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BIOLOGY / HONORS BIOLOGY
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Google Classrooms
Due to the COVID-19 school closure, all of Mr. Bursch's biology classes will switch to using Google Classroom as their primary instructional platform. Below are Google Classroom join codes for each of my four biology sections. Please find your class period's code and use it to join the online version of your class. Log in to your school Google account and navigate to the Google Classroom app. Click the plus (+) symbol in the upper righthand corner and choose “Join a Class” and enter the class code. If you have any difficulties joining, please email me anytime.
Period 1: owq3pbf
Period 3: inib6ch
Period 4: cvhsyxz
Period 5: c5vj26j
For questions regarding any course content in your Google Classroom, it is best to email me, but you may also use the comment function on each post in the Stream. I am going to leave student comments enabled to see how it goes for the first few days. If need be, I will disable the function, but I trust that we can make responsible use of this feature.
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Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Friday, March 27, 2020
AP Environmental Science 2019 - 2020 Course UPDATE: Instruction to Resume Online on Monday
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AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
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Hello Budding Environmental Scientists (and Parental Units),
Here is a brief update on how I will be proceeding to complete your instruction for AP Environmental Science this school year. Over the weekend I will send out a detailed email explaining how the WGHS APES class will get instruction (including getting help on assignments), turn in assignments, and do tests for the remainder of the shutdown.
First, I have amended the Independent Research Project directions to include a purely secondary research-based report option. Please see the following blog post for a more detailed explanation:
https://mrbursch.blogspot.com/2020/03/apes-independent-research-project-update.html
Second, I have posted additional links in the "Instruction" section of the AP Environmental Science page. I will continue to add online resources from College Board and other organizations to our AP Environmental Science web page in the coming days. Please avail yourselves of these resources as you prepare for the AP exam--yes, College Board is still planning on administering the AP exams starting in May--please see College Board's AP Central: About AP: News and Changes section for the AP Updates for Schools Impacted by Coronavirus page.
Third, I will be assigning regular readings and practice assignments that were originally planned for these last couple of weeks. I will update instructional calendars to reflect our new timeline.
For all unit 10 assignments that were in progress, please complete them to the best of your ability using your notes and online resources:
If you have questions about how to proceed with your independent research project, please email ASAP.
I will score and enter your Household Water Use projects this weekend as well--look for those scores in the IC grade book during the next few days.
That's all for now--more to follow by Sunday evening, so stay tuned!
Mr. Bursch
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AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
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Hello Budding Environmental Scientists (and Parental Units),
Here is a brief update on how I will be proceeding to complete your instruction for AP Environmental Science this school year. Over the weekend I will send out a detailed email explaining how the WGHS APES class will get instruction (including getting help on assignments), turn in assignments, and do tests for the remainder of the shutdown.
First, I have amended the Independent Research Project directions to include a purely secondary research-based report option. Please see the following blog post for a more detailed explanation:
https://mrbursch.blogspot.com/2020/03/apes-independent-research-project-update.html
Second, I have posted additional links in the "Instruction" section of the AP Environmental Science page. I will continue to add online resources from College Board and other organizations to our AP Environmental Science web page in the coming days. Please avail yourselves of these resources as you prepare for the AP exam--yes, College Board is still planning on administering the AP exams starting in May--please see College Board's AP Central: About AP: News and Changes section for the AP Updates for Schools Impacted by Coronavirus page.
Third, I will be assigning regular readings and practice assignments that were originally planned for these last couple of weeks. I will update instructional calendars to reflect our new timeline.
For all unit 10 assignments that were in progress, please complete them to the best of your ability using your notes and online resources:
- Lung Volume and Air Pollution Lab
- Auto Exhaust Lab
If you have questions about how to proceed with your independent research project, please email ASAP.
I will score and enter your Household Water Use projects this weekend as well--look for those scores in the IC grade book during the next few days.
That's all for now--more to follow by Sunday evening, so stay tuned!
Mr. Bursch
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Biology / Honors Biology 2019 - 2020 Course UPDATE: Instruction to Resume Online on Monday
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BIOLOGY / HONORS BIOLOGY
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Hi Bursch Bioscientists and Parental Units,
Here is a brief update on how I will be proceeding to complete your instruction for Biology in the Dynamic Earth this school year. Over the weekend I will send out a detailed email explaining how my biology classes will get instruction (including getting help on assignments), turn in assignments, and do tests for the remainder of the shutdown.
