December 21-Diffusion and Osmosis

Today we started out class with Mr. Finley telling us that we would do an activity by looking at pond water and the organisms after Christmas break. Then he had us read a lesson in the cells textbook, and take notes on it. These were my notes:

• Diffusion-the process by which molecules spread out, or move from areas where there are many of them to areas where are fewer of them.




• Diffusion occurs because gases, liquids, and solids are in constant motion in all directions, which naturally spreads them out until they are evenly distributed




• Diffusion helps cells maintain homeostasis, such as the oxygen needed for breathing enters cells by diffsuion




• The concentration of a substance is how many particles of the substance there are in a volume




• Example-If you dissolve 9 grams of sugar in a liter of water, the concentration is 9 grams/liter




• Diffusion occurs more rapidly when the difference in concentration between the two areas is higher and slower when the difference in concentration is lower




• Small molecules (such as oxygen) can pass through the gaps in a cell membrane by diffusion




• Example, in photosynthesis oxyen not used for cellular respiration passes out of the cell by diffusion




• Diffusion is an example of Passive Transport which is when materials move without using cell energy




• Cells benefit from passive transport because it allows cells to move materials with out having to expend any energy




• A cell can only diffuse across a cell membrane if the substance can dissolve in the lipids that make it up




• Osmosis is when water moves through cell membrane through diffusion




• If the concentration of water is higher outside than inside then water will move into the cell, and vice versa




• Example-when you don't water a plant it wilts because water leaves the leaves by osmosis but when you water the soil because there is more water concentrated in the soil than the leaves water goes into the leaves

After we took notes on the reading, we had to answer questions about it. These were my answers"

1. Diffusion and omnosis are similar because they both deal with cells spreading out and moving to another area, just that with osmosis there is water moving through a cell membrane.

4. The water will enter the stems of the boquet of carnations through osmosis.

6. Water diffuses into the protozoa.

After the questions were done, we studied for our test until the end of the period.

This is important because we'll need to know it for the test on this unit. Diffusion and osmosis are two important processes that we will need to know in the future, and it's a very good idea to learn them now.

Click on me for a link to a page about diffusion.

LG

12/20/10 7th Grade Period 8

Today at the start of class Mr. Finley said that the test that was suppose to be on Tuesday, 12/21/10, is changed to Wednesday, 12/22/10. It was changed because Mr. Finley cannot do an 8th grade study session on the same morning as a 7th grade study session. So, our study session will be Wednesday morning, the day of the test. Soon after that Mr. Finley started to continue the topic from Friday, which was the cell membrane one. He started talking about how the blue dye mixes with the water. Some things that happened were mixing, swirling, and spreading, from Friday. Mr. Finley started to tell us that with a cell when there are more molecules on the outside more will try to get in until its equal in both sides. After that we watched a movie on Cells.

Notes on Movie-

The first thing that they talked about were eukaryotic cells and prokaryotic cells. Eukaryotic cells have areas inside of it that separate off from the rest of the cell by membranes. The areas I am talking about include nucleus, lots of mitochondria, and other organelles such as Golgi Body. To learn more about that review the packet, Cell Classification Article. The Prokaryotic cell doesn't have a nucleus mitochondria or any other kind of membrane. The cell membrane is the boundary of the cell. Nucleus and ribosomes are made in a cell membrane. The Cytoplasm has most of the organelles, it takes up more than half the cell in most cells. Mitotibulis are hollow, it can be taken apart. Mitochondria are when organic breaking cells break down. If you zoomed into Mitochondria you would see a small little Mitochondrian. Chloroplasts absorb light energy, a type of palstic. Mitochondria is cells saving a lot of energy to save mitochondrian in them. The funtion of chloroplasts is when photosynthesis conducts. The ribosomes form consists of protein and RNA. The Smooth ER has no ribosomes, transports fat, and limits detosifies drugs. Golgi Apparatus consists vesicles like a processing station. Lisisomes get rid of organelles, vacuole maintain plant cells, pressure and provide stability to the plant.

SK

12/17/10 Cell Vocabulary

Today we started by going over the cell parts and functions. Mr. Finley then showed us in the middle of our discussion how the blue dye mixes with the water. Some observations were that it was spreading, mixing, and swirling.

Vocabulary:

Nucleus-stores and protects the DNA; determines what characteristics the cell needs
Cell Wall-provides the shape; protects the cell(on plant cell and bacteria)
Cell Membrane-allows small molecules to pass freely while large molecule move by transport proteins; flexible for ease of motion
Ribosomes-takes RNA and turns it into protein
Vacuole-stores food and water; releases food too
Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum-just a highway system
Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum-many different functions
Chloroplasts-responsible for photosynthesis
Mitochondria-used to provide energy to the cell; has molecules and proteins
Lysosomes-breakdown proteins
Golgi Apparatus-tags molecules so they can be moved; molecules and organelles are attracted to each other
Cytoplasm-transports proteins; maintains the cells shape; keeps cells and organelles in place

We spent the whole class time going over the vocabulary. But it was worth it!

