Hello, my name is Daniel, and I am a cell living inside of a 2 year old boy with Williams syndrome. We’ve heard stories, about those missing genes… 26 of them. We all think that is the reason why he has this disorder. We don’t know how those genes went missing, but because of that, my his whole life will be changed forever as there is no cure for this rare syndrome. We are have trouble getting the nutrients we need and he has trouble growing because like most people with Williams syndrome, he has an eating disorder. When he looks in the mirror, he will see a boy with puffy eyes, a wide mouth, full lips, widely spaced teeth, and a stellate pattern in his iris. The blood cells are always telling us about his cardiovascular problems and narrow aorta. His family loves him; they think he is the sweetest person in the whole world. Like most people with Williams syndrome he is highly verbal and overly social and he starts becoming sad when he is not with his family members. It does the opposite to him than what other syndromes would do to his social life. Although he will always have to be in medical care, and will most likely have pre-diabetes or diabetes at the age of 30, to him, he will live a happy life.
More Research on Williams Syndrome:
1) What questions did you need to research in order to create your mutation story?
-How common is the Williams syndrome?
-Who discovered Williams syndrome and when?
-Can Williams syndrome be cured?
-What are the symptoms of Williams syndrome?
-Can Williams syndrome be passed onto your child?
-What is the Williams syndrome caused by?
2) What new or familiar digital tools did you try to use as you worked through this project?
Google Images
Youtube
Williams Syndrome Association
Websites
3) What was the process you used to investigate the topic?
I started off just searching “Williams syndrome” on google to see what it is, so I would know what I was doing the project about. Most of the sites had descriptions about the syndrome and what people with it looked like, but I also went to google images to see what they looked like myself. Then I started searching up my questions on Google about Williams syndrome and taking notes on what I found. I was able to understand this syndrome more so because were assigned another research project on a syndrome in Science at the same time as this so I picked the Williams syndrome again. Using the notes wrote a story about my life as a gene.
4) How did you verify and cite the information you found?
I would look up a question and open multiple websites in new tabs. I would find an answer on one site, then go to the next site to see if it was there, then the next, then the next. If every website had the same answer, then I would use it. I wrote down the addresses of the sites I went to.
5) How did the process of completing this challenge go?W hat could you have done better?
Understanding Williams syndrome was easy because I also had to do another project on it during the same time but the part that took a while was thinking of a way to write a story on a cell’s perspective. Next time, I could’ve put this project higher on my priorities, because I was studying for Math Honours Mid-terms.
Citations:
https://williams-syndrome.org/what-is-williams-syndrome
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_syndrome#Historyhttp://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/williams-syndrome
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001116.htm
http://www.healthline.com/health/williams-syndrome#Overview1
http://www.disabled-world.com/health/neurology/williams-syndrome.php