Genetics and Star Wars

Stephanie
First of all this post contains spoilers for Season 1 and 2 of The Madalorian and The Rise of Skywalker, so If you aren't caught up, don't read this! This could  be my nerdiest post ever, but here it goes. The information about genomic, chloroplast, and mitochondrial DNA is real.…
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Earth and Space Lessons

Stephanie
Lesson 1 This term I taught the kids about Earth and space. This subject has been taught at least once a stage so we started this unit out with a review game. The kids in this class have looked up a lot of stuff and they knew quite a bit…
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Dinosaurs and the Fossil Record

Stephanie
Fossil Record and Mass Extinctions One of the observations Darwin used as support for life on Earth changing over time was the fossil record. Animals and plants appear and disappear from the fossil record. One of the most famous examples of this phenomenon is presence and extinction of the dinosaurs.…
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Vertebrate Development

Stephanie
Vertebrates Animals are split into two groups based on whether or not they have a backbone. Vertebrates are animals with a backbone and a skeleton with muscles attached to it. Invertebrates have a soft body and in some cases is supported and protected by an exoskeleton or shell. Vertebrates include…
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Classification of Mammals

Stephanie
  Mammals When considering the Animal Kingdom the first major spit is between animals with backbones and those without. Those with backbones include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. The next major split is between the amniotes and nonamniotes. This is an important split because amniotes (reptiles, birds, and mammals)…
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How Life Has Changed Earth and Life

Stephanie
Life Has Changed Earth Oxygen Releasing Microorganisms Earth looks like it does today due, in part, to the plants and animals that live here. The first major change life made to Earth was the Great Oxygenation Event. Blue Green Algae developed the ability to photosynthesize. This released massive amounts of…
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Water Cycle

Stephanie
The Water Cycle The Sun heats the Earth with the electromagnetic radiation it emits. This radiation travels through space and when it gets to Earth it moves the molecules on Earth causing them to heat up. When water is heated it turns to water vapor and rises into the sky…
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Making Fossils

Stephanie
Fossils Sedimentary Rock Wind and water break and wear pieces off of rocks. Water and wind also move small pieces of rocks and minerals. When these pieces get into a body of water they settle at the bottom. As time passes, these pieces are compressed by the weight of more…
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Wind and Ocean Currents

Stephanie
Heating the Earth The Earth is heated by the Electromagnetic Radiation the Sun emits. The Earth is not heated uniformly, however. For example, the Equator gets more direct radiation from the sun than the poles all times of the year, and so the poles are cooler. The tilt of the…
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