This week in science, we started by sharing our homework from Friday. Our homework was to find what prokaryotic and eukaryotic meant. Mr. Finley and Mr. Segen did let us know they were words used to describe cells, but that is all of the information they gave us. I found, and shared, that they mean:

Prokaryotic:

-Simple

-No Nucleus

And:

Eukaryotic:

-Complex

-Contains a nucleus

Mr. Finley told us these definitions were correct, and that we would be using these words to describe cells throughout the school year.

On Tuesday, or maybe it was the same day, we made flow charts about what we know about photosynthesis and respiration. Here are some bullet points about what we knew:

Photosynthesis:

-Process of making food for the plant

-Needs sun to perform this task

-This food gives the plant energy

-Photosynthesis makes the plant green.

Respiration:

-Not the same thing as breathing

-Is a characteristic of life

These flow charts we the start of a new unit in science.

The next day, we talked a little bit more about photosynthesis, and Mr. Finley helped us discuss some points about photosynthesis. We added new facts about respirations to our list. Here are some new things and old things that we learned in class that day:

Photosynthesis (it means the plant)

Makes it green.

Green stuff makes it grow.

Green stuff also gives the plant energy.

Green stuff also gives the plant food.

Also:

Needs light to go through this process

Light=Sunlight

Also needs water

Lastly:

Needs air

CO2

What we took from this list as a general statement is that:

For a plant to go through the process of photosynthesis, the plant needs sunlight, water and CO2.

To test this, each group made an experiment to test these things. Our group was given the experiment to try to see if a plant needs water to go through photosynthesis. We put a spinach leaf in a tube with water, and a spinach leaf in a tube without water. We put both tubes next to a light.

The next day, we measured the oxygen level, which is what is produced by the plant if the plant is living. The results showed that indeed, plants do need water to photosynthesize. The other groups also proved that a plant does need sunlight and CO2 to photosynthesize.

The day after that, we looked at a simulation about photosynthesis, which further proved our experiments. It also showed the atoms and molecules in the plant during photosynthesis. That day, we also learned some new termonology.

Atom- Makes up a molecule, made out of elements, non-living, and make up everything.

Molecules- Made up of atoms, which make up everything, therefore molecules make up everything too.

Element- Different types of stuff, all of them on the Periodic Table of Elements.

That day we also learned the below statements:

Plants make a food called glucose.

Glucose is sugar.

Sugar is a carbohydrate.

Carbohydrate is carbon water.

On our last day of the week, we went a little bit further with learning about the molecules. We also learned a tiny bit more about photosynthesis. We learned that photosynthesis happens inside the cell. It happens in the chloropasts of the plant cell. These chloropasts make chlorophyll, which is the pigment that makes the plant green.

Lastly we made up models of molecules that are necessary for photosynthesis such as H2O and CO2. We made these models out f legos.

That is what we did in science class this week.

This week in science 11/2-11/4

This week, we had a shortened week in school so we only had three days of school.

On the first day back from our weekend, we discussed the shape and structure of animal and plant cells. Our table thought that the animal cell looked like the shape of a nerd, the candy. We thought because both of them looked bumpy and we described them both as "3-D blobs."

We thought the plant cell looks like the shape of a gear because of the rectangular spikes on 4 opposite ends of the plant cell, just like the cogs on a gear are on the four opposite sides of the gear.

Here is the link to the picture of an animal cell:

Animal Cell

Here is a link to the picture of a plant cell:

Plant Cell

Hopefully, you can see the resemblences that our table found.

Then, later that day we made a chart of characteristics of both plant and animal cells. Some people gave some 2-D characteristics such as a deformed circle, which we then realized isn't a great characteristic because even thought they are small, both plant and animal cells are 3-D. So, a 2-D characteristic isn't that best way to describe these cells.

That day, we also made a chart of organelles, their functions and which kind of cell has them.

Here is a sample chart that I tried to make (sorry it will probably turn out horrible.)

Nucleus- Both animal and plant cell has it.

Controls everything that goes on in the cell.

Cell Wall- Only plant cell has it.

Gives protection and gives the cell structure.

Cell Membrane- Both animal and plant cell have it.

Helps contain the cell's organelles and controls what goes on in the cell.

Vacuole- Both animal and plant cell have it.

Stores nutrients and waste products and helps increase the cell size during growth.

Cytoplasm- Both the animal and the plant cell have it.

Holds the organelles in place.

Mitochondria- Only the animal cell has it.

Allows the cell to perform cellular respiration.

Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum- Both the plant and animal cell have it.

