TWIS #15

Team Ninja's marshmallow challenge

     What I did this week in science is recreate our infamous marshmallow challenge. We partnered up with the same people we did in the beginning of the year. But this time with a twist. For the first half we weren't allowed to talk to one another and had to use post its to communicate, which proved to be a challenge. We also came to the realization that year was coming to a close. Later in the week we made our "science and I year end reflection". In which I came to grips that science made me into a better new designer and showed me that being unique and appreciating the environment and world around me was okay. The experience at New Design has made me a better person and science class has showed me things about myself that I didn't know before New Design.

Communicating without talking

     I learned that team work doesn't really work without a team. I also learned that science really can change someone for the better. Coming into David's class I figured we would do some difficult stuff that would eventually land me in summer school, but it was quite the opposite. I got the material and using the computers has made me more computer savvy as well.

Team Ninja's Final Piece 

This Year in Science - 10th Grade Intro Video

mystery marine food chain

this week in science #13

                                                    This is a picture of my spider in its habitat


      If I were to add more spiders to my spider habitat they would be producing 5x the carbon dioxide needed. This also means that the plants and vegetation in this habitat would have to also produce enough oxygen and glucose to allow the spiders to live in this environment. The plants and vegetation would have to photosynthesize even more to produce food for themselves because they're producing extra glucose and oxygen for the spiders. 

This week in science #12

       This week in science we went online and played a few games to help us with food webs and chains. The games showed me how the chains and food webs help establish the animal's ecosystems. We also later filled out packets and figured out what producers, consumers, and decomposers do for their ecosystems. Later in the week we created booklets about the spiders we are studying, Cellar Spiders. We included facts about their ecosystems and background research.


        I learned that the difference between food webs and food chains is that a food chain is a single line of organisms in which each is preceded by something that it consumes, and followed by something that consumes it. A food web branches out in every direction pointing to every organism that it consumes and what consumes it. I also learned that decomposer can consume both producers and consumers and is the only one to do so. Also that most consumers are carnivores, and most producers are herbivores. and that most all plants are producers. We got as far as learning about energy pyramids and symbiotic relationships. 

This week in science #11

     

           This week in science I helped my teammates take pictures and find things to put in our tank in the park. We found things like rocks, sticks, branches, worms, and leaves. We found that these things make up a park. The many things that make up an ecosystem. Later on in the week I annotated a document for my group and found that each living thing is contacted to one another. Whatever a squirrel leaves behind the birds come and pick it up. We noticed this when we were taking pictures of the things we can find in a park ecosystem. We each had our own taks later in the week; splitting up the work among each other. 

          I learned that different ecosystems are made up of different things. For example a park ecosystem would have leaves, bushes, trees, sticks, and lots of insects and plenty of sun. After we had the trip to the park we started setting up our spider tank. While doing this we learned that by putting plants and leaves in the tank it gives off oxygen to the spider. This was a fun experience learning about ecosystems again. 

A flower resembling a  park ecosystem

          

This month in science #10

This Month in science we looked at many things having to do with our Human Impact project. The first week we went around the Lower East side around our school asking random people how much they either recycle and etc. Once we did that we regrouped and compare notes. This was very successful for our data. After that we had guests come from the Human Impact Institute they allowed us to come up with a design to print on a T-shirt. Just recently we drew out our design for the shirts. Before we looked at the water from Brooklyn, the school water, and the fish tank water. We found that the Brooklyn water is clean of any bacteria. At first we made a wrong assumption and thought the school water was contaminated, but found it clean of any bacteria. But the fish tank was filled with algae and fish feces in which they eat when it turns into food.

What I learned this month in science is how to conserve water and the impact it has on the world and us. I also learned how different people have an impact on the environment. I also learned that I use an appropriate amount of water. By taking 2 15 minute showers everyday. I know this from taking the survey myself. I also learned that most people on the lower east side recycles. We also took at look at the fish tank and discovered its contaminated because of algae and fish feces.

Human Impact Ad Campaign

Picture of my vision of "Save water for the fishes"

This image shows what I picture when I here the term "Save water for the fishes". It shows fish at the bottom of a fish tank slowly dying because we constantly drink their water. Also that its an awareness ad making aware of if this continues that the oceans will dry out and the marine life will suffer. I feel very strongly about this and hope to make everyone aware and care.

this week in science #9

This week in science I dissected a skate. Which is closely related to a shark but looks like a ray fish. I also learned the anatomy of the skate before we actually dissected the skate. At first it was difficult to cut the skate because of its cartilage instead of bone. So we took a scissor to cut an incision down the middle of the ventral side. When we finished that we saw the liver, intestine, and stomach.

What I learned is that a skate doesn't have bones it has cartilage. Cartilage is firm, flexible tissue found in the internal ear, nose, elbow, knee etc. But it is still very difficult to cut because of this. I learned that the hard way hen trying to make an incision in the skate's chest. What I also learned was that the skate's brain is at the side of the skate's head.

The two organisms that were dissected were the frog and skate. The brain, eyes and skin were a few examples of functions that work the same but appear different. One similarity for the brain, eyes, and skin of the frog and skate is that each allow its host to adapt to its environment effortlessly. Allowing them to think quickly, see predators, and evade predators using camouflage. A difference for the brain, eyes, and skin are that the skate is able to make quick last minute decisions, its eyes are able to adapt to the dark parts of the ocean. While its skin allows it swim with little effort. The frog's brain although small comes in use. While the eyes allow the frog to see thing behind it. Also its skin in covered in mucus to that it appears slippery to predators.

This Week In Science #8

This week in science we were able to dissect animals. Our choices were a grasshopper or crayfish. My partner and I chose to dissect a crayfish. What I did was first learn the anatomy of the crayfish. Then after learning the anatomy we took a whole crayfish an we were able to see the anatomy in person. Afterwards we began the dissetion. We were able to see and indentify the parts of an crayfish. We could see the dorsal view when we put it on its stomach, the ventral view when it was on its back. The posterior part of the crayfish is the tail and the anterior is the head. The crayfish are able to adapt to many environments except very cold ones. They live in environments such as marshes, rivers, lakes etc. They are not able to survive long in salt water, due to their genetic make up features of not being able to sustain in that type of environment.

I learned that there are more body parts to a crayfish then meets the eye. They are invertebates meaning they don't have bones. It also has 5 legs on each side of its body. They also have an exoskeleton that protects their inner body parts from harm against predators. Some can grow to the size of a cat, while others are as tiny as a thumbnail. They also have pinchers to ward off predators. They have antennas to feel, see, and taste things.

This Month in Science

What I did this month in science is create a slide show video. The slide show video talked about a biome of your choice and describe the animals that live there the vegetation and the location of many different arctic tundras around the globe. The project was a lot of fun and very informational on stuff that I didn't know before. Working with my group was also fun and I enjoyed working with them. This project was very educational and taught me a lot of things about arctic tundras and what they consist of. 

What I learned this month in science is how to work with other people and how to make a video with a group. I learned about many other organisms that lived in arctic tundras, and I thought there wouldn't be as many as there are in a rain forest but there seems to be a lot of animals living in the arctic. A couple that my group chose were harlequins ducks, snow hares, arctic seal, and polar bears. Learning that many different diverse animals also can be found in the arctic was very informational. I hope to do more projects like this