Remember the first science post I made this year where I talked about how we didn’t have to do a lengthy project to start off the year? Well now it’s time to do a lengthy project filled with research and planning.
Like usual at the beginning of our units, we were told that we would be working on a big science project that would be ready to present at the end of our unit. To start off our year in science, we picked up where we left off in science last year which was mainly about DNA and genetics amongst many other things. Just coming out of summer, I was pretty rusty on the subject, so it took a little bit of work to get back to speed on how certain things work such as meiosis and mitosis. At the beginning of the unit, we were told to make a mind-map based on what we could remember about genetics and how they determine the characteristics of living things. Hopefully Ms. Pye won’t kill me if she sees how much I remembered at the beginning of the year…
Yeah, it’s probably not the best demonstration of my memory, especially after doing so much work on DNA and genetics last year but that’s what the recap we were doing this year was for. At around the same time we made these mind-maps, we were also introduced to the project we would be working on throughout the course of our unit. We would be doing a five to six minute podcast that would answer the following question, “If two sets of identical twins marry each other (identical twin boys each marry identical twin girls) and each couple has a child, could the resulting children be identical?” The underlying focus of the podcast was mainly about genetics and how they affect living things.
So now, we had to start working on the project. I paired up with Kyle and we started talking about if the kids would be identical or not. It seemed pretty convincing that they would be identical and we even saw an article that perfectly depicted the question with a real life story, although I’m not really sold on the credibility of the source yet…
What I didn’t realize until we neared the end of our unit was that there was a right answer. Although I was pretty sure that the kids from each set of parents could be identical, our journey throughout the unit got me leaning more towards the chance that the kids might not turn out identical after all. Especially after the work we did on this website, I was sold on the fact that these kids could not be identical. My podcast with Kyle summarizes the learning we did and why the kids can’t be identical, so feel free to check that out below!
I feel like since my last podcast which I did for WWI, I improved a lot in making the podcast itself and learned from previous mistakes. If you want to compare this podcast with my previous one, you can find it here.
The script went by pretty easy for me and Kyle helped a lot with getting the information and points that we would need for the podcast. What I feel like I’m constantly changing up my style on is the production of the podcast itself.
In the past, I struggled a lot with tone and using expression, all while not distracting or taking away from the podcast. I also had difficulties with finding good background effects/music.
This time around, I approached the podcast with a really calm attitude, and I feel like I had a much easier time coming up with a good end product. The script definitely helped me keep a natural vibe to it as I wrote it in a more relaxed conversation style than I normally do. My tone ended fitting really well with the podcast and helped make it more interesting. As for the background effects, I found that less was more and that not using as many effects helps the audience focus more on what is being said in the podcast.
I sent it back to Kyle for feedback and editing, and he noticed a big error that could have taken a lot of marks off our project had he not taken care of it. I didn’t notice that my podcast was lacking scientific terms and definitions, so he managed to fill in the scientific gap that was in the podcast. So yeah, kudos to Kyle!
At around the same time we were showing our podcasts in class, we were also told to make a mind-map of what we know now compared to what we remembered in the beginning of the year. All that work we did in the podcast and just on the worksheets in class definitely helped me a lot for when I started my mind map. Maybe that recap was more useful than I thought…
That concludes our first unit in Science 10! I really like working on our podcast as it was yet another stepping stone in my progression with making podcasts. As for the unit itself, I was really interested in learning about the way genetics affect the characteristics of living things and how I inherited my genes from my parents. It was pretty cool for me because I was definitely way off about how genes are passed down, so it’s just one more thing I get to know.
Stay tuned for another big podcast I’ll be working on soon… Mwuahahahaha!!!
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