Extra Vocab:
Synthesis-to build or make
Lysis-to breakdown or destroy

~Erica W~

12/16/10 Science

Today in class we started out watching a video of a cell. We had to take notes on a few questions. 1: What do you see? 2: Is it living or nonliving? 3: What kind of cell is it? 4: Is it single or multi-cellular? My answers were, 1. I saw something moving on a surface. It kept bumping into brown rusty colored things. It looked like the thing was eating them. The thing had a clear outer layer that looked like it was keeping it's parts together. The inside was brown and it spiraled to move. It had hairs too called cilia. 2. I said it was living because it looks like it has the characteristics from what I saw in the video. 3. It has cilia so it's an animal cell. There are compartments and a nucleus so it's a eukaryotic cell. 4. It is single celled because there was only one nucleus. After that, we watched another video to prove some points. It was a video of the same type of cells eating yeast that was dyed red. Below is a video of an animal cell I thought was interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNyq4A08mTo&feature=related
LE

Activity-Talya Bendarsky

At the beginning of class we talked about how Mr.Finley's website will be down until January 1st. This is because the website is getting a new layout. People will have to remember to write their homework down during class. We will be able to use the blog, and we will still be able to see his twitter. Some of the things will still be on there. Also, he told us that he replaced our old quiz's with the averaged quiz so that will be on our grades. We had to write down what all of the words on the board do or what they are used for but not the definition. The words on the board were Cell Wall, Cell Membrane*, Ribosomes*, Endoplasmic Reticulum*, mitochondria*, nucleus*, vacuole, cytoplasm, chloroplasts*, lysosomes, and Golgi Apparatus. The words with * after them are important. The nucleus is used to store the DNA. The Cell Membrane is used as a protective barrier for the cell. The Cell Wall is used to keep the cell in the same shape. The Ribosomes are used as a site of protein synthesis. The Smooth ER is used to store important things. The Rough ER is used to collect Protein. Mitochondria is used to provide energy to the cell. The vacuole is used to help the release of waste products and digestion. The cytoplasm is used to help the transport of proteins. Chloroplasts are used to make the cell green by using chlorophyll. Lysosomes are used to degrade proteins. Lastly, the Golgi Apparatus is used to pack macromolecules so that they can go somewhere else.

Talya Bendarsky

12-14-10 Period 8

Today we found out we have a test next tuesday! We will be getting a study guide later on today. We also went over cells. We went over Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells. Animal cells only have (here are a few): Neculeus, Golgi Aparatis, Vaculous, Neculous, Cytoskelton. Next we talked about a plant cell! The Animal cells do not have a Cell Walls or Cloroplasts, Large central vacule. Next we talked about bacteria! (Prokarotic cell). Plant (Eukaryotic) cells do not have flagella, but Aniaml (Prokarotic) Cells can have them. Some things bacteria have and plant and animal cells dont have: Capstole, DNA, and Pilla. We also talked about a Euglena, it is Eukaryotic Cell. Euglena is a orgism, it is the ONLY animal cell that has Cloroplasts.Euglena can make it own food and eat other foods. This orgisms is a animal cell with plant cell charastics.
Here are the exact pictures we look at today but with labels:

ANIMAL CELL: PLANT CELL:


EGUGLENA CELL:

BACTERIA CELL:

Maddie :)

Today in class Mr. Finley wasn't here and left things to do.

• read article


• take notes


• answer question sheet


• if not done, work on it for homework

Here are some notes...

• cells work together or alone


• cells are in all living things


• all living things need at least 1 or more cells


• cells could be unicellular or multicellular


• unicellular- working alone


• multicellular- working with others


• there are two kingdoms of unicellular ( archaea, bacteria)


• also for multicellular... animals, plants, and fungi


• 1 kingdom that mixes with both unicellular and multicellular...the protista


• ALL living things are divided into two major groups depending on how their cells are set up

Those are just some notes! :^)

12-7-10 Notes/Blog

Today in class we went over the homework we had last night and we also discussed the chart/list that we made. NOTES:

If you missed class, we went over our homework, but we didn't go over fossil yet. Also, if you saw the bottom of the worksheet, there are two tree objects, only do the top one.

Mr. Finley said something at the end of class, "We are made up of elements, the elements are made up of atoms, and ATOMS ARE NON-LIVING!!!!" So I have a question for you, if we are made up of non-living substances, how are we living?

KG P8

Lexi- Cells Alive/Dead

Today we learned that our class is the only one who handed in all of our presentations so we have to re-vote. You allowed to vote for yourself if you feel your presentation deserves it. Everyone better study for another cell labeling quiz! It's coming up soon so learn as many parts as you can. For homework we had to think about evidence you might have to support the idea that something might be dead on the organism level but living on the cellular level. We talked about it for a while and Will came up with the idea of if you died the cells could live on their own but would die off quickly. Kevin said that some cells would still be living and that mainly your brain and heart need to shut down for you to die. Erica added on to what Kevin said and said that some cells don't need a host. Does that mean that some cells are organisms? Will brought up an important topic, if your organs could live a while after you die Lloyd said that cells survive from leftover nutrients about as long as any person would survive with food, once there is no more food the cells die. We are a multicellular oganism so we are not made up of other organisms.

Picture above is of living cells (in color) and dead cells (in red)

-Lexi

Characteristics of Life, Organisms, and Cells

Today, we began the class checking our homework. We discussed how living things have characteristics of life, nonliving never had characteristics of live, dead things once had characteristics of life, and dormant could have c.o.l. Also, we discussed how biotic (bio which means life) was a synonym for living thing and abiotic was another name for nonliving. We also discussed we don't take antibiotics (against living) if we have viruses since viruses are nonliving. They are designed to kill bacteria instead. We take vaccines for viruses instead. After talking about c.o.l, we talked about the homework. We concluded that the second person was right, who stated cells were living, but plant cells couldn't live on their own because they are a multicelluar cell which means they can't survive on its own. They need other organisms to live.


