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Resources for Teaching Middle School Science
CHAPTER 2 LIFE SCIENCE
Life Science—Core Materials
2.1Cells: Building Blocks of Life.
3rd ed. Anthea Maton, Jean Hopkins, Susan Johnson, and others. Prentice Hall Science Integrated Learning System series. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1997.
Program Overview The Prentice Hall Science Integrated Learning System series is a program for middle school or junior high school students. Designed to cover all relevant areas of science, this program consists of 19 books, each in a particular topic area, such as sound and light, the planet earth, and cells—building blocks of life. Seven science themes are incorporated into the program; the themes are energy, evolution, patterns of change, scale and structure, systems and interactions, unity and diversity, and stability. For each unit, teaching materials, ancillary student materials, and some optional components are available.
Student EditionRecommended grade level: 7-8. Reading level: middle 7.Cells: Building Blocks of Life, which introduces students to the cellular basis of life, is organized in 4 chapters: (1) "The Nature of Life," (2) "Cell Structure and Function," (3) "Cell Processes," and (4) "Cell Energy." During the course, students learn about several theories of the origin of life on earth. They also identify the basic characteristics of living things, learn about the organic compounds that are the building blocks of life, and examine the important structures of cells and their functions. Students compare a typical plant cell and a typical animal cell, and they study how materials pass into and out of cells through osmosis, diffusion, and active transport. They also examine the processes of growth and reproduction of cells, find out how cells obtain and use energy, and learn about and compare respiration and photosynthesis.
Each chapter includes a lab investigation. Students analyze their school lunch menu for the presence of 3 major food nutrients (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins). They also learn how to use a microscope to observe objects, and they look at prepared slides of mitosis in animal and plant cells. Students investigate the relationship between photosynthesis and respiration using Elodea and bromthymol blue solution (an indicator) in flasks.
Each chapter contains comprehensive reading sections that introduce major science concepts. Suggestions are provided for activities in which students "find out by doing," "find out by reading," and "find out by writing." Other skills-oriented activities are also suggested—for example, observing a piece of onion tissue under a microscope and writing a brief report on Melvin Calvin's discovery of the Calvin cycle.
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