First, I will most likely need to simplify our Science Research and Symposium project (which I had not yet assigned when school was closed) since we will not be at school until May at the earliest--for now I want to focus on transitioning to fully online instruction, so let's not worry about this project for the time being.
Second, I will waive (excuse) the co-teaching requirement for any students who had not yet completed it. For those who completed this requirement earlier in the year, you have already received credit.
Third, I will not be assigning The Story of the Seed blog post #9 at all this year, but I will be assigning blog post #8 next week. In the email I sent a few days ago I was referring to blog post #6 and #7 and was informing students and parents that, for those who had not yet gotten them checked for points, those posts are still due and need to get checked by me ASAP and no later than the last week of May 2020. If you already finished the flower dissection lab needed to do blog post #7, use your photos and research to complete the post--if you did not finish the dissection and get your own photos, use pictures from the internet which show the anatomical structures you were supposed to photograph. Let me know if you have questions about either post.
For all genetics (unit 6) assignments that were in progress, please complete them to the best of your ability using your notes and online resources:
For online assignments that would have been stamped on your stamp sheet, place them in your Google Drive folder for biology in a subfolder called "Genetics Assignments" and I will put a score directly on them. For on-paper assignments, you have to photograph and place in your Google Drive folder--for these photographed assignments, I will only put the assignment score in IC so you will have to check the grade book to see your score (you could email me as well to inquire about any assignment score). To expedite scoring of any assignment you have just placed in your Google Drive folder, email me immediately after placing the file in your folder to inform me that it is ready for scoring.
That's all for now--more to follow by Sunday evening, so stay tuned!
Mr. Bursch
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BIOLOGY / HONORS BIOLOGY
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Hi Bursch Bioscientists and Parental Units,
Here is a brief update on how I will be proceeding to complete your instruction for Biology in the Dynamic Earth this school year. Over the weekend I will send out a detailed email explaining how my biology classes will get instruction (including getting help on assignments), turn in assignments, and do tests for the remainder of the shutdown.
First, I will most likely need to simplify our Science Research and Symposium project (which I had not yet assigned when school was closed) since we will not be at school until May at the earliest--for now I want to focus on transitioning to fully online instruction, so let's not worry about this project for the time being.
Second, I will waive (excuse) the co-teaching requirement for any students who had not yet completed it. For those who completed this requirement earlier in the year, you have already received credit.
Third, I will not be assigning The Story of the Seed blog post #9 at all this year, but I will be assigning blog post #8 next week. In the email I sent a few days ago I was referring to blog post #6 and #7 and was informing students and parents that, for those who had not yet gotten them checked for points, those posts are still due and need to get checked by me ASAP and no later than the last week of May 2020. If you already finished the flower dissection lab needed to do blog post #7, use your photos and research to complete the post--if you did not finish the dissection and get your own photos, use pictures from the internet which show the anatomical structures you were supposed to photograph. Let me know if you have questions about either post.
For all genetics (unit 6) assignments that were in progress, please complete them to the best of your ability using your notes and online resources:
- Incomplete Dominance and Co-dominance practice problems (online: Google Doc)
- X-linked genetics practice problems (on paper--take a picture, place in Google Drive folder)
- Meiosis Modeling activity (For bio students only, you may simply draw a detailed step-by-step color diagram and send me a high-quality photo via email--honors bio should have been done before closure)
- Flower Dissection Lab, TSOTS blog post #7 (directions on TSOTS website, students post on their team's TSOTS website)
- Genetics Virtual Triathlon Legs 2 and 3 (online: Google Doc)
For online assignments that would have been stamped on your stamp sheet, place them in your Google Drive folder for biology in a subfolder called "Genetics Assignments" and I will put a score directly on them. For on-paper assignments, you have to photograph and place in your Google Drive folder--for these photographed assignments, I will only put the assignment score in IC so you will have to check the grade book to see your score (you could email me as well to inquire about any assignment score). To expedite scoring of any assignment you have just placed in your Google Drive folder, email me immediately after placing the file in your folder to inform me that it is ready for scoring.
That's all for now--more to follow by Sunday evening, so stay tuned!