HZ

In the beginning of class we started off by working on our smart notebook projects. In this projects we are making slide shows to explain the needs for life to third graders. each group has about 4 members and each of us is responsible for two or more slides. Each slide explains a different need for life. At the end of the slide show we also make interactive games to quiz the viewers. This quiz covers all of what you can learn from the slides. Next we got back our pop quiz es on the parts of cells.

wz

Period 8 11/28/10 MB(#2)

Today in class we had a quiz on the placement of the cell parts. Mr.Finley recomended to study hard if you didnt stick to the places of the cells, they will come up again soon in the future. For the next quiz, we will have to know the different things that each part does and what it does for the cell.

here is a picture of a plant cell.

Here is the picture of the animal cell.

we also had a slideshow to look over which led up to the project that we have for homework tonight. Here is the link to the slideshow on Mr.Filey's website.

http://www.slideshare.net/cgales/characteristics-of-life

the project is on the slidshow in the link above, for homework, with our groups, we have to each do 2 of the chosen slides and put them on the smart notebook file for the third graders. we werent suppose to simplify the information, we just have to make it more ynderstandable for younger kids. these files will be sent to the third graders in the Chatam school, so do your best to make it very understandable.

Maddie Bedder (BLOG#2)

Science Class November 24 CS

First in class Mr.Finley walked around and checked our homework from last night which was to read two textbook pages and you had to write a paragraph explaining whether you agree or not with textbook's concept. Then Mr. Finley told us about the charecteristics of life and how they relate from the textbook to the one's we made up in class yesterday. Some people thought that the ones in the book were ture but i thought the book was missing some. The book's list was respond to the enviroment, growth and development, and reproduction. then Mr.Finley had us take notes on a video slide show that you coud find on his website. the slide show's list pf characteristics are organazation, adapt through eveolution, reproduction, metabolism, homeostasis, heredity, and lastly responsiveness. I agree with the list that the slide show provided no the one that the science textbook gave us.

Carter Stumpf

The cell is the basic unit of living things.

Living things have these characteristic, organization, ability to develop and grow, ability to respond to the environment, and also the ability to reproduce. Bacteria is a very simple living thing, it doesn't need much. An example of a living thing that needs all the characteristic is a king fisher. Most organisms grow into an adult form. Also, they can change a lot in size and appearance.

Needs for life.

You need energy to sleep and breathe. All organisms need a steady supply of energy to stay alive.

Most organisms get their energy from the sun, or food to get energy.

White Lion Cub Adult White Lion

See the difference in size and appearance. These animal also need energy to run, walk, sleep,breathe,etc.

R.R. Period 8

11/22/10 Period 8

Today we went over our homework which was to answer 4 questions about the onion and plant cells.

1. What is a cell and why are they called building blocks?

A cell is a microscopic organism made up of organelles. A cell makes up a tissue, but is also maade up by other living things. They are called building blocks because they all need to work together. They all work together to build up the tissue and make it work.

2. Why did the grass have to be very thin?

The grass had to be thin so we could see the detail of the cell and the different parts of the cell.

3. Why didn't we see any chloroplasts in the onion cell.

We did not see any chloroplasts in the onion cell because it is not green. Also, onions are grown in the ground and do not get any sunlight which means the chloroplasts can't survive.

4. Make a table comparing plant and animal cells.

Plants vs. Animals

Similarities- They both have a nucleus. They are both microscopic. Differences- The plant cells are green and the animal cells are brown. It is harder to see the parts of a grass cell because they were too small.

Mr. Finley said to know all parts of the cell and be able to label them very soon.

If you are having trouble with these questions you could ask a friend to explain them to you or go in early or afterschool to do them again if possible. If that doesn't work you can always ask Mr. Finley.

JR Period 8

11/19/10 P8

Today, we finished off the grass lab and started the onion lab. For the grass lab, we got some grass from outside and we put it on the slide, and then we put one drop of water on it. Then we put the cover slip on it and looked at it through the microscope. The cells were green and quite opaque, are light can't go through it much. The cells were also circular. It was also harder to see the parts.

For the onion lab, we took a paper thin piece of onion and put it on the slide. Then we put one drop of iodine and put the cover slip on it. Then we looked at it throught the microscope. The onion cells were more colorless. Also, ther were no chloroplasts in it. This is because the onion is under-ground. Since it is under-ground, the sun can't reach it, which means it can't do photosynthesis. If it can't do photosynthesis, there is no need for chloroplasts.

After we looked at the plants, we had to answer some questions. Here are the questions.

• What is a cell? Why are they considered building blocks?



• Why did our grass have to be very thin?



• Why didn't we see any chloroplasts in the onion?



• Make a table of the differences between a animal cell and a plant cell.

It is confusing to know that there are different kinds of cells. It is also hard to memorize it. But, once you start to learn more about it, you get the hang.

Here is a video on the inside of a cell. It is hard to understand in some cases, but it is visually helpful, and names most of the parts we learned about, although it goes into more detail and there are things we never learned about. Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCHre3-_KjA&feature=related

By Rohan Mallya

Plant and Animal Cells

Plant cell :

Today in class we all got new seats. After that Mr. Finley checked our homework. Then we compared the lists we made for homework last night and compared it with our groups. The list was :
Only plants plants and animals

vacuoles chloroplasts cell wall cytoskeleton
nucleus gol gis appritence
large centralized endoplasmic reticulum
mitochordia
lysosomes
golgi apparatus
cell membranes
small not centralized

After we discussed our lists with our group we discussed the list with the class. After that we had to re visit our cheek cells and grass cells, and add labels to our pictures.

11/12/10 Noah Kudman

Today, we talked about the presentation that the expert group made about microscopes. The cover slip is what is used to flatten the sample on a slide. Dry mount slides are used to look at non-liquid samples. if you can't see your sample, try fiddling with the diaphragm. NEVER TOUCH THE SLIDE. A rule to remember is if the body tube is higher than your pinky is ,which is the lowest place the body tube can be, you can't see anything.

