Unit 4 Reflection

• What was this unit about? What were the themes and essential understandings?

We learned about gene related topics. We learned about what alleles are, and the difference between dominant and recessive genes. We also learned about the 2 sex chromosomes, and 44 normal chromosomes someone inherits from their parents. It is important to understand probability vs predictability. 

• Interpret how things went this unit by discussing either of the following, or both:
• Your strengths and weaknesses.

The terms are quite difficult to memorize in my opinion. I also think that some of the laws were difficult to memorize. It certainly isn't impossible, and memorization and biology come in a package. I was successful at actually understanding what is going on in these processes.

• What did you learn from these experiences?  

I learned how to identify what trait someone will have by their dominant and recessive genes. I also learned how to use a Puentt square to identify the probability of someone receiving a certain trait. The infographic basically helped me grasp these ideas better since I was needing to recall all the topics.

• What do you want to learn more about? What unanswered questions do you have? What do you wonder about?

I honestly don't really need to learn about anything else related to genes. Personally, i don't find genes a super exciting subject; however, it is cool understanding the basics. I am glad i have learned what I have learned, but I have no need to look further than i already have.

Learning how you learn

• What are your preferred learning styles (give your scores)?

Visual 11
Aural 8
Read/Write 7
Kinesthetic 7

• Did the results surprise you or were they what you would have expected?

I honestly didn't think i would be a multimodal learner. I don't know if i am too happy about being a multimodal learner because that means I need to study using multiple methods instead of one method. On the other hand, multimodal learning might be more useful to me in everyday scenarios.

• What do you do, and what can you do, to play to your learning style strengths as you prepare for your upcoming test?

I need to do spells of different learning techniques. Hopefully mixing up my learning techniques will help me take advantage of all my learning methods.

Coin Sex Lab Relate and Review

I learned about the difference between probability, and what actually happens during genetic inheritance. Coins were the alleles, and would land on a side randomly. This was showing how random some of the results could actually be. We also learned about how gene segregation affects the results of our experiment. We looked at homozygous and heterozygous traits, and determined the traits from the allele combination. We also did an experiment regarding a dihybrid cross, and that was the most difficult one in my opinion. During meiosis, chromosomes can go through recombination. This is when two chromosomes trade a piece of themselves, and this alters the gene possibilities. There are forty four autosomal chromosomes, and two sex chromosomes. The sex chromosomes are X-linked inheritance. We also saw monohybrid sets of genes in the start of our lab. One example of how the probability can be totally different from the outcome is our colorblind experiment. The probability was roughly twenty five percent of ten children would have colorblindness; however, five of our offspring had colorblindness. This means that we had an outcome of fifty percent. This means that probability is only effective to a certain extent. You can't determine what traits your child will have, but you are able to get a rough idea. Understanding this really makes understanding everyone's differences easy. It is quite amazing to see how so many different gene combinations can make everyone different. I now understand that it isn't possible to say that a baby will have blonde hair, but it is possible to say that there is a fifty percent probability of this child having blonde hair.

Genetic Infographic

Unit 3 Reflection

This unit was about how Photosynthesis worked, and all the details. I learned about how the cell was discovered, and also how the cell can be like a factory. It was essential to understand the parts of the cell, and how they affect the processes of the cell. It also was essential to understand the steps of photosynthesis. I was successful at understanding how photosynthesis worked, but memorizing all the parts of the cell was a setback. It also was difficult memorizing all the terms. I learned that memorization is a huge part of biology. I also actually began to understand what cells are. Cells have always been a mystery to me, and I actually understand how cells work. I want to learn more about how cells react. How do they know where they are going? Is is possible to watch a cell's processes? I am planning on reviewing all my notes, and looking at portions of vodcasts. I also am going to fill out some blank pictures of cells to try and test my understanding.

Egg diffusion lab

Kyle Chidlow

Period 4

October 7, 2015

Egg DiffusionLab

In this lab, we originally put some eggs into vinegar. This dissolved the shell, and then we start our experiment. We took two eggs (both of them have no shell, just membrane) and placed one into deionized water and the other one into sugar water. We left the eggs for a while, and then looked at them. The egg in deionized water got slightly bigger, for some reason the my group’s egg didn’t get bigger, and the egg in sugar water shriveled up. 

