Monday, February 24, 2020 (HS-LS3-1): Today is the final day of class to work on the Chromosome Project slide deck. For this project, students were tasked with investigating a chromosome and at least 5 genes located on that chromosome. A complete slide deck will include the following information:
- Chromosome number
- Brief description of what happens with too many or too few copies of the chromosome
- For the gene you researched the most (and have trait information for):
- Official Symbol
- Official Name
- Your own one-sentence summary of about the protein the gene codes for
- Location of the gene on the chromosome
- Number of exons in the gene
- Length of the gene (in DNA bases)
- Length of the protein (in amino acids)
- Description of trait and how that is connected with your gene
- Research information for the other 4 genes you investigated
- Citations for the information you gathered so anyone else can repeat your findings.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020 (HS-LS3-1): It’s Chromosome Project “Poster” Walk day! Time to share what was learned about each chromosome and learn about the amazing diversity of genes on each and the traits those genes code for. Students will present their slide decks to each other in small groups while completing the poster walk handout.
Wednesday, February 26, 2020: Unit 3 Review – Notes from class shown below
Thursday, February 27, 2020: Unit 3 Exam
Friday, February 28, 2020: To conclude Week 25, and in preparation for our next unit, we watched the first 30 minutes of Some of the Things That Molecules Do (Cosmos, episode 2), pausing periodically to answer questions on the handout students received and which will be turned in after we complete the video tomorrow. During the video, students learned:
- wolves and dogs share a common ancestor (artificial selection);
- brown bears and polar bears share a common ancestor (natural selection);
- how random DNA mutations can occasionally produce desirable traits depending on the environment in which the organism with the mutation lives;
- how all life on Earth is connected via DNA to a common ancestor (using the Tree of Life analogy);
- how the evolution of sight can be traced all the way back to bacteria
The Art of Science 