A couple days we ago, we talked about how multi-cellular organisms are made of systems, which are made of organs, which are made of cellular tissues, which are made of cells, etc. We decided to take cheek cells because they're large and easily accesible. Mr. Finley took a toothpick and rubbed it on his cheek, lightly rubbed it on a slide, and then threw the toothpick away. He put methalene blue, which is a dye, and put a drop on the cells. He then put a cover slip on it and wiped around the cover slip, and the cover slip stuck to the slide.

He put the slide onto a microscope which was connected to the projector and it was projected onto the Smart Board. We discovered that the white was air and NOT cells. Then, we did the experiment in pairs. We found small blue cells that looked like little blue specks.

Period 8 11-9-10

TEST WENSDAY! STUDY! STUDY GUID ON MR. FINLEY'S WEBPAGE!

First off we cheaked our homework. Our homework last night was the microscope pre-assiment. You can cheack you homework with the diagram at the bottem. Assessed our self in cofindence in your answers if you gave yourself a 5 or below you had to go to the two big tables in the middle and you had to do a simulation on the computer to help you understand the microscope better. If you gave yourself a 6 or above on the simulations we had to make a presation for the rest of the class(it was only 5 of us). We had to get a ''letter'' from a pice of paper. (A real letter like 'a') We had to put the letter on a slide. We had to find the letter on the slide under the microscope. If you gave your self under nealth a 5 you would do this same simulation on the computer instead. That's all we go to so far. Rember:

STUDY FOR TEST ON WENSDAY!

11/08/10

IMPORTANT!!! TEST WEDNESDAY Study Study Study Study 11/10/10 :~O :~O :~O :~O

We watched a video on the universe showing that everything is made up of something else and everything is part of something else. We answered these questions. (Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_J5rBxeTIk&feature=player_embedded

My group said:

• 
  
  What's the main idea behind the movie: Small things are part of bigger things which are part of even bigger things etcetera.


• How can this concept explain the structure of multicellular organisms (ex. humans): This explains multicellular organisms because : They are made up of other things. Ex. Humans are made up of organs, which are made up of tissues, which are made up of cells, which are made up of atoms, which are made of protons and nuetrons, etcetera.............................

Main points:

Q1: Things are always made up of something smaller and everything is part of another group of things (Ex. People live in houses which make up towns which make up states...)

Systems (Ex. Nervous, Reproductive, Digestive, etc.)

To

Organs (Lungs, brain, etc.)

To

Tissues (Def. Groups of cells working together)

To

Cells (ex. blood)

This is important because if we understand that everything is made up of something else and that everything is part of something else then we will get that people are the same way. Then using this info. we will start a new unit.

K.D. Period 8 (2nd)

Period 8 11/2/10

Today in class we discussed the vocabulary word each group was assigned and there definitions in a 1-3 minute SMART notebook presentation. Mine was strepto. If you are looking for VOCABULARY & NOTES!!

Cocci or Coccus-

• rounded or spherical



• grouped together to make different shapes

Spirillum-

• rod shaped bacteria



• by itself or chains



• never go alone, always in a group (swarm together)



• 1.4 to 1.7 micrometers in diameters

Bacillus-

• rod shaped bacteria



• arranged in chains (next to each other)



• Never alone!!!!!
  

Staphylo-

• round shaped



• in clusters or clumps



• found on skin



• causes infections in the skin, bones, lungs, and other organs

Strepto-

• twisted



• chains

Diplo-

• pairs or doubled



• doubled called diplobacteria

To create a word to show the arrangement and shape you take the arrangement(chained, clusters, clumps, etc.) as the prefix, and the shape as the suffix. And you get a word. LOOK BELOW FOR AN EXAMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!

look at the image for an example of streptococcus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KATIE GOMEZ P8

We looked at our study guides and played a game!

P8- Bacteria discussion

Today in class, we got back our graph w/ conclusion and our quiz. Although only one person got 100%( Rohan), there were many more high grades. Don't be dicouraged if your grade is low, because it's worth less than the first quiz, and you can correct it,but it's due by wednesday. So, don't calculate your average and freak out!

Here is a bacteria upclose, which most likely isn't visible to the naked eye:

Later on, we watched a video on youtube about bacteria. Here is the link to the video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEwzDydciWc. This video was sapose to lead us to thinking what was hapenning and why. We all agree upon the fact that they were splitting in half, growing larger, reproducing a sexually, and that the more the bacteria, the faster they reproduce. Plus, we learned a new word, exponent, and exponential. For those who don't know, it's: a number or variable placed to the upper right of a number or mathematical expression that indicates the number of times the number or expression is to be multiplied by itself, as in 2³, which equals 8 (definition from http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861609898/exponent.html). We also said that each time the bacteria split, the exponential digits increase. So, it would be, 2 to the 1st power, 2 to the 2nd power, 2 to the 3rd power, 2 to the 4th power...and so on.

Lastly to wrap everything we discussed what we need to know for our next test which is coming soon. In addition for homework we have to research a word. The words were: strepto, diplo, and staphylo. Also as a group you present it in front of the class the next day with a mini, 1-2 min. presentation.

If you still have questions, please go to the discussion site and ask. I will try my best to respond.

