Recently in Science/Tech we have been talking about cells and organisms, and with that we started learning about DNA and how it makes up every living thing. Mrs. Bibayoff of course wanted us to get an up close look at DNA before we started diving into how it works and the different parts. This activity was super fun and seeing the DNA in the end was pretty cool. Our test subject was a strawberry that we put through a process to in the end achieve little tiny strands of DNA. Our first step was to mash up the strawberries in a plastic bag to crush some of the cells. We then mixed together a DNA extraction liquid (water, soap, and salt). With a coffee filter, we squeezed out the juice from the strawberry into a cup so that was all we were left with. The very last step was to add rubbing alcohol to the strawberry juice and wait a couple of seconds. Sure enough you could see little strands of DNA in the cup.
I thought this was a very cool hands on way for us to take a look at DNA up close.
*From Mrs. Bibayoff*
Sneak Peek at Coming up in Science/Tech: I've been talking with two different scientists to come in and visit our classes. One is a biologist that would lead us through collecting our own cheek cells to extract the DNA. The other is a neurologist (brain scientist) from the world renowned UC Davis MIND Institute who plans to bring in. . . Sheep Brains! Hoping they are both able to join us in April.
— Mrs. Bibayoff (@LEroomI3) March 28, 2017
We liked how you explained the DNA extraction process very well. One thing that you could have added was what the DNA shape looked like. We could remember when we did our DNA extraction too, and we can connect this DNA extraction with what scientists do to know the object's genotypes. What did you see when looking at the DNA? Overall, this was a descriptive blog post.
ReplyDeleteDear Nareg,
ReplyDeleteYou were very descriptive with your writing and you made it really easy to understand. I remember how we were in the same group! I think this is a really good and descriptive comment! But what made you do the DNA lab as your blog post?
Your blog post is really good, I like how you described the activity. One thing you missed was when you swirl the toothpick to get the DNA. When we did the experiment I also thought it was a cool way to look at the DNA. One question, in your group who made the solution and who mashed the strawberrys?
ReplyDeleteI like how you told me about the strawberry extraction DNA process. I also liked how you told the steps on how to do it so if I didn't know what it was I could understand it. Information I would add is you showing the smashed strawberry so they could see the process. Something I can connect with is that once the strawberry got matched up they barely hung on the toothpick. Did you like the experiment and did you have fun doing it.
ReplyDeleteThis is an awesome presentation, Great description and details and no spelling errors. When my group did this project there were a lot of bubbles in the bag but we finished it successfully. Can we do more projects like this? It is really fun and awesome to put it under the microscope and look at it.
ReplyDeleteNareg,
ReplyDeleteWe thought we should recognize, how you used details for the process of the activity really well, with using step by step explanations.
Our experience with the activity was both struggling and interesting but, the overall it was really enjoyable.
Did you have any difficulties along the way, like we did?
Dear Nareg,
ReplyDeleteI really like for the opening you specified which class we did the DNA extraction. We also liked how you explained the process that we had to take for the experiment with the strawberry. So something that we learned from this projects is that the DNA was clear as shown in the video, when we made a assumption that the strawberry DNA was going to be red. We also agree with you that the experiment with the strawberry was very fascinating and a fun activity. We still wonder why the consistency of the DNA was like that?