Punnett Squares

1/29/2013

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A punnett square is what you use in science when trying to find out what percent chance a child has of receiving a certain trait from its parents. It is just a type of chart that you can use to do this. Here is an example of how you would use a punnett square...


 For example, if the father is hybrid for dark hair (dominant trait) and the mother has light hair (recessive trait) then you can use a punnett square to find out what percent chance their child has of receiving either trait.  You put the mother's genotype on top represented by two little "a"s, and the fathers genotype on the side represented by a big "D" and a little "d".  Then you bring the two cross and down the punnett square, and if there is a big letter you always put it first.  So when you do this with those two genotypes you get "Dd" in the upper left quadrant, "Dd" in the upper right, and  "dd" in the lower left and the lower right quadrants. that way you know that it is a fifty-fifty chance that the child of those two parents is going to have dark or light hair.  The example on the right is not of the exact cross that I explained, but it does show how a punnett square works.  So now you should understand how to use a punnett square.
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Adaptation Puppet Show

1/22/2013

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In science class we are working on a group project where everyone has a specific animal, and we have to demonstrate that animals' adaptations using puppets.  Each group does their own show that includes all four animals from that group.  So my group includes a field cricket played by me, then a red-tailed hawk, Mexican free-tailed bat, and a puffin which are played by the other members of my group.  In the puppet show we have the choice to entertain our audience with either a song, poem, dance or something else creative and interesting.

My animal is the field cricket.  I have done some research on them and found that even though they are very common, simple insects, they are still pretty interesting.  I found out that it is only the males that make the humming sounds with their legs, and it is their mating call.  Also, every different species of cricket has its own call so the females can recognize a male of their own species.  This is just one interesting fact about the field cricket.  I think this project is going to be pretty fun.
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Science Struggles

1/15/2013

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This past quarter science was pretty tough for me because I did really bad on one test early on, so I spent the rest of the quarter trying to get my grade up.  The test I didn't do well on was about photosynthesis and respiration.  It wasn't really that I didn't understand the topic, but that I didn't study.  The part that I really should have studied better were the chemical formulas for those two processes.  That test really taught me that I do actually need to study for tests even though in elementary school I could ace them without studying.  Luckily for me though, I was able to get my grade up by the end of the quarter by studying for all the other tests and trying my hardest in that class.
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