So far in this class we have had very general discussions about critical thinking, what is life, the prebiotic environment and the origin of life, and prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. This essay provides you the opportunity to integrate what you have learned so far.
Assignment- Answer the question- are bacteria alive?
In order to provide a full and thoughtful answer to this question is is probably necessary to address at least some of the following issues.
- what do you think is the best definition of life?
- what are bacteria?
- what are the characteristics of an organism that we are used to thinking about (e.g., your goldfish, your puppy, or your little brother) that make you think that they are alive?
- which of these characteristics apply to bacteria?
Is it okay to ask questions in our essay if we answer them? I had an English teacher that told me that was a terrible idea, but I really like the way it sounds...
ReplyDeleteTaylor, I am sorry that I didn't see you questioh until this afternoon which is too late for this assignment. I will try to answer anyway. I will try to check the site more often in the future (you are the first person to comment- and I blew it).
ReplyDeleteI don't see any reason that you shouldn't ask and answer questions in this assignment (to me that sounds like a good thing to try). One of the things you are going to learn is that different teachers want you to write things in different ways. Sometimes this will be due to differences in the subject area and other times they will just be due to peculuarities of the teacher. One of your job as a student is to figure out what your teachers expect.
I have just glanced through your paper and I like the approach you took. You should earn no lower than a D- on this assignment (kidding). I look forward to reading your paper more carefully and hopefully giving you some useful feedback.
Dr. McGinley is a cruel jokester when it comes to grades.... that will be my report on ratemyproffesor.com lol :D
ReplyDelete