Calvin's reflection post

I read over the comments on my posts and they were long. I thought that they all had some good critism. I think that I should work on my grammer and learn to stick to one way of saying DNA. I also think that I should have used the pictures from that day when I had access to them. I also agree with what manny people said and that was I did not cover the class of that day. For my next posts I will take more definint notes and make sure I have included all the information I should. I also think that I should include more links and pictures, this is just a personal opinion no one said this. I also believe that I need to spell check all of my work before I post it. I will also make my post more formal in the future. I think that I have improved though. This time round my youtube link was correct and I also had less errors than last time. I have improved but I don't think that it was that signifigent a change. I hope that in the last quater that I will finaly have a perfect post. And I also went into more detail about the science. I think that there is a lot of room for improvement and I hope to fill it. I like using the blog because if you don't understand something you can usually refer to the blog for a more vivid description. It is also a great source of information. I also think that it could use some improvment. One idea I had was that people are not required to do a certain class but instead get to pick one and when they post it. And when I say this i imply that there is a time when a class can no longer be posted on. I also think that if we had a certain number of posts we have to do a quater and you get to pick which class you do and not have someone pick what class you are doing. Of course this is just my personal opinion.

Bryce Reflection post

I feel that I improved in blogging by not putting everything into huge paragraphs and blocks of text and instead putting everything in short paragraphs. I believe I could improve by checking my spelling and grammar. I believe that the blog is useful so that people can find out what is happening in the class. I do not like the fact that people g crazy with colors and make posts hard to read and that they complain about being to scientific on a science blog.

Dan's Reflection Post

I think I could improve my scribe posts by making them more in depth with their description of the science we use in class. While I think I gave a good overview of the major topics we covered, I definitely could've explained the science aspect of the class more. People also commented I needed to include more picture/multimedia (and make them work). I feel I've improved greatly from the first quarter, especially in my ability to summarize classes (and get things in on time).

Some benefits to using a class blog can be that it's easier to see what we've covered for the day if you were absent (or not paying attention), and having all this information makes it easy to go back and study for a test. However, I feel that too much work goes into using the blog, especially since we could be spending it doing other science-related work.

Noam's Reflection Post

I felt I did a better job this quarter because I was more organized. First I wrote my post on a piece of paper and than copied it into a word document. After a spell check I put it in blogger. I also think I did a better job is because I really enjoy studding about astronomy. I had 2 pictures and a link to a video about the power of the universe.

Next time I will put captions on all off my pictures. I will also put a link to the 8th grade science moodle page instead of just to moodle. I will also try to be clearer in the "Did you know" sections.

Benefits of having a class blog is that we get to use technology more. Also if you where sick that day you know what happened in class and you know what things you missed. Also other people see it. Disadvantages of a class blog is that sometimes technology is hard to use. Also the person writing the blog post might not have explained the class good enough that people that are absent might not understand the class.

Valentin's Reflection Post Q3

As I read in the comments I obviously got much better. Me personly I do think that I have progressed with my English-skills and I also did with my Blog, because I have earned more experience in blogging. But it seems like my Blog was odd and boring looking so I am going to change my font and use more colours. Also I forgot to give multiple links/sources. In case I'd get sick the Blog would definitely clarify in much detail what we did in class. But otherwise I could just simply ask someone for it who could exactly tell me what was important, which means that the Blog is a bit unnecessary.

Antonia’s Reflection Post

I feel that I improved this quarter by having a better organized scribe post, which I did not have last quarter. I also did not make any spelling and grammar mistakes, and paid closer attention to the sentence structures. I feel that I need to improve my explanation of tthe science. I still do not explain labs that were we did or are doing detailed enough.

I think there are quite a few benefits of using a class blog. It makes it easier for people that were sick to catch up and understand what we did during science class. It is also good for people that did not understand the lesson very well and want to review it at home. I did not like that Blogger sometimes does not let me post something, or just deletes it.

