Author: Jon Szto

Science DNA Lab

Relating chromosomes, DNA and genes

Chromosomes are double helix structures that is formed of DNA and proteins. Chromosomes are found in the nucleus and they contain and organize genes.

The pieces of the lab

Licorice – Phosphate Backbone

Marshmallows – Bases of the DNA.

Green – (G)uanine

Pink – (C)ytosine

Yellow – (A)denine

Orange – (T)hymine

Without mutations, A-T, G-C are always bonded together.

Understanding the structure of DNA

It created a visual and physical structure for me to personally learn the structure of DNA.

 

Observing Cells Lab

Animal Cell:

The animal cells look like small popcorn kernels with a dot in the middle.

The cytoplasm and the nucleus is visible.

 

Plant Cell:

The plant cells look like the scales on a fish.

The cytoplasm and membrane are visible.

 

General Questions:

 

Finding the differences in animal and plant cells

  • Plant cells have much more visible membranes.
  • Plant cells have more of an oval shape.
  • Plant cells are larger.
  • Animal cells have a visible nucleus.
  • Animal cells have a more round shape.
  • Animal cells are smaller in size.
  • Animal cells move easier.

Why methylene was important in the animal cells

The methylene was used to highlight bacteria and DNA in the animal cells.

Reflection

I’ve learned how to properly use a microscope, when to use methylene and how to extract animal cells from ourselves and viewed the different visible parts of the animal and plant cell.

 

Solution Fluency Electricity Project

Define:

Communication is essential to lives no matter religion, ethnicity or culture. We all communicate in different forms and ways and communication is home to one of the fastest growing industries. We’re finding ways to connect to one another in so many different ways, and it only keeps growing.

Our innovation proposal is to aid rural communities across the world with affordable, environmental-friendly devices used solely for communication purposes to help in emergency situations.

Discover:

We have been looking into the materials that produce our current cellular devices, and also seeing how we can make a past cellphone even better than what we see now.

We have also been looking into easily-accessible and sustainable energy sources such as solar power to keep the overall cost low and to ensure our device is accessible.

Dream:

Make a device that is accessible to rural communities.

Keep the cost of the device low.

Sustainable / Accessible power source.

Basic communication specs.

Use recycled parts. (calculator solar panel, phone body)

Help small, rural communities contact each other in emergency situations.

Deliver:

In-class presentation.

The Friday Everything Changed

The Friday That Everything Changed

  1. The boys were upset of the idea of the girls carrying he bucket because the bucket was a representation of status for the boys. It was the symbol that they were the strongest and the best, and the moment they realized that there would be more competition only made them even more upset that they would have less of a chance.
  2. The boys attempt to exclude the girls from their social activities, to try and create a mob of hate towards Alma. They continue to harass and bully Alma themselves, attempting to create a sense of regret for the girls. Although the girls believed Alma made the wrong decision in the beginning, deeper into the story, the girls stuck together with integrity and continued to ignore all threats and bullying.
  3. The story is told by a narrator, and is told with a limited-omniscient style. The narrator gives Ms. Ralston a positive tone, with only positive remarks made. The narrator mentioned her education, how all the kids liked her, her new ways of teaching and the way she defied the tradition at the school. The story is told from a narrator’s point of view.
  4. The setting was in a time post – World War II, in a one classroom school located somewhere in rural Ontario. The setting intensifies the person vs. society conflict because the traditions and history of inequality is more present into less-developed areas. With the softball conflict, the girl’s kind of just tag along the boys and are just there but don’t do much, because they do not have the materials or the people to have their own team to even prove themselves.
  5. The protagonist is Alma Nyles. Alma was the one who decided to defy the traditions, question the system in place and create change. Throughout the story Alma stays strong ignoring the hate towards her. She stands by her words and was the one who ultimately changed everything.
  6. On that Friday, the girls now had access to carrying the water bucket, but ultimately the girls now had a stronger social status in the class. They now have a different perspective on genders and differences between one another. Miss Ralston’s home run in the end sealed off the idea that girls could be just as strong as the guys and that genders do not play a role to decide whether somebody can do something or not.

 

Sonnet Writing

Photography at it’s best.

 

Buildings and selfies, roses and carnage.

We praise the mundane content we dislike,

And create exactly the same garbage.

We think we’re creative, yet we’re all alike.

 

A thousand words fit great in an image,

Yet we cannot fit anymore than two.

We lift ourselves waiting for praise and rage,

Spending too much time thinking what to do.

 

Simplicity is the best personality,

What others dislike, is your key to create.

An image telling your story is specialty,

Create and enjoy, look back and relate.

 

Having an image that tells us your story,

Is the first step, seeking ultimate glory.

Static Electricity Unit

Throughout exploring about static electricity in science, I’ve been making new discoveries and also using the existing skills from past science classes to use in order to make larger discoveries and more complicated labs.

The most important lessons I’ve learned have been that certain materials carry certain charges. Prior to this discovery, I thought that certain materials could just carry bigger charges because of the friction it created, but now I’ve finally learned that some materials carry out charges differently.

Adding to that, learning that same charges repel has also been a key part of my learning of static electricity. I never knew that equivalent charges repelled, and I had never even wondered. This was an important discovery because of the different experiments I could now attempt to create a repelling soda can be much easier, rather than just randomly selecting different materials and rubbing them together in hoping they would repel the can.

And third of all, understanding insulators was a key part of understanding static electricity. Knowing that there are certain materials that can end the electric charge was very important to build a mini-circuit such as connecting arms and creating the circuit as we did in class.

In the early stage of our unit, we used electroscopes to discover the reactions of different materials with different charges. This lab allowed me to experiment with materials I haven’t messed around with too much and to discover the strength of certain material combinations that created a strong charge. It helped with the introductory discovery how everything worked, and generally gave me a better idea of what was going on with the charges and why everything happens the way it does.