GCISD Science Blog

"Maybe we should consider a CRISPR sequence?" says one student to another.  "Yeah, maybe..." responds his teammate as their teacher, Kristin Donovan-DeIturrino listens in with a grin.  The 8th grade APSIRE biology students at Cross Timbers Middle School have been tasked with an interesting bioengineering problem:  Design a delivery system and engineer the genes of bacteria for a probiotic treatment for cattle.  Why do they need to do that?  Cows produce methane, a gas that is  environmentally  problematic, so if they could design a medicine that reduces methane production in cattle, it could reduce the release of the atmospheric gas. As part of this Project Based Learning unit, the students were given opportunities to explore why cows produce so much methane, how bacteria are used as probiotic, how the genes of bacteria can be altered to reduce methane, the anatomy of ruminants and the EPA guidelines on methane reduction. The project began with the following d

In AP Physics 1, students use the PASCO SMART carts to study motion, forces, momentum, and energy.  The carts have built-in sensors which can measure position, velocity, acceleration, and force; all of which is transmitted to the students’ laptops in real time.  This allows students to see how the changes in the physical motion of the carts produce the changes in data on the computer screen.  By observing these changes in real time, students make solid connections between visual observations and quantitative data.  In the picture below, students accelerate the cart by tying a string to the force sensor, the other end of which is attached to a mass which hangs over a pulley.  The students see how the velocity of the cart changes as it speeds up.  By varying the mass of the cart or the mass tied to the other end of the string, students derive the relationship between acceleration, force, and mass (Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion) from their own data. Velocity exploration while varying