Genetics Vocabulary Test Corrections 12/13

Explanation: I completed the quiz and rushed to submit it right as we needed to move on. However when I looked back up to my computer it didn't load properly. So I reloaded the page and found that the answers were blank and it had erased all of the work I had done. Seeing that I couldn't redo the work because we had moved on to something different, I decided to le
ave it and do a regrade.

*For the first question, the exact definitions that were originally provided weren't there when I went over the quiz results so my definitions will not be the exact same as the original definitions.

1. Match the vocabulary words with the correct definitions

a. Genotype:  A genotype is the pair of alleles or each form of a gene.
b. Phenotype: A phenotype is a visible trait or characteristic of an individual organism.
c. Allele: An allele is each form of a gene.
d. Homozygous: Homozygous is a term that describes having two of the same allele for a trait.
e. Heterozygous: Heterozygous is a term that describes having two different alleles for a trait.
f. Dominant Trait: A dominant trait is when a single copy of its gene is inherited.
g. Recessive Trait: A recessive trait is when a copy of the recessive gene form is inherited from each parent.

2. Mendel concluded that the alleles for tall stems in pea plants are dominant. Thus, in crossing a purebred tall pea plant with a purebred short pea plant should result in

A. All tall plants
B. All short plants
C. All medium height plants
D. Half short and half tall plants

I chose A. because when the alleles for tall stem in pea plants are dominant, it doesn't matter what is in crossing with a purebred tall pea plant because the offspring will always be tall. In this situation, the short purebred effects will not be seen in the heterozygous offspring. In order for the pea plant offspring to be tall, it can either have one tall allele or two tall alleles in its genes because the tall trait is dominant. For the plant to be short, it would require two short alleles because it is recessive. Since the alleles of all of the offspring will be something like Tt, the offspring are guaranteed to be tall.

Charity Fair 12/11

(Image from drive)

Summary

         During the annual Charity Fair project, I learned many things from most of my classes. In math, I learned how to calculate the cost and profit of my group's product. I learned how to calculate how much all the materials would cost altogether to make 5 products, 10 products, 100 products, and 1000 products. As well as I learned how to calculate how much money would be given to the actual charity after paying for all of the expenses. In addition, I learned how to find the statistics of my group's chosen charity. To do this, I would have to look through the organization's tax forms for several different years. I learned what line the revenue or how much the charity earned was listed and what line showed the charity's administrative costs. We would have to subtract the administrative costs by the revenue to get how much the organization actually gives to the cause. In Science, I learned how to put together an instructable that gave the step by step process of how to create my group's product. In Social Science, I learned the correct way of choosing an organization to support and how to research that certain organization. In Language Arts, I learned how to create an Ignite presentation to convince the audience to vote for the charity my group chose to support. Lastly in Elective, I learned together a tri-fold to present while selling our product.

Backward-Looking

           Since I was fortunate enough to be apart of the Adventure stem program last year, I had the opportunity to experience what Charity Fair is like. Having the chance to participate in Charity Fair a year ahead really encouraged me to get better at this type of work. I believe I improved my presentation as well as my product. For example, I think I improved my presentation because I now understand how to properly put together and present an ignite presentation. I now know that an ignite presentation should strictly only be pictures, should only limit to one picture each slide, and should be only fifteen seconds long. Last year, I made the mistake of having bullet points and multiple images and lines on one slide. However this year, I only put single images on each slide so the audience could focus easily on each slide and didn't have to look at so many images. In addition, I didn't put any text on any of e slides and limited to a few lines for each slide so it would fit the fifteen seconds. For my product, I learned that the customers mainly bought items that were related to the current season. By making my product Christmas related, I sold a lot more items than last year.

Inward-Looking

          I feel that this piece of work my group and I put together was great. We did everything perfectly as planned and made little mistakes. I particularly like creating our product because I thought that it was really creative and unlike anybody else's products. As well as my group and I had a lot of fun putting together the jars since they were all different themes. The only thing I disliked about the outcome of the Charity Fair project was the ignite presentation. This is because I felt that our ignite presentation had too many lines for each slide. When reading our script while presenting we had to rush a bit. This made it hard for the audience to understand and take in what we were saying. In addition I believe that we could have put more heart felt images that would really make the audience think about our charity in a whole other level.

Outward-Looking

        My group and I didn't do some aspects of the project the way other groups did theirs. For instance, we did our presentation and product differently. Our presentation was different than others because we chose to support a charity that no other groups chose and chose to support a topic no other groups supported, which was women equality. In addition, we didn't put the exact same information on our presentation and we obviously included different pictures than others. For our product, we made something no other group made. We made mini ecosystems. These ecosystems were sold in mason jars and came in four different themes. Including a winter/snow ecosystem, an ocean ecosystem, a forest ecosystem, and a fall ecosystem. 

Forward-Looking 

         If I had the chance to do this project over again, I would change our presentation. The reason being is that I felt we had too many lines for each slide. I would change this by cutting the amount of words we had to say so we didn't have to rush when reading our script. As well as I felt we could have put better images on each slide. I think we could have put more heart felt images that would make the audience really think about our charity. Other than this, I wouldn't have changed anything else because I believe that the other aspects of the project went smoothly.

Genetics and DNA 12/4

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uXdzuz5Q-hs/maxresdefault.jpg

Have you ever wondered why you and your mom or dad share the same features? The factor that makes you and your parents act and look alike is genetics. Genetics is the name for the directions for only one trait of a living thing. You might be wondering how genetics is able to affect you, this is because of DNA. DNA is the directions an organism's cells follow that tell the living thing how to grow and what it will do. DNA contain nucleic acids which are four molecules you require to survive; Cytosine, Thymine, Adenine, and Guanine. They are instructions that make all organisms appear and behave a certain way. These nucleic acids make up the layers or "steps of the ladder" of DNA. The two structures that hold them together are composed of phosphate and deoxyribose.

S&EP - SP7: Engaging in argument from evidence

I used evidence to defend my explanation. I answered a packet of questions about DNA and genetics, providing a documentary that my class watched as evidence. I formulated evidence based on solid data when I stated that Tay-Sachs disease is caused by only one bad letter in a baby's DNA using the information that scientists researched about DNA and Tay-Sachs disease as evidence. I examined my own understanding in light of the evidence. I used to think that DNA was simple to research, but because of the video now I think that DNA could take decades to research without modern technology. I collaborated with my peers in searching for the best explanation. I did some research on the subject in which the packet was based on which I discussed with my table group. Together we figured out that the answers to the questions on the packet.

XCC: Structure and Function

The structure of DNA greatly affects the function of how cells decipher the DNA and how the organism will develop and behave. This is because our cells decipher the nitrogenous bases of our DNA to know exactly how and what to construct. This means that if there is one small problem in a single letter of our DNA, it can greatly affect the function of the organism. For example, in Tay-Sachs disease, it only takes one malfunction in one letter of a baby's DNA to cause the baby to slowly become brain dead.