Fabi's Reflection Post

I feel I've improved at blogging this quarter, because I've learned to link to more than Moodle, and post more than one picture. I've learned that apart from linking to all the websites we talked about during the class, I should post additional websites or videos. Therefore, in the future I want to do all of these. I also need captions for all my pictures, and my post should be more in depth, especially when it comes to the science. There are definitley some benefits to blogging, such as always knowing what you missed if you were sick or weren't able to come to school that day. Also, it's great practice and you always learn something new when you write your posts, because you have to look for videos and websites. When I study for a test, I also check the blog, because most of the time it's very helpful.

Gio's Reflection Post

I feel that I have improved as a scribe this quarter by explaining in more detail what was going on during class and including more science into the posts. Also, I think that I can organize better the scribe post in general and add more particular information to it. What I should improve in, is including more extra videos or links to interesting and relating websites. I should also include more definitions to scientific vocabulary, because people outside of the class might not understand it otherwise. I like the fact that we, as a class, use a blog. I think that it's very useful to continue it, because when anyone is absent it's possible to see whatever has been done during class, so it's easier to catch up with the rest of the class. Also, people from the outside can understand, too, what we're currently studying. Finally, there is nothing I actually dislike about this project.

Reza's Reflection Post

I think that this quarter I improved my scribing by adding more detail to my post. I think that I can improve my posts in the future by making sure to add a useful video that is interesting and not too basic.

I think that one benefit of using a class blog is having an extra place to see what's for homework. Another benefit would be that we can know what we studied in class. Those two reasons depend on whether the post includes these things. I did not dislike any part of this project.

Vance's reflection post

I feel that as a scribe, this quarter I have improved in my responsibility. As in checking the rue-brick to make sure all of the elements of the post are there, as well as preparing ahead like taking notes about what we have done in class. What I need to improve in is double checking my work. Mostly to catch small mistakes like capitol letters and to make sure my sentences are understandable. The benefits of using a class blog are being able to easily recall what we did in a previous science class, having all of the homework in one place for you and it is also a good study tool to remind us of what we did so we would know what to study for a test. Lastly I cannot think of anything that I do not like about this project.

Viktor's Reflection Post for the 3rd Quarter

I feel that I have improved a lot on my scribe post since last quarter. I went thorough the rubric more carefully this time, and I made sure to preview my post before posting it.

According to my commenters, I improved because...

• I Included detail and neatness
• I had many pictures (with captions) and hyperlinks
• I had a good video, which was embedded into the post
• I used color
• I added a "definitions" part at the end
• I added more information about havin 3 sex chromosomes and genetic disorders
• I had accurate Science
• I elaborated
• I had real photos of people in our class
• I didn't include a long and complicated introduction about the blogging requirements this time, which a couple of people didn't like last quarter

The things I could improve on for next time are...

• Not having the whole first section of my post filled mainly with pictures
• Defining words that we used in a project, etc
• Talking more about the projects we do and why we are doing them
• Going even more in-depth with the science
• Including even more color
• Making my post more interesting by adding more emotion in my voice and making it more catchy
• Follow these eleven tips

In addition to all of those, for this particular post, the things I should have changed are...

• Making sure that my hyperlinks are visible and are not the same color as the text
• Including 3rd quarter in my title
• Expanding more on the Punnett Square's relation to genetics
• Choosing such a confusing song to put in the post
• Explaining more about having 3 sex chromosomes, because most 7th graders didn't understand it

The benefits of using a class blog are several. For me, a blog is much easier to look at than for example checking everything on Moodle. It is also easier, for me at least, to read something written by my classmates than by a teacher, because it is written in a language that I understand better and that I hear every day. I also like commenting a lot because it improves my writing, thinking, and reading skills! There isn't really anything I don't like about blogging - it is modern, fast, easy, yet fun. I would like it a little bit more if we had more options to choose from, such as fonts, and more. It is also very complicated putting in pictures the way I want them to, and making them smaller/bigger. Other than that, I think that Blogger is much better than WordPress because of its simplicity. I want us to continue doing this!

I also just noticed that I can change the color of the post on any web browser except for Google Chrome!

