Macro Molecules - Weekly Blog 9/25/16

https://www.cuteness.com/article/evolution-geckos

Summary

There are four types of macromolecules: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. These four macromolecules are the main building blocks of life. Carbohydrates provide energy for your body. They're basically just sugar. The monomer (simplest form) of carbohydrates is saccharides. Examples of carbs include bread, rice, and pasta. Lipids are fats. They store energy in your body. The monomer is fatty acids and some examples include oil and wax. The next one, proteins, are what make up all of your vital body parts. Some body parts made of proteins include your muscles, heart, skin, and eyes. The monomer of proteins is amino acids. The final macromolecule is nucleic acids. Nucleic acids are your DNA and RNA. They hold the instructions for your bodies organelles to perform their functions. The monomer is nucleotides.

SP2: Developing and using models

I developed and used models when I created an informational foldable on the 4 different types of macromolecules. My model organized the information I previously took notes on and helped me better understand what my notes meant. I also had to include things that weren't in my notes in my foldable. This included 5 examples of each macromolecule. By transferring the information from my notebook to a neat foldable, I was able to go over all the information I wrote down and remind myself of what I learned about the previous day.

Cross Cutting Concepts: Systems and System Models

Our body is really just one big system made up of smaller systems, made up of smaller systems inside those systems. Within all these systems, there are parts that work together so the system can function correctly. Every type of macromolecule plays big role in the human body. For example, without carbs, our body wouldn't have any energy. Without lipids, our body wouldn't have a place to store our energy. Without proteins... our body wouldn't exist. And without nucleic acids, our body wouldn't know how to function. The point is if our body didn't have even one of these types of macromolecules, we would cease to exist. Everything in our body is there for a reason.

9/18/16 Cell Wars Project Blog

Summary

In the Cell Wars Project, students picked organelles to represent during Cell-Land's new "election", forming groups of 3 and 4 for the project. The project consisted of three elements, posters advertising our candidates awesomeness, smears and replies about why you should vote our organelle for president and a video containing information about your organelle. I personally, would vote for the Ribosome. This is because of several reasons. For one, their group created a highly entertaining, informational, and an easy to understand video. Their idea was unique and definitely got their point across about why the Riboome is the right candidate. Also, they created hilarious posters as well as mini ones that they pinned to their shirts for more advertisement.

Backwards Looking

How much did you know about the subject before we started?

Before this project, my only knowledge on organelles and cells was from the unit we did in 5th grade (also on organelles). In 5th grade we also studies cells but didn't go into as much detail on the organelles themselves. I remember researching the chloroplast. Also, due to the fact that I haven't really learned much about cells recently, a lot of the information I had previously learned was forgotten. In addition to that, this year I learned about more organelles including the E.R, peroxisomes, and cytoplasm. 

Inward Looking

What did/do you find frustrating about it?

While creating my groups video, we ran into a multitude of problems. For one, Powtoon didn't allow any actually editing for voice overs on the actual program. Because of this, I had to edit the audio for each slide on Wevideo separately. In addition to that, I also had to convert the audio on Wevideo into an Mp3 file to be able to import it into Powtoon. Because of this, I had to do a lot more work than I might of had to do if I checked to see how voice overs worked ahead of time in Powtoon.

Outward Looking

Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? In what ways did you do it differently? In what ways was your work or process similar?

Unlike other groups videos, my group created a Powtoon animation. Most of the other groups created an actual filmed video. However, there a few groups that also created animations. Their animations differed from my group, however, by the application they used and the plot of the whole thing altogether. A similarity I noticed between other groups work was how lots of people were filming newscasts for their video. Either their video was a newscast or it included one. My groups video also included a newscast. However, we just used one to introduce the story line of the whole thing. 

Forward Looking

One thing I would like to improve upon is ...

One really important thing that I know I have to improve upon is time management. This year, despite the fact that it has just begun, I've noticed that I tend to finish a large portion of my project usually last minute. This is because I tend to work slowly and take my time wile doing parts of the project. One solution, I have found is to set small goals while i'm working. Not goals for the day or period, goals for the next 20 minutes or something. For example, while i'm working I might tell myself, "by 5:35 I want to have this much completed" or "I want to have 5 lines written down."

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Cell Wars 9/11

One of my group's posters

Summary

Whenever you work on some sort of project, it is important to make sure that you check

Peroxisomes 9/4/16

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Peroxisome.svg/2000px-Peroxisome.svg.png

Summary

Within the cell, peroxisomes carry out several different tasks. One of their main jobs is to break down the hydrogen peroxide within the cell. H2o2 is a by-product of different enzymes in the cell, created by their activity. Since it is deadly to the cell, it needs to be rid of quickly. That's where the peroxisomes come in. The hydrogen peroxide ends up inside the peroxisome which contains an enzyme called catalase. In the presence of catalase, h2o2 will be broken down into oxygen and water. Other tasks that the peroxisomes carry out include digesting fatty, amino, and uric acids as well as digesting alcohol.

SP7: Arguing With Evidence

I engaged in an argument with evidence when I smeared other organelles in the cell war Edmodo campaign. To do so, I had to argue about why my group's organelle should become president of cell-land and provide solid evidence to convince others. For example, in one smear I made, I created a meme about the ribosome and why people believe the cause of Alzheimers Disease is related it. In addition to creating an entertaining meme, I had to do research on the cause, provide a brief explanation explaining what I am trying to tell others, and provide an informative source. Without evidence, my smear and meme would have no meaning. 

