Thursday, 15 December, 2005

Lesson Objectives:

Using information from classroom activities,
I should be able to:
-take a midterm exam on all information presented since the school year's beginning.
-predict, hypothesize, and test my hypothesis about the spread of HIV

Block 4 took their mid-term exam today.

Block 6 did the hands-on activity AIDS: Am I Susceptible. Starting with only 5% of the class initially HIV positive, 100% of the class was infected by the end of the activity. Much was learned about how HIV is spread. We also saw a video that deals with the treatment of HIV. Medicines for treatment can run over $10,000 a year!

All classes are to bring in 5 different local rocks on January 2.

Wednesday, 14 December, 2005

Lesson Objectives:

Using information from classroom activities,
I should be able to:
-take a midterm exam on all information presented since the school year's beginning.
-predict, hypothesize, and test my hypothesis about the spread of HIV

Block 3 took their mid-term exam today.

Blocks 1 and 5 did the hands-on activity AIDS: Am I Susceptible. In block 1, 100% of the class became infected from the initial one person with the infection. In block 5, almost 86% of the class was infected with the simulated virus at the end of the activity. All students completed the paragraph from the HIV/AIDS concept map presented last Friday, December 9.

All classes are to bring in 5 different local rocks on January 2.

Tuesday, 13 December, 2005

Lesson Objectives

Using information from classroom activities,
I should be able to:
-take a mid-term examination on all information presented since the start of school, specifically The Nature of Science, The Nature of Matter, Energy, and Force and Motion.
-predict, hypothesize, and test an idea about the spread of HIV.


Block 6 took their midterm examination.

Block 4 (with Ms. DeMoya's class as guests), did the AIDS: Am I Susceptible Laboratory activity. From one person, 22% of the class of 41 students became HIV positive. Students learned that unprotected sexual encounters lead to HIV infection.

All classes should bring in 5 different rocks by January 4.

Monday, 12 December, 2005

Lesson Objectives:

Using information from classroom activities,
I should be able to
-take a science midterm exam.
-predict, hypothesize, and test an idea about the spread of HIV.

Today, blocks 1 and 5 took their mid-term exam. There are 100 objective questions on the exam. There is also an extended response question. In addition, there are three word problems. It might be a good idea to bring your FCAT reference sheet for the equations!

Block 3 did the activity AIDS: Am I Susceptible? Starting with one HIV positive person, by the end of the class period, (with only 9 minutes for exchange), 100% of the class was HIV positive. What a good way to emphasize the risk of multiple exchanges!

All classes should prepare for the third grading period by bringing in five different rocks by the first day of the 3rd grading period.

Friday, 9 December, 2005

Lesson Objectives:

Using information from classroom discussions and videos "AIDS: A Changing Epidemic" and "Scenarios USA"
I should be able to
-compare and contrast HIV and AIDS.
-describe four methods of HIV infection.
-justify why some actions do not spread HIV.
-identify the HIV targets in the body.

Blocks 4 and 6

Today, we viewed videos on HIV and AIDS infections. The first video, AIDS: A Changing Epidemic, dealt with the changing face of AIDS. In the early 1980's the majority of HIV infections were found in the gay community. However, the majority of new cases of HIV infections are now found in minority communities, with Blacks and Latinos having the highest infection rates. Women especially are showing high infection rates. More young people are also becoming infected.

The second video showed dramatizations written by high school students. The first segment, entitled "A Nightmare on AIDS Street" depicts a young girl that makes the wrong choices and the fears she faces as a result of those choices. The second segment, entitled "The Monster", discusses misconceptions about HIV and deals with perceptions of those affected with the virus.

After viewing videos, answer the following:
-How is HIV transmitted from mother to child?
-Why are minority women at higher risk for contraction of HIV?
-What misconceptions about HIV/AIDS did you note in the videos?
-What high risk behaviors did you note in the videos?

Complete a concept map. Write a paragraph about HIV/AIDS using the information from the concept map.

Homelearning:
Study for mid-term...be sure to bring a mechanical pencil!
Classes not taking the exam will perform the lab activity "AIDS:Am I Susceptible?"