Blog #13:

This week, we've discussed the topic of viruses. Many have debated whether or not viruses are alive, but I think that viruses are alive because viruses are consider prokaryotic cells and they are constantly growing and dividing themselves very quick. They also adapt to the surrouding environment (inside our body) very quickly. There are four types of virus cycles, and they are lytic, lysogenic, retrovirus and envelop virus. In lytic cycle is the process that the virus move around and find the bacteria that are beneficial to our body and it injects its DNA into the the host. The DNA inside the host began to break down and eventually break into viruses, after it becomes too much for the cell to store, the cell eventually burst and release the viruses. Examples of lytic cycle is E-Coli. During the lysogenic cycle, the virus DNA become part of the bacteria DNA and it becomes a pro-virus and is inactive for period of times. The cell eventually divide into daugther cells, and the virus become the lytic cycle. Example of lysogenic cycle is Herpes. Retrovirus is a type of virus that is constantly changing, and it usually makes random mistakes. It enters the nucleus and become part of the DNA and through DNA replication, the virus cell become RNA and enter the ribosome and create the harmful protein and the virus spread and divide exponentially. Example of retrovirus is the HIV virus that cause the deadly disease, AID. During the envelop virus, instead of entering the nucleus and become part of the DNA, it went through the ribosome, and example of that is Hepatitis C.

Blog #12:

The weeks that came before the winter break, we learned about meiosis and mitosis. We also talked about enzymes and the reactions they produce. There are two types of enzymes that take place with an enzyme are dehydration reaction and hydrolysis. Dehydration is when a new monomer is being a chain in a polymer, while hydrolysis is when a monomer is being released from a polymer chain and an amount of water is being consumed.
The human body contains 46 chromosomes total. Through the process of meiosis, the cell only contains 23 chromosomes. When it undergoes meiosis the two cells come together to form a complete set of chromosomes. Mitosis is the process that is associated with the sexual reproduction of cells, when the cells divide and the two daughter cells are identical. Cells that go through this process, are identical because an unfertilized egg develops into an embryo using its two sets of maternal chromosomes.

Blog 6: Marking Period 2

This is the 6th blog that I have written and I think that I will talk about some of the things that I have learned this week. This weeks topic is ENZYMES! I think that this is one of the only topics that I feel very strongly about. I really like the way of teaching that Mr.Gardener has been doing. I hope that we will be continuing this method as the year goes on. Anyway, Enzymes end in the letters ASE, and so that means that it is easier to understand what a substances is based on its ending. I know that amino acids are joined together by a peptide bond. Enthalpy is the measure of heat energy, and Entropy is the randomness and disorder. Yeah and I learned a lot of other things this week and I will keep you posted as the weeks continue.

Blog 5: Marking Period 2

In this blog I want to talk a little about cellular respiration and what I have learned about it. Cellular respiration is series of metabolic processes by which living cells produce energy through the oxidation of organic substances. I wanted to make sure that I wrote down some important information regarding cellular respiration so I took notes. I know that ATP is a common carrier of chemical energy in the cell, and the cellular respiration id the splitting of glucose molecules to transfer energy to ATP. It also has two stages Glycolysis and Aerobic respiration.

During glycolysis small amounts of ATP is produced when glucose is broken down to pyruvate. Pyruvate can go through aerobic respiration (Large amount of ATP) or anaerobic respiration. (Small amounts of ATP) I think that I have a basic understanding of what is going on.

Blog 4: Marking Period

Okay, so I have to write a few more blogs so I don't get a bad grade in this class. I think that I will write a little bit about photosynthesis. So we have learned a great deal about what photosynthesis these last few weeks. The actual definition of photosynthesis is the process in green plants and certain other organisms by which carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy source. Most forms of photosynthesis release oxygen as a byproduct. I learned that chlorophyll a not only produces all the oxygen for the respiration on Earth, but also produces oxygen for the formation of ozone, which protects the planet from dangerous ultraviolet light. Also that the pigments found within photosynthesis are chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotene.
When we were doing the lab for photosynthesis in class I didn't find it to be that difficult and I believe that I understood the whole process that was going on. I think that the most difficult part of the lab was when I had to find the R value for the solutions. I didn't fully understand what I had to do until Johnson came over and explained it to me. He helped me a lot and I was able to complete the remainder of the calculations on my own.

