Science 9

Google Hangout with Tanya Harrison Response

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Our science class had an awesome opportunity to do a Google Hangout with Tanya Harrison. She is a Ph.D. student in Geology at the University of Western Ontario, specializing in planetary science with the Centre for Planetary Science and Space Exploration (CPSX). She is also a professional photographer. From 2008 until 2012, Tanya was on the science operations team for NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Context Camera (CTX) and Mars Color Imager (MARCI) at Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS).

Our class got a time to ask questions to Tanya.

The questions that were asked :

  1. Weren’t you ever bored looking at all the pictures of Mars?
  2. What was the coolest thing that happened when you were working on the Mars Rover?
  3. Are there interesting facts about Mars recently?

She answered to the questions :

  1. I was never bored looking at the photos. They were always interesting to me because Mars is large and the photos were always different.
  2. When I got to work with cameras that will go to Mars.
  3. I heard that water is found in Mars.

 

This is a video of us doing the Google Hangout. Unfortunately, there was a problem going on to the computer so, only the first little part of the ‘CBL chat’ was filmed.

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http://tanyaofmars.com/ : This is her website and there are lots of information about her!!

It was a great experience to talk with an expert like Tanya. Our class learned lots of information from her and it was an awesome way to learn by doing a Google Hangout.

 

Matone De Chiwit

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Emily, Lucas, and I created a poster to help Karishma to support her project “Metone de Chiwit.”  We wanted her to use our poster  for advertising her project. The poster has a drawing of the water filters and informations about what it is, who’s it for, and what can YOU do. We encouraged people to create a poster like us and upload it to their social media with a tag of #MatoneDeChiwit

This is our email that we sent to Karishma.

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She didn’t reply us back yet but, we hope we get a email from her soon.

Modeling Mitosis

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In this lab our group used pipe cleaners and string to model mitosis

 

Interphase

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The small circle represents the nucleus and the bigger circle represents the cell membrane.

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There are chromatins inside the nucleus.

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During the interphase, all of the DNA is copied. We added the other half of the pipe clearners.

 

Mitosis

<Prophase>

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Replicated DNA molecules join together to form sister chromatids. Two same colour and size pipe cleaners are tied together.

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We added small strings to the cell, 4 at each end, to represent the spindle fibres.

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We attached the strings from either end of the cell to one of the sister chromosomes.

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The nucleus is removed.

<Metaphase>

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The chromosomes line up in the middle of the cell.

<Anaphase>

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We untied the sister chromatids and moved the 2 halves of each chromosome away from each other to opposite sides of the cell.

<Telophase>

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The spindle fibres disappears and 2 nuclear membranes form.

 

Cytokinesis

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Cell divides into two.

 

 

Citation : Worksheet given from Mr. Robinson

Mutation Story

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Part 1 : Mutation Story

Hi, I’m a gene from Connie’s body. My job is to tell the body how to make proteins and I also carry the information that determines Connie’s traits, which are features or characteristics that are passed on from her parents. I have been living in her for a long time so, I have lots of memories that I have made with her. I will tell you a story that happened 12 years ago.

It was when Connie’s body was just starting to develop. Her head, neck, and legs were all healthy. Everything in her body seemed just fine. However, it was the time to build her hands and feet when the problem developed. In my house, the 7th chromosome, is made out of DNA. I am also a small segment of DNA so, I guess I’m involved in this mutation.  A fragment of DNA moved out of our house(deletion) and that caused ectrodactyly, a syndrome of congenital absence of part or all of one or more fingers or toes. Generally it is known as split hand, cleft hand or lobster claw hand. Connie only had two fingers on her left hand and so as her feet. I heard from grandpa gene that ectrodactyly is a birth defect caused by an inherited gene mutation. Therefore, one of her parents would have this syndrome.

I went to a library and read a book about this syndrome to study if there would be more symptoms. For other additional symptoms, it can cause hearing loss and mental retardation due to the mutations in 7th chromosome. Luckly, Connie doesn’t have these symptoms. I don’t know why that fragment of DNA left our house and made this big disaster. Connie definetly looks different than others and that made me to worry if she would feel leftout.

However, as she grew, I didn’t had to feel that way. Connie was always happy how she can live in this beautiful world. She didn’t care about the difference of her hand and feet. She had not much problem after physical therapy to help her how to write and pick up things. Thankfully she grew into a positive person and Connie and I will have an awseome life later on.

Part 2 : The Making of Mutation Story

  • What questions did you need to research in order to create your mutation story?

The questions I had research : What is the definition of ectrodactyly? / What is the cause? / What happened to the gene? / What is the symptom? / Is there a treatment?

  • What new or familiar digital tools did you try to use as you worked through this project?

I used my familiar digital tools, Google and Youtube and tried a new digital tool which is http://creativecommons.org/

  • What was the process you used to investigate the topic?

There was a book about mutations and I read briefly what ectrodactyly is. Then, I used the Internet to research more about the syndrome. Therefore, I understood what it was and was able to write the story.

  • How did you verify and cite the information you found?

I verified it by checking many websites or Youtube videos to make sure the informations are correct. I recorded the link of every website or video that I used for the story. I also put a embedded link to make it easier for the readers to access the websites.

  • How did the process of completing this challenge go? What could you have done better?

