Wednesday, September 03, 2008

I Learned

Every year I'm surprised by a few things. First and foremost, I'm old! I can't tell you the number of 3rd and 4th children from one family I've had in class! I suppose that since it covers 9 years of teaching and about 12 graduating classes, I shouldn't be so surprised! The real reason I'm old is that my students were born in the year I graduated! I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that either - my 15 year reunion was last month. See? OLD!

Here's a few commonly held misconceptions that always come out on the second day of biology when we try to figure out the characteristics of living things:
1. Plants don't need oxygen.
2. Bacteria don't grow. (Actually, this was a new one this year.)
3. A white egg is not fertilized.
4. A brown egg might be!

Tomorrow, we debate whether or not a fertilized egg is a living thing!

3 comments:

Jen said...

Yikes - whether a fertilized egg is a living thing...does that turn into the inevitable abortion question? It would if adults were discussing it!

B Haack said...

It does when sophomores discuss it!

Heidi said...

I love it!