Taylor's Science Methods Blog

  This week in lab we discussed the differences in solids, liquids, and gases. We used online modules that showed what the particles in each of these states of matters look like. After this, we did another module showing what particles look like as they go from cold to warm and vice versa. Our group looked further into why cold drinks get water on the outside of their container as the ice melts and it becomes warmer. What was interesting to me about this was when our group talked about the difference between a plastic cup and a double lined water bottle like an owala. I previously knew that these kept drinks the same temperature better than a plastic container, but I now have a further understanding of why this occurs. This can be shown in my future teachings with a lesson of comparing these two containers and how well they keep a temperature.

  This week in lab welearned about density, mass, and volume. We discovered that each of these factors go hand in hand in whether or not an object will sink or float. Items sink because the particles are closer together while items float because the objects are farther apart. We discvered that the density of water is one so if something has a density greater than one it will sink and if it is less than one it will float.  We then measured how fast and far M&M colors float off when placed in water and how the different colors may vary. Something that was confusing to me was why some colors reacted differently than others. For example the red dye went much farther in two minutes than the yellow dye. What is the reason for this?

  This week we conducted several experiments on several different objects. Many of these tests I have completed in my previous science classes, but something new our group used was an overflow cup to measure mass. This methos is used when you are measuring an object that is too large to fit in what you are using to measure the mass. You fill the overflow cup with water and once it stops overflowing from the faucet on the side you measure the amount of water in the cylinder and then add the object and once it stops overflowing again you will remeasure. Then, take the first measurement subtracted from the second and that is your final mass of the object. When we were trying to conduct electricity with each object the one we assumed would work well was the paperclip. Our first two paperclips did not conduct electricity but when we received two new paperclips, they both conducted electricity. This was very weird to me especially since no other group experienced that issue. Why did our ...

 This week we got a new professor named Jeff and we discussed chemistry and matter. Matter is anything that takes up space and can be a solid, liquid, or gas. We learned about this through six different hands-on activities.

This week in lab we learned about the drivers for evolution. Some of these drivers include natural selection, gene drift, and migration. Natural selection is when organisms with more favorable traits are more likely to survive and produce offspring. This is also recognized to be the survival of the fittest. Genetic drift refers to the random fluctuations in the frequency of alleles within a population due to chance events. Lastly, migration is when animals migrate to a different area usually because of seasonal change in temperature and precipitation. The activity we completed was using a fork, spoon, and a popsicle stick to collect beans and place them into our cups. The goal was to demonstrate the process of adaptation and selection. This made sense to me, but something that confused me was when the popsicle stick struggled we evolved to a spoon. This confused me because the spoon was the one that received the most beans so I was curious how it went from worst to best and skipped the...

  This week in lab, I learned that structural changes to genes, known as mutations, can impact proteins and may lead to harmful, beneficial, or neutral effects on an organism's structure of function. Mutations involve changes in the DNA sequence, whether it is a nucleotide or base. I also gained a deeper understanding of how DNA codes for proteins. Every three bases form a codon, which corresponds to a specific amino acid which is often referred to as the building blocks of proteins. These three-letter sequences provide the instructions for assembling proteins one step at a time, with certain codons signaling when to start or stop the process.  Our discussion on genotypes and phenotypes was easily connected to what we have been learning in lab and lecture over the past few weeks. Genotypes refer to the combination of alleles inherited from parents for a specific gene, while phenotypes are the observable characteristics or traits that result from gene expression. Other influenc...

 This week we learned about DNA which contains the genetic information that is necessary for an organism to develop and function. We did an activity where you flipped a coin to see what traits the person was going to have, heads was dominant and tails was recessive. If both or one of the parents has the dominant trait the child will receive that, to get the recessive trait both parents must have it.  The activity would be good to use in a future classroom when teaching students about DNA and genetic makeup. One remaining question I have is if there is a possibility for a child to get a recessive trait if neither of the parents have it.