S.K P8

This is my 3rd time blogging

October 29

Today, first we handed in our graphs and conclusions for the online bacteria lab, and Mr.Finley annonced we would be starting our lab reports for our bacteria petri dishes soon. He showed us a new insrument; the stereoscope. It is similar to a microscope, but it has 2 eyeholes. Compared to a microscope, it is different because it allows us to look at bigger things than a microscope, close up. Although we cannot see individual bacteria with it (we can only see bacteria colonies), Mr. Finley said we would use it to look at our petri dishes. One of the circular blobs in our petri dishes would be a bacteria colony.
Next, Mr. Finley showed us how to use a stereoscope. First, adjust the eyeholes so you can see into the stereoscope. Then, adjust the magnification so the object is seeable. Next, adjust the focus knob to get the object in focus. Lastly, hit the red button to turn on the light. Also, when you carry it, hold it by the base and the neck.
Next, we observed our petri dishes under the microscope. First, we looked at a bacteria colony, and it showed up as a huge red circle that took up nearly everything we could see through the stereoscope. Then we looked at another bacteria colony, and it appeared to be a large pancake with a large lump of butter on top. The mold looked like a large forest of white hair. Once we finished looking at the petri dish, we started typing our conclusions for the lab report.


Here is some vocab we defined in class today:
Stereoscope-a microscope with two eyeholes, used to look at bigger things than a microscope
Microscopic-Something you cannot see with your eyes
Macroscopic-Big
Colony-A group of organisms all in one place

Something that may be tricky is being able to see through a stereoscope. The reason many people screw it up is that they don't have the eyeholes in the right place. A good way to adjust them properly is to put your eyes up against them and slowly move the eyepieces in or out. Eventually you should be able to see through them, becaus you will have gone throught the entire range of viewing angles.

Here is a link to a lab report rubric from another school disttrict
http://sciencebass.tum.abss.k12.nc.us/modules/locker/files/get_group_file.phtml?fid=2134278&gid=326235&sessionid=200b7bc2e1972dfd5662c6a6ea2db723

Here's another link:

http://sites.google.com/site/grahamscience/new_lab_rubric.doc

LG Period 8

Science Class Period 8

Today, we reviewed creating line graphs. We learned to ignore connecting the dots with straight lines, and use curvy lines instead. The graph we made was about the bacteria lab. The first experiment showed the first experiment's lines was rising. So it could have increased more in a few hours. The second experiment showed the bacteria or the line rising and then straightening at the end. So it might have reached its peak and would have stayed that way in a few more hours. Also in class today, we started to make conclusions for the graph and the online bacteria lab. In the conclusion, we learned that we should include methods such as predictions, evidence, and reasoning. Overall, we spent the class fixing our graphs and making conclusions.


H.Z

Bacteria

Today we started off by viewing a simulation done by Mr. Finley to see how fast bacteria grows. This simulation shows how fast bacteria grows like our experiment that we are currently conducting. In this simulation they showed the amout of bacteria that grew each hour and we recorded the growth for each hour. After this we took the recorded data and made a duble line graph, one line for each experiment. Then we had to do what we did not finish we had for homework. I injoyed conducting this type of experiment and would like to do it again.
WZ

Period 8 October 26, 2010

Today, like any other day, we started off with marking the spots on our grids, on our petri dishes. After finishing marking our data we started to work on writing notes for our graphs. We had already started taking notes yesterday. These are those notes and the ones that we added on today! While making a line graph include these items:

• Labels, title, and units.
• Scale-even intervals-don't need to start at zero ALL the time.
• More than one line can be on the graph (double line graph) use symbols or colors.
• Don't need to number every tick mark.
• Trend Line-line that shows a pattern in the data; shows direction; doesn't need to go through dots; represents the data: also allows us to keep in mind that human error might be a reson for imperfections.
• Dependant variable on y axis and independent variable goes on x axis.

Trand lines dont have to be perfect but they also help!!!!!

October 25 Period 8

Today in class we started by talking about our petri dishes, and how we need to divide the amount of bacteria in a box by 9 to get the percentage of bacterial grwoth in a box. Next, we discussed how much of what Mr. Finley drew on 1/4 of a petri dish, and had to see which group guessed about how much bacteria grew on the 1/4 of the petri dish. The blob was about 25% of the quarter. Our class next had to figure out how they knew it was approx. 25%. To do this, we divided all 6 boxes that contained bacteria into quarters. After that, we found it was 22%.
Next, we took notes on day 5 (sat. and sun.) of our bacteria growing on our actual pertidishes. My group had suprisingly no bacterial growth over the weekend, but some mold had grown on our perti dish.
Section 1 had 35% growth, section 2 had 1%, section 3 had 5%, and section 4 had no growth in my group's petridish. Some qulitative observations were:lots of mold was growing in section 4; section 1 had plenty of smaller bacteria that made up 35% of the dish, section 3 had 3 large bacteria that made up 5%, and we noticed as the hair on our petri dish grew, so did agar.
Finally, we conversed about graphing. Things we need in graphs
-labels
-title
-units (x-axis and y-axis)
-variables (height-y axis-dep. time-x axis-ind.)
-scale~even intervals(note- graph does not have to start at zero all the time)
~No HW
P.S. Go Giants

Mr.Finley Science Period 8

In this science period we discussed our petri dishs and the growth of bacteria in them. We also talked about how to chart them and find out how to graph the amount of growth and how much there is so far. We also talked about looking at bacteria percent and fractions the guesses were...

• 10%
• 1/7
• 15%
• 20%

We all assumed that 1/5 was the best fraction guess. Mr.Finley like fractions the best so that was what we used. You have to divide that to find the amount of percent of the growth of bacteria. Most students go this concept.