I think the process went well for me. I could  clearly understand what this genetic mutation is. Explaining a genetic mutation by writing out a story was a engaging way to present.  However, if I do this again next time, I should prepare this earlier to get creative ideas of how to write the story and also to have more time to find good informations. It would have been more interesting if I made a video or a powerpoint.

Citations (Click in order to go to the website)

Pictures from : http://biomedicalephemera.tumblr.com/post/38393863999/skiagraphs-x-rays-of-the-hands-and-feet-of-a

http://drpanossian.com/surgical-solutions/hand-deformities/#ectrodactyly

Informations from : http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/e/ectrodactyly/intro.htm

http://emanuelkyoko-ectrodactyly.weebly.com/genetic-cause.html

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ectrodactyly

Ectrodactyly Ectodermal Dysplasia Cleft Lip/Palate

 

Edible DNA Model

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In our science class, we made DNA double helix out of marshmellows, licorice, and toothpicks.

DNA provies instructions needed to make the proteins and molecules essential for our growth, development and health.

 

Google hangout

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Our science class had a GHOA chat with NYU student, Karishma Bhagani.  The purpose of this is to get to know about Karishma’s project and we are going to try how we can help her to save the earth from polluted water.

Karishma is from Mombasa, Kenya and the picture below is where her hometown is located.

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She made a project “Matone de Chiwit” meaning “drops of life.” Her goal of this project is to provide a clean drinking water source to rural communities in Mombasa through a water filter unit made of locally available resources, costing less than $10 for a minimum of 18 months of use.

From this experience, I felt that it was really interesting that we could talk with her about her project, even though she lives far away from us. It was nice of her to share her story to us. Also it was a grateful event while Earth Day is coming close.

Our group prepared some questions to ask Karishma. The questions were “Who did you work with to create te system?” / “What Problems did you run into when making the system?” / ” Where do you see this project going?”

During the Google Hangout, we only had one question ask so, this is the question our group asked : What problems did you run into when making the system?

The answer she replied to us was : She tried chlorine to clean the polluted water but unfortunately she found out a way. A vegetable called drumsticks worked to clean the water.

The other groups asked :

  1. Do you think that the country Kenya is over looked?
  2.  Is it possible to use salt water from the ocean?

She answered :

  1. Many different developing countries in Asia or Africa are over looked.
  2. Salt water is full of saline so not at the moment but hopefully in the future.

This is a picture of us doing Google Hangout with Karishma Bhagani.

Measuring Current

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Purpose : Construct a circuit from a circuit diagram and use a ammeter to correctly measure current

Materials : 1.5 V cell, 3 Various bulbs(1.5V/ 3.0V/ 6.0V), connecting wires, switch, ammeter

Procedure :

  1. Construct the following circuit, using one of the light bulbs (leave the switch open)
  2. Close the switch brielfy and measure the current
  3. Repeat step 3 with the remaining light bulbs

Observations :

  • Our group didn’t use the switch
  • The bulb was turned on lightly

Result : 

Bulb type (V)              Measured Current (A)

Small                            0.4 A

Big                                 0.6 A

Oblong                          0.5 A

 

What did you find out?

1. Which circuit had the largest current?  The big bulb had the largest current

2. Which circuit had the smallest current? The small bulb had the smallest current

3. What is the purpose of the switch in this circuit? To allow and not allow currents to flow

4. When you measure an unknown current, you should start with the meter set to a large current scale and the decrease the scale. Explain the purpose of starting with a higher setting.      You can always make the scale smaller if it’s too large and it is easier to read on a larger scale than a smaller scale

Currents from the Kitchen

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1. Prediction: Potato will produce the most electric voltage because the juice from the potato will help to make a electric charge

2. Materials : Potato, Lemon, Orange, Voltmeter, 2 steel nails, 2 copper wires, 4 aligator clips, Miniature bulb

3. Procedure :

a) Insert 1 steel nail and 1 copper wire to the potato

b) Use 2 aligator clips to connect steel nail and copper wire to the voltmeter

c) Exchange the voltmeter to miniature bulb. See if the bulb lights up.

d) Record the results

e) Try lemon and orange with the same procedure

4. Results : 

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Potato : 1.5 voltes, didn’t turn bulb on

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Lemon : 2 voltes, didn’t turn bulb on

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Orange : 1.5 voltes, didn’t turn bulb on

5. Advanced Experiment :

Use both fruits, orange and lemon at the same time. Use 2 steel nails and copper wires. Connect the two fruits and the voltmeter with 4 aligator clips. Try the minature bulb to see if it lights up.

6. Result of Advanced Experiment :

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Orange and Lemon : 3 voltes, didn’t turn bulb on

7. Observations : 

  • It was 0 voltes when our group inserted 2 steel nails in one fruit
  • We should have checked if the light bulb actually turns on by a battery
  • It would have been better if we had more time to try other fruits or vegetables

8. Questions : 

If your bulb doesn’t glow, how can you find out if electrons are flowing?  I can use a voltmeter to find out if electrons are flowing.

If your bulb doesn’t glow, why not?  It might not have the power to light up the bulb.

What is causing electrons to flow in this experiment? The aligator clips allows electrons to flow.

How can I use this in my everyday life?  I can use this when power goes out.

9. Conclusion : My prediction was incorrect. Lemon produced the most electric voltage.