lips with their masks on!

Showing a Video Clip During a Presentation

It seems like an easy task but if you want to play a video clip from your computer it does require some quick adjustments. If you try to play the video from your computer that is running the zoom session you will get some feedback. To prevent this, you will need to mute your zoom mic with your device that is at the board and then allow speaker output from your computer and turn on the zoom mic so your at home learners can listen in. Undo the previous steps to go back to teaching mode.

Collaboration and Remote Learning

With tons of plexi glass, sanitizer and social distancing some schools allows us to still do collaborative activities and labs. Including remote learners is pretty easy. Simply, group your remote learners with an in class group and ask at least on of the group members in class to join the zoom session. Once they are in add you remote learner to and their lab partner to the breakout room.

When students sign into the zoom tell them to have their volume down because if they do not they will generate feedback. The feedback problem goes away when they are in a breakout room. I have my students use headphones if they have them.

Summary

Teaching remote students and an in-person class at the same time can be taxing on the brain. Even after doing this for almost an entire school year I rarely get through the week without messing up audio and getting feedback. It comes with the territory I suppose. To set this up, download the checklist . If you have any issues drop me an email (brad@usbiologyteaching.com) or leave a comment below and I will help you out.

Click here to subscribe
Test Corrections

Test Corrections

Leave a comment

Today one of my students asked me “Can we do test corrections to improve our grade?”.  After some deliberation, I caved. My objective is student learning and of course I am held accountable for their scores.  They will have to earn those points. Below is the template I used. It worked well.  It allowed student to use their notes and the book to help them figure out what they did wrong. They were not allow to ask their neighbors for any help.

 

Test Corrections Template:

Question#:____ Wrong Answer:____ Correct Answer:___

My original answer was wrong because ____________________________

 

The correct answer is correct because ____________________________

Show Work:(where applicable)

DNA and RNA, Interactive Notebook, Macromolecules

Interactive Notebook

3 Comments

The interactive notebook has been a great teaching tool for me for the last few years. The Interactive Science Notebook (INB) is a learning tool that involves an “input” (right side) of teacher’s notes and handouts. It also include an  “output”  section (left side) that allows students to creatively relate that information to their own experiences or organize the information in a variety of proven techniques or best practices. The versatility of the interactive notebook is only limited by the student or the teacher, therefore it has no limits. Throughout the year, I will post  a variety of engaging examples that I use in my classroom. You will be amazed how the interactive notebook reaches all of the learning styles in your classroom and allows students to personalize their learning. I am currently in the process of  gathering, organizing and explaining how I implement the activities I do throughout the year into a book. The left side of the notebook is for graphic organizers, charts,  stories, raps, poems, pictures and more. The right side is used for notes and teacher handouts (“input”)

Note: Successfully implementing the Interactive Notebook involves  extensive set-up and procedures but the pay-off is worth it.

Set up of the interactive notebook:

Lab, Rubrics

Lab Report Rubric and Guide

Leave a comment

Lab Report Writing Made Easy for Students!

When I first started teaching, I wanted my students to write lab report base on the mealworm lab(see post) that I had them do.

It did not take long to realize that they needed all the help they could get!

 

It is not a surprise. They had never had to write a lab report before.

In order to help them I spent countless hours building this lab report template and guide that the student could use to help them build high quality lab reports.

 

I developed a lab report rubric that is about as detailed as it can get. It makes lab reports very easy to do and grade. It is based on 110 point scale.  

 

Do you need a Full Biology Curriculum? We have you covered. Every day of the year is planned out for you. Check it out here!

 

 

Click here to download the lab report rubric and template