Unit 10 refelction

Unit 10 reflection

In this unit we learned about the anatomy of the body and also how all the systems in our body works like the respiratory system. But most importantly we learned what all the organs in our bodies do and how they help us. I want to learn more in complex about the human body and more about other animals anatomy. I have grown a lot since August but mostly I have gotten better at writing blog posts and that is what I am most proud of. And my favorite part of the year was researching all of the different species. My favorite blog post: invertebrate of your choice

20 time final post

 Here is a link to my 20 time post:

20 time individual reflection

 I did my 20 time project on how we can help save corals and why we should help them.

Here is my 20 time ted talk:

 

I feel like my ted talk went really well, but I feel like I could have tried not to read of my note cards as much as I did. I feel like I deserved the grade that I got and I am happy with the grade that I got.  For preparing for this talk I worked not that much on a presentation but on more what I was going to say during the ted talk. But I feel like I prepared enough for the talk itself and I feel like it went well. I have grown a lot on how to give presentations and how to talk more than just show something from a presentation.

Pig dissection Relate and Review

During this whole process of dissecting and labeling the pigs organs, I learned a lot more about the anatomy of our bodies and also the pigs. And this lab really helped me understand all the information about the organs and I understood the unit way more after this lab. During the dissection i participated in pointing out the organs and describing the functions and I also helped a little bit with cutting the pig. Our group had some setbacks but we also worked well together on creating a good video that was had the right information in it. So this lab was really fun and it was a good learning process as well.

20 Time Individual Reflection

20 Time Individual Reflection

I challenged myself through this whole process of 20 time by researching things that could help me make a plan to help coral reefs. Also it was especially challenging to find people who were trying to do the same as me and see what they had done. I did this challenge because its a very important topic and I also really enjoy corals and I would love to be able to help them in some way. And my goal was to try to reach out to people to get their attention on this issue and if I could try to come up with a plan. My plan was to try to build on others peoples plan and ideas. Sadly I didn't have enough time to come up with a good ans stable plan but I have been able to reach out to people. But I did learn a lot about my project and how important coral reefs and it was really interesting to learn. If I could do this project again I would try to set goals that would be easier to achieve and I would be able to achieve. I would continue to do this project and try to reach out to more people. Thank you for reading.

Unit 9 reflection

Unit 9 Reflection

In this unit I learned all the different classifications to different organisms. We also learned how we humans evolved and other organisms like dogs etc. We classified all the organisms into different groups like invertebrates where you see how they are related and also into a big group called the chordates. But in these groups there are more classes like agnatha which is a jawless fish, condricthyes which is a cartilaginous fish with jaws, and so on. And what I want to learn more about is the amphibians because they are so unique and interesting. 

For my What On Earth Evolved presentation i studied dogs and how they evolved and became mans best friend. I think the presentation went really well and since I have a dog I knew a lot of the information but some things were new and they were really interesting facts. In my next presentation which is a Ted Talk I will try to need read of the slides as much and try to memorize the information more than I did for the WEE presentation.

                                                                                     Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Coral Reef

Here is my What On Earth Evolved Presentation:  What On Earth Evolved

My inner fish

When watching the series Your Inner Fish I was really fascinated on how good the graphics were and that the graphics really helped to understand the topic well. The information they used was very good and it was very interesting to learn about. The first question that was really interesting to me was number 8. In my answer i wrote that he found out all the similarities between fish and humans, and when something goes wrong in development of a human your inner fish can come out, like a gill. And this shows that humans have a very strong connection to fish because they can have some of their characteristics. The last question that was interesting to me was number 11. For a answer to this question I wrote that the gene Sonic Hedgehog sends out a signal that tells the body to shape limbs like hands and fingers. And if the Sonic Hedgehog is sent out to much it will create extra limbs or anything like that. These questions were really interesting to me because they were really good information recaps. And this series made me understand way more about our evolution.

