Last Biology Blog-Feedback!

What was you favorite activity/topic this year? Why was it a favorite?
What was your least favorite? Why?
If you could change one thing (Not the amount of homework) what would it be and how would you change it?

My favorite activity this year was playing Biology Jeopardy. It was really interesting, and since it was fun, I learned a lot from that. Also, it was my favorite because I love competition (and my group won the most money!). I tend to absorb more information when we are doing something fun, because I'm not bored and since Biology is my first period, I am usually a bit sleepy. Jeopardy definitely woke me up. I like playing games-having fun, but learning at the same time.


This year, my least favorite activity/topic was probably learning about organelles, and animal and plant cells. It found it extremely boring and although I learned this before, I forgot most of it. Also, since it was so boring the information basically went in through one ear and came out in the other. As a result, I failed my first biology benchmark, which was mostly based on this topic. Also, we had to create a poster for it and the animal/plant cells are really hard to draw. That project was designed to help us learn about that topic even more, but I still can't (or won't) remember it, unfortunately.


Lastly, if I could change one thing besides the amount of homework, I would change it to having less labs. I think most people like labs, but I don't because I usually mess up the experiment in some way (like I said, I'm not fully awake during first period) and also, I don't think class time is always enough time to finish the experiment. We do get the next day to complete it, but sometimes I have to stop right in the middle because the bell rang. If I could change it, I'd either do less time consuming labs and do them after getting a full understanding of the lab topic. Something else I'd like to change is to have less notes, or more time to do notes. I feel like we go so fast writing notes, that sometimes I don't even really understand what I wrote down.

Bio Blog #13

Blog#13 How has DNA changed how we investigate crimes? What are the two main tests? Describe them.
  
          DNA has affected the way we investigate crimes because without it, we could never have been as successful in solving crimes. Since its discovery, it has been used to solve crimes and is probably the most powerful tool used to put away dangerous criminals. However, DNA is also used for many other cases. In crimes though, it is used to match a suspect with a crime scene stain.
          There are 2 main types of forensic DNA testing known as RFLP and PCR, abbreviations for Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms and Polymerase Chain Reaction, respectively. RFLP testing needs more DNA than PCR, and requires undegraded DNA. Therefore, if the crime scene DNA evidence is either old or small, it would not be suitable for RFLP testing. On the other hand, PCR can be used for testing smaller amounts of partially degraded DNA. PCR is more commonly used because it requires lest time, but generally creates more mistakes than RFLP. PCR testing increases the amount of DNA available, but it also amplifies contaminants if there are any, which is why it is less specific and can more easily have errors.


Sources:
http://www.scientific.org/tutorials/articles/riley/riley.html
http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/DNA-Testing-has-Changed-Everything/2471