Teréz's Reflection post

I feel that this quarter it was a lot easier than last quarter, because I knew what I had to do. I also think that my spelling and grammar had improved a lot and I could express myself easier. I have to work more on giving details for everything and finding some more related links and videos.

I think the benefit of a class blog is that you can just look and see what you mist when you are sick and you can check if there is homework if you don1t know or forgot. Another good thing is that people who are not in the school or class can check out what the class was doing what I thing is very interesting. A bad thing is that some people who never check the blog miss their turn.

Ciprian's Reflection Post

I feel I improved as a scriber this quarter by adding more links and using the blogger interface better. Next quarter I believe it is necessary to work on my spelling, and add a lot more science into my writing. I also need to do my post on time. The benefits of using a class blog is that students that were sick can catch up on the work they missed in class and students can also check their homework. It is bad to have a class blog for four quarters in a row because by the time we get to the last quarter most people lose their enthusiasm about doing the best posts and comments they can the quality of the blog drops significantly.

Iva's Reflection Post

I feel that by now I can write a blog post much easier. I do not have as many problems with technology because I learned that I have to write in everything right away, without copying from a Word document. It is not frustrating me as much. I need to improve in putting in more pictures and writing everything we covered in class and be more thorough.

The benefits of having a class blog is that you can always check it if you are sick, and the non-benefits are that Blogger can give some problems, and that comments get deleted very easily. My comments got deleted quite a few times and that was very irritating.

Sophie's Reflection Post

Overall, I think I did a lot better job on my scribe post for this quarter. I added pictures and hyperlinks but could have explained the pictures better (more in depth). Also, I should have added more information about other subjects we talked about during class. Lastly, I could have put a "fun" video to make my post more interesting.

The class blog has it's benefits. Like, it makes us pay more attention in class if it is our turn to scribe. Also, if anyone is gone, it is very helpful to be able to go to the blog and see what they missed. Another reason, others who don't go to our school get to see what we do and learn in science class in an other part of the world. The only thing I don't like about blogging is that Blogger isn't that easy to use and sometimes you can't do everything you want.

Thursday 24, 2011

On Thursday’s science class the first thing we did was look at the homework that was due. Ms. D made sure that we understand what we needed to do by going over it.

Tuesday- Apod #3

- Phases and Eclipses lab

Thursday- Reflection post

- Send someone outside of the AISZ community an email with the link to our blog. Make sure to CC Ms.D in it.

All the homework that is due is also on moodle. This picture above shows Cernan Flanked on the moon

After that, Ms. D checked our homework that was due on Thursday, which was:

-How many Apollo missions were there to the moon?

• There were 6 Apollo missions to the moon, but 17 in total.

-How many men officially walked on the moon?

• 12 men have officially walked on the moon.
• Ms.D also wanted us to remember these two people: Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin(Buzz)
• Neil Armstrong: one small step for man, one giant leap for man kind

Another thing that we talked about in class was the ISS and the space shuttle program. The ISS( International Space Station) is a working and living environment. We also talked about that the space shuttle program ends this year.

We ended the class with the Phases and Eclipses Lab. The teams finished drawing the pictures and some even went to the computer lab to finish the summery.

We had had to include 8 drawing of the moon, one of a lunar eclipse and one of a solar eclipse in the lab.(new moon, waxing crescent moon, first quarter moon, waxing gibbous moon, full moon, waning gibbous, last quarter/ third quarter moon, waning crescent, lunar eclipse, solar eclipse)

22/3/11 Science Class

First, we talked about the upcoming homework that is due. This is it:

Thursday, March, 24th (tomorrow)

- Send Ms. D and e-mail about any Astronomy-related topic from TED talks (www.ted.com) with the name of the presenter, the title of the video, and 5 things you learned. Also, if you think the presenter was a good presenter or not.

- How many Apollo missions to the moon were there?

- How many men officially walked on the moon?

Friday, March 25th

-Last blog comment, make sure you know whether to do 7th or 8th grade.

If you need to know any more here is the link to 8th grade science Moodle.

After our class discussed the homework, Ms. D reminded us how our 2nd APOD was due.

