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Biochemistry

11/30/2020

 
Since this unit deals with abstract concepts, I begin the biochemistry unit by talking about the history of how scientists came to our current understandings about atoms.  I give students some basic vocabulary and show them a short video about the structure of an atom.  ​
I then discuss ionic, covalent, hydrogen, and polar bonds.  
I discuss the special importance of the water molecule and talk about water's cohesive and adhesive qualities.  (Water is "attractive".  Like Right Said Fred Video below:  It's Too Sexy.) ​​
​By this time, I have explained that organic chemistry focuses on the elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.  The thrust of this unit is student understanding of the organic molecules:  carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.  Students practice learning about these compounds in a Nutrients Activity Packet, which is available in TEACHING RESOURCES.
Students then complete a pattern matching lab where they learn the molecular arrangement and how to identify structural formulas of organic molecules.  They follow this with another lab in which they practice building three-dimensional models of molecules.  In the next lab they identify carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins with various indicator tests. ​
After these labs are complete I again review organic compounds, chemical bonds, and the special qualities of water.  I then move on to explaining the pH scale and the importance of pH in organisms.  Students later complete a lab in which they learn more about the pH scale.
Finally, I discuss enzymes and how they are used in life processes.  I cover factors that affect enzyme reactions, I again review dehydration synthesis and hydrolysis and explain what endothermic and exothermic reactions are.  Students view two short videos related to enzymes and then they complete a lab in which they use the enzyme catalase, in liver, to break down hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen.  ​
Supplemental biochemistry labs, assignments, and tests are available either in TEACHING RESOURCES or 40 BIOLOGY LAB ACTIVITIES.  
The Presentation and Student Notes files are available here. 

    AuthoR: 

    New York State Teacher of Biology/Living Environment

    ​All regular education and most special education students are required to take the New York State Living Environment Regents.  This is the material I have delivered to all ability levels of students to prepare them for that test.  

    My instruction of this course evolved. Although I continually "tweaked" things from year to year and class to class, I found that the most orderly delivery was to use PowerPoint slides to act as my "plan book". From these, I communicated instructional objectives, vocabulary, lab activities, and other learning activities to students.

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