Protists and Fungi

During this week we had lots of fun. I thought learning about protists was jam packed with fun. I learned that protists are living one cell organisms.  I thought it was really cool learning about how bacteria grows, reproduces and thrives. I really enjoyed doing our disinfectant lab. We got our results and was surprised that soap was the winner and it had worked the best! My hypothesis that the soap would be less effective than the other sanitizers was wrong and the results were surprising. I can improve on my hypothesis by taking what I already know with what is obvious and make a better educated guess. We also finished our microorganisms in school environment lab. I enjoyed this lab very much and I didn't know that there were so many microorganisms in our school environment! After finding out that there was more bacteria than I thought there was in the school it made me want to wash my hands more considering that soap kills more bacteria.
We had our quiz on Wednesday and it was on Sections 1 and 2. I learned a lot about bacteria and viruses and made a good grade on the quiz. I think our class really understood bacteria and viruses considering we had so many As and Bs on this quiz. Thursday's lab was my favorite lab this week! We placed food in jars and are hoping they grow mold so we can observe it. On Friday we did our mold spore lab and checked the progress of the mold on the food from Thursday's lab. 
I wanted to see different types of protists and found a very informative site at microbe world. The link is attached.

http://www.microbeworld.org/types-of-microbes/protista

Viruses and Bacteria

This week in science we learned about viruses and bacteria. On Monday we took notes on the topic and we learned how viruses reproduce. We also did a lab that showed how viruses are transferred. Each student had a tube containing water and one student had a chemical in his tube. We all shared what was in our tubes without knowing who had the chemical. The person who shared their chemical infected the other tubes just like a virus would. On Tuesday we finished our lab by narrowing it down to who had the virus by seeing who had infected us and seeing who had infected them. On Wednesday we started a new lab. We grew bacteria in  petri dishes and agar. We then removed bacteria from different areas around the school where we thought bacteria would be. My group chose the computer keys which had 56 bacteria colonies. On Thursday I watched some of the progress of the bacteria .We also started another lab. In this lab we tested to see if anti-bacterial cleansers worked as well as they said they would. We put 4 hole punches with anti-bacterial cleansers on each of them in a petri dish with bacteria and waited for the results to see if the cleanser killed the bacteria in the petri dish. On Friday we looked at different bacteria that the other classes had grown. I wasn't surprised that the dumpster had the most bacteria.
This week I learned that bacteria is everywhere and that some bacteria is good and some are bad; but there is more good bacteria than bad bacteria. One way in which I can improve is by thinking more through my hypothesis when we do an experiment, by connecting the dots of the information I learn from my notes in class to what I actually do in my actual lab experiments.
I looked up the pandemic of 1918 and was shocked to learn that more Americans died from the flu in 1918 than the number of people who died in World War I! The link is attached.

http://www.flu.gov/pandemic/history/1918/the_pandemic/index.html

Thanksgiving Break

I was really looking forward to Thanksgiving because it is one of my favorite holidays. It was a short week in science but as always we had fun and lots of learning! On Monday we made ice cream! Even though we made ice cream which was fun, there was learning involved. I learned the effects of heat transfer on phase changes. The phase change in making the ice cream occurred when the heat was lost to change the milk from a liquid to a solid. During my ice cream experiment in class, the ice cream was not as smooth and solid as I would have liked it to be. So I decided to try a new technique and improve on the quality of my ice cream, by using sea salt at home in my ice cream experiment. At home, my ice cream was smoother and not as lumpy and stayed solid longer. I have attached pictures to show the improvement in the consistency of my ice cream. It was so good!
On Tuesday, I had to do my makeup test during class because I was sick the week before. However during guided study I was able to complete the classroom activity experiment in  gratitude. I had to write a thank you note to my mom and then call her to read it. I was so excited when she answered the phone because she never answers her phone. At first she thought I was sick because I have never called her from school. But then she was surprised when I read the note and was so grateful for the call. I am glad Mrs. Giacomelli did this because it made my mom's day!
Then we went on Thanksgiving break and my family ate lots and lots of food. My favorite dish was my mom's cranberry salad. I ate a whole tub just by itself. My family kept on eating lots of turkey but they did not know that turkey contains the amino acid tryptophan which can make you very tired. I googled the effects of tryptophan in turkey on making us tired and read about the effects, which also stated that if the tryptophan did not make us tired it was all the huge amounts of carbohydrates that we ate. I have attached the link to the website with information on tryptophan and also attached a picture of my family and the effects of our huge turkey Thanksgiving dinner! I realized how much I have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday!!!!!!