Sonic Hedgehog gene picture

4th blog post

In these last two weeks I have researched more about the problems of the coral reefs and not how to help them because I also want to give background information about the reefs before I say a plan on how we can help them. I have had a little setback on finding information on how to save them. Because its a really hard thing to do so its hard to find information about it. But I think that I will be able to get that information I need an make a good plan on how to save coral reefs.

Invertibrate of your choice

The invertebrate that i choose was the jellyfish which is in the family of cnidaria. Jellyfish have been living in the ocean way before the dinosaurs even existed which makes them the oldest multi-organ animal. The jellyfish does not have a respiratory, circulatory or digestive system, but they do have manubrium which connects the mouth and the anus at the base of the bell. The jellyfish have a loose network of nerves which is located in the epidermis. Some jellyfish have a lifespan of only a fe hours while some have a few months, but some deep sea jellyfish can leave to a few years. 

Information of Jellyfish

3rd blogpost

These 2 weeks I have continued to research my project in more depth and started to look and see if they have books about it.

1.I have learned that not so many people now about my project and thats why not that much change has happened in trying to help it, and thats a big problem.
2. I have learned that I when I am really passionate in something I will really get distracted in it and my full attention will be on the thing.
3.I have had some stepbacks on how I will be showing my project, but I have solved it by doing a powerpoint.
4.The next steps in my process is to gather more information and continue working on my plan and strt working on my powerpoint.
5. I can use what I have learned to help me save things that I can in my community like a creek or even a park.

Geological timeline reflection

Geological timeline reflection

3 major events in earths history is one when the asteroid hit earth that killed of the dinosaurs, second is when the first organism ever stepped on to land, the last third important thing is when the earth got covered in snow and ice. The scale of earths history is very huge and we humans have only lived in a blink of a eye in earths history. We humans have had so much impact on earth because we have destroyed a lot of natural habitats and used a lot of natural resources. 

Unit 8 reflection

Unit 8 reflection

In this unit we learned about how we know and what evidence we have of evolution in our species and also other species. We got to learn the different time periods and eras that lead up to our era and what happened in each for us to be able to live on earth. I really want to learn more about the different ears that happened before us and what would have happened if like the asteroid that hit the dinosaurs didn't hit earth, and would we still be here then. 

 Unit 7 Reflection
In our unit 7 we learned how to be more asservative, and I have done a lot of work to do this like practice being more reasonable and how to compromise with people.

 

2nd blog post

2nd blog post

        For the past weeks I have done a lot of research on my project, mostly researching and looking at the Nasa project called CORAL. I have also started to think on what I should be writing for my plan on how to save the corals.

1. I have learned a lot about my project including how long the corals will last if we dont do anything about trying to help it. And how the Nasa project CORAL is going and what information they are getting. 

2. I have learned about myself that I am very stubborn because i will go searching for something and I will leave knowing it. Like when I need to have a specific information I will only stop researching it when I have found the information I needed.

3.I have actually not run into any problems so far.

4. My next steps are too continue researching and start working on my plan which will be about what we can do to save the coral reefs.

5. What I have learned and what I will be doing is also something that can be related to communities because communities also have to make plans on how to make the world better.

Hunger games lab

Hunger games lab

1.In this lab we did a simulation of what goes on in nature when different species get food and it showed how some species grew and their population became larger while other became smaller. And this stimulated how natural selection works.

2. The phenotype that was best at capturing food was the pincher, and this species was the best at capturing the most food because it had a greater and more efficient way of picking up the food and the food was also the right size for it. 

3. The population did evolve and I know this because the frequency of the "A" allele went from .50 to .17 and the frequency of the "a" went from .50 to .83. So this showed that the pinchers got more food and had more offsprings with the "a" allele and the stumpys with the "A" allele didn't get as much food ans started to die out. 

4. The events in this lab that were not random was the picking of who to mate with while the random was what allele would be picked from the mating and what offspring it would create. Another random event was how the food would be layed out and how much food there would be. 