Then, we finished our diagram of the seasons (equinox, solstice, etc.) as we added the southern hemisphere. Here is what we wrote on our diagram:

Northern hemisphere: Vernal equinox - March 21st, equal day and night

Winter solstice - December 21st, longest night and shortest day, points away from sun

Autumnal equinox - September 23rd, equal night and day

Summer solstice - June 22nd or 23rd, points towards sun, longest day and shortest night

Southern hemisphere: Autumnal equinox - March 21st, equal day and night

Summer solstice - December 21st, longest day and shortest night

Vernal equinox - September 23rd, equal day and night

Winter solstice - June 22nd or 23rd, longest night, shortest day

Ms. D later showed us a video about the Earth with it's equinoxes and solstices (seasons).

After, we went through a P.P about the moon and took notes. These are some of the notes:

-Waxing = bigger

- Waning = smaller

- About 4.6 billion year old

- 384,000 km from the Moon to Earth

- The Moon orbits the Earth at 3,700 kmph

- The gravity of the Moon = 1/6 of Earth

- There is no atmosphere and that's why foot prints don't disappear

- Galileo was the first with a telescope

- There is a Gravity Lock with Earth which means that it is always in orbit with Earth and the distance always stays (about) the same

- You can only see 1 side of the Moon

- Gravity does NOT equal magnetism

- There is 1 lunar cycle = 29.5 days

- Full Moon rises at sunset

- Everyone can see the same thing in the sky

- In craters, ice deposits have been found

- Tides are controlled by the Moon

After that, our class did a fun exercise with Oreos. We had to create the 8 phases of the Moon with 2 Oreos and the white frosting from them. For example, new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter, and waning crescent. The best part was we got to eat them after!

Next, we started the Moon Lab. We labeled it in our notebooks and got started. Our class didn't get to finish, but will continue it on Thursday.

The next scribe is Antonia! :)

Thursday 17th, 2011 - Science Class

Hello 8th graders,

Thursday in science class we learned many things;
Ms. D. started off by updating us about the news in Japan; and to know more about it, click here.
Next, Ms. D. showed us an example of a well-done APOD. To write and do well an APOD, we should concentrate more on the subjects hyperlinked, not on the actual picture we choose. Here you can find the Moodle page in which the APOD example is saved.
And this is the website of the Astronomy Picture Of the Day.

Then, we received an article (which is in Moodle) about the satellite MESSENGER, that has finally made it to Mercury.
The satellite was launched in 2007, but because of the speed of Mercury, it took very long for it to actually reach the planet.
At a first glance, Mercury seems very close to Earth and very easy to reach, but it actually travels at an average speed of 106,000 mph (miles per hour), and is very close to the Sun. Also, a curious fact about Mercury is that one side of the planet is extremely hot and the other side is extremely cold. So, the satellite had to have features that could stand both temperatures to get close to it. Scientists from NASA, in order to make MESSENGER reach Mercury, had to speed the satellite up to 65,000 mph and make sure that it could stand extreme temperatures. You can find a video about future movement of the MESSENGER to study Mercury here.

Later on, we looked at some pictures about world time zones and latitude and longitude.

World time zones:

In this picture you can see all the world time zones. They are labelled in different colors, and chosen by the actual country. Every color corresponds to a number listed underneath the world map with the same color. Some countries have time zones labelled as -3 1/2, or +9 1/2, just because the country chose so.


And latitude and longitude:

This picture, then, shows the latitude and the longitude of Earth. The latitude goes from North to South, while the longitude goes from West to East.








After looking at these pictures, we corrected our homework.
The homework was to label summer solstice*, winter solstice*, autumnal equinox* and vernal equinox* in the map we drew in class and to answer these questions:

1) How many different divisions of NASA are there and where are they located?

2) What does ESA stand for, where is it located and what countries are involved in it?

Here are the answers.

1)

- NASA Headquarters: Washington D.C.