Each group also checked thier bacteria samples for the second day so far. Yesterday, many groups didn't get a lot of bacteria since it was only the first day of their growth time. Since today is the second day, more groups had more growth. This means that each group could record their quanitative data. If you were wondering, quanitative data is when the groups record what their bacteria looks like. So if their bacteria was green and lumpy, they would record that. The groups have to remeber to record guessed percentages as fractions. They also have to remember that their "bacteria" could be mold, the students have be very specific and careful with that kind of detail.

If the "bacteria" is hairy, it is mold. But if it looks like a melted piece of vanilla, it is bacteria. Most groups could have gotten a lot of mold, but you can never be too sure.

For example, my group only got bacteria in the sample for the high school gym floor. We used the mold in our data since we were allowed to. Mold is allowed in recorded data. Here were our results.... We only got some bacteria/mold for the high school gym floor

• Llyod said 15%
• Carter said 10%
• Lexi said 11%
• And I said 8%
• Our average result was 11%

Our qualitive data for the gym floor was.....

• Some of it was mold
• All dots of bacteria
• A big clump of mold

After we looked at our samples, Mr.Finley started talking about dependent and independent varibles. Here are the definitions of indpendent and dependent varibles...

Independent Varible: The independent varible in this experiment is testing

Dependent Varible: The dependent varible in this experiment is the bacteria

Next, the class made line graphs on the growth of the bacteria

MM

Science Class

First in class Mr. Finley talked to us about our lab reports and what we should have in them. He also showed us examples of some of the eighth grade lab reports and how we should format them. also he showed us an example of what a real scientist's lab report looks like to give us an idea of how ours should look like. He went over in detail about what each section of the report should look like which i think helped everybody in the class understand what exactly you need in a lab report. in a lab report you need to type it instead of writing it and you also have to include sub headings. the main parts of our lab reports are prediction, hypothesis, materials, procedure, background, and data. For data you have to write a table of your data and explain it underneath. Then for background you have to write your observational experiment, questions you have about your experiment, and observations. In class we got to look ay our bacteria for the first day of the experiment. most of the groups didnt have any bacteria except for one which had a little bit of growth. we recorded these results in our tables that we made for the experiment. also today we learned about qualitative data and we made a table for our qualitative data.

Today we set up a bacteria experiment. First, we chose two places that we thought had the most bacteria. Then we chose the two places with the least amount of bacteria. We chose these as a table. Next we went through the procedure.

PROCEDURE

1. Split the petri dish into four sections.


2. Label each section.


3. Take a sterile swab and lightly rub against one of your places.


4. Rub the swab against the agar gently. Don't jab at it.

Vocab

1. petri dish- short circular plastic container where you can grow bacteria


2. sterile swab- a germ free cotton applicator


3. agar- food for bacteria, attracts bacteria

Today we did not get to do the actual experiment, but we did label the petri dishes.

My advice is that when you go get the bacteria samples do not take out your sterile swab until you need to use it. Also, do not walk around with the petri dish open because the agar will attract the bacteria in the air.

JR PERIOD 8

10/15/10 Period 8

Today, we went on the Spontanious Generation link under the Epidemics Unit link. We read the intro and conclusion. We also did the animation and quiz. You should read the actual article/link for more detail, bur here's a summary:

Louis Pasteur was a scientist from the 1800's. At that time and before his time, people believed in a "theory" called spontanious generation, in which life, such as maggots and microbes, could be born from a non-living thing, without a parent. Mr. Pasteur tested this idea. After he tested it, his data disproved this "theory", and made a new understanding in these organisms.

Then, we finished taking the notes on the HIV group from the three stories.

Some Notes:

• HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus
• Aids stands for Acuired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
• There is no cure
• Spreads through bodily fluids
• First HIV blood test during 1985
• It breaks down immune system
• Can't die of AIDS, but from other diseases do it because there is no immune system
• No symptoms

Importance: The Spontanious Generation link is important because it it shows that life is not created like magic with no reason. It also shows how pasturization was invented. The link also shows you a visual of what the scientist did in his experiment.

Here's a video on Youtube that has to do with Louis Pasteur's experiment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eRAsztKfuI

10-14-10

In the beginning of the class we got our quizzes back. Today we discussed what specific causes cause disease. We also talked about how people from a long time ago thought people got sick, the people from long ago thought you got sick magicly. They thouught people got sick because people did something wrong. In our groups we discussed what a spontaneous genaration is , why was this theory popular,what evidence they have, and what do you think about this. We also talked about Louis Pasteur. There is now a link on the epidemic unit for spontaneous generation.



N.F.

10/12/10 Period 8-Teaching the Class

Today in class we discussed most of the notes all three groups wrote down yesterday. Two groups had a virus and one group had a bacteria. One at a time each group went up to share their facts. The other groups wrote down these notes as each group was speaking. Be sure to copy down these notes if you were absent because they are important. The three diseases were Cholera, Small Pox, and HIV/AIDS. Cholera is a bacteria, Small Pox and HIV/AIDS are viruses. Below is a list of the notes on all three diseases that were taken in class today. HIV/AIDS were not fully discussed today in class, tomorrow we will continue the notes on HIV/AIDS.

Cholera-

• Bacteria
• Cholera is a dirraheal disease caused by bacterium vibro cholera
• Cholera can spread quickly through contaminated water and food that may have come in contact with feces of an infected person
• Clean water is not in very much access in countries like Bangladesh where this disease is populated
• Cholera is mostly effective to children and babies
• Some symptoms of this disease are vomiting, diarrhea, and a stomach ache
• Fazle Hasan Abad, a former accountant, founded the Bangladesh Rural advancement Committee (BRAC)
• Fazle also formed BRAC
• 100,000 people recover from the treatment
• treatment- molasses(sugar), salt, and CLEAN water
• caused by dehydration
• can be fatal
• can cause death by lack of water

The next group that went up today was Small Pox.

