Do you know what a Punnet Square is? Well, if you don't, here's a blog post all about it! Punnet Squares are used to determine the genotype of the offspring of two parents. In my science classroom, we have done a lot of problems with Punnet Squares. They are not that difficult to understand once you get the hang of it. The first step you need to do when you use a Punnet Square is determine both of the parent's genotype. Once you get that, you put one genotype on top of the square, and one genotype on the side of the square. Then you start to cross and get the genotype of the offspring. 
      One of my science worksheets had to deal with creating Punnet Squares. The problem was given to us and we created a Punnet Square to show our work. For example, one of the problems said, "Bob is homozygous for black hair, and his girlfriend also has black hair but she is heterozygous, what is the chance of them having a baby with black hair?" We would put both of the genotypes on the square and solve for the answer. It would be a 100% chance of have a baby with black hair.

 
       In science class, we learned how to make a DNA ornament for Christmas. There were a lot of steps to the process, but eventually, it became easier as we kept working on it. The ornament wasn't only perfect for a Christmas tree, but it was also able to make earrings, a necklace, or anything else that you would like. Here are the steps we did when we were making the ornament. 
       The first step we did was picking out the beads and cutting the wire. The phosphates were white and gold, and the paired bases were red, green, blue, and yellow. After that, we started with the first pair. First, we put in the white and gold for the phosphates, then we put one color of the paired bases. We pushed that all the way to the center of the wire. Then we grabbed the wire and inserted that into the other end. We added the phosphate again and other color, but this time it was on the other wire. We kept repeating the process until we had no more beads. Along the way, the wire might get curled up, so you want to avoid that. 
       After inserting all the beads into the wire, we had a bit of wire left on the ends. With that, we put them through the white beads in the phosphates. Once it got to the end, we pulled it down. We repeated that step to the other side. At the end, it was tied up in a knot from Mrs. Poole which created a little hoop. That is how you make an DNA ornament! 
 
        In the past semester, I have learned and studied for a lot in science. We took about  4-5 major tests that were worth many points, and I studied really hard. On all those tests, I got at least an A-. The way I did that was because I studied. It wasn't easy studying, though. There were some topics that I understood very well, and there were some that I had problems with. The one topic I had the most trouble with was studying for DNA. There was a lot to learn about DNA and I couldn't remember all of it in a short period of time.
       DNA has a lot of information to it. I studied what its made of, what it does, who discovered it, what it looks like, how it duplicates, etc. It was frustrating for me to know and study all of that because it was long and annoying. But I knew that if I tried harder, it would pay off. So I did. I studied for about 2-3 hours everyday until the test came. And on that test I got a 95%. I think my strategy worked well for me because I achieved my goal, which was to pass that test.