Display Boards

Display boards are one of the last things we put together for Science Fair. This is where students get to display all of their hard work in one place for everyone to see! Generally, all boards should have a color scheme that consists of no more than 3 colors, any more than that tends to distract people!

The board needs labels. These are the section headings that go above each piece that will be on the board. These are going to be rather large, usually around 72 pt font is good. Students are allowed to use different fonts, but all labels should be the same font and it should be a font that is easy to read. Otherwise, people aren't paying attention to your work, they are trying to figure out what something says. Labels may also have different colors (that stick to the chosen color scheme), but beware of light colors that are hard to read.

Next, they will need to slightly reformat all of the parts that we did to go on the board. As long as they have everything saved in one place, this should be pretty easy. Unfortunately, I'm hearing from several students that they don't know where things are saved, flash drives have been lost, etc. If this is the case, the parts will have to be retyped using the final drafts they turned in. The pieces on the board should NOT have a heading or a title (the label above is the title). The font should be large enough to be read by a person standing back a bit, generally 18-22 pt is a good size. They may change the font from Times New Roman, but it should still be pretty simple and easy to read. Too many students get excited and change it to something that looks cool, but is hard to read. Again, this takes away from their project. 

They must have their purpose, variables/operational definition, hypothesis, materials, procedures, data tables, graphs (should be 2), data analysis, and conclusion on the board. The background information is not required, but may be included. Pictures, diagrams, and parts of their experiment they wish to display also make nice additions. However, displays may not include any food, liquids, or anything hazardous.

The title for their project will be centered on the board and should be large, catchy, and look nice. This is what gets everyone's attention, so we want it to look great!

Science Fair Notebooks

Science Fair notebooks are due this Friday. Notebooks are expected to be neat (papers in brads, nothing in pockets, etc), be in the correct order, have all final drafts signed, and have everything listed below. The notebook should have three sections separated by dividers. The sections should be Rough Drafts, Final Drafts, and Research. It should also contain the instruction packet that was handed out at the very beginning. The packet should either be in the very front or very back, but should be in order.

The order for all assignments are as follows:
Rough Drafts

1. Question
2. Informational Paragraphs, including the background research worksheet
3. Variables/Operational Definition
4. Hypothesis
5. Materials/Procedures
6. Data & notes collected during the experiment
7. Graphs
8. Data analysis
9. Conclusion

Final Drafts:

1. CSCA Information Form
2. Purpose
3. Informational Paragraphs
4. Works Cited (bibliography worksheet)
5. Variables/Op Definition
6. Hypothesis
7. Materials
8. Procedures
9. Data table
10. Graphs
11. Data analysis
12. Conclusion

Research:
Any and all research printed or copied or notes that pertains to the research paper they wrote.

Transcription, Translation, and Mutations

We have been learning how the information in DNA is used to produce proteins. We spent lots of time learning about traits and phenotypes and all sorts of other fun stuff about DNA and genetics. Now, we are tying the ideas together.

Here is a big problem the cell faces. DNA is contained in the nucleus of the cell. Protein production occurs on the ribosome in the cytoplasm of the cell. Hmmm...

Enter RNA.

The first step is called TRANSCRIPTION. During transcription, DNA is copied into mRNA. This process is similar to DNA replication, when all the bases pair up, but RNA contains uracil, not thymine. So, if we had a strand of DNA that read:

• TAC GGG CAT AAA, the complimentary DNA strand would be:
• ATG CCC GTA TTT, BUT RNA does not contain T, it has been replaced by U, so the RNA strand would be:
• AUG CCC GUA UUU

The next step is called TRANSLATION. During translation, the coded message from the mRNA is translated into a chain of amino acids. The mRNA strand travels from the nucleus to the cytoplasm where it attaches to a ribosome. The mRNA strand is read 3 bases at a time, called a codon. Another type of RNA, tRNA carries amino acids to the ribosome and matches up with certain codons. The tRNA drops off the amino acid, which is added to the chain, and then leaves to go find more amino acids. This process continues until a complete protein is made. You can use a codon chart to figure out what amino acids certain codons code for. In the example mRNA strand above, the amino acid sequence would be:

• Met-Pro-Val-Phe

Sometimes mistakes occur and these mistakes can result in a change in the DNA or RNA sequence. These changes are called mutations. Mutations may or may not result in any change in the protein, it depends on the change. If a mutation does cause a change in a protein, that can lead to a different phenotype, which may be helpful or harmful to the organism. It often depends on the mutation and the environment.

There are 3 types of mutations that we discussed in class: substitution, deletion, and addition. The names pretty much explain what happens, but in a substitution, one base takes the place of another. In deletion, a base is removed and in addition an extra base is added to the chain.

These can result in a point mutation, in which only one amino acid is incorrect. For example (using the example above), if the first A were to be a U, then the amino acid chain would start with Leu, not Met, but that would be the only change. Changes can also result in a frameshift mutation, this is where the reading frame is shifted and generally leads to a nonsense amino acid chain. Imagine reading the sentence THE FAT CAT ATE THE PIE. If the F from FAT was removed, but the sentence was still read 3 letters at a time, it would read THE ATC ATA TET HEP IE. Nowhere near what we were going for. Framshift mutations can lead to a nonsense protein, protein production ending too soon, or many other problems. Again, it may or may not be harmful depending on several factors.