October 20th

Hi everyone. No, I have not marked the test yet ---I will try and do so later today. However, now it is out of the way, you should all be seeing your way clear to looking at the Immune System notes on Blackboard and working through the Workbook and Blackboard quiz. As I said last week it is a relatively short Unit but you will find it is almost all new stuff and Immunology is quite a complex subject. Doing the concept map on innate immunity that I gave you at the practical class on Friday could be a great help in getting some of the concepts clear in your mind. I will post a possible solution on Blackboard later in the week.

You have this week to finish the blood Blackboard quiz, so make sure you get on to it before it closes next Monday.

Some of you asked me about doing extra tutorials to help you revise before the final test which is on Friday 28th November. I would be happy to do that. We just need to get dates and times agreed and then I would like some feedback on what are the specific areas you have particular trouble with so we can work on them together.

I also talked about going through the notes and thinking about the particular questions that could be asked about each subject. In the absence of previous exam papers to work with this is a really useful excercise. You now have quite a lot of experience of the exam papers I write. Look back at them and at the workbooks, which are really just a set of potential exam questions(!), and as you go through your notes think about what questions could be asked. In fact make part of your revision creating and answering questions as potentially set in an exam. Some sucessful exam sitters make themselves a pool of exam answers as a standard part of their revision.

And only 2 more units to go before the end of the course!

Have a good week,
Cheers Ruth

Monday October 13th

Hi Everyone, I expect most of you are thinking about the test this Friday morning (9am H415). I have to admit it has taken me a bit by surprise as I seem to have lost a week during the holidays and thought I had another week to write it. Never fear, I will get it written by then. It will be on Units 3, 4 and 5: the endocrine and digestive systems systems and the blood and its components (not the nervous system as I suggested in my email today). I intend to give all three Units equal weight i.e. 20 marks available for each.

The practical will be on the immune and respiratory systems. I cannot imagine anyone will have time to read the notes (or text book) on these before the class but of course it would be great if you did manage to.

As a further distraction, you should be thinking of moving onto Unit 6 on the immune system which has gone up on Blackboard with a workbook and quiz. It is a relatively short unit but please put a bit of time into it over the next 2 weeks as it is a hard subject with lots of new terms and concepts.

Finally just a reminder that you have until next Monday to complete the previous quiz on the blood so don't forget to get that done before it disappears from sight.

It's a busy week!

Looking forward to seeing you on Friday,
Cheers Ruth

October 7th 2008

Hi, Hopefully you are managing to do a bit of Bioscience work during your (and your kids!) holiday. This is the second week to work on Unit 5 on the Blood and its Components.

I see some of you have completed the quiz, some have a bit more work to do on it, some of you looked at it and went for a long cup of tea and some haven't even done that. Anyway you have until the 20th to complete it.

However, remember that on Friday 17th there will be the 2nd Test which will include the Blood as well as the Digestive and Endocrine Systems. You might therefore find it useful to have completed the blood quiz (and the workbook!) by then.

Next Monday we move on to the Unit 6 on the Immune System.

Enjoy your week,
Cheers Ruth

September 29th

Hi, It's hard getting back to work after the weekend retreat at Warrington. For those that didn't make it, we arrived at the Hatherly (the Kings High School "classroom by the sea") in pouring rain but soon had the place toasty warm and David's full programme of meditation, yoga and acupressure instruction meant 5 oclock was upon us before we knew it. The potluck hamburger dinner with creamy desserts was a gourmand's delight and helped fuel a late night drumming session round the blazing oildrum fire. Sunday was warmish and sunny and allowed us to meditate and do Qigong and yoga outside, which was great. The only problem is I am now so stiff that lowering myself into a chair is a little painful and I walk as though I spent the whole weekend in the saddle. There are obviously some crucial muscle groups I need to do a bit more work on. Sasha is also feeling a bit at a loose end. She did appreciate all the attention and ball throwing.

Anyway, down to Bioscience. Today you should be finishing off the Digestive system and thinking of moving onto Unit 5: The Blood and its Components. This is an appropriate unit for what should be your holidays (sorry!) as you will find you have done much of it before. So concentrate on expanding your knowledge of the functions of the different sorts of blood cells, as well as where and how they are formed, how long they live and what happens to them when their time is up. You will find that blood clotting is dealt with in some detail as well as blood groups.
You have another week to finish the Digestive System Blackboard quiz which closes next Monday night.

Some people have been asking me about Test 2 which is on Friday October 17th. It will cover Units 3, 4 and 5: The Endocrine and Digestive Systems and the Blood and like the first test is worth 15% of your final mark.

I have just been told of a fun website that may help you with remembering those new words. It is called Wordle and is at http://wordle.net/ It produces "Wordclouds" of any document you copy in to it (try doing an 'edit" and "select all" on the print version of the notes). The most common words used are in the largest script (you can edit out "and" and "the" etc.) and you could print out the "cloud" to put it on your loo wall! Enjoy playing.

Have a good week,
Cheers Ruth

September 22nd

Hello everyone, Just to let you know that the Endocrine System quiz finishes at 11pm tonight so if you haven't doen it yet, you will need to get a move on. You should be well into the Digestive System now and hopefully having fun doing the crossword on the Workbook.

There is a practical in the block course on Friday morning and we will be concentrating on blood there in anticipation of the next unit. I should be supplying some dog's blood from my very long suffering dog Sasha, but for the unsqueamish (!) there will also be the opportunity for you to look at your own haematocrit, blood group and clotting time.

Looking forward to seeing you at Warrington,
Cheers Ruth

September 15th

Hi everyone, today you should be moving on to Unit 4: The Digestive System. You will be pleased to see there is only one course note document so there is probably slightly less information than in the previous two units. People also seem to have more general knowledge of the digestive system than say the nervous or endocrine systems. However, dont get too complacent. There are still lots of new terms to learn.

I can see that most people are doing well in the quizzes with 15 marks being the norm-even if it does take a lot of tries to get there! So you have until next Monday to do the Endocrine one.

There will be a tutorial on the Digestive System on Thursday 1pm, so if you are able to make it please do come along. I think those who have got to the previous ones thought it was well worth while. It would be good if you could do some reading before so it is not a total black hole when you get there.

Have a good week,

Cheers Ruth

Monday September 8th

Hi, I have marked the tests and most have done really well. I have sent you an email with your marks and you should get your scripts back this week. Get back to me if you have haven't got the email yet.

So now the test is over you can really concentrate on getting into the Endocrine System notes and hopefully, after the practical on Friday, you should find that the hormones names and their functions are a little familiar. Hopefully the idea of feedback control should also start to make sense. Often the explanation is a bit hard to follow but when you see it in action, as I tried to show you in the practical exercise, you can see more clearly how it works to keep the concentrations of hormones or glucose etc. closely within the limits tolerated by the body.

There are a couple of crosswords in the endocrine workbook. I have found a program that allows me to put in the words and their clues and it generates crosswords for me, not beautiful symmetrical ones as in the paper, but quite good looking ones. Tell me if they are a good idea.

Have a good week,

Cheers Ruth