Short Answer Tips

1. Use the information in the books or notes as a basis to support the conclusions you make in your essay. You need to have a good understanding of the topic to be able to apply it to a problem i.e. the short answer question.

•2. Make sure you answer the essay question. Often students will write what they know about the topic in general but never actually answer the stated question

•3. Stay on topic - Sometimes students in an effort to gain some credit will find a related topic they are familiar with and write about that. Their hope is that they will gain some points but usually teachers are wise to this technique.

•4. Follow the five w's - Who, what, when, where and why are all going to part of your answer. In constructing a response to an essay consider each of these aspects of the question.

•5. If you are asked how two concepts are related or how they are different don't respond with a simple yes or no answer i.e yes they are related or no they are not. Explain how the relationship came to exist or how it works. Give examples if you can.

•6. If you are asked to compare and contrast make sure you do both. Write about how and why these topics or subjects are related and how and why they are different.

•7. Sometimes you are asked to make a recommendation. Don't get wishy-washy make your answer sound assertive. The teacher has asked for your opinion and actually in this case wants to hear it (see it). Make sure you support your decision with evidence. What do you know about the topic that will support your decision and help convince the reader of your essay that your recommendation is the right one.

•8. If you copy text word for word from another source, cite that source. Otherwise you will be guilty of plagiarism.

•9. If your teacher specifies a length for the essay, keep your essay close to that length. Writing more is not going to get you any more points and the teacher make take off for not following instructions

Exam specific examples 2014

•General Vocabulary- synonyms and antonyms

•Homeostasis, balance, dynamic equilibrium, stability, steady

•Gamete, sex cell, egg, sperm,

•Variation variety,              opposite is sameness

•Enzyme, initiate, helper

•Refute, contradict                opposite agree support

•Excrete give off, throw off

•Adverse, unfriendly, conflicting

•Cloning, duplicate, replicate, copy

•Synthesis, union, forming connect   opposite divide

•Hydrolysis, divide     opposite connect

•Specific precise definite exact  opposite common general

•Optimal top, best

•Range bounds, limits

•Antigen, irritant, foreign substance

•Antibody, preventitive, anti-irritant

•Nonrenewable, brief, temporary

Human Impact with video lesson

Human Impact 2014 Video

What are some reason for population growth? Population growth-Industrialization, agriculture, and medicine
Have humans reached their carrying capacity?


Energy needs and uses
How can energy sources be compared?
energy-facts

Cost 
Health
Political
Greenhouse/global warming.


What is Hydro-fracking

Hydraulic fracturing is the step in the process that involves injecting large amounts of water combined with fracking fluids and proppants (sand and other solids) down a wellbore. Fractures in the rock are created that allow the oil and gas to migrate up the well, where they can be captured.

What are some concepts and words associated with human impact?

climate

average weather in a region over many years

atmosphere

the mass of gases that surround Earth

greenhouse effect

the trapping of heat by certain gases in the atmosphere

greenhouse gases

the atmospheric gases that trap heat over the Earth's surface

global warming

the worldwide increase in average temperature

pollution

occurs when foreign substances become dissolved by air, water or soil

renewable resources

resources that are replaced as quickly as they are used

nonrenewable resources

resources that are used much faster than they are replaced

conservation

the preservation and careful management of the environment and of natural resources

recycling

process of reclaiming raw materials and reusing them to create new product

biodegradable

materials that can be broken down by bacteria and other decomposers

biogeochemical cycles

predictable pathways followed by chemical elements or molecules as they travel through living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem (water cycle, carbon-oxygen cycle, nitrogen cycle)

population

all organisms of a given species that live in the same place at the same time

limiting factor

an environmental factor that causes a population to decrease in size

biodiversity

the total number of different species on Earth, including those on land, in the water, and in the air

habitat

an environment that provides the specific things an organism needs in order to survive

fossil fuel

coal, oil or natural gas that forms over millions of years from the remains of ancient organism

ozone

a form of oxygen that has three oxygen atoms in each molecule instead of two; toxic to organisms where it forms near Earth's surface

smog

a combination of smoke and fog

acid rain

precipitation that is more acidic than normal and is caused by the release of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide into the air

pesticide

a chemical that kills insects and other crop destroying organisms

fertilizer

a substance that provides nutrients to help crops grow better

sewage

the water and human wastes that are washed down sinks, toilets and showers

hazardous waste

includes those that are toxic, explosive, flammable, corrosive and radioactive

erosion

the process by which water, wind, or ice moves particles of rocks or soil

desertification

the advance of desert like conditions into areas that previously were fertile

drought

a period when less rain than normal falls in area

land reclamation

the process of restoring an area of land to a more productive state

Essential Academic Vocabulary LE 2014

Essential Academic Vocabulary LE 2014

Life Functions
Cell: the smallest unit of structure and function of living things.
Homeostasis: the ability of an organism to maintain a stable internal balanced environment.
Metabolism: the sum of all the chemical reactions that occur within the cells of an organism.
Organic molecules: contain skeleton structures of carbon with hydrogen and oxygen.
Tissue: a group of cells that share the same structure and function.
Organ: a group of tissues that work together to perform a function.
Organ system: a group of organs that work together to perform one of the life functions.
Nucleus: large structure within a cell that controls metabolism and stores genetic information (DNA).
Cytoplasm: substance found between cell membrane and nucleus, contains other organelles.
Cell membrane: thin boundary between the cell and its environment.
Cell wall: layer of nonliving material that surrounds the cell and gives it strength and rigidity.
Ribosomes: Site of protein production.
Mitochondria: Pod-shaped organelles that contain enzymes used to extract energy from nutrients. (cell’s “powerhouse”)
Chloroplasts: Site of photosynthesis (present in photosynthetic organisms only)
Vacuoles: Storage sacs within the cytoplasm. Plant cells have a large, central vacuole for storage of water.
Diffusion: movement of molecules from areas of high concentration to areas of lower concentration.
Osmosis: diffusion of water.
Active transport: movement of molecules from areas of low concentration to areas of high concentration. Requires ATP.

General

• Homeostasis, balance, dynamic equilibrium, stability, steady
• Gamete, sex cell, egg, sperm,
• Variation variety,              opposite is sameness
• Enzyme, initiate, helper
• Refute, contradict                opposite agree support
• Excrete give off, throw off
• Adverse, unfriendly, conflicting
• Cloning, duplicate, replicate, copy
• Synthesis, union, forming connect   opposite divide
• Hydrolysis, divide     opposite connect
• Specific precise definite exact  opposite common general
• Optimal top, best
• Range bounds, limits
• Antigen, irritant, foreign substance
• Antibody, preventitive, anti-irritant
• Nonrenewable, brief, temporary
• Array