Transports chemicals.

Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum- Both the plant and animal cell have it.

Structual Skeleton.

Chloropasts- Only the plant cell has it.

Contains the plant cell's chlorophyll.

Ribosome- Both the plant and animal cell have it.

Makes proteins out of amino acids.

The next day, which was Tuesday, we listed some animal cells and some plant cells.

Animal cells:

• Brain Cells
• Skin Cells
• Lung Cells
• Nail Cells
• Muscle Cells
• Tissue Cells
• Tongue Cells
• Blood Cells (Both Red and White)

Plant Cells:

• Berry Cells
• Leaf Cells
• Root Cells
• Stem Cells
• Flower Cells
• Seed Cells

Then, we had to list bacteria cells:

• Salmonella
• Listeria
• Camphylobacter
• Staphlyococcus
• E. Coli
• Dipleococcus

Then we learned something very important:

*Bacteria cells are single-celled and animal and plant cells are multi-cellular (more than one cell.)

Then, our homework that night was to figure out if a paramecium (microscopic organism living in pond water) was an animal cell or not. The other question we had to figure out was how do they move. Here is what I found and shared to the class on Wednesday:

I could not figure out if a paramecium is an animal or a plant cell off the top of my head, so I had to look up this question on the internet. I found that a paramecium is not a plant nor an animal cell, but it is actually is a protozoa. A protozoa is an animal-like cell, but it's not actually an animal cell. It is found where there is moisture. (Like in pond water.)

Paramecium move using a cilia which surrounds the body of the paramecium cell. The cilia makes the paramecium move distinctly quickly.

After sharing our homework on Wednesday, we looked at pond water under a microscope to try to find paramecium and try to identify that they are paramecium by seeing if they have visible cilia. In our slide that Michelle and I made, we unfortunately could not find paramecium. All we saw was algae and air bubbles. Although we couldn't find anything though, Bria and Sarah could, so we took a look at their slide and drew and wrote observations. They looked like oval shaped bubbles with tiny lines around their structure, which we assumed was it's cilia.

That is what we did this week.

Sorry everyone, my chart of my last blog didn't turn out so well. Hopefully, you can still read it!

10/26/09-This Week in Science

On our first day back to school of this week, we made a chart of all of the possible causes of the sickness at Truman Middle School. This was our last step before making our lab report. Here is what I made in my notebook:

Bacteria 1. Bacteria

l l 2. Swabbed Chicken

V V 3. Present

salmonella organisms from pond water 4. What type of bacteria?

Could also be:

-Lysteria

-Camphylobacter

-Staphlyococcus

We disproved that the pond water started the outbreak.

The next day, we made a chart showing the differences between Bacteria and Humans:

Bacteria Humans

-single celled -size is larger

-smaller than humans -communicate

-respirate

-made of cells

-many cells

-different

The day after that, which was Wednesday, we went to the library. I am not positive if we went on Tuesday or Wednesday, but if we did go Tuesday, the chart above is what we did on Wednesday. (Sorry This is Kind of Hard To Follow.) Now I am having second guesses and thinking it was last Friday. Oh well, it was one of those days.

In the library, we found articles on bacteria cells and there was one about a boy that brought a water testing kit to test the water on airplanes. He found that the tap water from bathroom sicks is filthy! It informed the reader not to drink the water at all, and to ask for bottled water if we were thirsty. It has the potential to get us very sick.

On Thursday, (or whatever day, I am just so confused!) we did an experiment on cheek cells. We had to use a toothpick and rub the inside of our cheek. Then, we had to make our sample that was on the toothpick into a slide for a microscope. we had to make two slides; one with dye on it and the other with just water. We had to make pictures of what we saw and our observations on the slide with the low and high objectives. We found that the low objective and dyed cheek cell was the easiest to see. Then for homework, we had to make drawings of plant and human cells and label them.

On Friday, we did an experiment with potato and grass. We gently shaved a sliver of potato with a razor blade three times; one for a water slide, one for a Meathenine Blue dye and the other with Lugle Solution dye. With these slides we had to make two drawings for each; one with the low objective and one with the high objective. We found that the low objective Meathenine Blue was the easiest to work with.

For the grass one, we had to gently razor a tiny piece of grass and make a slide out of it. We only had to do two pictures; one with the low objective and one with the high objective. We found that the view of the grass with the low objective was the best one and the easiest to work with.

Unfortunately, I can not show everyone my pictures, but as I said above, the easiest to work with was the low objective. Above is what I have learned about this week in Science Class.