5. If the food was another size like bigger like the size between a ping pong ball and a baseball ball the stumpys would have a greater advantage over the knucklers because the food would be too  big for them to pickup. So the stumpys population would go up, the knucklers population would go down and the pinchers would probably stay at a population and i might move just a little bit. 

6. If there was not a incomplete dominance in this lab then there would probably be only mating between the pichers to pinchers and the stumpys to stupmys and that would cause the different allele groups to separate and they would create two different populations on as stumpys and one as the pinchers. Another case would be that the stumpys would have a hard time picking up the food causing the pinchers to be the only ones in the population or the other way.

7. The relationships between natural selection and evolution is that the natural selection favors on certain phenotypes causing only some to be able to pass on their alleles and some alleles would die of and that would cause a difference in populations and in the future evolution.

8. Some strategies that individuals or groups adopted where quickness on getting the food or/and mating with a specific group that would cause their offspring to be the best possible. This would have caused the best alleles to be greater but the individuals or groups that would not get as much food would try to adopt the other groups strategies and their population might grow but then would be out numbered by the other groups.

9. In evolution the different alleles evolves and this creates a evolution in the population. Natural selection works on the genotypes by making only the individuals with the good alleles keep their genotype but over time it could change the genotype and also the phenotype if a population has competition with another population. Because then they would need to change to be able to win and pass on their alleles. In nature many different species would adapt to the strategies of different species or alleles to get a greater advantage. And a example would be like a rabbit population and in the population they would all get new strategies to be able to mate with the best.

10. A question that I have is have humans have to compete with another species to win and pass on our alleles and win over the other species to get where we are now. And If another species would have won would they be the at the place where we are and be the on of the strongest species on earth.

Bird beak analysis

 

Hypothesis (claim)	Evidence of this occurring	Explanation of this evidence
Individuals with better traits leave more offsprings	The bird with better beak picked up more food and got more offsprings	This happened because it was easier for them to get more food
Populations begin to look more like the winners	The best bird beak gets their genes passed on and wins they then win over the other birds with other beaks	The best beak gets passed on because they can survive and provide food for themselves and their offsprings

Conclusion

In this lab we asked the question, if natural selection occurs in a population, how do changes in selective pressures affect the evolution of that species. We found that during the changes of the climate some birds didn't survive as well in that new climate as other birds. Evidence for this is that before the climate the spoon beak bird got more food but after the climate change the binder clip got more food and had more offsprings. This data supports our data because we said that the birds with the biggest beaks would get more food which happened.

While our data was supported by our data, that the big beaked birds would get more food there could have been errors due to miscounting on the food items. Which could have caused one bird to get more food then the others when it didn't and could have messed up all the data. Another mistake could have been that we didnt place the food evenly spread out on the table. And this could have caused another bird to have a easier way to get more food then the others and the data would not have been fair. Due to these errors, in future experiments we could have counted twice the number of food items and spread the food out more evenly.

This lab was done to demonstrate how a small change in climate or anything else could effect a species greatly. From this lab I learned that we shouldn't disturb other species which helps me understand the concept of different habitats and species. Based on my experience from this lab I could put this into many situations for example when you are out hiking or just out in the forest or ocean.

1 st blog post

2. 20% time is when you get 20% time of your class to work on your project.

3. My essential question is what effects the corals and how can I help them.

4. What I have chosen as my 20 time project is to research the threats to coral reefs and ways I can prevent the threats. I choose this because I care about the ocean and it interests me. It answers my essential question because I want to research the threats and how I can stop them.

5. My goals are too make a plan that will help the coral reefs grow.

6. I will write my progress on a sort of log where I will write what I did that day.

7. My plan moving forward is researching and talking to specialists who can help me get a good, interesting and stable plan that will work.

