CBL artifacts of learning

2) The whole process started off a little bit slow with generating ideas.  Once we sat down in our groups and discussed how we wanted to impact people’s  lives. Skype chatting with Eladio and Dennis from the dominical Republic really broadened my knowledge about light poverty across the world. The next skype chat we had was with Mr.Fogarty and his students from New Brunswick. That chat was interesting for me because of Mr. Fogarty really explained his process and the tools that he needed and used. a lot of supplies and expenses was needed to create the lights. My group decided that we would help the most if we would fundraise money for the costs and expenses of the materials needed to actually create lights for those in light poverty. we struggled a bit finding time and dates to hold the Fundraisers and really only wanted to only put our best work forward. We eventually decided to create a class video, where we would interview all the students in the class and ask them their story and contributions for engineering brightness. The video above features some of the students from our class that really succeeded in many ways. Interviewing my peers was uplifting of me because I realized that not many kids get the opportunity to actually build lights or be involved with a process like this and I am grateful that I got to experience it. I feel that with this video clip created by my group and I posting it on social media platforms such as youtube is a great way to get the word out here and I truly believe that it will help address the problem with light poverty and bring awareness.

3) Working in a group has always been a little tough for me because I tend to not voice my opinion or contribute as well as others. After working with my group I really feel that I have developed a skill in teamwork. Also communicating and emailing back and forth with other educators broaden my skills in digital communication. working with my group was the highlight of my experience and  I feel that I have met my learning goals because now further going into the future and working with other peers through my years at high school and life,  I don’t feel that I will be afraid to step out of my shell and contribute my work forward.

4) In my opinion, the collaboration went very well and successful. We created a Video clip of our classes experience and brought awareness to light poverty in The Dominican Republic and across the globe.  Working with others can be challenging at times because we all have different takes on situations and thoughts. I would say that the thing we could improve on is thoroughly planning ahead and not taking it day by day. In some cases taking that approach has worked to my advantage but most of the time things come out clearer and more successfully when you plan ahead and prepare, in my opinion. One thing that I did well was taking in everyone’s thoughts and ideas and respecting them. I felt that our group felt comfortable expressing themselves. I feel that the connections based learning experience was a positive way of learning. I learned things via skype chat etc that I have never done before. It really opened up my knowledge and made me creatively think in new ways.  I think over all connections based learning and engineering brightness helped me step out of my shell and look at new ideas or things in a new positive way.

 

 

How do cells multiply

Asexual Reproduction:

  • Asexual reproduction is naturally how clones are formed. Clones are used in agriculture and research in order to develop dissed organisms, tissues and genes. Budding, fragmentation, vegetative reproduction, and spore formation are all types of asexual reproduction. One organism that reproduces by budding is bacteria and yeast. An example of fragmentation is annelid worms, mitochondrial eukaryotic. Organisms that use  Vegetative reproduction are plants and crops such as corn, apples, mangoes and avocados. organisms that reproduce by Spore formation: Eukaryotic organisms, plants, algae,
    and fungi.  Some advantages of asexual reproduction are, large numbers of offspring are produced very quickly from one parent. Another advantage is that energy is not required to find a mate. And lastly large colonies form that will out-compete other organisms.  Some Disadvantages of asexual reproduction is when you have one negative mutation, it can affect the whole offspring and can destroy large numbers of offspring because they are all genetic clones. Another is the fact that uncontrollable conditions such as extreme temperature change can wipe out entire colonies.

Sexual Reproduction

  •     The production of a new living organism by putting together genetic information from two different individuals (male/Female). One individual (male) produces a small gamete that travels to fuse with a larger gamete produced by the other (female). What sex a baby will be is decided when the egg and sperm meet. Each egg and each sperm have one sex chromosome. There are two kinds of sex chromosomes X and Y. Eggs carry only an X and sperm carry either an X or a Y. X+X means the cell will develop into a  girl. X+Y means that it will develop into a boy. Once you are born, you will grow up into a unique human being there’s no-one else like you in the world. Even identical twins are not exact copies of each other they each have their own personalities.

