The World of Wall

Bio 20 – Cell theory slides

Rob Wall — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:19:48 +0000

Here are all the slides for the classes we were discussing cell theory:

We also briefly discussed the scientific method. Here are my slides for that:

CPT welcome

Rob Wall — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:01:34 +0000

We are all set for another great year of Communication Production Technology here at NBCHS. All the information for Mr. Wall’s classes will be found on this site. I might refer to some resources or assignments found on last year’s CPT site, but this is the place for the official information.

My classes this year have a mix of students who are taking CPT for the first time, students who have taken one previous CPT class and one student who has taken two previous CPT classes (and done an awesome job, just for the record). Some of the information here will be for one, two or all three groups. You can click on the category links on the left to find the information that is relevant to just your class. Since I (plan to) use this site for all my courses this year, you will also find info for my Bio 20 class as well.

Time for the first assignment – leave a comment for this post telling me what kinds of media you are interested in creating?

Bio 20 slides

Rob Wall — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:55:00 +0000

Almost all of the presentation slides from this semester are available at http://www.slideshare.net/robwall/tag/biology. Here’s a sample for you:

Is natural selection a good theory

Rob Wall — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:44:46 +0000

Assignment – write a few paragraphs to discuss the question “Is natural selection a good theory?”. Your answer should include the two big ideas of natural selection (as discussed in the video below) and the theory of natural selection as having characteristics of a good theory. These are:

explains observed phenomena,
makes predictions,
and is testable using proper scientific testing conditions.

You are encouraged to use a variety of resources. The video below might be helpful in formulating your answer (the actual lecture starts about 7 minutes into the video).

Cell Anatomy

Rob Wall — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:26:26 +0000

Since all living things are made from cells and cell products (you recognize that from cell theory, right?), we need to understand cells in order to understand life. Complete the cell anatomy assignment and you will be one step closer to understanding life.

Blackcap migration changes – a speciation case study

Rob Wall — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:06:26 +0000

Isolation is a factor in the evolution of a new species from an existing species. An interesting case of isolation involves changes in migration patterns for some of the Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) which have changed their migration pattern. Observations of this group show some signs of natural selection occurring and possibly even the formation of a new species.

Listen to Birdfeeder speciation, the interview with Dr. Keith Hobson on the CBC radio show Quirks and Quarks, then answer the following questions:

What observation have been made that suggest that natural selection is occurring?
What are different ways a group can be reproductively isolated from the main population? (Check in the textbook or other resource)
How is the group that migrates to Britain becoming reproductively isolated?
Is there justification in saying that the group that over-winters in Britain is a new species?

Birdfeeder speciation (Quirks and Quarks interview)

Subject links

Rob Wall — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:41:49 +0000

There are some new links in the right sidebar. I’ve put some links in to the Biology 20 wiki, Communication Production Technology wiki and the Theory of Knowledge portal. For descriptions of assignments, links to resources and other helpful things for a subject you can take a look there. I’ll put announcements for courses on this blog. For other stuff, check out those subject links.

Back at it

Rob Wall — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:55:33 +0000

After a long period of inactivity, the World of Wall is back up and runnuing. Once again I’ll be posting assignments, thoughts and media links for my classes at NBCHS throughout the year.

The World of Wall wiki

Rob Wall — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:21:47 +0000

The World of Wall wiki is up and available at http://worldofwall.wikispaces.com. I’ll be putting links for classes and general resources up there. New links and resources will also be posted here, but the archived list including links from times long past will always be kept on the wiki.

“What is a wiki?” you may be asking. Try looking at the Wikipedia article on wikis (hey! – wikipedia is itself a wiki. Wikis must therefore be very cool!)

Web search strategies video

Rob Wall — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:59:02 +0000

Here’s a short video from the very clever folks at Common Craft on the topic of web search strategies:

There are many other good search strategies. Here’s a video of Patrick Norton interviewing Google Engineer Matt Cuts, who describes various Google search strategies.