Welcome everyone! Thanks so much for your help in exploring the uses of the "wiki"! I am very excited about the opportunities this may bring us as a class and hope very much that it will be helpful for your studies. The goal of this wiki is to provide an alternate platform for course material that can easily be accessed from home, as well as to provide each of you with an opportunity to learn from each other in order to be as successful as possible in your biology course.

Activity #1:

"Biology In The News"

Biology is the study of the world around us; and as a result, biology related issues are always making the news. Below you will find links to "biology in the news" (although students are welcome to use other sources to find articles of interest - so long as they are related to biology). Throughout the semester, students will be assigned specific days on which they must either review an aritcle, or respond to a classmate's review (please scroll down to see the schedule). Each review must include; the title of the article; what the article is about; why the article is interesting; how the article is related to class; and the reference information for the article. Each response is a student's opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions about the biological issue (remember, students are not to criticize other students). All reviews and responses must be posted before 9:00 pm on the Wednesday identified in the schedule found below. Don't forget to include your name at the end of your review/response.


Reviews will be graded based on completion of the tasks identified in the paragraph above, as well as using the "organization" and "sentence fluency" criteria from the 6 + 1 Writing Traits rubric.

Criteria	Level 4 (A)	Level 3 (B)	Level 2 (C)	Level 1 (D)
Completion /5	Review includes all of; article title; what it is about; why it is interesting; how it is related to class; and reference information.	Review includes 4 of the 5 requirements identified in Level 4..	Review includes 3 of the 5 requirements identified in Level 4.	Review includes only 2 of 5 requirements identified in Level 4.
Organization /5	All requirements (title, description, interest, relation to class, and reference), are clear and separate for ease of reading.	Most requirements (as identified in Level 4), are clear and separate for ease of reading.	Some requirements (as identified in Level 4), are clear and separate, while others are blended and difficult to follow.	Few requirements (as identified in Level 4), are clear or separate; most are blended making it difficult for the reader to identify the sections.
Sentence Fluency /5	It has an easy flow and rhythm, using a variety of sentence types to draw the reader to key points.	It sounds natural, has some variety of sentence type and has few weaknesses.	It is somewhat choppy with some weakness in sentence structure and as a result may slow the reader.	It is quite choppy with weak sentence structure but can still be read, although with some difficulty.

Total = /15



Responses will be graded based on the "ideas and content" and "word choice" criteria from the 6 + 1 Writing Traits rubric.

Criteria	Level 4 (A)	Level 3 (B)	Level 2 (C)	Level 1 (D)
Ideas and Content /5	Ideas are detailed and focus is clearly related to the review.	Ideas are somewhat detailed and focus is mainly related to the review.	Ideas are somewhat detailed but the focus strays from the review.	Ideas are slightly detailed and the focus is not clearly related to the review.
Word Choice /5	Response is original and the chosen vocabulary is rich making it more interesting for the reader.	Response is mainly original and the chosen vocabulary is functional making it somewhat interesting to read.	Response is accurate and the vocabulary is appropriate making it satisfactory to read.	Response is somewhat accurate due to a weak vocabulary choice making it somewhat confusing.

Total = /10





Schedule: Semester 1

Date	Reviewers				Date	Responders
	Bio.C	Bio.D	Bio.H			Bio.C	Bio.D	Bio.H
Sept. 11, 2008	Kim, Ana, Joey, Joanne, Joon Ho, Nam, Nick, Wendy, Anh	Minh, Yen, Chang Duck, Kun Ho, Huy, Phuong Anh, Tracie, Quyen, Ray	Edwina, Masa, Daniel, Nic, Min Joo, Vivian, James, Joseph, Kyu Ree		Sept. 17, 2008	Brittany, Jung Yun, Kristin, Stacie, Joon Won, Leon, Hanh, Hannah	Simon, Bo Ra, Jessie, Ashley, Mike, T, Karla, Jasmine	Ian, Myung Chan, Jody, Sang Hyeok, Franny, Catherine, Ni, Andy, Jacob
Sept. 24, 2008	Brittany, Jung Yun, Kristin, Stacie, Joon Won, Leon, Hanh, Hannah	Simon, Bo Ra, Jessie, Ashley, Mike, T, Karla, Jasmine	Ian, Myung Chan, Jody, Sang Hyeok, Franny, Catherine, Ni, Andy, Jacob		Oct. 01, 2008	Kim, Ana, Joey, Joanne, Joon Ho, Nam, Nick, Wendy, Anh	Minh, Yen, Chang Duck, Kun Ho, Huy, Phuong Anh, Tracie, Quyen, Ray	Edwina, Masa, Daniel, Nic, Min Joo, Vivian, James, Joseph, Kyu Ree
Oct. 08, 2008	Kim, Brittany, Joey, Kristin, Joon Ho, Joon Won, Nick, Hanh, Anh	Minh, Simon, Chang Duck, Jessie, Huy, Mike, Tracie, Karla, Ray	Edwina, Ian, Daniel, Jody, Min Joo, Franny, James, Ni, Kyu Ree, Jacob		Oct. 15, 2008	Ana, Jung Yun, Joanne, Stacie, Nam, Leon, Wendy, Hannah	Yen, Bo Ra, Kun Ho, Ashley, Phuong Anh, T, Quyen, Jasmine	Masa, Myung Chan, Nic, Sang Hyeok, Vivian, Catherine, Joseph, Andy
Oct. 29, 2008	Ana, Jung Yun, Joanne, Stacie, Nam, Leon, Wendy, Hannah	Yen, Bo Ra, Kun Ho, Ashley, Phuong Anh, T, Quyen, Jasmine	Masa, Myung Chan, Nic, Sang Hyeok, Vivian, Catherine, Joseph, Andy		Nov. 05, 2008	Kim, Brittany, Joey, Kristin, Joon Ho, Joon Won, Nick, Hanh, Anh	Minh, Simon, Chang Duck, Jessie, Huy, Mike, Tracie, Karla, Ray	Edwina, Ian, Daniel, Jody, Min Joo, Franny, James, Ni, Kyu Ree, Jacob
Nov. 12, 2008	Kim, Ana, Jung Yun, Joey, Joon Ho, Nam, Leon, Nick, Anh	Minh, Yen, Bo Ra, Chang Duck, Huy, Phuong Anh, T, Tracie, Ray	Edwina, Masa, Myung Chan, Daniel, Min Joo, Vivian, Catherine, James, Kyu Ree		Nov. 19, 2008	Brittany, Kristin, Joanne, Stacie, Joon Won, Hanh, Wendy, Hannah	Simon, Jessie, Kun Ho, Ashley, Mike, Karla, Quyen, Jasmine	Ian, Jody, Nic, Sang Hyeok, Franny, Ni, Joseph, Andy, Jacob
Nov. 26, 2008	Brittany, Kristin, Joanne, Stacie, Joon Won, Hanh, Wendy, Hannah	Simon, Jessie, Kun Ho, Ashley, Mike, Karla, Quyen, Jasmine	Ian, Jody, Nic, Sang Hyeok, Franny, Ni, Joseph, Andy, Jacob		Dec. 03, 2008	Kim, Ana, Jung Yun, Joey, Joon Ho, Nam, Leon, Nick, Anh	Minh, Yen, Bo Ra, Chang Duck, Huy, Phuong Anh, T, Tracie, Ray	Edwina, Masa, Myung Chan, Daniel, Min Joo, Vivian, Catherine, James, Kyu Ree