- Marshall- Huntsville, AL

- Ames- Moffett Field, CA

- Goddard- Greenbelt, MD

- Johnson- Houston, TX

- Kennedy, FL

- JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab)- Pasaden, CA

- Langley- Hampton, VA

- Glenn- Cleveland, OH

- White Sands, Cruces, NM

- Stennis- MS

- Dryden- Edwards, CA

- Wallops- VA

- IV & V Facility- Fairmont, WV

- Plum Brook- Sandusky, OH

2) ESA - European Space Agency

Headquarters in Paris; Austronauts Centers - Cologne, Germany; Astronomy Center - Madrid, Spain; Space Operations - Germany; Center for Earth Observations - Rome, Italy; Space Research and Tech Center - Netherlands.

The countries involved are: Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Ireland, Israel, Luxemburg, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, England, Sweden, Switzerland.

Finally, on Moodle, is posted all of the homework for this week and next week.

Some useful links would be:

ESA, NASA, and APOD.

The next scribe is Iva.

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*Summer Solstice: occurs when the axial tilt of Earth is most inclined towards the sun, on June 22nd/23rd. (Longer day, shorter night)

*Winter Solstice: occurs when the axial tilt is farthest away from the sun, on December 27th. (Longer night, shorter day)

*Autumnal Equinox: occurs when the axial tilt is neither towards the sun nor far from it. Happens on September 23rd. (Equal night and day, 12h each)

*Vernal Equinox: occurs when the axial tilt is neither towards the sun nor far from it. It happens on March 21st. (Equal night and day, 12h each)

Friday, March 18th

During class on Friday, we first went over our homework.
Our homework was to find out:
How many divisions of NASA there are, what they are, and where they are located. Then, we also had to find what ESA stands for, where it is located, and which countries are involved in it.
The answers to our homework were:
There are 15 divisions on NASA (including NASA headquarters). They are:
(Division- Location)
NASA headquarters- Washington DC
Marshall- AL
Ames- CA
Goddard- MD
Johnson- TX
Kennedy- FL
JPL- CA
Langley- VA
Glenn- OH
Dryden- CA
White Sands- NM
Stennis- MS
Wallaps- VA
IV & V Facility- WV
Plum Brook- OH

Second, we went over our homework for the next three weeks.
1. We had a APOD due Tuesday at 8:00. (We can send Ms. D a rough draft on Monday)
2. For Thursday, we have a Ted Talk due, on anybody presenting astronomy related topics.
3. And due Friday, we have our last blog comment due.
For the other two weeks, you can click here and you will be able to see what our homework is.

After that, we talked more about the "super moon" (below),

and then we watched a video about how the MESSENGER entered Mercury's orbit, and how scientists are making it get into Mercury's orbit.
If you click here you will be able to see a few photos, and captions of the MESSENGER around Mercury.


We also watched a video about the moon, were it spoke about apogees and perigees.
An apogee is when the moon is farther away from the Earth, and a perigee is when the moon is closer to the Earth.

We drew a diagram which explained all that. Since I cannot draw the diagram, here is a picture that explains what they are in a simple way.

And that is all that we covered in class on Friday.

The next scribe is Sophie. :D

Science Class on March 15

Hi everyone!
In today’s class we did two main things. We talked about Japan and the Earth.
First Miss D. checked our moon homework.
Than she explained to us what happened in Japan in the last few days.
The picture on the right side shows some of the houses that collapsed because of the earthquake and the tsunami in Japan.
The other problem in Japan at the moment are the nuclear reactors which explode. Click here to see how nuclear reactor #3 explodes. It is pretty scary.


After we finished talking about Japan we went on to our actual topic, the Earth. The symbol of the Earth is a circle with a cross in the middle as you can see it on the left side. (If you can't see it click on it and it will become bigger). The four parts stand for the four elements.
Rotation: The Earth spinning around its own exes.
The Earths rotation takes 23 hours and 59 minutes. This happens counterclockwise.
Revolution: The Earth traveling around the Sun.
This process takes 365 1/4 days =365 days and 5 hours.
You can prove that a year is 365 1/4 days long, because of the Lap year every 4 years when 4 times 1/4 day makes one. This is when there is a February 29.
The distance on Earth is measured with longitudes and latitudes.
The prime meridian is at 0 degrees longitude.
The equator is at 0 degrees latitude.
The other two very important latitude lines are tropic of cancer, tropic of Capricorn. Tropic of Cancer is located at 23.5° N and the Tropic of Capricorn is located at 23.5° S.