 

Mitosis; a process that divides and genetically copies cells. ( 4 stages/ PMAT)  

Early Prophase

  • The replicated chromosomes coil up into x-shaped chromosomes.
  • the nucleolus will disappear
  • the nuclear membrane will begin to break down
  • spindle fibers begin to form

Late Prophase  

  • the spindle fibers complete forming
  • chromosomes attach to the spindle fibers

Metaphase 

  • the spindle fibers pull the X-shaped chromosomes into a single line across the equator of the cell

Anaphase

  • spindle fibers begin to contract and shorten pulling the chromosomes apart
  • the sister chromatids move to opposite poles of the cell
  • once separated there are all considered chromosomes

Telophase 

  • there is a new complete set of chromosomes at each end of the cell
  • spindle fibers disappear
  • nuclear membrane reappear around each set of chromosomes
  • a nucleolus appears the cell can now divide.

 

 

 

 

 

Miosis

  • MEIOSIS I:  Pairs of chromosomes are lined up at the center of the cell and then pulled to each side. Meiosis is a bit different than mitosis because there something called crossing-over happens with the DNA. This crossing over is an exchange of genes. Normally the cell would begin to go about and slowly duplicate the chromosomes for another mitosis division. Since this is meiosis, there is a very short interphase and division begins again.
  • MEIOSIS II: In Prophase II the DNA that remains and the cell begins to condense. Each chromosome pair has a centromere. The centrioles also begin traveling to opposite sides of the cell. In Metaphase II all of the chromosomes line up along the center of the cell for duplication. Anaphase II,  the chromosomes split and move to opposite sides of the cell. Each one splits into two pieces. They don’t divide up the DNA between the new cells; Each daughter cell will get one-half of the DNA needed to make a fully working cell.

Organism growth 

Pollination; pollen is a substance that is powdery typically yellow, it is discharged from a male plant. pollen is transferred by bees, hummingbirds, moths, the wind, flies, and people.

Fetal development; Embryonic development is the stage that occurs before the fetus begins to develop. (There are 3 trimesters or stages)

  • The first trimester; developing an organ system. Time from fertilization= 8 weeks. length of embryo/fetus= 9cm
  • The second trimester; growth of the fetus, time from fertilization= 12-16 weeks. Length of fetus= 35cm
  • The third trimester; continued growth of the fetus, time from fertilization= 32 weeks, length of fetus= 40-50cm.

External Fertilization; Through a process called spawning a male and female fish would release their sperm or egg cells that unite outside their bodies. When the sperm cell reaches the egg cell that’s when the fertilization has begun. This process is normally common with underwater species.

 

Citation

https://sbi3uplantsjan2012.wikispaces.com/Asexual+Reproduction+In+Plants+Wiki?responseToken=02896eef7836af83a5483f204e5152347

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitosis

 

 

 

genetic mutation story

 part one

When you do not have enough red blood cells or when your red blood cells do not function properly you have a problem, which is me. Anemia is my name,  most people can experience symptoms of me when a young child and other can experience me at whatever point of their life. I can occur in recent blood loss.  My main cause and issue that affects people are that I  lack the process of producing red blood cells.  Your body produces blood cells, one being white blood cells which fight infection.  Another is red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body. Red blood cells contain hemoglobin an iron protein that makes your blood red. My main cause is recent blood loss, trauma, surgery, and other events play a huge role in the diagnostics of me. If enough blood is lost, your body may lose red blood cells and the chance to reproduce them. I can be either acquired or inherited. acquired meaning you can develop me, inherited meaning that your parents passed the gene on to you. many effects that I have on my hosts body include general weakness, pale skin, shortness of breath, dizziness, wired cravings (to eat not food items), such as dirt, ice, or clay,  tongue swelling, cold hands and feet, fast heartbeat, headaches  and many different occurring situations depending on the severity of my mutation. I affect lots of aspects of daily life, one including stunted growth. My host inherited anemia, as a child she was always shorter and smaller than the other kids. She has to stay on a strict diet. Some of the food in her daily diet include; apricots, asparagus, bananas, broccoli, egg yolks,  plums, prunes,  raisins, squash, turnip greens, whole grains, and other dark green vegetables. My host plays soccer,  a symptom of anemia is shortness of breath, she often has to sit on the side and regain a strong breath before she can continue. Another problem my hosts faces of her pale skin, she looks sick and tired all the time, she often gets made fun of.  People call her names like a ghost and other hurtful things. She doesn’t let that get in the way of her difference,  she knows she can’t change it and continues on it life with a positive outlook. The treat meant of minor anemia is fairly simple, in most cases, people will have to make a change in diet, take supplements, and different types of medicine. In other cases where anemia is severe procedures like blood transfusions or blood marrow stem cell transplant. 