8. I am writing to spread awareness that our coral reefs are dying and we need to do something to help them otherwise they are all going to die. And to persuade people to follow this plan so coral reefs can grow back to the health they were before.

Unit 7 Reflection

Unit 7 Reflection

In this Unit we learned how to know if a ecosystem if healthy and how to keep it healthy or to make one healthy. We also learned how the ecosystems work throughout a ecosystem and if one animal get extinct or threatened it can change the hole food change and it could go out of balance. Then we also learned how the population can decide whether a ecosystem is healthy like if the population grows rapidly the ecosystem can loose all of its supplies and the ecosystem can go into a sort of crisis.  And lastly we learned how we can help save ecosystems and our nature. I want to learn more about how we can help things that we have destroyed. 

During our conservation biologist project a lot of things went well but one big part that was that we had great collaboration and we worked great together which made our project easy to work on and good. One thing that didn't go well was that we didn't have all the requirements but we had a lot of excess information but I though it was good that we had this excess information because it then showed more about the ecosystem. I learned a lot about the Amazon and how greatly effects the world around us and how greatly it can effect the world if we continue to hurt it. 

Link to our Project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBhDFT1_2K0&feature=youtu.be

Unit 6 Reflection

Unit 6 Reflection

In this unit we learned about biotechnology which is the study of livings things and generally focuses on DNA, inheritance, and proteins. There are 4 applications of biotechnology which are industrial environment, agricultural, medical/pharmaceutical and diagnostic research. Another technology is Recombination DNA which is the process of inserting DNA of another organism into another organism and it creates GMO. 3 more technologies of biotechnology is PCR which is a procedure to amplify a specific DNA region another one is Gel electrophoresis , that is when electricity to separate DNA fragments based on size. Last one is Sequencing which is the determining the exact sequencing, of a given DNA strand. The hardest part of this unit was the Recombinant DNA process. This was the hardest in my opinion because it had the most steps and was a little confusing.

We did many fun labs in this unit that helped me understand all the information.
The labs we did:
1. http://alma1blog.blogspot.com/2016/01/recombinant-dna-lab.html
2. http://alma1blog.blogspot.com/2016/01/gel-electrophoresis.html
3. http://alma1blog.blogspot.com/2016/01/candy-electrophoresis-lab.html
4. http://alma1blog.blogspot.com/2016/01/pglo-lab.html
 My favorite lab that we did was the pGLO lab, this lab was my favorite because it wrapped up all the information from the unit and it was the most fun and cool lab. What I want to learn more from this unit is the process of Recombinant DNA. I want to learn more about this becuase it really interesting but also very hard to understand.

For my New Years goals update I have been very organized and had a folder for all of my subjects and papers. I have also used my planner everyday, and it really helps. The next step for this is I want to continue being this organized for the rest of the year, and I know I can do it. For the vegetarian part of my New Years goals I have been vegetarian for 2 weeks, and I am still trying to continue it. I really like being vegetarian and I am going to continue doing this for the rest of the year.

pGLO Lab

pGLO Observations , Data Recording & Analysis

1.

Obtain your team plates.  Observe your set of  “+pGLO” plates under room light and with UV light.  Record numbers of colonies and color of colonies. Fill in the table below. Plate Number of Colonies Color of colonies under room light Color of colonies under   UV light - pGLO LB Carpet          White          White - pGLO LB/amp       0          White          White + pGLO LB/amp      75          White          White + pGLO LB/amp/ara     250          Green          Green

2.	What two new traits do your transformed bacteria have?
	Ability to glow and to be Ampicillin resistance
3.	Estimate how many bacteria were in the 100 uL of bacteria that you spread on each plate. Explain your logic.
	About 1,000, because we added 25 uL ro each plate and one plate got 250 bacteria colonies, since 25 times 10 is 250 you do 100 times 10 and you get 1,000 bactera.
4.	What is the role of arabinose in the plates?
	To give the sugar gene so it can glow
5.	List and briefly explain three current uses for GFP (green fluorescent protein) in research or applied science.
	1. It can be used to study jellyfish, like how they look or genes that you need to see 2. Can be used in fluorescence microscopy to able to see cells or whatever you want to see under the microscope easier 3.And can be used to see different genes in animals
6.	Give an example of another application of genetic engineering.

