Charity Fair - Journey of Stuff 11/30

This week, we began to create our Charity Fair Journey of Stuff map. This year, my group is supporting the Children's Defense Fund by selling handmade tote bags. The map above shows the journey all of the materials took to get to us before we made our bags. Using this information, we needed to calculate our Carbon Footprint. 

On the map, we added the manufacturer(s) of our raw materials. To make our tote bags, we used bed sheets, sewing thread, fabric paint, wax paper, and buttons. We had to look up the manufacturer(s) of the materials online. This was difficult because we hadn't actually bought any of the materials we needed; we had them all laying around the house. We used walmart.com and michaels.com to research how much we would've spend on the materials and where each material was manufactured.

Next we needed to decide if our materials traveled by train, airplane or truck. If the item was manufactured in another continent, it traveled by plane. If the item was manufactured in the same continent, it traveled by train. If it was manufactured in the same country, it traveled by truck. All of our materials were manufactured in the United States (as you can see from the map), so they were transported by truck to get to Walmart and Michaels. They took a car to get from the stores to our school (also on the map).

After placing the destinations and drawing the lines between them, we used the number of miles each material traveled to calculate our carbon footprint. In total, we used 1207.6219 grams of carbon dioxide/kg. 

S&EP: SP2 - Using Models

While we were doing this, we were definitely using models as we created this interactive map. The map shows the distances from manufacturer to retailer, retailer to school, and it gives lots of information, like how far each item traveled separately or all together. Using an interactive map is helpful because you can insert all the information you want and find any information you want.

XCC: Structure and Function

In order for manufacturers to produce and ship their products, they need a working structure. They need a working system that ensures that all products are shipped to where they need to be in time. Things like mode of transport, time and cost can also pop up. Manufacturers need to make sure that the products are being shipped on the proper mode of transport by the time they need to be. They also have to keep in mind finances like gas money for trucks. All of these things build the structure so that the manufacturers can function.

Evolution Project Blog 11/15

Our evolutionary project was finished this week. For the Designer Species, we needed to create a new species of animal that would be able to survive on an alien planet of our choice. Along with that, we needed to create a slideshow presentation about our organism to share with the class. My slideshow presentation is embedded above, along with the complete final drawing.

I really learned a lot about how organisms develop different traits in order to survive in their environment. Their habitat may pose some challenges for them - drought, downpours, poisonous plants, little to eat - and organisms can find ways to survive under any of these circumstances.

In order to see better, the Darkat’s eyes are extra large, and it has bioluminescence on antennae to see better while it hunts. It teaches its babies how to hunt, fight and hide to survive. It can dig small holes to live in so that the nocturnal predators can’t even get inside their shelter. They are able to swim, climb and dig to survive, and all of these traits help it live.

Backward Looking: What problems did you encounter while you were working on this piece? How did you solve them?
In this project, some problems I came across started with not understanding what to do for the slideshow. I wasn’t really sure what the teacher wanted, so I asked my classmates what they were thinking of doing until I understood what we were supposed to be doing. I also had trouble with timing, so I had to wake up really early on Thursday and work on my drawing for an hour before class.

Inward Looking: How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?

My favorite part of working on this was the drawing. It didn’t matter if I messed up, because nobody knows how it’s supposed to look, anyway. I made it up, so only I know what it needs to have. The drawing part was really fun for me. I’m proud of the work that I did, and I hope other people like it, too.

Outward Looking: What the one thing you particularly want people to notice when they look at your work?

Whenever anybody asks me this question, I always say that I want people to notice how hard I worked. This is true for this project, too. I’m not one of those people who always does the bare minimum. I always throw in my best effort and think, ‘if my best isn’t enough, than I don’t know what is.’ I always try to do my best in everything I do because my best is enough for me. I always want people to know how proud I am of the work I accomplished and that I worked hard on whatever I did.

Forward Looking: One thing I would like to improve upon is …

One thing I would like to improve upon is my timing. I was doing a lot of research, and I wasn’t sure what to do next, so I was a little bit behind at the very end. I’m still proud of how my work turned out, but I know I could’ve done even better if I had more time. I’m proud, but next project, I’m definitely leaving myself time!

Darkat - Designer Species Project 11/10

Darkat - Designer Species by Liliana Echeverria

To study evolution and how organisms adapt to their environments and habitats, we’re creating a completely new organism. The project is to choose an alien planet from the chart and create a new animal that would survive under the circumstances on the planet.

The planet that I chose to go with was the first one. The first planet is cold and dark all the time, and it rains almost all day, every day. The terrain is very mountainous, and the only organisms that can survive are fish, insects, mice, cats, moss and fungi.

Our organism could not be at the top of the food chain. It had to eat something, and something had to be able to eat it as well. The picture above is a rough sketch of my organism, the Darkat.

To make an organism that would fit into the food chain and would be able to survive on the planet, we first had start by finding out how it was going to find food, what it’s going to eat, how it cared for its young, etc. We could mix traits from different organisms to give the animal unique senses that could help it live.

Since my planet was so dark all the time, the animal needed to be able to see in the dark or have some way to make light for itself. I was thinking about using sonar to help it locate food in the dark.

Sonar works when the organism emits a noise or screech, like a bat. The sound echoes off of organisms or obstacles near the organism and gives them a picture of where the things are. However, my animal was going to be swimming through dark lakes to catch fish for food, and it can’t be underwater and make the noise at the same time. I decided on bioluminescence. The Darkat has two antennae in front of its face that have bioluminescence on the ends, which emit light even underwater, helping the Darkat see.

