About Dr. Burns
This is my fifteenth year at Big Hollow and I have been the 8th Grade Science teacher for all of those years. I received my Bachelor's degree in Biology and secondary education at University of Wisconsin-Parkside, my Master's degree in Natural Sciences at Carthage College, and I also earned a doctorate degree from Loyola University-Chicago in Curriculum and Instruction.I have high expectations for my students and have found that they enjoy my class while learning things that they never even imagined were possible. We will be working very hard this year learning the new Next Generation Science Standards which were adopted by the state of Illinois. It will be a year of change and transition for us but it will be quite exciting.
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Communication
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Please contact me anytime you have a question or concern. Email is generally the easiest option but leaving a voice mail works too. I will get back to you within twenty-four hours. I generally update grades over the weekend and will send out emails to parents/guardians of struggling students to alert them to any issues.
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Our Units of Study
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We will begin with an introductory unit to remind students of metric measurements and lab tools. We will work through how to safely conduct investigations and experiments and also utilize academic vocabulary and the language of science. I also incorporate English and Language Arts standards into our work. The second unit will concentrate on using evidence from the fossil record to document change over time and also how the climate has changed due to human activities and natural processes. (NGSS standards MS-LS4-1 and 4-2, MS-ESS1-4 and 3-5, and MS-ETS1-1, 1-2, 1-3 and 1-4)
The third unit involves comparative embryology, investigating how genetic traits in a population can increase their chance of surviving and reproducing, and how humans have influenced the inheritance of traits in various organisms. (NGSS standards MS-LS4-3, 4-4, 4-5, 4-6 and MS-ETS1-1, 1-2, 1-3 and 1-4). The fourth unit focuses on the effects of resources on organisms and populations in an ecosystem, how organisms interact, how changes to an ecosystem can affect populations and how humans are looking for solutions to various environmental issues. NGSS standards MS-LS2-1, 2-2, 2-4, 2-5, MS-ESS3-3, 3-4, and MS-ETS1-1, 1-2, 1-3 and 1-4). We also do a cross-curricular research project on diseases and conditions. The students will pick a disease or condition of their choice (with some parameters) and then conduct research to answer some guiding questions. They will produce a research paper for their Language Arts class and present a PowerPoint to their science class. |