Welcome and introductions
HELLO, STUDENTS, guess what? Today is the beginning of a partnership. For some, it is a new partnership while for others, it is the renewal of an old one. Here is how it works. I promise to prepare a lesson for you every week and I need you to promise to read it. Deal? I hope so! Here we are again at the start of a new school year. To my old partners, I say welcome back, and to my new partners I also extend a welcome and a wish that we will have a fulfilling and rewarding year!
Congratulations to those of you who sat the CSEC exams and were successful; good things come to those who work hard! I hope those of you who will be sitting the exams this year will learn from you and work even harder. When you feel as if you just can’t be bothered, here is a quote from Michael Jordan, that great basketball player, to help you back on your feet.
“If you’re trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I’ve had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”
– Michael Jordan
This year, we will continue our exploration of the syllabus by starting at the topic which follows the one where we stopped just before the CSEC exams. We will not be able to cover the entire syllabus in the short time allotted, but it is my hope and prayer that the time we spend going through the different topics will be of help to you all.
I have found biology to be a fascinating subject and I hope that you, in turn, will find it so. It brings a sense of fulfillment when you begin to appreciate how these wonderful bodies that we have work! What many students do not realise is that in this subject, the same topics are studied at all levels but in more detail as one advances up the levels. What is the central theme of biology? Did you say “The characteristics of living things”? If you did, you are correct! The underlying, central theme of biology is the characteristics of living things! Do you remember these characteristics? Let me remind you of them. They are:
I Living things reproduce.
I Living things excrete.
I Living things grow.
I Living things respond to stimuli.
I Living things feed.
I Living things respire.
I Living things move.
I need to remind you also that living things comprise both plants and animals, because most times we tend to exclude plants from some of these characteristics but they are also living, so they must demonstrate all of these characteristics. I will also pause here to remind you that this is a practical subject and, hence, you will be expected not just to carry out experiments, but also to interpret the results and write reports describing these experiments in your laboratory notebook. Many students do not develop the habit of interpreting the results of their experiments while it is still fresh in their minds and, hence, procrastinate and when they cannot procrastinate any longer, they do a poor job of writing the report!
I am encouraging you to develop the habit of writing up these reports as soon as you have carried out the experiment. Do not leave the class without fully understanding what it is that you have just done in the experiment, because this makes it easier for you to write up the report. At this point, I need to remind you that the first question on Paper 02 is always devoted to the practical aspects of your course. You may be asked to draw a graph, construct a table, or even to design an experiment.
I will be making reference to the examination as we go through the year but, as a reminder, the format of the examination is as follows: I Paper 01, which consists of 60 multiple-choice items.
I Paper 02, which consists of three structured and three essay-type questions.
Paper 03 which is the alternative to practical, but this paper is not set for students who are registered in schools
The laboratory notebook forms the Paper 03 for those who are registered in schools. In other words, once you are a student in a school, your approach to the subject must be laboratorybased. You must carry out experiments to enhance your learning.
As we continue in the weeks ahead, I hope that you, the new students, will come to enjoy the subject and the life lessons it gives, and that those of you who started the journey last year will continue to enjoy this year’s lessons.
See you all next week!