Part two

In order to complete a story about anemia, I really had to make sure I had a great understanding of what the disease was and its effects. Some questions I had to look up were; what are the symptoms of anemia, what is anemia, does anemia impact the quality of life, are there different severities of the disease, and how does anemia occur. To create this project I used a few digital tools including google, Wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anemia,  Health Link BC https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/abq1897, and medicine.net http://www.medicinenet.com/anemia/article.htm. The process of investigating the topic was a bit challenging for me because it was hard to understand the mutation and how it was caused. After further researching Ibelive that I have a pretty good incite on this mutation. The process of completing this project was fun writing the story and pretending to be the mutation inside someones body. One thing that I could have done better into add more detail into what I’m talking about and to research a lot more that way I have more knowledge to add to detail. 

Engineering Brightness Reflection

I personally think that it is such a great opportunity to have the chance to participate and be involved in this process. Having a chance to interact with others across the world has already expanded my learning and my knowledge of light poverty in The Dominican Republic. Usually, when you need to get in contact with people you would text or email them, we had the chance to skype them. So far we have skyped with Eladio and Denis from the Dominican Republic, this chat took place on November 24,2016. They explained to us their situation of light poverty and living conditions. We learned that they get around 2-3 hours of light during the day. The next chat took place on November 29th, 2016 with Mr. Fogarty and his students from New Brunswick. He gave us very important tips and information on his process and we could positively succeed. The parts that have interested me the most has been the overall part of digital communication with people all over the world through Skype.  This process has broadened my knowledge of life around the world and how I can make a difference one at a time.

 

 

My group’s plan is to help address/ raise awareness to  light poverty in The Dominican Republic and around the world. Our main idea that we will contribute to the class is to fundraise an appropriate amount of money that can go towards helping our class/ fellow students actually create the lights, and in the long run making life just a little bit easier for those who suffer from extreme light poverty. So far we have just been planning several ways to raise the money, we have made a social media account on Instagram and twitter. (@engineeringbrightness, where we will be posting about upcoming important dates, and the progress we have made along the way.)

 

 

our groups’ ideas: (most ideas would take place at school)

  • bake sale
  • cake walk
  • candy grams
  • “how many jelly beans in the jar”
  • collab with other classes in our school

 

 

we so far have just started to gather up references and contacts. We are hoping to be in contact with the rapid change teacher. We have shared the link to Mr. Robinson’s class needs (bellow), and hopefully, people will start reaching out and donating. We think that as a group one strong idea we could branch off of is to be in contact with the rapid change teacher and possibly some students, they could help us spread the word etc.

Here is the link to Mr. Robinsons “my class needs” account

https://myclassneeds.ca/en/project/8722/#details

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Currents from the kitchen

Prediction: I predict that the lemon will do the best job at conducting electricity because it is an acidic fruit and that may play a big role in creating the best charge.

observation of the circuit set up:

I  noticed that in order for the circuit to be complete and work to its best ability it had to be closed in order to make the meter move. For my group it took a little longer to make it work

results:

orange= 3 v

apple= 2 vimg_5822-jpg

grape= 5 v

lemon= 7 v

observations/ End result:

In conclusion the prediction i made was correct. The more acidic the fruit the more that they will conduct electricity. The acid in the lemon makes ions, when put you put it in with water or a solution (lemons have much water in them ) The ions from the acids are the same type as the ions in a electric current.