Anglerfish have bioluminescence in front of their face that help them lure prey in the darkness of the midnight zone, the same way that the Darkat does. It also uses the lights to see where it’s going in the darkness.

The Darkat also has traits from a housecat. Cats have flexible paws that help them climb. Though cats usually climb furniture, the Darkat uses its wide, flexible paws to climb the rough, steep terrain. It has claws to catch mice with and thin teeth to pull apart their prey.

To stay dry in the constant rain, the Darkat has oil glands above its tail like birds. When the Darkat grooms itself, it spreads oil over its fur, making it waterproof to keep it dry and warm.

S&EP: SP8 Obtain, Evaluate and Communicate Information

Mixing traits from different organisms to make a whole new one that can survive on an alien planet helps me to see how evolution helps organisms adapt to survive in their environments. Seeing how new traits are evolving across generations in different species to benefit the way they live relates to creating a new organism. Taking traits that would help it survive from a few different animals show how organisms adapt to their habitat. If I, say, had chosen the desert planet, there would be no need for thicker fur or antennae with light because of the heat and sun. Maybe the tail would shade the organism, or it could survive for longer without water. Maybe its paws would be tougher so it won’t feel the heat of the sand or wouldn’t have claws to help it climb.

While researching for this project, I was also creating a presentation to teach the class about how I created my organism and what traits it has/how it survives. Researching traits that could potentially help the Darkat survive in a cold, rainy place was helpful because there are many places that are cold and wet where organisms thrive. Collecting information on this topic gave me multiple options for traits that could help the Darkat. For sight, I was debating sonar or bioluminescence. I weighed the pros and cons of both options and settled on the one that would benefit the Darkat more.

XCC: Structure and Function

When I was creating this new organism, I had to think about how I would structure its body and which traits would help it function. If I placed eyes further up on the head, would the organism see higher? Would the change benefit it, or would it make no difference? Does it matter where its tail is, or if it even has a tail at all? I took lots of these questions into consideration to see how the creature would benefit from my decision about its structure.

Having flexible paws means that the Darkat can climb the mountains that make up most of the planet, thus helping it reach the caves higher up where it lives and catching prey up on the mountain. Having flexible paws helps it climb steeper areas or places where there are hardly any footholds. This part of the Darkat’s structure helps it function better, because lots of its life is in the mountains, so it needs to be able to climb.

However, the tail doesn’t really do anything to help it survive. It isn’t bad, but it doesn’t do anything to benefit it. I’m still trying to decide if I want to remove the tail or not. I want to make sure that every piece of its structure helps it survive and doesn’t make a negative impact.

Cladograms 11/2

Cladograms are the charts scientists use to show how closely related organisms are and what traits they share. Cladograms are helpful because they can show you where the common ancestor of two or more organisms is and what organisms share traits.

Venn diagrams are helpful when building a cladogram. The organisms, traits and names can get mixed up, and venn diagrams help organize the information.

To see how cladograms work, let’s build one. Here are five organisms:

There are a lot of similarities between these five organisms. Let’s organize them in a venn diagram before building the cladogram to make it a little bit simpler.

Images

Notice how we eliminate one organism as we move towards the center of the venn diagram. All five of the organisms have a backbone, but snakes don’t have four limbs, so they were eliminated from the next box. Humans don’t have tails, so they were removed from the next box on. Tigers eat meat, but cows and giraffes are herbivores. And giraffes have those horns on their heads. (You might argue that cows have horns, but this specific breed does not.)

We can now move on to building the cladogram. We start at the middle of the venn diagram and move outwards.

We need to fill in the names of the organisms and the pictures at the top in the empty box and the traits where the red lines are. We’re going to go right to left, starting with the giraffe.

Images

We can look at the first red line underneath the snake and know that every organism to the right of it has a backbone. That is true for every red line. When we look at the line that says tail, we know that the organisms to the right (tiger, cow and giraffe) have a tail and that the organisms to the left (human and snake) don’t have a tail.

Cladograms help us see which organisms are closely related and which share traits with each other.

S&EP: SP2 Using Models

A cladogram is a model that scientists use to show which organisms are closely related and which share traits with each other. Cladograms are helpful because they help organize the information and make it clearer to see. I used cladograms to determine the closest relative of the T-rex and estimate what it most likely tasted like. Using information found at T-rex closest relative, we compared information and found that the T-rex’s closest relative is the parrot, meaning that the dinosaur probably tastes most like chicken. Using the cladogram was helpful for me because there were multiple organisms that were closely related to the T-rex, and using the cladogram helped me figure out which one was the most closely related.

XCC: Structure and Function
While I was studying the T-rex’s closest relative, there were several interesting things I noticed about its structure that I didn’t notice before. Both the T-rex and the parrot have fingers, even though the parrot’s look like they are hidden in its wings, which they are. I noticed that both organisms were missing their four and fifth fingers, unlike the caiman, another close relative. The T-rex and parrot also are bipedal, meaning they walk on two legs. Using the cladogram helped me discover this new information and compare it to new information.

Image links:

Cow: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/201409_cow.png by Wikimedia Commons

Snake: snake-3254415_960_720.png by Pixabay

Giraffe: giraffe-1151683_960_720.png by Pixabay

Tiger: animal-2057646_960_720.png by Pixabay

Human: woman-2859008_960_720.png by Pixabay