Advanced Middle School Science: Cell Biology

👋 INTRODUCTION 👋

I am more than excited to finally get this course off the ground for my Outschool profile! I have had such a love for Cell Biology since I was in high school. I am and will always be fascinated by cellular processes, and hopefully I'll be able to interest your learner as well!

I've spent a long time streamlining and developing this course to give younger students a look into high school-level Cellular Biology. My goal as a teacher is to make advanced topics easy and fun for students to digest while also peaking their interest and stretching their brains.

This course is an interactive lecture-style with light homework, activities, and review sessions! However, my main goal is always to create a safe and enjoyable space for students of all types to learn. The way I see it, the students in this course will be able to...

- Engage in interactive activities and build a community within their section
- Learn the basics of Cellular Biology
- Participate in review games and sessions
- Complete purposeful assignments with ease and confidence

Read on to discover some more detailed information. I hope your student is one of the first to join the Cell Bio bunch! 

🧠 REQUIREMENTS 🧠

Some students are more advanced in these topics than others, so it's important to make sure your student will have room to grow in this course. The class is meant for beginners, so your learner may be too advanced for this course if they already understand 4 or more of these topics: 

- The cell theory and the discovery of the cell
- Biomolecules, such as carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids
- Parts of the cell
- Hydrophobicity 
- The structure of DNA
- Membrane transport
- Structure of the phospholipid bilayer
- Cell signaling
- The cell cycle
- Cell division (mitosis)
- Exocytosis and endocytosis
- Apoptosis and immune responses
- Cell junctions
- Density-dependent inhibition in cells

On the flip side, your learner may not be ready for the course yet if they DON'T understand the following topics: 
- The concept of human cells, i.e. how humans are made up of cells
- The concept of human DNA, i.e. that DNA makes us unique and serves as our genetic code
- The existence of the following elements: hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen

🥼 WHAT CAN I EXPECT? 🥼

This class has a live session every week. These live sessions are interactive, but the level of interactivity mostly depends on student initiative. I do not "cold-call" or force students to participate. This is a great fit if your student is nervous or anxious about speaking in class! For interactive students, they can participate in 2 ways: 

- Using our open chat box (as long as class rules are maintained)
- Raising their virtual hand on Zoom and waiting for me to call on them before unmuting

I do my best to maintain an open, loving, and positive space for students of all backgrounds to grow. I view each section of mine as a community that feeds off of each other. Because of this, I have 3 class rules that I expect all students to follow: 

1. Be a good "Zoom citizen." This means that students are expected to...
- avoid spamming the chat box with emoticons or words.
- wait their turn to speak and avoid interrupting their classmates.
- keep their microphone muted when they are not speaking to prevent background noise.
- avoid disrupting the class by drawing on the screen or trying to sabotage the Zoom call.

2. Be kind to everyone. This means that students are expected to...
- speak to other students with respect and kindness.
- avoid teasing or bullying other students. 

3. Be a supportive classmate and enhance the learning environment. This means that students are expected to...
- keep the class relatively on-topic and not try to distract classmates.
- use the chat box responsibly and help to keep the class on track.
- in general, come to class with a positive attitude and the willingness to be a part of our community.

If there is an issue with these rules or if your student violates one of these guidelines, I will usually give them a subtle warning during class time. If it continues beyond this, I will remove them from the session.

Students can bring their workbooks to class each day if they prefer to complete the homework assignments early or take notes. Sometimes, we go over previous homework assignments and students can check their work. However, there is no "note-taking" requirement. 

When students come into the live session, there is usually a "Welcome" slide to greet them and some music playing in the background. Students are free to interact with each other using the chat box as long as they maintain a positive space before class begins.

My teaching style is interactive, engaging and upbeat! I teach using drawings, videos, simulations, and slides! There will be a 5-minute break halfway through the session for students to use the bathroom or grab a snack.

After each session, students can expect to receive all the notes and materials I used during class in the Outschool classroom. Answers to homework assignments will also be posted in the classroom. All recordings are posted on the Outschool classroom. 

 🔬FULL SCHEDULE🔬

UNIT 1
Weeks 1-5: Basics of Cell Bio Basics 🧬
This unit will answer the following questions:
- What will students expect from the course? (Course Introduction)
- How do we know that cells exist? 
- What smaller units make up the cell, and why are they important?
- What is the structure/function of proteins, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, and lipids?
- What role does DNA play in the cell?
- How is DNA structured and what are its parts?
- What parts of the cell help to carry out its processes?

UNIT 2
Weeks 6-9: The Plasma Membrane 🧱
This unit will answer the following questions:
- How is the membrane structured, and what are its characteristics? 
- What types of proteins and channels populate the membrane?
- How do channels like ion channels and aquaporins help the cell to function?
- What kind of transport happens across the membrane? (active, passive)

UNIT 3
Weeks 10-15: Cells Zoomed Out 🧫
This unit will answer the following questions:
- How do cells divide, and how do they know to divide? 
- How do cells communicate with each other? 
- What kinds of problems can happen with cell signaling? 
- How do various types cells differentiate themselves, and why are these differences important?
- How do cells interact with other things in the body like viruses or bacteria?

🚪 REASONS WHY PEOPLE DISENROLL EARLY 🚪

I am very fortunate on Outschool to be blessed with great ratings and good experiences with students. Just like all teachers do, I rarely encounter situations where some parents pull their students out of my classes early because there is a misunderstanding or a conflict. To avoid this, here are some of the most popular reasons why this occurs:

1. My classes are on the larger side and they are not meant to be "hands-on." 

I do not mention any "hands-on" activities in my descriptions, but sometimes parents are disappointed when they find that my classes are not one-on-one and they don't include experiments of any kind. I understand that some students need one-on-one attention, but I urge you to look elsewhere on Outschool for some great private lessons from other great teachers. My classes are an interactive lecture-style and they are very much a group setting where a student's participation is dependent on their own initiative. I do provide one-on-one help with the use of Outschool messenger if students need help.

2. I do not discipline students' behavior and expect them to know how to conduct themselves.

In general, I treat all my students like young adults. I expect that students know how to behave in an online classroom and that students are in my classes to learn and be productive classroom members. If your learner needs extra help or assistance with paying attention, being disruptive, or acting out, I will not spend lesson time teaching them how to behave and instead probably remove them from the class. Parents tend to love the amount of freedom I give to my students and it typically works out great. If your learner cannot maturely handle this freedom, there are many great teachers on Outschool who maintain a stricter environment!

3. I do not censor or silence students of specific backgrounds, identities, cultures, or orientations.

My main focus as a teacher is to create an environment where students feel accepted, strong, and loved. My zero-tolerance bullying policy and other classroom guidelines reflect this. I also think it is extremely important for students to interact with each other in the online classroom environment because many of my students are homeschooled and they struggle to make friends. To help with these goals, during certain periods of the class I allow my students to chat freely with one another and get to know each other as humans. This might mean that some students share their pronouns or identities. I do not and will not censor specific orientations or identities from being discussed as every type of student is welcome in my classroom and deserve to be supported. I do censor speech that violates our classroom guidelines; anything that is hateful, harmful, disturbing, or vulgar does warrant action.