1. What did you learn this week?
During our lab, we discussed the results from our baby lab in a more in-depth detail. We answered follow up questions about dominant and recessive traits. Additionally, we learned about mutations in our DNA. I learned that mutations can be beneficial, have no effect, or be harmful to our health. Previously, I thought that mutations were only harmful, so it was interesting to learn about beneficial mutations. We discussed translation and transcription of DNA and explored two simulations. Lastly, we learned more about mutations through a superhero lab. During our lecture, we learned about natural selection. Natural selection is when organisms with advantageous traits are more likely to survive and pass those traits on to their offspring. 

  1. Which parts did you find clear, and which were confusing?
I found our discussion about natural selection to be clear. I found it easy to identify desirable traits and fitness of different species. For example, the more desirable trait in giraffes would be a long neck. This helps them thrive in their habitat, which allows them to live longer. I found our discussion about DNA translation and transcription to be a little confusing. It is hard for me to understand the relationship between DNA, RNA, mRNA, and tRNA.

  1. What are new or remaining questions? 
One remaining question that I have is do mutations in DNA influence the process of natural selection? This would help connect our learning about mutations and natural selection and explore their affects on each other.  

Comments

  1. Elise WareMarch 13, 2025 at 3:50 PM

    Hello, Ellie! I was the same way as you about what was clear and confusing. I got lost when discussing how they all work together, and when we can change the strand of DNA to create the mutation. I hope we continue to work on this in class before our next exam because I need more practice to help understand how this system works. I am glad there is someone else who found this to be confusing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Raney KruseMarch 14, 2025 at 10:39 AM

    Hi Ellie! I enjoyed reading your blog post for this week, and I had a lot of similar thoughts when responding to our lab. One thing that stuck out to me was your previous thoughts on how mutations are usually negative and how that changed in this lab. I had the same experience and found it very eye opening.

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