http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/question5191.htm  

Sick week

Last week was not a great week for me. I had science for only two days because I got really sick at the end of the week.. On Monday we did our meiosis review. I really missed Mrs. Giacomelli on Monday because I enjoy when she is there and I learn a lot. I learned during Monday's review that another word for "sex cells" is "gamete cells". We continued review on Tuesday with our protein synthesis worksheet. I learned how to decode mRNA codons. At first I thought it was difficult but after a lot of practice, I learned how to do it correctly and I improved on my knowledge of transcription and translation with practice. We also did a lab this week. We made a strip of DNA using twizzlers and marshmallows. I was absent for the rest of the week, but I know that the class reviewed for our test on Wednesday and Thursday in preparation for our test on Friday, which I missed.
I watched a protein synthesis animation video on you tube and that also helped me understand a little more. The link is below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikq9AcBcohA

From the pictures in the dropbox it looks like science class was fun as usual and there was lots of learning going on. I have attached my favorite pictures and a picture of my week with my tissue box.

Human karyotyping

This week was a short week in science because there was no school on Monday. That does not mean the short week was not loaded with lots of learning and fun as usual! On Tuesday we learned the difference between sex cells and body cells and the different processes such as meiosis and mitosis. We also learned about the chromosome theory of inheritance. We had our Chapter quiz on Punnett squares, probability, heredity, genetics and also alleles. I really liked the Spongebob Punnett square page. That was fun! I was prepared for the quiz because I reviewed more carefully and studied my definitions. I realized while reviewing that trying to read the class notes from the class website was more challenging than I thought, so I had to print out the notes. In the future, I can improve in my notes preparation and make this less of a hassle if I print the notes ahead of time.
On Thursday we did a lab showing us how to make our own human karyotype. We did two karyotypes. One was normal and the other was abnormal. We had to determine the abnormality by looking at the number of chromosomes. We continued on Friday with karyotyping. We did a lab that showed us how karyotypes were put together and their purpose. We cut chromosomes and matched them from tallest to shortest and determined the abnormalities in the cell to determine the disease.
This week I was fascinated with genetics and how it causes disease in offspring and so I researched human karyotyping and found this website by the University of Utah that explained the process of using karyotyping to predict genetic disorders even more and I was able to play some of the games.

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/traits/predictdisorder/

I have also attached pictures of my dna model and others as well as class activities this week.

Traits and Heredity

As always science class was fun with lots of learning involved! We started out the week with a worksheet that showed us how traits were passed from parent to offspring. We found out what our class traits were and we made a graph of our class traits and posted for others to observe. I learned about genetic traits and what traits are most common in our class. The most common trait in our class was being right handed. We followed with an experiment that showed us one example of DNA. This DNA was the DNA of wheat germ. I was able to see the DNA of the wheat germ and it looked like little white strings. I also learned how to do a Punnett square. We were given examples on a worksheet of how genes were passed from parent to offspring and the chances of each trait showing up in the offspring. On Friday, I created my own potato baby. I calculated what the potato baby would like by pulling letters out of jars to complete the Punnett square. I rolled the dice to determine the traits of the potato offspring. Some traits were lots of hair, medium mouth, small eyes, yellow dorsal fin and small feet.
I definitely improved on how I completed the Punnett square. I improved on how I crossed the letters in the Punnett square. Other ways in which I can improve is knowing the definitions of words such as homozygous and heterozygous; pure bred and hybrid before doing my labs. By improving on my knowledge of definitions in the chapter, I will be able to understand the chapter and labs more clearly.
I went to the Khan Academy website and did the punnett square fun activities. It was very interesting. The link is below.
http://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/heredity-and-genetics/v/punnett-square-fun

I have also attached pictures of my DNA model project.