Blog # 3: For the Second Marking Period

This week was very busy and very short due to the brake that we had on Tuesday. We we came back into school on Wednesday, we had to complete an experiment that would help us understand the topic we were to be learning about in class. My group had to pair up with another group in order to finish the experiment. The experiment had two parts, one way would show us the results of respiration in cold temperatures, and the other experiment would show us the results of respiration in warmer temperatures. My group had to do the experiment dealing with warmer temperatures. What I discovered was that in warmer temperatures the cellular respiration occurs slowly, where as in the cold experiment, it happened much faster. My group and I had to do curtain parts of the experiment over a few times. When we were recorded the data that we obtained, we had to fill in the data a couple of times because we were unsure of what we were doing.

Blog #2: For Second Marking Period

Well this week went by really fast. I was happy that it went back quickly; I really can’t wait until tomorrow. It will be Saturday and I can get some sleep, before getting started on some more work. Well, anyway, today we did an experiment designed to show use the effects of Cellular Respiration. My partners and I started our experiment today. We had these germinated and non-germinated beans, and some beads that we placed into small containers. Then we put a cork on the cover and pored some food coloring into the glass tubing. The question that we tried to answer was, “How does increasing the temperature affect the pressure and the volume of the gas?” My group made some predictions about what would happen in the experiment. We said, “As the temperature increases, the pressure of the gas increases too. The volume will decrease because it allows molecules to vibrate faster, which makes them move at a higher speed.I am looking forward to next week and I hope that I can fix my data charts. See you Monday!!  

Blog #1: For Second Marking Period

Okay, so this is the second marking period. I have to do more blogs and I guess that this will happen be happening all year. So this week was really interesting, we did a few experiments this week that have talked a lot about Osmosis and Diffusion.  We did this experiment that we looked at the way an onion cell looks like under a miroscope. The cells in the onion were all spread out. But, then we put NaCl on the onion this made the cells shrink, they became close together and not so spread out. This lab allowed us to see the effects of osmosis. Another lab that we did was dealing with a few different molars of water. Then we used some tubing to hold the Glucose/Starch solution. Then we placed the tubing into the solutions of water. Over time the water turned an Amber color leaving the solution in the tubing a dark blue/purple color. This reaction made it clear that thought the process of diffusion, the glucose/starch solution transported itself to the water solution that surrounded it. I think that the classes were really cool and they were easier to fallow. I like it when we are given a written out lab. I think that it saves a lot of time. It also allows people to keep all of their notes in one place.

Blog #6

So... today I went to see about my grade in class. I now realize that I should go and ask much sooner than the day before the end of the marking period. I will make a mental note of that. So I found out that I am not doing as well as I would have wanted to. I want to do well in this class I mean I really do, but class is really hard and on top of all of that I have like 4 other AP classes. I wont fail the marking period that is for sure, but lets just say I could do better. AND I WILL!! I just have to work harder. I know that it is only going to get harder and I think that the best thing for me to do would be to drop the class. I still will take Biology, but Regents. I haven't really decided yet. I will have to think about this for a while. I dont know what to do! <3

Blog #5

I think that I have underestimated this class. I really had no idea what I was getting into when I was placed in this class. I mean I thought that it was going to be a lot of fun, and I thought that I was going to do well in the course. I mean when I look back on the science classes that I have taken in the past; I always thought that when it came to science dealing with the environment and animals, I was good at it. I really like the kind of science that has things to do with the environment. I want to do better!!!!! <3

Blog #4

Okay so I am not going to lie. I have been feeling a little overwhelmed with the amount of work that is needed for this class. I haven't really been doing so well with keeping the pace of the class, I feel like I am falling far behind.

