Course Description
See Reviews of Instructor Dr. Karen Joseph
This is a one-semester life science zoology course for students in 6th-8th grades. Fifth graders will be considered with prior instructor approval. When combined with Life Science 1: Zoology (first semester), these courses, which both include a lab component, will provide one middle school science credit. These two one-semester courses can be taken as a full-year course: Life Science 1 and 2 for a reduced rate.
In this course, we will learn about plants and people. We will spend a few weeks learning about the importance and diversity of the plant kingdom. And of course, since plants are edible, we will do some activities that involve eating. Next, we’ll learn about the structure and function of all the parts of the human body. In this part of the class, you’ll learn about you. We’ll start with a discussion of cells and genetics, and then we’ll dive deep into the systems of the human body, learning how they function and how they work together to keep you moving and processing the world around you.
Course Structure
A typical week contains one 1-hour live Zoom class and 4 daily lessons. The live classes may include game-based reviews of topics from the previous week, an introduction to the coming week, and/or a case study that brings the current topic to life. Although it is always best if students attend the live classes, I will post the recording of the class so that students who can’t attend can watch it later.
The daily lessons will consist of a teacher-created online curriculum. I use many audio and video recordings to help students learn the correct pronunciation of new terms as well as to reinforce content from the book.
Since this course can be used as ½ credit of life science, a few additional writing assignments and projects may be given to students in grades 7 and 8.
Who should enroll?
Life Science 2: Botany and Human Biology is for curious students in grades 6–8 who have a strong desire to understand how plants function in the environment, and how they give us not just food, but oxygen. This course is also for students who want to know how their bodies function and stay healthy. When combined with Life Science 1: Zoology, these courses, which both include a lab component, will provide one middle school science credit. Fifth graders will be considered with prior instructor approval.
Technology Requirements
- High speed, broadband Internet
- Headset, microphone, and webcam (for live sessions)
- Streaming video capabilities to watch recorded lectures
Evaluation and Feedback
I use “learning checks” at the end of most lessons to assure both the student and teacher that students understand the concepts presented in the lessons. Many of the learning checks are automatically graded by the computer. For the essay questions and projects, I generally grade every day, sending feedback to the students to help them understand questions they may have missed.
A final grade will be based on the scores from learning checks, participation in activities and experiments. and attendance and participation in live classes. A Certificate of Completion with a final grade will be given at the end of the course.
Communication
I welcome any and all communication from parents. My goal is to partner with you in your student’s education, so if at any time you have questions or concerns, my virtual door is open. I send monthly progress reports to let you know how your student is doing in the course.
Ari Rapoport –
This is my favorite class I ever took. I really loved Dr. Karen Joseph who was very kind and always helping you when you need help. She will also answer any questions you have. The class with the exact right amount of homework. This class has taught me many amazing things I never knew about the human body. When I used to read books about the body, I found them boring, but this class is the total opposite, it’s amazing! Dr. Karen Joseph would also start the class 15 minutes earlier so we can chat and talk with the friends we made during this class. This class also has a lot of amazing projects which are super fun to make. I highly recommend this class!
Brigid Perez (verified owner) –
Dr. Karen is a very warm and caring teacher. This was a challenging course, but she made it very enjoyable for the students.
Mary Louise Coyle –
This class was absolutely one of my favorites I have ever taken! The lessons are easy to understand and the live classes are something to look forward to every week. Dr. Joseph is so kind and always willing to help you with anything that is hard to understand. Thank you Dr. Joseph!
Cheyenne Fields –
Life science was a lot of fun this year! Thank you so much for a great class. I learned a lot through this semester. I thought that having all those activities was great because for me it was fun and I learned quite well from it. I think my favorite topic we learned over was cells (especially making the cell module). For me science was something I did not enjoy but now it is one of my favorite subjects in school. Overall, thank you Dr. Joseph it was a fun class and great to meet new people.