Equal credit consists of points that students earn that are added to both the numerator and the denominator of their total score.  When students earn equal credit, it is alway 100% (A+).  If they do just a little, they may get a 1/1 or a 2/2, etc., but if they do more, they will earn more.  Equal credit is added to their quarter grades at the end of the quarter because our Skyward Grade Program can't handle this type of grade.  It will show up as a "grade adjust"ment.  Equal credit is very helpful for student who struggle on exams because it "dilutes" bad grades.  The amount of equal credit that will raise a student with a 50% average to a 55% will raise a student with a 60% average to 64%, a student with a 70% average to a 73%, a student with an 80% average to a 82%, a student with a 90% average to 91% and a student with a 98% average to 98.2%.  In general, for each 100 points of regular credit by the end of the quarter, it takes 11.111111 points of equal credit points to have the above effect so if we have a 500-pt quarter, it would take ~56 points. 

In Biology, the students are given optional homework opportunities that result in equal credit. Many of these opportunities include hands-on activities that they can do with their parents if their parents want to help.  I refer to these opportunities as self-assigned homework and they will always result in equal credit.  I have had students earn over 150 points in one quarter this way and.  Since the amount of effect a point has on a grade is determined by how many regular points there are in a quarter, I usually take the total amount of points in the quarter into account when determining how many equal credit points to award a student for their work.  These are only added in at the end of the quarter.

1. Bring in a book or magazine showing the three colors used in darkroom photography.  One of the three colors is "cyan".  There will be no credit for anything printed off the computer.

2. Extract anthocyanin pigment from purple cabbage or beets and demonstrate that this pigment is a pH indicator using household chemicals. You will first need some clean small jars.  Baby food jars are best.  Be sure that you remove the labels and glue completely.  Clean and rinse thoroughly.  You will then need to do some research to find out the pH of a variety of common household chemicals.  You will need some that are acidic and some that are alkaline (basic).  Next, slice and boil fresh purple cabbage or beets in water that does not contain any fat, oil or seasonings.  Serve the vegetable for your meal for we do not waste good food.  Pour the red juice through a sieve and divide into the baby food jars.  Label one jar as a control.  Label the other jars A - whatever.  Into each jar, add one of the household chemicals and note the color change.  Place the jars against a white background along with the control for photographs.  Write a paper explaining your procedure and results.

3. Bring in quartz/amethyst crystals, geodes or jewelry.  We are most interested in amethyst but rose quartz would also be interesting.  It is best to place the items in a small Ziploc bag with your name for protection and identification.  You may seal the bag with packing tape.  Quartz is made of silicon dioxide.  If it is pure, it is clear or white.  The colors are due to impurities.  Although we are most interested in amethyst, rose quartz and other colors are also interesting.

4. Bring in blooms from a variety flowers during the last week of October.  It will be interesting to see what is still left.  Be sure to get enough of the stems and have them in water.  Bring them in immediately after you pick them so they will still be useful.

5. Plant cutting/rooting.  Obtain a clean clear, colorless glass jar or vase and fill it most of the way with clean water.  Then make a cutting of a plant and place it in the water.  It helps if you get an aquarium pump, some aquarium tubing and an air stone.  Many plants will root if you aerate the water that won't root if you don't.  Observe it each day and add water as necessary until roots start to grow.  Then plant in soil in a flower pot.  To get equal credit, you must document what you do with photographs and/or description.  Photograph first the parent plant at the time you make the cutting.  Then photograph the cutting.  Next photograph it in the jar of water before and after it starts to root.  Finally, photograph your plant in its flower pot and bring it and the photos in to share with the class.

6. Repot Wandering Jew Plant.  Student will need to spend up to two hours after school to complete this.  We have two wandering Jew plants in hanging baskets that need to be repotted.  For this credit, student will cut off all the stems of one of the pots, dump out the soil and wash the pot.  Then they will add new soil under direction and plant cuttings from the removed stems.  They can also take care of the plant as it grows.

7. Bring in healthy moss plants/Setting up and caring for a moss terrarium.  Students should search for healthy moss plants growing on the  ground that can be collected and placed in a terrarium.  A single student or a coordinated group of students may also set up and maintain a moss terrarium with the goal of seeing both the gametophye and sporophyte stages.

8. Bring in fern leaves with spores.  Primitive plants reproduce and disperse using spores.  Fern fronds (scientific name for fern leaves) under the right conditions produce spores in sori located on the bottom of the frond.  Students may ask for fern fronds with spores from garden shops or florists if their family doesn't culture ferns. 

9. Show phototropism and/or geotropism using ear of field corn.  You will first need to find an ear of field corn.  They are available this time of year for decorations or you can glean a corn field with stubble and find one.  Remove the husks (bracts) and brown silks (styles of pistils) and place it in a shallow pan or dish on paper towels.  Place another paper towel on top and soak with water.  Watch, adding water as necessary, until the corn begins to sprout.

  A. Place sprouting ear and pan in a box that is light-tight except for a small window cut in the side and place the box with its "window" towards a light source (a window in your house).  Remove corn after a few days when it has shown phototropism and photograph results.  Bring in corn and photographs.  You may also write a paper explaining what you did and the results.  You may look online for information to use in your paper.

  B. Place a different sprouting ear and pan in a light-tight box in a dark room.  After a few days, remove the corn that has shown geotropism and photograph the results.  Bring in corn and photographs.  You may also write a paper explaining what you did and the results.  You may look online for information to use in your paper.

