Elementary Science Methods I Segal, James

 During our lab section this week we focused our learning on natural selection. We did this by creating a simulation using different colored beans and eating utensils. The activity included each person at the table getting a different utensil to attempt to get as many beans into your own bowl as possible. This activity helped me understand the ideas of predators and their pray and how they survive or don't survive in the wild.  I think the natural selection activity we did in class this week was fantastic and helped me understand the idea of predators and prey In the wild. I would use this in my own classroom as well to help my students understand this idea. I would start off by dividing them up into groups of three so each person could have a different outcome. Then I would have my students compare their outcomes so they could compare it to different predators and prey in the wild.  A question I have after doing this lab this week would be about food chains. I understand...

 - This week we continued to learn about DNA and RNA by completing an activity on the computer. The activity helped me understand how changing one part of the DNA can affect that entire segment. I found this interesting as I was unaware of how that works. We also did a worksheet related to super heroes that helped us learn about insertion, deletion, and substitution.  - We got a chance to check in on our fast plants. I'll be honest, our fast plant is not looking healthy. I think it could have to do with the limited space in the bin that they are stored inside of. I also noticed that all the fast plants are starting to grow across each other.  - My question that I have after checking in on our fast plants, would be what did we do wrong? I would like to figure out if the reason our fast plant is not doing great is due to us, or if it is because of another reason. 

 - This week we focused on learning about DNA and the different concepts within. We did a really fun activity where we took twisters and dots and create dour own DNA stems. We then took a coin and flipped it over and over to find which features our child would have if it were based off the coin flips. We flipped the coin and every time  it was heads it represented the dominant gene, and when it landed on tails, the recessive gene was being represented. We used coins because there is a 50/50 chance of receiving the dominant or the recessive gene.This was a fun activity because it helped us learn about how we have different genes from our parents. I love all of the interactive activities we do! - I could incorporate this lesson into my future classroom by bringing in candy and letting my students build their own DNA as well. I am sure they would love this so they could also eat the candy like we did. Then I would follow it up with the activity with the coin to help them learn ab...

 - Something we learned about this week was pollination. It was really cool to check in on our fast plants and use them for self pollination. We noticed that our plants were growing significantly! After checking in, we used dead bees to self pollinate these plants. We also did an activity where we learned about the turtles and their chance of living. That interactive activity was a ton of fun! - Prior to class, I knew about turtles and that they lay their eggs on the beach. I was not aware of how many eggs they lay at once, and I didn't know it was not in the turtles favor that they are going to survive! - I can apply this to my future teaching career by using the same activity we used to learn about turtles. I think it teaches a good lesson of for the students that the world can be very dangerous to animals. It was also important to learn about the impacts humans make and how difficult they make it for the animals.