Blog #3

How do I describe this week? Well I can start by saying that the cockroaches are still alive, that is a good thing. The only problem that my team seems to be having is that they tend to be frozen,whenever we take then down from their place in the classroom. The way that we have been dealing with this problem is by placing them under a lamp for about most of the class time. Their food seems to be decreasing,so what we will have to do on Monday is to give them more bread and maybe a few apples.
I must say, I have really enjoyed the labs that we have been doing in class. I find the labs in Biology to be a lot easier than the ones we did in Chemistry last year. Actually, I rather enjoy doing them and
they don't take as much time as the other ones.
So far, I have been doing okay with getting the work done within the class, but I haven't been doing so well with the readings. I haven't read my book for while and I have to get back to doing that. After all, I don't want to fall that far behind in my studies. Well... thats all she wrote.

Blog #2-Reflection

So I have been in AP Biology for a couple of classes now and I really enjoy it. I have had the opportunity to do many things. I have learned a lot about the elements of life and how all living things are connected. I have also been able to take part in a couple of experiments. I like the labs because they are not overly complex and although I have to think, I don't have to do many calculations. I really liked the experiment dealing with the cockroaches. I happened to name all of them, we have four in our tank and they all have names. Petey is the largest one, Phebe and Suzie are the twins and johnny is the smallest one. We have been keeping an eye on them for the last couple of days and I am so happy that they have not died yet. The hard part about the lab is keeping them moving. My group and I put the roaches in the darkest place in the class and it tends to get kind of cold. So, at the begining of every class we take a lamp and heat up the cage for about 5 to 10 minutes. That way they can warm up; I don't know if roaches are warm or cold blooded, but either way they tend to move more when the light is on. It also seems like they only enjoy fresh food, they haven't been eating the bread that was left in the tank.
I wonder... if we were to change the conditions of the tank to something warmer will that help the roaches? Well that is something to consider.

AP Biology 2010

Okay, so I would first like to say that I am not really one of those types of people who are interested in the sciences. I happen to be more of an English person. But, aside from all of that i really love the Earth!!! I am a nature loving person and have many times received the title of "Tree Hugger and Hippie." I really don’t care what anyone has to say about my passion for the Earth. Now... What does all of this have to do with AP Biology? Well I am glad to report that aside from me being placed in this course to challenge my educational capacity, I also want to understand the way the world works and how people and animals have connections with one another. I am excited to know all that I can from my experiences in this class. This will be the second AP class that I have taken, Chemistry was not easy and I want to work hard to understand Biology to get a good grade on the exam. I have many expectations for this upcoming school year. The most drastic of these expectations will, of course come from myself. I plan on working really hard inside and outside of my class; to ensure my success in the subject at hand. I will have to stay completing focused on my assignments and ask many questions. I will have to admit that in the past I have had a hard time with asking questions when I am unsure of something. I guess that I always thought that my questions were, for lack of a better word “DUMB.” But, I will make it a priority to ask as many questions as possible. I will also have to work on organizing time to study. Last year, that was one of the problems that I faced. This year will be different, I will have time to study and when reading the text book I will take notes, write down questions, and highlight important sections that I do not fully understand.


I have many goals that I want to achieve this year for this class. I want to do well on the assignments given to me, get good grades on the quizzes in class and of course get at least a 3 on the AP Exam. But, I think that the main goal that I want to achieve for this year is “To learn, to understand, not for a grade!” I have spent the majority of my years learning for grades and not because it is important to know. I want to change my perspective on my education and by doing this I know that I can do well. In order for me to do well I think that it will be useful to have some one-on-one time will Ms. Benjamin. I think that by talking about what I have learned with someone who knows what she is talking about) will help me to understand the material too, and it is a great way for me to get my questions answered. This website is a great tool that will come in handy for this course. I am glad that I have this website as a resource because I can use it to stay ahead of the readings that are needed to do well in class and I can know what will be happening during our classes. I am looking forward to this year in AP Biology!!!