Biology is the natural science focusing on the study of living organisms, and their characteristics. These characteristics include their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, etc. There are five principals that are said to be the fundamental topics in modern biology including cells being the base unit of life, the fact that new species are inherited traits being the production of evolution, genes being the basic unit of heredity, organisms that will regulate its internal environment to maintain stable and constant conditions, and living organisms that consume and transform energy. So far in 10th grade biology we have studied diseases, cancer, cells, humans and their important systems, and animals such as cats, (dissections.)
Projects:
Nervous System Project
http://are-you-nervous.webs.com/
Nervous System Project Reflection:
Other Projects on Biology Blog:
http://gywcaib-muffin33.blogspot.com/
Projects:
Nervous System Project
http://are-you-nervous.webs.com/
Nervous System Project Reflection:
This project was lead by the study of the human body. Prior to this project we studied the major systems of the human body. Finally we each chose a certain system that is prevalent in the human body. Once we had chose our system, we researched the system and applied knowledge to various tasks that relate to other community members.
The purpose of this project was to develop a deep knowledge of the major systems that allow the human body to function normally. This project enables students to develop a deep understanding of their selected system and share their knowledge in a creative way with the community, (peers and community members.)
My role in this project was the community connection to the nervous system. My responsibilities were to create a nervous system website and put on an event that interests and connects with the Durango community. I developed a home website with over 5 different pages that related to the nervous system and am in the process of hosting a rail jam that relays the importance of protecting the nervous system while engaging in dangerous activities.
Decisions were made about who would do what for the project based on which roles were assigned to each person studying the music system. The different roles for this project were researcher, creative media one and two, interviewer, and community connection.
I am currently proud of my website and I am still very much in the beginning stages of my community connection. I am sure that once my community connection rail jam is held I will be very happy with it.
I would like to refine the overall flow of my website. I feel like it has not fully met the expectations of myself for my project. It lacks professional presentation and easy access.
On our next project I will improve my quality of work by decreasing the amount of time I waste due to procrastination. I always struggle with staying on top of my work and making constant progress and I feel like I will make obvious improvements if I am organized and efficient during the project work time.
I found relevance in the community connection portion of this project. I was amazed to find so many people out in our community who were already raising awareness about the importance of protecting the nervous system. There is already a full non-profit organization called Grey Matters that constantly focuses on providing good protection to those who participate in dangerous sports.
This semester I have discovered that biology takes a lot of memorization and understanding to fully develop an adequate knowledge to pursue any careers that may have to do with biology. This has made me realize that if I truly want to be successful in my 10th grade biology class I need to put in a greater amount of time and effort.
DNA Project:
DNA Project:
Antron McCray
This project display represents the story of Antron McCray and his lead to exoneration after being convicted of raping and assaulting a woman in central park. He was 16 years old and had absolutely nothing to do with the crime.
Parts on our project are literal representations of the exoneration process and the negative possibilities associated with subjective evidence, such as witness testimony, compared to actual DNA evidence. They also represent parts of the process for the analysis of DNA. The words: Isolate, Amplification, Separation, and Analysis are seen on the sculpture’s body. They are exact representations of the process in which you traditionally analyze DNA. Under these words we included parts of the emotional aspect of the being wrongly convicted of a crime. The strobe light represents the craze Antron’s life became even when it was absolutely out of his control. The blood represents the bloody crime scene that he was forcefully “pulled” into. The blood is not on the majority of his right side of his body because it represents his final exoneration due to DNA evidence. The cityscape behind him is representing his isolation from the outside world. The sculpture is slouched because he is wrongfully convicted. Also notice the DNA markers on the cape, which also represent the analysis process of DNA evidence. We performed this DNA process in a lab during Biology class.
Imagine being convicted of a crime that you had absolutely nothing to do with. Subjective evidence such as witness testimony and persuasion is a major faulty element of our justice system. DNA evidence is purely objective evidence and dismisses any need for witness testimony and any other variable evidence pieces.
Biology DNA Project: Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science
In our final biology project, we explored the many different aspects of DNA and its applications in today’s society. Our two main focuses in this project were the DNA technologies and analysis process and the real life examples of how DNA is used today.
There are four steps of DNA processing. The first is separation. In this step of a DNA analysis, you must collect the DNA. We explored this by creating our own lab where we extracted DNA from our mouths to analyze. We separated the DNA out of our mouths by swishing with a saline solution. This solution allows us to collect our genomic DNA and keeps the cells from splitting open too soon. The cheek cells collected are then isolated from the spit by spinning them in a vile. The cells are heavier than the saline solution and consequently sink to the bottom forming a clump. A lysis buffer solution is then added to the separated cells, breaking apart the fatty membranes of the cell and releasing the DNA from inside the nucleus. This lysis buffer contains soap, salts, ions, and buffers, (the buffers maintain the pH of the solution. Once isolated, we amplified our DNA using Polymerase Chain Reactions. This PCR process consists of a series of repeated temperature changes referred to as cycles. With each new cycle, the DNA undergoes a new temperature step. The temperatures used and the length of time at which they are held is fully dependent on the parameters of the experiment. In our class lab where we extracted our own DNA and amplified it so that we could visualize our unique genomic make-up, we experienced first hand the beginning three steps in DNA processing.
