DNA - Genetics and Evolution - Science.

DNA Model

Aim: I want to find out how to create a DNA model with craft equipment.


Equipment:
- Bendy Wire
- Painted Styrofoam Balls
- Styrofoam Base 
- Paintbrush - Sponge 

Method:

Results:

Discussion: 
What is DNA?

DNA is short for deoxyribonucleic acid which is present in all living things. DNA contains the genetic information for all organisms. The structure of DNA is called the double helix and looks like a twisted ladder. It's made up of nucleotides. Nucleotides consist of sugar, phosphate and base. There are four bases of nucleotides, Adenine (A), Cytosine (C), Guanine (G) and Thymine (T). These four bases help create our identities such as height and hair colour. Different bases pair with each other like Adenine pairs with Thymine and Cytosine pairs with Guanine. Unless it's RNA which then Adenine ( A ) pairs with Uracil ( U ).  There are a total of 46 chromosomes in a cell, 23 from your father and 23 from your mother. Chromosomes are made up of DNA.

How does DNA work?
DNA works by telling amino acids how to form themselves, producing larger particles which are identified as proteins. Proteins have to be formed in the perfect shape to function otherwise they won't work. DNA lives in the nucleus and amino acids live in the cytoplasm. Cytoplasm is a jelly-like substance that forms up much of the cell. To help DNA communicate with the amino acids, chemicals inside the nucleus make significant partial copies of the DNA code. These partial copies are called RNA ( Ribonucleic Acid ) they look very similar to DNA but they are missing one side. Their small shape helps them fit through the nucleus's pores and into the ribosome which assists in building proteins. The ribosome decodes the RNA code and sucks the amino acids and develops a chain according to the RNA code. This chain later builds itself to become a protein. Proteins help create cells, cells help create tissues. Tissues make up organs and organs help form living creatures.

FACTS ( DNA ):
- A single strand of DNA is millions of letter long.
- Your DNA can stretch from the earth to the sun and back, 600 times.
- There are five types of DNA, B-DNA, Z-DNA, A-DNA, C-DNA and D-DNA. 

Evaluation: 
This is my completed DNA model, I am very proud of what I did, but next time I would like to make the model a bit larger. A problem I had was the metal hidden in between the Styrofoam balls wouldn't set to the right position. This made it hard because the sculpture kept turning in different directions. I was able to resolve this issue by hammering it to my preferred position. I also had a tough time sticking the metal into the base of the model, because it was heavy and kept falling off. Fortunately, I was able to hot glue gun the base. If you were to create my model, I would recommend fixing the mistakes I made, making the model a bit bigger and filling in the gaps between styrofoam balls to make it stand out more. I would definitely recommend using a hot glue gun because it makes the model sturdier. I enjoyed doing this task. Learning and creating DNA has made me think of how Watson and Crick discovered it's structure, and what was their reaction. It has also made me think about RNA and what's Uracil? If I was to learn more about DNA, I would like to extract DNA from a human and look at it under a microscope to see it's structure. Learning about DNA has made me think more about who first discovered it and was it a mistake.  
Questions:
Can you modify the DNA code to get different characteristics?
Can you see how DNA works in action ? - ( perhaps through a microscope )
Mr Stock can we extract DNA from a human?

DNA

Super Girl - 2019 - English

Super Girl

A message from Supergirl, Welcome to Earth is to not judge a person by their religion, colour or past experiences which determined the differences. This is because if you judge people by their differences, the person or people might turn out completely opposite. We saw this in the scene where Supergirl determines that Mon-El came to Earth to assassinate the president but when his real intention was to go back home. This is why I think It's important to get to understand a person before making up assumptions about them. In an ideal world, people would understand before judging, forget their differences and just be kind to one another. 

Supergirl

Harriet Tubman - Social Studies

Harriet Tubman

The slide above is about the underground railroad, Harriet Tubman and spiritual songs. Harriet Tubman was "Conductor" for the railroad. She is an amazing woman who helped hundreds of slaves to freedom. There is information about spiritual songs which they sang to escape and a bit about Harriet Tubman. 

Something I learned?

I learned how the underground railroad worked and the interesting part was how Harriet would risk her life going back to help other slaves to freedom. I find that courageous. I also learned about how spiritual songs had hidden meaning/clues which helped slaves immensely. 

Climate - ESOL

🌧️ Climate 🌞

In ESOL we are learning about weather and climate. Ms Briggs assigned us to write about the hottest and coldest place on earth. The hottest place on earth is Death Valley in California whereas the coldest place on earth is Vostok Station in Antarctica. There is more information about these places in the paragraphs below.