Another example is mass produce of vaccinations

Candy Electrophoresis Lab

Candy Electrophoresis

1. When we analyzed our end results, some of our gel moved into other spots and mixed with other colors.

2. The color red structure is long and thin and when it moved in the gel it was long and thin. The structure of the green and carminic acid was short and large, and when they moved in the gel it was large and pretty short. The citrus red 2 structure and when it moved in the gel was very short and thin. 

3. Dog food manufacturers put artificial food colors in dog food becuase, then the owner would think it looks more pleasing and would buy the one with the food dye. 

4. Weren't supposed to do

5. The two factors that control the distance the colored dye solutions migrate is the structure and what it is made of

6. The force that helps move the dye through the gel is the negative and positive charge put in.

7. The component of the electrophoresis system that causes the molecule to separate by size is the structure of the dye whether it moves long or short 

8. I would think that 5000 would be the shortest 2000 to be longer then 5000 and 1000 to be longer and 600 to be the longest because the less weight the easier it gets pushed through the gel.

Gel electrophoresis

Gel Electrophoresis Virtual Lab Worksheet                                                               Name_Alma Oscarson____

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/labs/gel/

Make a prediction:

1. How do you think you could figure out the lengths of the strands in the tube of DNA?

To add a lot of chemicals

Go through the simulation:

2. What is the process called in which we measure the DNA microscopically?

Gel electrophoresis

3. What is the “gel”?

Gel is the filter that sorts the DNA strands

4. Write down the step of gel electrophoresis

a. Set up an apparatus

b.  Load the DNA sample into the gel

c. Hook up the electrical current and run the gel

d. Stain the gel analyze the results

5. What does the current do the DNA samples?

It makes the DNA strands move down

6. What kinds of strand move quickly and further down the gel?

The shortest one

7. What kinds of strand move slower and lag behind?

The longer ones

8. What about the strand that are the same length?

They move together in a group

9. What helps us see the DNA strand in the gel?

Staining the sorted groups of DNA

10.  What are the ingredients to make a gel? Make your Gel!

Powder agarose, buffer, a flask, a microwave, gel comb and mold

11.  Load the Gel with the DNA!

12.  After you load the DNA sample into the tray, what is the next step?

Hook up the electrical current and run the gel

13.  How do you know current is running through the gel?

If tiny bubbles come out

14.  After the gel is done, what must you do to it before you can analyze your results?

You need to stain it

15.  How long does this process take?

Half an hour

16.  What type of light do you use to view the gel? Is it safe and what precautions would you might need to use?

You use a UV light, it is dangerous and it can damage your eyes, so you need to wear protective goggles when you use it.

                                                                                                                                           

17.  Take a screenshot of your gel and paste below.

If you do not know how to take a screen shot go to http://www.take-a-screenshot.org

18.  Write your size estimates below:

a. Strand 1____1500_____

b. Strand 2 ___3500_____

c. Strand 3 ____6000_____

                                                                                                

19.  Could you list one reason why we would run a Gel electrophoresis on someone and explain your answer.

To know if your DNA was made right, or has any mutation

Relate and Review

Write at least 5 sentences summarizing the process of electrophoresis and relating to what you’ve learned before.

First what you do in this process is you have a small amount of DNA in a tube. Then you make the gel and set up an apparatus to put the gel that you have just made. Then you add all of you DNA into the gel, to be able to do the next step of this process. 4th step you hook up the electrical current and turn it on, so the current can go through the DNA and make it move down the gel. Last step is you stain the DNA, and then put it under a UV light to be able to see the DNA groups.