12-19-09 Blog

This week in science we learned more about DNA, the size order of cell parts, and how a cell compares to other things.

We learned more about DNA by reading sections of a DNA book and doing some simulations online. One thing I learned about DNA is that it is the main form of nucleic acid. Also, it carries genetic information and controls reproduction. Another thing I learned is that proteins are made up of amino acids. This is important to know about because our body is full of DNA.

We learned about the size order of cell parts by brainstorming with our groups. Here's the list our group came up with

1. atoms
2. molecule
3. adenine
4. base pairs
5. strand DNA
   
6. chromosome

This is important because an experiment can be completely inaccurate if the person conducting the experiment got one of these items mixed up with another.

We learned about how a cell compares to other things by creating an analogy. For example, I said that a cell is like a house. Ribosomes are like light bulbs and the house structure itself is like the cell wall. This is important to know because when trying to think of an organelle's function, you can think about the analogy and what each part of the home compares to in a cell.

12/12/09 Blog!

This week in Science, we learned about relationships between base pairs, m-RNA, t-RNA, and how cells make protein.

There are four different DNA bases:

1. Adonine
2. Cytosine
3. Thymine
4. Guanine

Adonine is always paired up with Thymine, and Cytosine is always paired with Guanine. The base pairs are the DNA code. We learned about the relationships by looking at a picture of DNA, and observed that there are four different DNA base pair colors. This is important to know because to understand DNA, you must understand the way base pairs work.

We also learned about m-RNA and t-RNA. m-RNA is messenger RNA. Its job is to copy the code the DNA has. t-RNA is transfer RNA. Its job is to bring pieces. RNA stands for ribose nucleic acid. It has one sugar backbone and no oxygen. We learned about this by doing a class simulation of how cells make protein. This is important to know because RNA is vital in the creation of something made with the help of DNA.

Finally, we learned about how cells make protein. To learn about this, we did a class simulation of how cells make protein. First, Someone had a code. Next, another person copied that code, crumpled the paper it was on, and threw it to our table. Our table decodes the message and finds that it says: put yellow on green. After that, we told two people to each bring a piece to the building table. Finally, we had one of the people that brought a piece bring the product to the thinking table. We figured out what parts of the cell each person represented. For example, the original person to have the code represented DNA, and my table represented ribosome, which read the code. This is important because protein is an important process that the cell goes through.

12-5-09 Blog!

This week in Science we learned all about photosynthesis, respiration, and fermentation. Photosynthesis is the process of plants converting light, CO2, and H2O to make food(glucose) and oxygen. We learned about this by making flow charts and having class discussions and using legos to help us. Respiration is the process of plants using food and oxygen to make food(glucose) and energy. We also learned about this by making flow charts, having class discussions, and using legos to help us. Fermentation is Anaerobic Respiration, or respiration without oxygen. We learned about this by conducting an experiment and realizing that the experiment we did dealt with fermentation. Knowing about these things are important because it's helpful to know about what goes on inside of plants.

We also discussed in class weather or not we can live without plants. We cannot live without plants because they are a vital part of our survival because they ultimately provide us with Air(O2) and food(glucose). This is an important concept to understand because we should know what's vital to our survival.