Welcome to Biology! If you’ve already watched the video for lesson 1, please scroll down for the reading and other information.
Today’s video lesson gives you an overview of the course. Before you watch it there are a few things you should know about the format for this course.
There will be 4 video lessons per week, presumably on Monday-Thursday. Every Friday (or every 5th day) there will be a quiz or a short essay assignment. These will alternate each week, so Lesson 5 will be a quiz, Lesson 10 will be an essay, and so on.
I’ll be testing different formats for the quizzes, so feel free to leave some feedback in the forum.
Reading: Most days there will be a reading assignment. Some of these will be fairly easy articles and webpages to help you review. As the course progresses you’ll be reading more challenging (or at least more technical) primary source materials.
Today’s reading: “Energy Economics in Ecosystems” by J. Michael Beman. This is a good economic analogy for the movement of energy in an ecosystem. I don’t always agree with Mr. Beman (see disclaimer below) but this article is very good .http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/energy-economics-in-ecosystems-13254442
Resources:
Frequently in this class I will offer you various resources. These are not required, but they will help you learn and most of them are fun and interesting. Resources aren’t things you necessarily need to read, but they will help you visualize or practice some of the concepts we are reviewing in class.
Scale of the Universe: This site helps you visualize the relative sizes of things you study in biology (and other science courses). Use the controls beneath the screen to zoom in on the extremely small and zoom out to the extremely large. (This website may not be viewable from tablets and smart phones.) http://htwins.net/scale2/
Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed on linked sites do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Ron Paul Curriculum or its faculty. You are encouraged to evaluate all material with a critical mind.