In the first section of this page, you will write a daily summary of that day's class.  For example in  your chapter 2 blog, your first entry should be titled 9/3/10.  You should then write a one or two paragraph summary of that day's lecture, outlining the major points.  In the second section, you are required to add two items (link to a website, video, animation, student-created slide show, student-created PowerPoint presentation) and one journal article pertaining to a topic in this chapter.  A one-paragraph summary must accompany each item describing the main idea and how it applies to the lecture topic.  Please see the PBWorks help guide for assistance embedding video and other items directly in the page.  I will also produce a how-to video on using tables to wrap text around items and other useful tips.  Please see the syllabus for organization and grading details.

A.  Daily Blog

Chapter 16 is a big chapter that discusses the patterns of inheritance. We start off by discussing Gregor Mendel, who was an Austrian monk, and how his experiments involving pea plant hybridizations led to the development of Mendel's Laws of Inheritance. Hybridization occurs when two individuals with different characteristics are mated, or crossed, with one another to form offspring which are referred to as hybrids. Mendel decided to use pea plants for his experiment for three main reasons. First, pea plants were available in many varieties that had different characteristics. General features of organisms are reffered to as characters, while specific variants of these features are referred to as traits. Next, pea plants can self-fertilize. Self-fertilization is the process in which a female gamete is fertilized by a male gamete from the same individual. This made it easy for Mendel to observe plants that breed true for any given trait. Lastly, Mendel chose pea plants because they're easily manipulated making hybridization much easier.

B.  Useful Materials