 

SSEP CBL #1

At What Rate will Algae Reproduce in  a Micro Gravitational Setting ? (Mission 7 to ISS)

1.) For our experiment, we have chosen to research Petaluma’s high school’s grade 12 winners. Their experiment is “At What Rate Will Algae Reproduce in a Micro Gravitational Setting Versus on Earth.”

1.a) who: Grade 12 students form Petaluma High School located in Petaluma, California. The students who participated in this experiment were  Morgan Giraud &  Tara Thomas.  http://cfb.unh.edu/phycokey/Choices/Chlorophyceae/colonies/colonies_not_ flagellated/SCENEDESMUS/Scenedesmus_Image_page.html (Picture below, Scendesmus)

What:  In their summery, thhttp://cfb.unh.edu/phycokey/Choices/Chlorophyceae/colonies/colonies_not_flagellated/SCENEDESMUS/Scenedesmus_Image_page.html ey talk about how microalgae can produce a lot of oil, and some algae can produce 77% of oil. Because most algae need light to grow, for their experiment the used scendesmus, which is an algae that can grow without sunlight. These algae can grow only on glucose and can still reproduce. The study is looking for differences in the biomass reproduction in space compared to how it reproduces on earth. It can also be used to compare the amount of oil produced. With the problem of scarce none renewable resources in the world today they hope that this could help with future resource

Where: The grade 12 students created this experiment from Petaluma, California.

When: This experiment won a spot on mission 7 to ISS it left earth on April 8th, 2016 and returned back to earth with results on May 11th, 2016.

Why:  They thought it was important to study different places that algae can grow so they can make the most of where it can grow faster and better. They want to prove that if they can show that algae can grow faster in space then they should continue to do so instead of on earth.

algae-cells-0001-qualitas-healthhttp://www.qualitas-health.com/about-us/media-2/                                                                        (Picture on the Right, Algae in a microscope)

Background Information:

-Micro algae bio mass can be used to produce bio fuel, animal food, and dietary supplements
-Micro algae produces an average of 5000-15000 gallons of oil per acre per year
-because light is not available in the payload box on the ISS they have chosen a heterotrophic strain of -algae that can can reproduce with no sun light.
-Scenedesmus is an algae used in biofuel production that can only survive and reproduce on glucose
-most algae reproduce by mitosis
-micro algae or microscopic algae grow either in marine or fresh water systems
it must be provided light to survive or reproduce
-it is determined that algae reproduce faster in micro gravitational setting.

c.) with the control group being the students and the experimental group being astronauts in space doing the experiments. the difference between the two were that the control group did the normal experiment on earth. they took the algae and grew it in the dark and observed how fast it grew the nutrients it produced etc. the soon realized that after doing the experiment in the ISS it was proven that algae grew and produced faster in a micro gravitational setting.

d.) We just recently contacted our groups school asking for information and they replied saying that, the students just recently got information back and they are still awaiting on tests. they said that they would come in contact with our group sometime this week.

2.) We think that the gr12’s from Petaluma’s High school’s topic of “At What Rate Will Algae Reproduce in a Micro Gravitational Setting Versus on Earth.” won because of their reasoning. There was another group that didn’t win with the same topic, and so we read the briefing of that experiment as well. The proposal that won was very well described and had a solid idea. Everything that they said was leading up to or about the exact topic. As well as their topic was very specific on their idea. They had everything extremely well thought out and planned, where as the other wasn’t as clear. Also their experiment was about helping produce more oil/how fast it can reproduce. They said that their experiment was meant to help future research and the worlds future resources because of the small amount of important resources in the world. Because of that reasoning I think that it gave the SSEP a clear reason choose them because  it is smart and resourceful but also makes sense and can be used in the future if successful.