This webpage gives you very interesting scientific facts about the Earth.
Here are some interesting facts about the Earth.

We didn't have homework, but you can still check out Moodle.

I hope you liked it.
The next scribe is Gio.

Friday, March 11: The Start Of Astronomy

Astronomy Picture of the Day: March 11

Today during class Ms. D. told us that most people did really badly on the little “What you know about astronomy” quiz, we have to start at the very beginning. Then Ms. D. gave us our debate grades back, and then we went back to astronomy. First Ms. D. gave us our homework.

Homework list:

1. 1.Moon- remember to put the direction of the moon and a picture or description about how the moon looks.

2. 2.The APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) –remember that you need to explain the science of the picture that you chose. You can choose pictures from August- December of 2010 and January-March of 2011. After you have chosen a picture and explained the science, you need to tell Ms. D. why you chose that picture (min 3 sentences). After you have done that, email Ms. D. at dani.dipietro@aisz.hr. This is due every Tuesday at 8 am

Link to APOD: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

Link to MOODLE for further info about science: http://zagreb.ceesa.net/

After we talked about the homework, we watched a video called Power of 10. Power of 10 talks about the size of the universe. The video showed us how big and small the universe is.

Did you know: If we traveled 10,000 light years away from earth, we will not be able to see the Milky Way galaxy; but if we travelled 100,000 light years away from earth, we will be able to the Milky Way galaxy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0

The link above is the link to the video we watched in class. Next class we will watch a newer version of the video.

The next scribe is TEREZ.

Class of Thursday, March 10th

Hello 8th Graders!

We started Thursday's class by checking our grades for comments and scribes, for those of us who have scribed. We had a comment due Friday for either the 7th or 8th grade blog. Also, we have to look up at the moon every night and write down what we see, then share these notes with Ms. D somehow.

We went down to the computer lab, and had to sit away from our partners or from people we debated against, because Ms. D sent us an email with questions about the debate. We had to answer these questions and email the answers back to her.

The questions were:

What is the basic debate about concerning the topic you researched? Please use some genetic and ethical reasoning when explaining this.

If you look from the ethical/moral side, what are the benefits and non-benefits of this debate for your team's side? What are the benefits and non-benefits of the other team's side? (pro vs. con)

If you look from a scientific/genetics side, what are the benefits and non-benefits of this debate for your team's side? What are the benefits and non-benefits of the other team's side? (pro vs. con)

Did you debate with your personal opinion on this topic or against your personal opinion? Why do you personally feel one way or another?

What overall affects do you think this debate topic will have on society in general (worldwide)? This should be a personal thought.

On Friday we will recieve the grade for our debate. The point of these emailed questions were to salvage our debate grades, because a lot of us did not use enough scientific vocabulary or didn't speak enough during the debate. Also, on Thursday we got back our Inherited Traits lab, and Ms. D congratulated us on our use of data, though she reminded us that the dominant and recessive actually had equal results, so neither of them was more common in AISZ. Also, those of us who have messy handwriting should have taken the time to redo our data table. We should remember to give our data tables and graphs appropriate titles.

From now on we have an assignment called APOD, which should be turned in every Tuesday. This is a continuous assignment througout our study of Astronomy. The website we are to use is

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

We have to chose one of the many pictures (there is a picture of space for every single day) and write two well-written paragraphs about it. The first one should be about the science and the second should be about why you chose the picture. You can find the guidelines and rubric on Moodle.

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

THE NEXT SCRIBE IS NOAM!!!!

Class of 3/8/11

This was the day which the debates happened. The two topics were; Embryonic stem cells, and genetically engineered children, which are commonly referred to as designer babies. Designer babies are quite literally babies that have been designed. So far all that can be selected for a child to have is; skin color,hair color,eye color, and gender. Embryonic stem cells are cells derived form embryos that can be used to create a cell culture of any type of cell.