10. Show growth of lima bean radical.  Obtain lima bean seeds.  A store like Casey's or A.B. Hatchery might have them from last year or you may substitute any other large seed that you can find.  You will also need an fine point ink pen with India ink (or some other device that can write permanently but gently on a moist seedling) and a small ruler that measures in millimeters. Pick a time of day that you can observe you seeds daily and start to soak the seeds at that time on day zero (0).  Place seeds on a piece of moist paper towel and cover with another piece.  Add water each day as needed to keep seeds moist.  Each day observe the seedling.  Note when the root begins to grow.  As soon as the root grows to be over one half centimeter in length, carefully dry the root with a tissue and make small marks on it with the India ink exactly 1 mm apart.  Photograph the seed with markings and return to the moist paper towels.  On each of the next three days, measure the distance between the marks and record your results for each segment starting with the tip.  Photograph your results and write a paper to turn in with your photographs.

11. Photograph squirrel nests in trees.

Back to 2nd nine weeks

Items beyond this point were from the first quarter and most are no longer needed.  You will not get credit for these unless you ask and get permission before you do them.

In general, the first student to bring in a specimen or an article from the newspaper will get the most points for that item.  We are looking for variety and too much of the same thing is wasteful.  When enough of something has already been brought in, I will mark (done) next to the item.  [For example, we have one toad now and don't need another. (done)]

1. Bring in a cicada killer wasp. (done)

2. Bring in cicadas and cicada shells.  (done)

3. Bring in goldenrod -- The goldenrod must be placed in a zip-lock bag and sealed in with clear packaging tape.  Get a large, maybe 2-gal. zip-lock bag, place the goldenrod inflorescence inside, zip it up and then seal the bag permanently using clear packaging tape. (done)

4.  Bring in a stalk of field corn -- Get a large stalk of field corn complete with  tassel, ears, leaves and lots of roots.  Ask permission; We don't steal.  Wash the roots thoroughly at home using a garden hose, nozzle and toothbrush and allow to dry.  Be sure not to break the plant during transport.  It is best to place the roots in a plastic grocery bag during transport home so that the dirt doesn't fall off in your car. (done)

4. Bring in a branch of apples/Set up apple chamber -- Get a small branch with apples from an apple tree that has not been sprayed with insecticide.  Ask permission; We don't steal.  Also, ask the owner of the tree if they spray for insects.  We don't want apples from trees that have been sprayed. There should be three to five apples on the branch and slightly blemished apples are better than perfect apples.  We will place the apples in a chamber (10-gal. aquarium) and watch what comes out of them.  On a good year, we get fruit flies, apple maggot flies (which mimic spiders), codling moths, slime molds, etc..  When the fruit flies come, we can notice population growth and decline (caused by diminished resources and environmental pollution).  (The apple chamber has been set up.)

4. Bring in milkweed pods along with part of the plant -- There are several types of milkweed plant to choose from. (done)

5. Dig up a sedge plant/plant in a flower pot.

6. Bring in asters.

7. Bring in wild grapes -- We need a small piece of a wild grape vine with tiny sour purple grapes on it.  We are not interested in domesticated grapes such as concord grapes.

8. Bring in a sulfur butterfly.

9. Bring in other insects that are interesting.  We need butterflies, beetles, grasshoppers, walking sticks, you name it.  To get the most points, be the first person to bring in an interesting specimen.  If we use it in class, you will be rewarded!

10. Bring in LARGE spiders/Set up orb-weaving spider chamber.  We now already have a large female black and yellow argiope spider for our chamber.  We still need to set up the chamber.  Then we can watch it build its web and capture food.  We are also interested in wolf spiders so we watch it run down its food.  If we get a gravid (full of eggs) female, we can watch her carry her egg sac around and later watch her carry her baby spiders on her back.  It's cool. (done)

As you can see below, a large Black and Yellow Argiope spider has been brought in and the chamber has been set up for it.

(See below for more equal credit opportunities.)

The above chamber is used to house insects or spiders along with living plants.  The design is my own from graduate school days.  The flower pot can be watered from below without opening the chamber and there are hand holes on the top and sides that are sealed with petri plate bottoms.  This chamber now contains the spider shown below.

Black and Yellow Argiope Spider (Garden Spider)

Argiope aurantia

11. Print out web page with photo of eyelash mites.  This must be printed out at home and your parents have to sign it. (done)

12. Clean and set up aquariums for gold fish and pumpkinseed fish.  We will need to carefully clean and set up the two 29-gal aquariums near the front of the room right away.  After we set them up, the water will need to be tested and, when they are ready, we can move our goldfish into one of them and are pumpkinseed fish (Lepomis gibbosus) into the other.

13. Clean and set up aquariums for bluegill experiment.  After we move our goldfish and pumpkinseed fish, we can then clean and set up three of the four aquariums in the back of the room.  Once again the water will need to be monitored before we can obtain more fish.

14. NOT READY: When we are ready, we will need to obtain four stream caught bluegills (Lepomis macrochirus) for our bluegill behavior demonstration.  When the time comes, we will need three small bluegills that are almost the exact same size and a fourth bluegill that is slightly larger.

15. Monarch butterfly larvae.  I will be bringing in monarch butterfly larvae from a sight which will soon be mowed so it is a sort of rescue mission.  We will need volunteers to help take care of them so that we can watch them pupate and turn into adults.  We will release the adults on appropriate days.

(done)

16. Need walking sticks.

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Back to 2nd nine weeks.