We were able to analyze the final step of DNA processing through a very different lab. In this experiment, we focused our attention on the analysis part of this four step process. With the mindset of crime investigators, each group of the lab was given four DNA samples and asked to analyze them. Two of the DNA samples were the same and they were individually labeled, “Suspect 1,” “Suspect 2,” “Suspect 3,” and “Evidence.” Our assignment was to process these samples through step-by-step instructions so that we could analyze the DNA and determine which suspect matched the evidence from the “crime scene.” These DNA samples had already undergone the first three steps in the DNA process it was our assignment to finish the last step and find results as to who was the perpetrator of the “crime.” We put our samples into a dish and we sent them through an electrophoresis procedure, which involves using positive and negative charges of electricity causing the DNA to move. We put a positive and negative charge on opposite ends of the dish. Since DNA is negatively charged, it flows toward the positive charged end of the dish. Because each persons DNA has different masses, it flows toward the positively charged part of the dish at different rates. After a set amount of time you remove the electricity, and die the gel containing the DNA lying inside the dish. In our experiment all except two of the DNA samples displayed different genomic DNA. This meant that we could determine which subject was the perpetrator of the “crime” as his DNA was present at the “crime.” We analyzed the DNA according to visible DNA markers. These markers were the DNA that had traveled a certain distance through the _____________ according to their mass. The electricity was only set on the _______________ long enough for the DNA markers to stop near the middle of the _______________ so we could examin the differences in the DNA. From this lab we were able to experience a true example of how scientists analyze DNA evidence after it has been fully processed. It was a fun experiment and helped us to engage in hands on material.
After experimenting with the DNA process we analyzed the real life examples of how DNA is used today. We did this by researching a person who was wrongfully convicted of a crime and exonerated by DNA evidence. We were able to make this “fun” by creating a sculpture of this person that could somehow relate the DNA process to the many benefits of DNA analysis, especially in the eyes of those who have been exonerated because of DNA evidence. Our class was put in groups of three and expected us to create a short movie about the person we researched and make a life size sculpture. While I was assigned to as a sculpture with one other person from my group, my other group member put together the video. Our project sculpture represented the story of Antron McCray and his lead to exoneration after being convicted of raping and assaulting a woman in central park. He was 16 years old and had absolutely nothing to do with the crime.
Parts on our project are literal representations of the exoneration process and the negative possibilities associated with subjective evidence, such as witness testimony, compared to actual DNA evidence. They also represent parts of the process for the analysis of DNA. The words: Isolate, Amplification, Separation, and Analysis are seen on the sculpture’s body. They are exact representations of the process in which you traditionally analyze DNA. Under these words we included parts of the emotional aspect of the being wrongly convicted of a crime. The strobe light represents the craze Antron’s life became even when it was absolutely out of his control. The blood represents the bloody crime scene that he was forcefully “pulled” into. The blood is not on the majority of his right side of his body because it represents his final exoneration due to DNA evidence. The cityscape behind him is representing his isolation from the outside world. The sculpture is slouched because he is wrongfully convicted. Also notice the DNA markers on the cape, which also represent the analysis process of DNA evidence. We performed this DNA process in a lab during Biology class.
Imagine being convicted of a crime that you had absolutely nothing to do with. Subjective evidence such as witness testimony and persuasion is a major faulty element of our justice system. DNA evidence is purely objective evidence and dismisses any need for witness testimony and any other variable evidence pieces.
I personally loved this project and thought there we were able to cover many different aspects of such a deep biology topic. I mainly learned from the labs and pre-assigned study of DNA in this unit, but I loved the connection we were able to make to the outside world for our final project. I connected to this project mostly through the science aspect because I am very interested in sciences and I loved going into detail about the characteristics of DNA and how we have been able to use them in today’s society. I was very proud of my work with this project and I thought our final product displayed great work. If I could refine my work on my final project I would have developed a more interactive way to represent Antron McCray to our audience. I would have had people view our sculpture through a bars to represent his many years he spent in jail and the isolation from the outside world due to the sole use of subjective evidence during his conviction.
Overall I enjoyed this unit and I found it easy to engage and go into depth through all focuses of the project and lab activities. I took away a deep interest in the DNA process and its applications in our society.
Other Projects on Biology Blog:
http://gywcaib-muffin33.blogspot.com/