While looking at class data, it was common that the egg shrank when put into sugar water. This is because of a process called diffusion. Since the inside of the egg had a higher water content than the outside of the egg, the water moved out of the egg. This lead to an extreme decrease of the size of the egg. On the other hand, the egg size/mass increased when the egg was put in deionized water because the water passed inside the cell.

In this experiment, the cell membrane was pretty much the main reason anything changed in the cell. Diffusion was the main process that we tested in this experiment. This is probably why eggs are surrounded by a protective shell. The shell protects the egg against diffusion, and also things popping the egg. It also demonstrates how sensitive cells are to their surrounding conditions.

Vegetables are sprinkled with water because the skin of the vegetable can absorb that water. Salt is used to melt ice, but it destroys the plants on the side of the road. Usually there are not too many plants on the edge of a road where they salt the area all the time. 

After doing this experiment, I would like to test what different liquids do to an egg. How would lemon juice vs soap affect an egg? I would also like to test putting salt water on cells, and observing their changes in a microscope. This would be a very interesting way to observe the changes.

Macromolecules lab conclusion.

In this lab, we asked the question if macromolecules could be found in an egg cell. With use of the chemicals: Iodine, Sodium Hydroxide, Copper Sulfate, and Sudan III or IV, we were able to find the cells. When we were looking for monosaccharides, we found them in the egg white and yolk. When looking for lipids, we found them in the yolk, egg white, and membrane. We found protein in the yolk, egg white, and membrane. We on only found monosaccharides in the yolk and egg white. When testing for lipids, the chemical we used turned orange when lipids were present. When testing for protein, the chemical turned purple when the protein was present.When testing for polysaccharide, the chemical turned black when polysaccharides were present. The chemical turned green when monosaccharides were present. Since membranes are made out of lipids, it isn't a surprise that we found lipids in the membrane.Protein helps the egg develop, and we found protein in all parts of the egg. Polysaccharides provide energy/food for the egg, so its not too surprising that polysaccharides were found in all parts of the cell. The color changes support my claim because it is the only way to find out where and if the macromolecules are present. One error that might have occurred is contamination. This could lead to false results because of the color change even if there shouldn't be a color change. A second possible error is judgement. Judgement sounds like a silly error; however, it actually is very easy to come across. Sometimes the color may slightly change, so you need to determine if the macromolecules are/aren't present. My first recommendation would be to wash all the tools before changing parts of the egg. My second recommendation would be to get another persons opinion if you are not sure with the color change! The purpose of this lab was to separate the parts of an egg, and find out where certain macromolecules are located. I remember learning about the cell wall in class, and this experiment allowed us to take pieces of the cell wall, and test to see what macromolecules were there. After learning about this, you could use this knowledge with anything related to cells because you have physically touched and looked at one. Now you can use this as a visual whenever thinking about cells.

Are we alone in the universe?

After reading about the 20 big questions in science, I have chosen the question: Are we alone in the universe? I am interested in this question because it is a very interesting concept. If many planets in the universe can sustain life, then is there alien life out there?

1) How many of the stars we see in the sky actually still exist?
2) Can mars sustain micro-organisms because of the recent finding of streams?
3) Is it possible for a break in the time-space continuum?
4) Could a person safely travel through a wormhole if one existed?
5) Is the process of aging stoppable or reversible?
6) Are humans still evolving even though we have created adaptations around us?
7) Are the polar ice caps the world's air conditioning?
8) Can space travel at "warp" speed be possible?
9) If you shine a light into space, will the light keep going when you turn the source off like stars?
10) Is the aging process caused by your body fighting off bacteria?
11) How can chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer mutate cells?
12) Is it possible to use the earth's magnetic field to cause things to levitate?
13) What type of damage could the emissions of Volkswagen cars have done to the environment?
14) Why do objects create their own gravitation field with enough mass?
15) Why does the sun keep planets in an elliptical orbit, and not a circular orbit?
16) Why does coke dissolve a nail within 2 weeks?
17) When you pour acid on an object, how does it dissolve the object?
18) How do chemical reactions get affected by temperature?
19) Can we change the properties of a material? Example ( Make egg rubbery/bouncy)
20) How does cornstarch + water maintain a liquid and solid form at the same time?