scribe post February 16-17

Today began with jeopardy to review for the quest (review session in class), some of the topics were: anything's possible, punnett squares, DNA and extraction lab, vocabulary, and inheritance.

also we were told about the rare chance to get extra credit in this class! The extra credit is a Karyotype packet in which you must match up the chromozones (look at the rings, the genes, and measure the length to the centromere to help you make sure you have the correct two chromozones) This is due the Tuesday we return from break. One last thing is that there will be a test on the 17th so remember to study, one thing that will help is the review session during lunch on the 15th. The quest will be over: DNA and the extraction lab, punnett squares and dihybrid crosses, genetics words/definitions, DNA structure and parts, inherited traits/mutations, meiosis, pedigrees and karyotypes.

http://zagreb.ceesa.net/mod/resource/view.php?id=4235

http://zagreb.ceesa.net/mod/resource/view.php?id=4221

http://zagreb.ceesa.net/mod/resource/view.php?id=4145

http://zagreb.ceesa.net/course/view.php?id=189

The next scribe is Val

SCIENCE DAY, february 9th

So science day was last thursday and was chuck full of information. Our class was doing genetics. We had three different stations one was building dna out of candy which attracted all of the children, dna extraction which by the time I got there was no longer able to be done, and last we had the Traits of AISZ lab. During the traits lab all of the kindergardeners I interviewed would walk off to the candy lab after the first few questions. So what I learned from that was that the candy station was by far the most popular. A link to a video about dna extraction is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p43UiNjytQQ . I don't think I need to link a video about the interview or candy Dna, but if you think I do tell me in the comments. Here are some pictures.

Now for the science behind the experiments. For the Dna extraction lab: So what happens is that the person will crush some strawberries in a bag then add the extraction buffer this is a mixture of soap and water. The soap helps remove grease and impurities. After that the person puts cheese cloth over the funnel placed on the test tube and pours the mixture in. Once this happens ethanol is added and small bubbles will begin to appear this is the dna. Traits of AISZ: This experiment is to see wether more people have the dominant or recessive traits such and hitchhiker's thumb(dominant) or do not have hitchhiker's thumb(recessive). And lastly the dna model building: dna is in the shape of a double helix and the sides are made up of dioxyribose and phosphates. There are four nitrogen bases within the dna Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, and Guanine they pair up respectively. As I have previously said this lab has a tendency to attract the most people.

After an hour and a half we went to normal classes. After two periods we got back to science day, but instead of doing the presentations we went to see other peoples. First we saw the 11-12th grade. The two I went to were the wave length one which before they got the machine working was gravity hammer, and the equilibrium lab. The gravity hammer was a hammer being held up by a piece of wood and string. The wave length lab was a piece of string moving back and forth very fast and it showed a wave. The equilibrium lab was three popsicle sticks holding each other up. this could happen because all the forces on the sticks were equal. Other labs I didn't see were light refraction and lemon power. After 11-12th grade presentations we went to the tenth grade presentations. The tenth grade did theirs on nuclear power. They tried to convince people that it was a good thing and that a nuclear power plant does not make bombs. They convinced me and made me believe it is good.

Once we were done there we moved on to SK and the second graders. The second graders I saw were doing a lab about colors within colors. Such as in black there is all colors. I didn't get to see what the rest of the second grade was doing so please tell me in the comments so I can add it in. Back to science day. When we went to SK they showed us what floats and sinks, the other children did what rolls and stacks. After these exciting presentations we had to go back and do ours again for the parents. When it was all over and done we cleaned up and went home.

The next scribe is Vance.

Class of February 8th, 2011

In class on Tuesday we finished checking the Punnett Square Practice and More Punnett Square Practice worksheets, then received our group schedules for science day on Thursday, February 10th.

After we looked the schedules over, we started work on the trait portion of science day, collecting information from the class on phenotypes for several different characteristics, then noting them down and writing them on the board.

Our homework, which can be found on Moodle, is to read pages 92-96 and 110-121. These pages are on the topic of mitosis and meiosis, and pedigrees and karyotypes of genetic disorders. We will be required to participate in class discussion on these.

Example of a Karyotype Profile

The Genetics Test is on Thursday, February 17th, with a review session during class and lunch (if needed) on the 15th of February.

The test will cover the following:

The Tour of the Basics

DNA Structure and Parts

The DNA Extraction Lab

Our Genetics Presentations

Punnett Squares

Meiosis

Inherited Traits/Mutations

and Pedigrees and Karyotypes

Punnett Squares on Thursday, February 3 and Dragon Genetics on Friday, February 4

Hi Everyone

On Thursday and Friday we mainly focused on doing the Punnett Square problems and did a couple of other things.

The first thing we did on Thursday was go through the Punnett Squares Sheet. Which was due for homework. If you lost it and would like to go over it again you can find it here. After that we were given a choice of what we wanted to do. It was either to work on a new sheet which is due tomorrow or it was to do something on a website called Dragon Genetics. In the end the class decided to do the sheet which is called More Punnett Square Problems. And for the rest of the class we did the sheet that is due tomorrow. This also applies to people that did Math Counts. Remember to print it from Moodle if you already lost it. If you are unclear about Punnett Squares this video might help.

The picture below shows two different alleles matched up using a Punnett Square. The t means the height. An uppercase T means taller. A lower case means shorter. You can see that the parent on the left is taller because he has a dominant uppercase T and a recessive lowercase t. The top parent has two recessive alleles which means that he/she is shorter.

On Friday's class we went to the computer lab and did the activity that we chose not to do. We did the Dragon Genetics. That can be found here. The assignment we did on Friday was a website in which we chose the correct traits for a dragon given the alleles of the parents. After we did this we were free to do whichever topic we wanted from the we

bsite. This included things like incomplete dominance and co-dominance and how does DNA work.

Below: Gregor Mendel - Austrian Scientist and Monk (Creator of the Punnett Square)

Thanks for reading!

I almost forgot. The Next Scribe is Dan.

Genetics on Tuesday February 1st 2011

Hello Everyone!

On class on Tuesday we continued delving in the secrets of Genetics. The homework for Tuesday was the Bikini Bottoms Genetics which you can find here. At the beginning of class

Ms. D chose us to write down the exercises we did. Next, we continued on the Bikini Bottoms Genetics and we finished the rest of the problems in class. We received another piece of which can be found right here. The first six problems were a piece of cake but the following four were rather challenging.

An example of a problem would be:

1. In chimpanzees, straight fingers are dominant to bent fingers. Complete a Punnett square to show the genotypes and phenotypes expected for the following cross: heterozygous straight x homozygous bent (F – dominant; f - recessive)

F f

F FF Ff

f Ff ff

Genotypes: FF, Ff, ff Phenotypes: Straight Fingers, Straight Fingers, Bent Fingers

Percentages: Straight Fingers(75 %), Bent Fingers (25%). Ratio: 3:1

For homework we received another set of problems which cannot be found on moodle. A very helpful video can be found right here! In order to grade me you can look at the grading rubric right here. If you want to look at previous things we did, it is all on MOODLE.

The next scribe isssssss................ REZA!