 

 

 

Halloween Week

Science this week was crazy fun!! On Monday we did Mitosis cookie review. We recreated mitosis using cookies and sprinkles. We also worked on our test study guide. I learned that mitosis is the process in which cells grow and divide and there are four stages in mitosis. We reviewed for the science test on Wednesday by playing fun review games such as Grunge Ball. We drew the parts of a chromosome on white boards. During my study review for the test I improved on my knowledge of the different parts of a chromosome. I also had a better understanding of the difference between RNA and DNA. After taking the test I noted ways in which I can improve when studying for the next test. One way is by reviewing the vocabulary more carefully and the chapter section questions  for a better understanding of the chapter. Halloween day in science was loads of fun! Even with all the fun and excitement I still learned a lot about chemical reactions. I learned that dry ice releases carbon dioxide and carbons make bases react a certain way. When the dry ice was combined with cabbage juice which is a base, it bubbled and turned pink! Halloween was fun and I decided to graph my Halloween candy to see if the amount of chocolate I received was greater than the amount of non-chocolate candy. I have attached a picture of my candy collection along with my Halloween candy graph.
I researched online different experiments with carbon dioxide and learned this cool fact that carbon-dioxide was discovered by Joseph Black over 250 years ago. He was only 24 years old.The link is below. It was a great week in science!!!!

http://mattson.creighton.edu/Download_Folder/MattsonGasBook4thEdCO2.pdf

Respiration and Division

This week in science was filled with lots of exciting experiments and new topics! We began on Monday with a lab observing carbon dioxide during respiration. We put soda, vinegar and our breath into different tubes filled with cabbage juice to see the reaction of a carbon with a base. I learned that carbon dioxide can change the color of cabbage juice to purple or pink depending on the carbon dioxide level. We continued with cellular respiration and I learned that it is different from "breathing" type of respiration. I also learned about the different stages of cellular respiration. The first stage of cellular respiration takes place in the cytoplasm and the second stage takes place in the mitochondria.
I also did a gas exchange in plants lab by putting cabbage juice in the bottom of three test tubes with cotton balls on top of the cabbage juice. The first tube was the control and then one tube had sprouted peas and the other unsprouted peas on top of the cotton ball. The color change in the cabbage juice was observed. In the first tube nothing happened because it was the control. In the second tube it turned dark purple and the third tube turned pink. I learned that sprouted peas give off more carbon dioxide than unsprouted peas because the sprouted peas are germinating and releasing carbon dioxide.
Later in the week I learned about cell division. We worked on our mitosis flip book and I drew and labeled the stages of cell division. We observed this by taking slides of onion cells and watching them divide under a microscope. As another example of this we watched a video in class  showing cell division of a liver cell.
I also learned that Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA, which is DeoxyriboNucleicAcid. Below is a link to a mitosis rap I watched on you tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOsAbTi9tHw

WAAS2013

10/18                                               
                                       My First Week at WAAS

My first week at WAAS began on Tuesday, October 15, 2013. On Tuesday we reviewed for the test on Wednesday. We answered and asked questions relating to the test. I learned about osmosis and diffusion. I also learned about DNA and RNA. Before, I did not know about osmosis and diffusion.I learned that osmosis is the diffusion of water molecules and diffusion is the movement of small molecules from a higher concentration to a lower concentration. On Wednesday we had the test. I learned how a test looks and how it should be taken. I need to improve on my studying so I can do better next time. On Thursday we went to clean up the beach. I learned that we should not use so much plastic because it could harm  animals . Plastic can harm sea life because they might think small bits of plastic might be food. When they ingest the plastic it harms them and eventually they will die. After cleaning up the beach, we made art out of trash. I think making art out of trash shows us another way we can recycle.

On Friday we did a paper chromatography with leaves experiment. I found  a similar  science experiment to the one we did in class. The link is below.We did not finish the experiment in class, but I predict that by the process of diffusion the plant pigment molecules will move from a higher concentration to a lower concentration on the paper as the pigment separates.

How To Do Paper Chromatography With Leaves
http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/paperchroma.htm?r=et