Science 9 – Today was a pretty dry day. Students were prompted to focus on two learning objectives, and had their choice of activities that they wanted to work on. I think that a realistic view needs to be taken with students in grade 9. I don’t believe that small details of meiosis are very important for the students to memorize. It’s the big ideas that they need to know: sexual reproduction results in genetic diversity, meiosis produces gametes with n chromosomes and diploids with 2n chromosomes, etc. It’s also good to read about the details that makes these big ideas happen, but ultimately we don’t need to assess the small details. How do I know that I’m sure? I can ask any grade 10 student, even the top students, and they don’t remember the details. They have no lasting impact.