Designer babies overview

Embryonic stem cells overview

There are two videos that briefly explain what the two topics are.

At the beginning of class we had fifteen minutes to make final preparations. Most groups printed out their text, organized what was going to happen or made a few final changes to their work.

To be fair Ms. D decided that a game of rock paper scissors would decide who would go first. One person from each of the topics was selected and the winning group would go second. The embryonic stem cell side lost the game and went first. Since it was an informal debate their was no order and when the starting speakers on each side had long introductions Ms. D told them to just convey the points with no accompanying science.

The con team took the approach that it is unethical and costs to much money to research and adult stem cells should be used instead. Adult stem cells are tissue samples taken from an adult who remains alive throughout the testing and then converted to use on other patients.
Example on how Adult stem cells to cure heart injuries

The pro team explained that it had the opportunity to save many lives with just one cell, and that it could be turned into anything and that the embryo most of the time would be aborted anyway so we should use the resource.

At the end there was a class vote. Most of the class thought that the pro had won, one person thought the con had won, and a few including Ms. D didn't know who won the debate.

We then immediately moved on to the designer baby debate.

The con team talked about the theoretical risks of creating babies like this such as eliminating helpful DNA by accident, Upset parents not getting what they paid for with the only 60% chance with the best luck, the wanting to create a pure society, intellectually difference causing gap between designer and natural babies much like the gap between rich and poor, the expense, and genetic war weapons (referred to in the debate as babies of mass destruction).

The pro team disputed the cons ideas by saying it was only theoretical ideas about what could happen. They also burst out laughing at the idea of babies of mass destruction and cast it off as irrelevant. The main point that was brought up was that diseases and mutations would no longer exist because they could be fixed before birth.

The end vote concluded that the pro team won this debate.

With this genetics is officially over and 8th grade is moving into astronomy.

To start this our homework is to record the position of the moon for seven days.
More information

The next scribe is Fabi.
If I forgot a point in the debate please tell me in your comment.

Scribe Post: Feb.28th-Mar.4th

Science classes during the week of Feb.28th-March 6th

March 1st:

First our class has discussed what we were going to need for the finished Inherited Traits Lab of AISZ, which we have already started on Science Day. We should take care of the graph, and make it well organized. Don't forget to have a title for the graph, and don't forget the conclusion paragraph. You must have 5 UVs and 3 CVs.

The Extra-Credit Karyotype Activity is going to be due Thursday March 3rd. You wil have to have all the matching chromosome on an A4 peace of paper and you will have to tell Ms.D if the person is a male/female and if he/she has a mutation or not.

After that we started discussing our new project: The Ethics and Genetics Fish Bowl Discussion. We are supposed to have a team in which we will eighter support Pro or Con-arguments of the themes: Embryonic Stem Cells/Genetics testing on babies.

1.) The embryonic stem cells theme is about taking cells from embryos which could help to heal cancer or other yet not healed sicknesses. But ethnic groups are having problems with that because it might kill embryos which they call life. On the right you can see how embryonic stem cells are produced.

2.) The Genetics testing on babies is mainly about: if parents should be allowed to change the phenotypes (looking) of their unborn child. Some say yes, some no.

Also don't forget to make a bibliography of all your sources you have used (in APA-format).The discussion is going to be 20 minutes per theme and you will discuss on Tuesday 8th March. We took cards which then split us up into 4 groups. Then Ms. D allowed us to go to the computer-lab to get some more general knowledge and first facts for the rest of the class. The picture on the left is suppose to show if people should play around with a baby DNA.

March 3rd:

On this day our teams again went the whole block into the computer-lab to collect more data. And take out the best arguments of the articles we read.

March 5th:

We only had 45 minutes that day and were again allowed to stay in the computer-lab the whole block. People were summarizing their work and finishing up their bibliographies and were ready to discuss on Tuesday March 8th.

You might want to use that Link to Moodle for the directions of the discussion: HERE

Next scribe is Bryce!