XCC: Stability and Change

The other day, while I was mountain biking I noticed how I was seeing more deer than usual. This reminded me of the deer, food, water, shelter, and mountain lion activity that we did last year in science. I figured what I saw was a real life example of the game taking place in Alum Rock Parks ecosystem. From what I have observed, I believe that the system there isn't stable. This is because of how many deer I saw. If the population of deer is increasing right now, it is probably because there is more resources for them and less predators like mountain lions. I also remember that in the game, when we graphed out the data that we found, the population of deer jump from really high to really low on a yearly basis. Right now, the population is probably in its high time. The reason why the population of deer changed like this was because of the resources. When there wasn't enough, deer were killed off in large quantities which left few deer. The few deer then had more than enough resources so they reprooduced in vast quantites and so on and so on. To make the population stable, I would recommend experimenting with the amount and combination of resources and predators to see what works best.

Cell Wars 8/26/16

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/Plant_cell_structure-en.svg/1280px-Plant_cell_structure-en.svg.png

Summary

The Cell Theory is made up of three parts. One, all living things are made up of cells. Two, Cells are the most basic form of living things. And three, all cells come from cells. You know something is living if it respires, needs nutrition, grows, and reproduces. Cells are made out of things called atoms. They make up everything in the whole entire universe. Inside cells are things called organelles such as the nucleus, mitochondria, chloroplast, and the vacuole. The organelles present in plant and animals cells however, vary. Our bodies have trillions of cells.

SP6: Constructing explanations and designing solutions

I constructed explanations with my classmates when I participated in a class discussion on cells. We tried to figure out what makes something alive. I also constructed explanations and designed solutions when I worked on solving a worksheet and finding the odd one out in a list. I had to work together with my table group and look for patterns in order to find which item listed was the odd one out. After I found it, I explained to the class which item I thought was odd and explain why I knew.

Cross Cutting Concepts: Patterns

When solving the worksheet given out in class. I had to look out fro patterns and similarities between the listed items. I also have to try to figure out what differences they each had in order to find the odd one out. Based on my knowledge that all living things have cells, I was able to find the odd one out by asking myself which items were considered living and which weren't. Scientists Mat Thias Schleiden and Theodore Scwann both were able to come up with the fact that all living things have cells by noticing a re-occurring pattern in their studies. All plants and animals have cells. This was how they were able to come up with part of the cell theory.

Multiplier

This week I was a creator because I contributed to the class discussion and answers the question of my classmates.

Weekly Blog 5/22/16 - Nutrition

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/MyPyramidFood.svg/2000px-MyPyramidFood.svg.png

Summary

In order to stay healthy, people have created food guides like food pyramids (shown above), percentage food plates, graphs, and more. A healthy balance of different food categories is essential for leading a strong life. You can learn about the foods you are eating by reading the nutrition label. The nutrition label includes some information such as a number of servings and calories. Speaking of calories, what are they? Calories are a unit of measurement. They measure the amount of energy the food may give you. One calorie is equivalent the amount of energy required to heat up 1 kilogram of water 1 degrees celsius. Also, there are two kinds of calories. Big and small. A big Calorie (with a capital C) is 1000 small calories.

SP4: Analyzing and interpreting data

I analyzed data when I watched videos and read articles about food nutrition, labels, serving sizes, and more. Once I did this, I created graphs and wrote about the data I had just learned with my group. Our class created a document together showing data we all knew. We each had to work together to list healthy and unhealthy foods.

XCC: Energy and Matter

We discussed energy when we talked about calories. Calories measure the potential amount of energy some food will provide when consumed. Food is one of the things that give humans energy. Unlike plants, we can't photosynthesize and create our own food. A small chain of a events or system happens when we consume food. After we eat food, our body takes the available nutrition from the food to create energy. After that, we can use the energy to do whatever.

Multiplier: Learner

This week I was a learned. I asked questions about food serving sizes to learn more as well as get answers. I was able to get answers by reading articles, watching films, and listening to my classmates.

Weekly Blog 5/15 - The Food System

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/v24wT16OU2w/maxresdefault.jpg

Summary

Within the world, there is a food system. A system is something made up of several components that work together to complete one or multiple tasks. In the food system, there are the people that make the food, prepare the food, sell the food, eat the food, throw away the food, etc. It's like a chain of events that lead up to two possibilities. In order for the store to be able to sell the food, the food has to have been grown and transported previously. If any steps were taken out of the system (or chain of events) everything would be different. Once the food gets to the eating stage, then it can either be thrown into landfills and the garbage, or used into a different way (composting, feeding others, etc.). 

SP6: Constructing explanations and designing solutions

This week I constructed explanations when I organized a list including the steps food goes through. I had to think about the order and why that order would make sense. I also had to explain how food might get wasted during that step. I designed solutions when I created a poster about the strawberries. Once, we ran out of room for writing, as a solution, our group adjusted the papers and made more room for our words. 

XCC: Systems

Like I mentioned earlier, we have a food system which includes several steps leading up to the disposal of food. Though the order of steps can vary depending on the type of food, a general outline my be ordered as production (growing), harvesting, sorting (throwing away bad and keeping the good ones), washing, packaging, transportation, retailing, home storage, cooking, eating, and disposal. All steps and components are dependent on each other. If one step was taken out, the whole food system would change. For example, if we didn't throw away "ugly" foods while sorting, a lot less food would be wasted. America would have much less food waste. This completely changes the outcome of the system.

Multiplier: Initiator

This week I was an initiator. While we were working on our food systems poster wth our group, I was asking questions about the strawberries and the process. I asked questions like, "Would this happen because of this? What do you think?".