Small Pox-

• Virus
• infections
• may be fatal
• vaccine but no cure
• face to face contact needed
• visible marks on skin
• easy to diagnose
• 1st major virus

Small Pox Vaccine-

• first discovered in 1796
• global campaign
• WHO (World Health Organization) tried to stop the disease
• tech advance helped vaccines
• Eliminated in 1977 from the globe
• vaccine did not do much did not do much
• vaccine was NOT a cure
• if you give someone something that is weakened it is easier to fight off

HIV/AIDS were the last diseases we focused on today. We did not fully finish it but we did start some of it.

HIV-

• Virus
• a disease that infects human immune cells and reproduces them

H-umm

I-mmuodeticency

V-irus

AIDS-

• Virus
• first case June 1st, 1781
• NO CURES
  400,000 people die from it a year

A- cquired

I- mmune

D- eficency

S- yndrom

-SK!

10/11/10 Period 8

Today, one of our students told the class about a vaccine that treats malaria called Hydroxychloroquine. We had a discussion about what was in this chemical. We found that there was hydrogen, chloroine, and a mystery element that we couldn't find on the Table of Elements. We also looked at the different elements in sugar and found carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. We found that it was a carbohydrate (carbon and hydrogen) and that the amount of hydrogen and oxygen had the ratio of water. Her is a picture of one.

Structural Formula of a Glucose Atom

Next, we split the class into three groups: two viral disease groups and one bacterial disease group. Each person got a paper that talked about there type of disease. Some groups chose to read there paper individually, and the other had one person who read aloud to their group. After, they had to take notes about their type of disease which they would later use in a presentation.

We started with the bacterial disease group, who talked about cholera. They told how it spread through warm water. Then, the class ended. We will continue with the presentations tomorrow.

Today

Today we checked our homework. Our homework was to make a venn diagram for the vocab words, germs, parasites, sickness, illness, epidemic, and bacteria. Than we made a summary of it. In class, we discussed different types of viruses and how they form. Some of the viruses were Rhinovirus, dustmites, and Ragweed pollen. We found out that the kids at Truman and Jackson got sick from the contaminated water. The kids mostly got over the sickness by themselves. Mr. finley started making the three vann diagrams and the class starts making the fourth. We learned that bacteria are single-celled living things. Some bacteria can reproduce. In the middle of the vann diagram, we put disease producing because virus, bacteria, and parasites are disease producing.

LE

Consencis

Today in class we started off by thinking about three questions. The first question was, "If i am out of class, what can I do to see what I missed?". The second question was, "How should I approach a quiz?". Lastly, the third question is, "How can I improvemy learning after a quiz?". The answer to the first question is that you can go on to the blog to read what you missed, check the home work section of Mr.Finely's web page, ask a friend, email Mr.Finely, and text Mr.Finely. The answers we got for question number two are that you should organize study time without distractions, listening to music without words might help you study, take prper notes in school, be optamistic during the quiz, and aproach it like a rough draft. The answer to question three is that you can go to the sylbus and read how you can correct the quiz. The syllabus says that to correct a quiz you have to expplain the reason that you got the question wrong.

After we went over the questions we were given a task. This task was to watch a video of people passing basketballs. We were told to count, in our heads, how many passes were made. We could not write down how many passes we saw. Also, we could not speak during this assignment. We were also told that we were only supposed to watch how many passes were made from only the white team. After watching the video we were told that there was a moonwalking bear that came on to the screen. When we were told this we realized that we had not seen it. The purpose of this was to see what we miss while foccusing on one thing.

After watching the video Mr.Finely moved a couple people to different tables for an activity. The people that moved brought their homework to the table they went to. We were told to share our deffinitions of the terms and reach a consencis of the simalaritys and differences of the words and on the deffinitions. Every table talked about their answers.

Period 8! Whoo

So in the beggining of class we got our tests back. We also went over our homework from firday night [I think]. We had a debate over what happend with the epidemic we had to figure out. Some people thought it came from the Cheep Chicken Hut and got food posioning ,others thought it was from the water in the lake. The water had reports of having bacteria in the water. Now they could of got sick from swimming in the bacteria infeasted water. Next we looked at our hypthesis about the epidemic. Some of our hypothesis are that the Cheep Chicken Hut just gave you good old tap water and the backeria in the water got everyone sick, but than there was 1 kid that didn't go to Cheep Chicken Hut. So then we figured out that the water was the main source of the epidemic.

Thank You
Maddie(#1)
Period 8

Period 8 - Last day of the school epidemic research.

October 1st.

Notes:

One non science related thing we briefly learned about in class was

What to write on the Smartboard:

When writing on

the board say the full answer out loud but write only the very important pieces of data on the board so there is more room for other notes.

Information found for homework last night:

(HW was to explore the new message and the Community Health page and record notes)

Theories:

1. There might have been a virus in the contaminated food that combined the symptoms of food poisoning and the flu. It could easily have been spread during the band competition.
2. Students could have been sick from parasites.

Question: What foods were served at the cafeteria.

The experiment that we did in class and will finish and conclude for HW was to explore the new message on the Community Health Page.

Advice: While writing your conclusion remember that the water in a neighboring town was contaminated. Also, remember to look at not only what the sick people did at the competition, but what the not sick people did too.

(This picture is important because of the contaminated water in the experiment.)

