Blog Post Week 9

 What did you learn this week? 

This week I Learned a lot more information on mutations. I learned that Mutations are the changes in genetic material that provide new genetic variation required for evolution. I also learned about another kind of mutation and that is point mutation. Point Mutations are changes in single nucleotides of a specific gene's DNA sequence. I learned there are three main types of mutations which are deletions, insertions, and substitutions. Deletions are when a nucleotide is left out of DNA when it is duplicated, which I found to be the trickiest one to navigate through understanding. I learned how all three types are involved in the process of navigating through and identifying different DNA genes. I learned that protein changes lead to overall sequence changes and leading to phenotypic changes in the end through mutations. I learned just how involved and heavy mutations are and all the changes they affect and things they end up leading through due to the organisms and their different adaptations to the environment through different diseases and conditions.

Are you able to relate what you learned to what you already knew?

I can relate what I learned to what I already knew. I learned deeply how all the structures and ideas related to heredity and mutations function and affect different organisms and environments. I knew brief information but was able to take definitions I understood into providing these more specific examples to each type and also visual representations of what differs them all from their peers and outcomes.

How can you apply what you've learned to your teaching in the future?

Today, I can apply the activities I learned to develop a new outlook on ways of thinking about key concepts. This includes taking away, that even simulators, projects, or reflecting on drawings, do later lead to easier ways of making sense of material and what main points and messages are. I recognize just how much detail and ways of describing things take to be well understood. This means giving students grace and taking time to deeply explain material by introducing different activities, readings, and lesson styles as new and improved approaches to describing content.

Shows DNA to protein strand process and what connections look like, when we used the mutation simulator. (one activity review)

The above shows my group's fast plant. This is its status after about 6 weeks of it growing. Has come a long way since week 2 of planting.