Mr. Bursch
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Wednesday, March 25, 2020
APES Independent Research Project UPDATE
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AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
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Hi Guys,
I realize that many of you had your independent research project experiments interrupted by the school closure. That being the case, I am now giving all APES students the option of doing second-hand research (which can be done mostly online) on an environmental topic / question and (as we were already going to do) preparing a written formal report as well as a summarizing slideshow / talk. You may choose to continue working on your own already-teacher-approved original experiment if you are able, or you may simply compile, analyze, and refer to data from multiple studies by other scientists on the question you were already investigating. If you want to change direction completely and ask / research another question entirely, you may do that, but you will need to fill out another Independent Research Project outline and submit it to me ASAP.
If we are still not back at school in May, we will use Zoom to deliver the summary presentations from home. If you still have not had your first-round interview for this project, please email me to discuss and include a link to your completed outline in your Google Drive APES folder.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions / concerns regarding this change to the project or any other APES content.
Stay safe and healthy,
Mr. Bursch
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AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
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Hi Guys,
I realize that many of you had your independent research project experiments interrupted by the school closure. That being the case, I am now giving all APES students the option of doing second-hand research (which can be done mostly online) on an environmental topic / question and (as we were already going to do) preparing a written formal report as well as a summarizing slideshow / talk. You may choose to continue working on your own already-teacher-approved original experiment if you are able, or you may simply compile, analyze, and refer to data from multiple studies by other scientists on the question you were already investigating. If you want to change direction completely and ask / research another question entirely, you may do that, but you will need to fill out another Independent Research Project outline and submit it to me ASAP.
If we are still not back at school in May, we will use Zoom to deliver the summary presentations from home. If you still have not had your first-round interview for this project, please email me to discuss and include a link to your completed outline in your Google Drive APES folder.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions / concerns regarding this change to the project or any other APES content.
Stay safe and healthy,
Mr. Bursch
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Friday, March 20, 2020
What to Do for Mr. Bursch's Biology/Honors Biology During the School Closure
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BIOLOGY and HONORS BIOLOGY
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Hello Students and Parents,
The school district is making some educational resources available through their (sjusd.org) website--using those resources is recommended but still optional. The last thing we teachers were told by the school district leadership team was that no assignments should be given or graded by any teachers during the three week quarantine period. Hopefully we will resume classes in 2 - 4 weeks, and if we do, then I will just remove the symposium research project from our calendar and we should have enough time to finish our last two units and do our final exam. During this time away from school, Biology students may wish to work on missing / late assignments, and Biology and Honors Biology students may want to to use this time to work on / complete any already assigned work (from the genetics unit, TSOTS, or the ESLP project) that would have been due during the mandated closure period. Completing at least some of this work now will make the transition back to normal school routines a bit less stressful and should offer something to (temporarily, at least) take students minds off of the anxiety-inducing happenings going on around the planet right now. If we don't return this school year, there is a good chance we will use an online learning platform to complete classes for this school year--that would probably start up in two weeks. As soon as I have more information, I will post a blog post on our class website. Until then, stay safe and feel free to reach out to me via email anytime.
Take care,
Mr. Bursch
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BIOLOGY and HONORS BIOLOGY
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Hello Students and Parents,
The school district is making some educational resources available through their (sjusd.org) website--using those resources is recommended but still optional. The last thing we teachers were told by the school district leadership team was that no assignments should be given or graded by any teachers during the three week quarantine period. Hopefully we will resume classes in 2 - 4 weeks, and if we do, then I will just remove the symposium research project from our calendar and we should have enough time to finish our last two units and do our final exam. During this time away from school, Biology students may wish to work on missing / late assignments, and Biology and Honors Biology students may want to to use this time to work on / complete any already assigned work (from the genetics unit, TSOTS, or the ESLP project) that would have been due during the mandated closure period. Completing at least some of this work now will make the transition back to normal school routines a bit less stressful and should offer something to (temporarily, at least) take students minds off of the anxiety-inducing happenings going on around the planet right now. If we don't return this school year, there is a good chance we will use an online learning platform to complete classes for this school year--that would probably start up in two weeks. As soon as I have more information, I will post a blog post on our class website. Until then, stay safe and feel free to reach out to me via email anytime.
Take care,
Mr. Bursch
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