KD (1st)

Period 8

What we did in class today is:



Check our homework:Some ideas:

• in the restaurant ceiling tiles were missing so wires were exposed


• 1/3 of the band members were missing on may 23rd


• On May 20th the lowest % of absences in all schools and all classes was 4.2%


• Maybe the reason that the band classes have the most absences is because they share instruments (hypothesis)


• West Nile virus spreads more during warm weather


• a lot of people were absent right before the highest (5/20)


• At least 3% of the people were all in the 4 gym classes were absent


• The people might be sick because they don't sanitize the classroom


• probably used the same cloth to dry dishes


• outbreak of flu a year before


• after a couple of days the quarantine the number of absences decreased to 0% or 5%

In the website that we researched last night, we looked for evidence, so were then looking for patterns. Also hypothesis, questions, things from Mr.Finley's friend, and observations.

Period 8 Post!!!!!!!!!!!

KG P8

Today in class we are talking about the article we had for homework. We are also talking about the FINELY OLYMPICS!

Vocab.

Epidemic- When something occurs and it hits many people.

Ethical- Not worth it.

Discussion Notes-

World of war craft is a online game where you can interact with other characters. Some people play it for the rest of their lives all around the world. It is like Call of Duty, and you can rank up! Call of Duty ROXS!

The virus can show how quickly a disease can spread and you don't even know you have it!

Since people spend a ton of time playing video games that reacts on how they act now and then, before and after playing the game. It can affect the way they talk, act, etc.

Some people with cancer or terminal get tested on because if they will die they should die helping people.

If everyone gets sick in real life I would stay at home and lock my door! That would be scary.

There is about 8 million people in NJ when there is about 6.5 million people playing the game.

The reason why the game is better than a simulation is because since the game wasn't created for a virus, it was created for fun. They wouldn't expect to get sick so they act the same.

In a simulation they would be expecting it to happen, when in a game you don't expect it.

YOU CANT EXPECT HOW PEOPLE ACT AT ALL!!!!!!

You can do that with a lot of things with a virus. Natural distasters, a killer is on the loose, etc.

HW

Go to the Epidemics Unit-Community Health Department link and open it.

Period 8 Tree Diagram-Discussion

Today in class we discussed our homework. By doing it, we got to practice our skills with using the diagram. We learned that tree diagrams can help in many situations such as patient zero. Later on we picked on Will to play teacher. What this means, is that he has to solve question two of the homework. This way we can point out mistakes and Will can learn to do it himself because he didnt do his homework! Obviously, it was difficult, and to explain the answer to us he needed to first explain it to himself which needed before hand planning. So, we decided to pick on Erica because she actually did the question for homework. She still needed help, therefore Kevin decided to generously volounteer. His explanation was close to this:

I concluded that the 1st X is the patient “zero”. I think this because the main and the 1st person can’t be patient “zero” since if the main traded with 1st, then the 1st would also be negative. Now, the main and 1st are eliminated from being the patient zero. Next, the main and the 1st X traded. After they traded, the main traded with the 2nd X. He became negative. Supposedly, the main gave the sickness to the 2nd X because before when 2nd X traded with his 1st person and 2nd, he was clean. Before the main traded with 1st X, he was positive and then turned negative. So, when he traded with 2nd and 3rd X, he passed on the disease.

Moving on, we discussed the article called How a computer game glitch could help to fight off global pandemic. The article is about how a glitch in a game can possibly be the answer to many pandemic related questions in the science world. The "glitch" is basically that the gamers made a creature, the Hakkar, which is a serpent. The serpent has a virus that was supposed to be only for the strongest players, but the glitch spread the virus to everyone. Therefore, the results show that all the players spend emotional investments and time to make sure they don’t catch the virus. the scientists see how quickly the disease is spreading and where, which will help in their own research.

To conclude, today we learned that tree diagrams can be quite useful in many ways. If you get it right, it can answer one of the most vital questions, like who is spreading the disease. We also learned that a simple glitch has answered the similar questions about epidemics.

Here is a link to see Hakkar at work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO35f0MIWCE&feature=fvst

BY:::::: SK P8

Period 8 - September 27

Today in Science, Mr. Finley instructed us on how to do a blog post.

• You must first summarize the day's lesson. To do this, if there was a simulation or video, state the main points. If there was notes or vocab defintions, copy them down. If there was an experiment or demonstration, write down the hypothesis, prediction, data, and conclusion. If there were instructions about how to do something unscience related, write those down too.
• Next, you have to make a reflection on the lesson, and answer one of these 3 questions:
  Why is this important?
  Why was this confusing?
  Or, give some general advice about something that might have been hard and how to do it.
• Next you need a multimedia thing. This can be any one of the following: (Video, Picture, Link, Sound bite)
• Finally put your initials and period.

Here is some vocab that was defined today:

Patient 0: the person who started the disease

We started talking about how to find patient 0. Mr. Finley showed us a tree diagram, and told us how to set it up. You start off with one thing at the top, and make several branches with other things in them. Then the other branches split off into other branches and so on. We began making a tree diagram to graph who was patient 0. We made a list of people who definitely were not patient 0, which was:

Erica W
Lloyd G
Rachel R
Juliana R
Katie G
Will Z
Kevin D
Lexie
Simrin
Saad
Maddie
Carter S
Talya
Megan

We learned things from everyone. Here are some examples:

• From Katie we learned that Katie G and Will Z were not patient 0, that Rohan could be patient 0, and that Rohan got Katie sick.
• From Rachel we learned that she can't be patient 0, and Simrin, Saad, and Maddie couldn't either.
• From Juliana we learned that Talya and Megan couldn't be patient 0.

At the end of class, we figured out that these people could be patient 0:

Nick
Rohan
Noah
Maria
Brendan
Harris

By - L.G. Period 8