Recently in Biology, we have been working on csi and forensic projects. We were given one of three crime scenes to solve. Ours included skeletal remains. To work on this specific case, we use forensic entomology, Odontology, skeletal analysis, fingerprinting, and electrophoresis.
Though we didn't complete the case, my partner and I still learned most of the content that was being taught.
-DNA processing
-blood typing
-skeletal analysis
-electrophoresis
-odontology
-fingerprinting
-superglue fuming
-blood spatter analysis
-forensic entomology
A few things that I liked about this project was the DNA processing even though there was a lot to memorize. This topic included the steps required behind the process, the science behind the reaction and what happens to the DNA, and how your supposed to analyse the result of your electrophoresis plate. This project was complicated because, for example, DNA processing was just one of the many topics that we learned about forensics. Then each topic was broken down into smaller subtopics which was what I disliked. There was interesting content, but it was hard to keep up with it and at the same time memorize the previous topis that it was all a little bit of a handful. another thing that I disliked was the fact that personally, I don't take a big interest in forensics. I learned this about myself by being bored to tears when my dad is watching any show on ID.
Although I didn't absorb everything that was being thrown at me in forensic boilogy, I still feel that I picked up a lot. One thing that stuck out to me was forensic case #2. I wish I had one of the other cases because I'm better with ballistics than skeletal analysis however, colleen did a very good job giving this case realism. She put live insects in our skeletal remains bin that we learned about in forensic entomology and included instructions for how to measure the sections of bone and gender analysis.
Though we didn't complete the case, my partner and I still learned most of the content that was being taught.
-DNA processing
-blood typing
-skeletal analysis
-electrophoresis
-odontology
-fingerprinting
-superglue fuming
-blood spatter analysis
-forensic entomology
A few things that I liked about this project was the DNA processing even though there was a lot to memorize. This topic included the steps required behind the process, the science behind the reaction and what happens to the DNA, and how your supposed to analyse the result of your electrophoresis plate. This project was complicated because, for example, DNA processing was just one of the many topics that we learned about forensics. Then each topic was broken down into smaller subtopics which was what I disliked. There was interesting content, but it was hard to keep up with it and at the same time memorize the previous topis that it was all a little bit of a handful. another thing that I disliked was the fact that personally, I don't take a big interest in forensics. I learned this about myself by being bored to tears when my dad is watching any show on ID.
Although I didn't absorb everything that was being thrown at me in forensic boilogy, I still feel that I picked up a lot. One thing that stuck out to me was forensic case #2. I wish I had one of the other cases because I'm better with ballistics than skeletal analysis however, colleen did a very good job giving this case realism. She put live insects in our skeletal remains bin that we learned about in forensic entomology and included instructions for how to measure the sections of bone and gender analysis.
Dissection Lab
One of the biggest projects that we worked on this year in biology was the dissection lab. Every student had the choice between a pig, a shark, or a cat. I chose the shark because I find fetal pigs and dead cat's a lot more disgusting. The sharks that we used for the dissection were called "spiny dogfish sharks and they were a foot and a half maximum. Before making any incisions, we had to identify all of the members and functions of each part of the body. One thing I enjoyed about this project was the 1st hand experience with the anatomy of a marine animal.
One thing that I disliked about this project was the smell of the preservatives that were used on the sharks. This smell filled the school and not just the room. I have done frog dissection in 7th grade and I remembered that the smell was just as bad. Some people didn't mind it but I was one of those people that couldn't stand this smell. One thing I learned was the respiratory and digestive system of sharks and how they work. Another fact that I learned was that people no longer use formaldehyde because it's a carcinogen, instead they use "Perfect Solution."
One thing that I disliked about this project was the smell of the preservatives that were used on the sharks. This smell filled the school and not just the room. I have done frog dissection in 7th grade and I remembered that the smell was just as bad. Some people didn't mind it but I was one of those people that couldn't stand this smell. One thing I learned was the respiratory and digestive system of sharks and how they work. Another fact that I learned was that people no longer use formaldehyde because it's a carcinogen, instead they use "Perfect Solution."
Ape Diet
One of the projects that we worked on during the time that we were learning about apes was the ape diet project which was a recipe that every class had to do to send to a primate shelter for nutritional and educational purposes. For this recipe, human food was used since primates share similarities with humans. We used a site called calorieking.com to calculate what the nutritional facts of all the combined ingredients cost. For the recipe, we had to follow calorie, fat, and sugar limits to make sure we wouldn't give the primate shelter a recipe(s) that were potentially bad for the apes' and monkies' health.
I chose ingredients that sounded good to me so I could relate to this project better. I chose pasta, alfredo sauce, salad (must choose vegetables even though I don't like them.) asparagus, chicken, and bread. This project was interesting even though the nutrition calculation took a long time for each ingredient.
One thing that I like was the connection to my personal food favorites and how I tied them into this project to make it more interesting and relatable. One thing that I disliked was the amount of time it took to calculate all of the accumulative nutrition facts of all the different foods combined. One thing that I learned was how to use calorie king.com for future purposes.
I chose ingredients that sounded good to me so I could relate to this project better. I chose pasta, alfredo sauce, salad (must choose vegetables even though I don't like them.) asparagus, chicken, and bread. This project was interesting even though the nutrition calculation took a long time for each ingredient.
One thing that I like was the connection to my personal food favorites and how I tied them into this project to make it more interesting and relatable. One thing that I disliked was the amount of time it took to calculate all of the accumulative nutrition facts of all the different foods combined. One thing that I learned was how to use calorie king.com for future purposes.
DNS amphibian/Macro-invertebrate data
The first project we did in Biology this year was the DNS field trip. We did this to retrieve data for durango nature studies. We went down to the DNS wildlife reserve and found the following species of amphibians.
-leopard frog
-Mexican spade foot toad
I wish I could list the breeds of macro-invertebrates found but I was not on the team that caught these species.
-leopard frog
-Mexican spade foot toad
I wish I could list the breeds of macro-invertebrates found but I was not on the team that caught these species.