The Hottest Place On Earth:
Death Valley in California is the hottest place on earth. The temperatures can vary between 28 to 30 degrees Celsius in winter. In summer the average temperature is between 39 to 47 degrees Celsius. That’s hot! Its located between the borders of California and Nevada. Death Valley is surrounded by mountains and deserts. Because It's a desert, it has long summers and less rain. The northern part of death valley holds the Badwater Basin, which is 282 feet below sea level. Death Valley is one of the driest places on earth, so animals have evolved to go many days without water, such as bighorn sheep, kangaroo rats, desert tortoises, snakes and many more. Small fish actually live in the desert, they live in creeks and springs. In Death Valley, it’s wrong to give the animals food because it disturbs their ability to find food and water by themselves.  People do live there, the population is 320 approximately. There are many attractions in Death Valley such as the Badwater Basin, Devils Golf Course, Furnace Creek, Darwin Falls, Ubehebe Crater and numerous amounts of valleys and canyons.

 

The Coldest Place On Earth?

Vostok Station in Antarctica is the coldest place on earth. The population is 25 in the summer seasons and 13 to 14 in the winter seasons, approximately. Many scientists work there to find out the climate of the past and future. Its located in Princess Elizabeth Land. There is no mountains, forests or rivers, the variety is flat snow and ice. Antarctica is a desert which means it gets very little rain. The lowest the temperatures got was -89.6 degrees Celsius. The average temperature in Vostok is -65 degrees Celsius in winter whereas in summer it's -40 degrees.  Penguins and seals are very common in Antarctica, I assume there would be some around the area. Unfortunately, there is not much information about Vostok compared to Death Valley.

Believe it or not, Death Valley and Vostok Station have some similarities. They are both deserts. Both places have animals living on them which have adapted to the harsh environments. Death Valley and Vostok Station contain really severe climates. In contrast, Death Valley is extremely hotter than Vostok Station and vice versa. Death Valley has a higher population than Vostok Station. These are some similarities and differences between climates.

Slave Trade Triangle - Social Studies

My Slave Trade Map:

Click on the colourful points, and it will bring up an explanation on what happened at each and every point, same for the lines.

What Is The Slave Trade Triangle?
The slave trade triangle is a triangle formed in the Atlantic ocean and the main objective is to exchange Africans for weapons and ammunition. Then Europeans would take them to Africa in horrible conditions and make them do laborious work, for money.

What Is The First Passage?
The first passage is loading guns and weapons to trade with Africans kings for slaves. There are 3 points that the Europeans can arrive at Dakar, Cacheu & Sierra Leone.

What Is The Middle Passage?
Africans were taken from Africa to the Caribbean in very severe condition, the Europeans would pack as many slaves as they could in the bottom part of the ship and make the slaves dance to keep them fit. If the slaves were unfit they would throw them overboard or if the tried to fight back the Europeans would kill them. This passage also involved selling Africans to Americans for personal slaves. Even in America, they were treated poorly.

What Is The Third Passage?
The third passage is loading the products the slaves picked and made and shipping them to Europe for money.

Something I Learned About This Topic?
I learned a lot during this topic but something interesting I learned was how they would pack as many Africans slaves on the boat and treat them very carelessly, like animals.

Tarzan English - 2019

Tarzan

Here are some questions and answers based on the movie we watched, Tarzan:

" Two Worlds, One Family "

I think this quote means, we are all one family and connected somehow even if we are animals or humans but we have our differences.

Here are some paragraphs I wrote :

A message from the movie Tarzan is we don’t respect or care for nature. This is because the bad characters such as Clayton are more concerned about themselves, their pleasure and wealth. We saw this in the scene when Clayton first comes to Africa and starts cutting through leaves and plants to make his way through the jungle, whereas Tarzan uses vines to travel. This is why I think it is important to understand nature and be more appreciating to it. In the real world, people are cutting down trees and damaging animal habitats for their benefits but in an ideal world this wouldn’t be happening, and animals wouldn’t be going extinct.

A message from the movie Tarzan is we show no respect for people who are different from us. This is because we don’t try to understand or connect with them we start judging them straight away. We see this in the scene when Karla brings the baby Tarzan to Kerchak, and he instantly says no because he judges Tarzan and doesn’t try to understand him. This is why I think it's important to understand a person before you make a judgment. In an ideal world, people wouldn’t have people like Clayton and Kerchak judging them by their colour, religion or appearance.

My Culture - Health - 2019

Spiritual Well Being - Health 2019

What does culture mean to you?

Culture means to me following certain customs and celebrating with family and friends. It also means wearing traditional clothing and making traditional food.

How does culture relate to spiritual well being?

Sometimes culture can relate to spiritual well being by religion. Spiritual well being is your values and what you believe in and through religion sometimes you create your personal beliefs. Spiritual well being is not based on religion, is based on your personal identity, self-worth, the meaning in life and these are only some. Culture is a certain part of spiritual well being.  

Picture

This Is The Task For Health Create A Table With Your Holidays And Answer Some Questions: