Deoxyribonucleic Acid Extraction Experimentation

Aim

Our aim in this experiment with the DNA of kiwifruit and investigate it.

Equipment

Scientific Spatula

A kiwifruit half

(Scientific) Spatula

Ziploc bag

(25mL of) Water

A pinch of salt

(Small) Cloth

Funnel

Beaker

Test tube

(A squirt of) Dishwashing liquid

10 mL of Ethanol

Method

1. Cut the kiwifruit in half and, using a spatula, scoop it out into the Ziploc bag.
2. Add 25mL of water and a pinch of salt.
3. Close the bag and mush the kiwifruit into a soup-like paste.
4. Place the cloth of the top of the funnel and the funnel over the beaker. Pour the liquid into the funnel/cloth. 
5. Pour the liquid from the beaker into a test tube.
6. Add a squirt of dishwashing liquid to the liquid and swirl. Allow sitting for five minutes.
7. Tilt the test tube on a 45-degree angle and slowly pour the 10mL of Ethanol into the concoction.
8. Allow the mixture to sit.

Results

The concoction after step 6.

The result was the concoction, after all the steps and allowed to sit, the concoction had white strands that rose to the top. This was the result of our experiment. It seemed to separate into three sections, the top looked like white strands all clumped together to form a cloud, the middle separated the 'foam' and the next part and appeared to be clear and seemed like water, the last and bottom part of the concoction looked like it was the juice of a kiwifruit and was a similar shade of green.

Discussion

The different liquids and equipment added to the mixture allowed us to see the DNA easier in the end. 

The water added to the kiwifruit helped break it up easier and didn't provide many other uses. The salt added would help the DNA of the kiwifruit clump together as seen as the white foam appearing at the top of the concoction.

The concoction after all steps.

The detergent provided use in the way that it helped the DNA become more prominent than just the white foam. It helped the DNA become more bubbly and easier to look at and study.
The Ethanol was what provided the strands of DNA or the foam to rise to the top. Ethanol has a different density to the water, therefore rising to the top, and bringing the DNA strands with it.

Conclusion

The conclusion of this experiment is that the experiment was a success as our only aim was to extract the DNA, not to delve into scientific experiments with the DNA itself. We were able to extract the DNA of the kiwifruit and just have a play around with it. We really had to do nothing but just extract the DNA.

The First Classes of Health

We have recently begun our Health classes and have begun the Hauora unit. Hauora is the Māori word for wellbeing and is represented by a house or Whare. Each wall of the Whare represented by an aspect of our wellbeing, Taha Wairua, spiritual wellbeing, Taha Whanau, social wellbeing, Taha Tihana, physical wellbeing, and finally Taha Hinengaro, mental and emotional wellbeing. We have started off on focussing on Taha Wairua, spritual wellbeing is to do with many things including religion, values, identity and other things alike. 
We started off the unit by taking a quick test, if you would like to do the same test, scroll down and press the big blue 
TAKE YOUR FREE ASSESSMENT
button. After taking the test we got sent some results and were then tasked to pick the two that were most important to us and delve deeper into what they meant to us.

Before this we had to do some work without assessments like this on things that are important to us, then we had to pick the five most important from the ones we already had on the sheet. Then our teacher provided us with situations and asked us to show whichever trait about ourselves we would show in these situations. Most of the time I ended up showing the sarcastic note the most out of everything.

Narrative Writing Tasks

For the past few weeks or so, I'm horrible with time, we have been working with a slideshow that teaches us about narratives, writing and what it is composed of.
The poster is the full image of the character I have created just so you can see it in it's full glory, as it was cut in half on the slide show.

Sharing Messages with Children

Today in Drama, we shared stories from children books and looked at some political satire.

We started with looking into political satire, we looked mainly into songs and videos joking about politicians. There was even one called Donald: The Musical, it represented satire about Donald Trump, obviously, Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer and a man named Bruce B. who I don't the full name of because I don't know politicians.
We also shared stories from the books we had brought in, Nadia had one that was made for her called 'Nadia the Dinosaur', Chloe brought in multiple including 'Rough Weather Ahead for Walter the Farting Dog', yes that is a real children's book, and Willbee the Bumblebee. We have looked into these because we are trying to create a play that will keep children interested but still be fun enough for them to laugh at.
We also talked about what conventions we could use and we thought about things such as rhyming, singing, using humour and doing other things to help engage the children and help them remember the plot.

SEEL Paragraph - Child Labour

Why are children used in labour and how does this take away their human rights and freedom?

Slavery has been around for hundreds of years and is still practised around the world. One of its many forms is child labour. Children are used in labour because of the fact that they are naive, gullible and easily manipulated. Labour using children is cheap for human traffickers due to the fact the children are easily manipulated, as stated and can be convinced that a lot below minimum wage is the most they are going to get. Because of this children work long hours to get the money to live and pay for food and shelter, often meaning they do not get to go to school. This is an objection to their human rights. This work is often considered slave-like because of the terrible conditions they live in. But this is considered voluntary child labour, there is also bonded child labour. Bonded child labour is when, because of a debt or a loan needed to live, the parents of a child bond them to a workforce. There are many different forced they can be bonded to such as making bricks, weaving carpets, doing work in fields and many other forms. The ones I have listed there are the kinder forms of labour as there are worse ones, there are still children forced into being child soldiers, sexual exploitation and drug trafficking. An example of a bonded slave is the famous Iqbal, who worked in carpet weaving in Pakistan. Iqbal was a rebellious slave who had been traded from master to master. After breaking out and joining the Liberation Front he helped free many others like him and arrest the masters and slave traders involved. He received an award for his efforts from Reebok and soon after travelling and giving speeches and receiving the award he was shot and killed. I provide Iqbal as an example because he is the bonded slave used in child labour and he changed the world. In conclusion, we can state that slavery is still active in this world, even if we do not realize it and we barely even acknowledge that it is still happening. Children suffer, with little food and terrible living conditions. The masters they serve to strip their human rights from them and steal their freedom away. This is true child labour.

Worst Countries for Child Labour

This map shows the ten worst places where child labour exists. Each of them is categorized as extreme. They will also each have a number from one to ten, one will mean it's the worst, and ten will mean it is the least bad out of the ten.

Just in case the map bugs out -

Eritrea

Unfortunately, no information talking about the rate or how many children engage in child labour can be found. I can, however, tell you that this is one of the two worst countries in the world for child labour. I can, in fact, tell you that the children are forced into military services and those in grades 9 - 12 that are under 18 to participate in a program called Maetot. Maetot where they are forced into compulsory labour in agricultural, environmental, and hygiene-related public works projects. This is categorised as extreme and ranked as a number 1. 

Somalia

An exact percentage of the entirety of Somalia seems to be something I cannot find. I can tell you, however, in Somaliland, a region of Somalia, the percentage of children of ages 5 - 14 participating in child labour is 13.2%. In Puntland, another region of Somalia, the percentage is a little bit lower at 9.5%. The children in labour are forced into armed conflict and other jobs such as street jobs like shining shoes or washing cars. This is categorised as extreme and ranked as a number 1. 

The Democratic Republic of the Congo

As far as I have learned about these countries, I personally think this country is one of the worst. Children are forced into armed conflict and work in the terrible conditions of the mines. 35.8% of the children in this country are workers. 37.1% of them combine working and school, this 37.1% is only the children from ages 7 - 14, while the other is for ages 5 - 14. In the mines, these children are forced to mine for gold, diamonds, tin ore, tungsten ore and many other materials. They spend hours mining with the toxic gases and barely get 
anything out of it. This is categorised as extreme and ranked as a 
number 3. 
Myanmar

Myanmar's working children amount to about 312,000 and each of them work in so many different areas of forced labour. They have agriculture, where they harvest plants such as bamboo and sugar cane. They have child soldiers and children used for sexual exploitation. They have children forced to mine for ruby and jade. They have children who work in brick kilns, And, finally, they have children forced into industry work, where they are forced to make the garments we wear. This is categorised as extreme and ranked as a 
number 3. 

Sudan

This information is not entirely accurate as the information provided only referenced to Southern Sudan and no the entire country. 45.6% of the children from ages 10 - 14 are forced into labour, this amount to around 463,600 children. 60.2% of said children are forced into labour to do with agriculture, which in Southern Sudan includes typical farming and harvesting, as well as cattle herding. The children are also forced into services such as collection, cooking and cleaning, this is 1.6% per cent of the children. The other 38.2% of children work in industry work, this includes working in brick kilns, 
construction and mining of gold and mining to create excavation 
tunnels. This is categorised as extreme and ranked as a number 3. 

Afghanistan

Afghanistan children forced into child labour work with things such as making bricks, making carpets, mining coal and salt, and harvesting poppies. They have just recently outlawed bacha bazi, a practice involving exploiting boys, often through violence or threats. There is also what is called the Taliban, a military training service for children,  the government rescued nearly 40 children from a madrassa where they were the victims of the practices. This is categorised as extreme and ranked as a number 6. 

Pakistan

This information may be incorrect as the only information provided references only to two provinces of Pakistan, the Punjab Province and the Sindh Province, this is because with the information I have all of Pakistan's information is 'unavailable'. Pakistan is mainly known for the forced (bonded) labour in the industry, this includes carpet-making factories, brick kilns and mining of coal, salt and other materials. When it comes to agriculture the children are forced into harvesting produce such as cotton, wheat, sugar cane and potatoes and other produce. It also includes managing of livestock and fishing. 
This is categorised as extreme and ranked as a number 6. 

Zimbabwe

Once again not much information can be provided from my source, so I hope I give enough information. Because of the lack of effort in the program to stop forced child labour in Zimbabwe, there are still thousands of children forced into harvesting and growing crops, mining while surrounded by dangerous chemicals, domestic and street work, and the worst, sexual exploitation and drug trafficking and gambling. This is not even the end of it, there are still other forms of forced labour in Zimbabwe that have not been prevented, all because of the gaps that remain in the countries legalities. This is 
categorised as extreme and ranked as a number 8.

Yemen

Yemen does not have as many forms of child labour, but it definitely has some of the worst forms of labour. These include commercial sexual exploitation and armed conflict. Another common form of labour is fishing. But there are still forms of labour Yemen has that fall under agriculture, industry and services. Besides fishing agriculture is mainly just farming and hunting. The industry is comprised of various labours such as mining and quarrying, construction and carpentry and welding workshops. Services mainly include domestic work, street work and selling goods. The children forced into labour, from ages 5 -14, make up to be around 834,000 in numbers. This is categorised as extreme and ranked as a number 9.

Burundi

In Burundi, there are around 2,000,000 children who work, and the population of working children, from the ages of 5 - 14, is 31.2%. Children forced into work in Burundi work in some of the worst conditions and are even sexually exploited. This is categorised as extreme and ranked as a number 10.

Nigeria

I personally believe Nigeria is the worst. 31.1% of the children ages 5 - 14 do child labour, this makes up to be around 13,900,000 of them. Agricultural labour includes the production of tobacco, rice and cocoa, fishing and the herding of livestock. Industrial labour includes mining and quarrying granite and gravel, gold mining and processing, harvesting sand, and construction-related labour. Service labour often is domestic work, collecting money on public buses, and automotive repair, as well as street work, which is mainly scavenging and begging. Finally, there are the worst forms, commercial sexual exploitation, often included the production of pornography, use in illicit activities, such as forced recruitment into armed groups that force them into drug trafficking, armed robbery and other illicit ventures. This is categorised as extreme and ranked as a number 10.

Creating a character

We continue with the production of a play in Drama, as it is still going to be about animals we have been
tasked to create an animal character each.

Species: Goat

Casual Name: Cupid

Full Name: Cupid Duloc Arthur of Camelot The 31st

Age: 6

Talents: Eating everything and anything.

Hobbies: Eating everything and anything.

Personality Type (what's their most common feeling or emotion): Prissy, proud and slightly snobby.

Disliked People: Moxy the cat and Polly the Shepherd's dog

Favourite Colour: Grape

Favourite Food: Anything and everything, but strawberries are preferred.

Least Favourite Food: Peanut butter, as well as apples

Favourite Possession: Dingly Bell, he wears it everywhere

Harriet Tubman Paragraph

We were recently tasked to recreate a paragraph we had written about Harriet Tubman using the same SEEL structure from before.

Statement

Explanation

Example

Link

The statement means the beginning where you state what the paragraph is going to be about, whether it be to do with a question or an actual statement that you plan to discuss.

The explanation is where you write the 'why' part and use the word 'because' to show that you are explaining.

The example is where you apply parts of the real world into your explanation. The example and explanation can be either way round.

The link is where you link the paragraph back to the beginning statement or to the beginning of the next paragraph.

- Actual Paragraph - 

Harriet Tubman saved lives, it is an undisputable fact of the past of America. Because of the courage she had, she was able to save over sixty slaves lives. As an example, Charles Nalle was an escaped slave who was led by Harriet Tubman on one of her nineteen trips through the Underground Railroad as a Conductor. Being a conductor meant she travelled through the Railroad back and forth, from the North to the South, saving slaves and guiding them to safety in the North of America. Though I provide only Charles Nalle as an example, he is a proven one. Harriet Tubman saved and changed the lives of many, many people. Both slave and not.

Medical Science Summary

For the last part of our section on Medical Science, we have had to do a creative task reflecting what we have learnt. I go into further explanation in the slide. So, why are you reading this? Read the slide. That IS why I made it. Unless you've already gone through the slide, then, good job? You read something? I really don't know what to say.

Who was Harriet Tubman?

What I found interesting...

I found it quite interesting how much impact Harriet made and how much is known about her. Considering how long ago it was I didn't think I would have been able to find as much as I have. As well as how dedicated she was, I didn't mention this in my poster but Harriet served in the Civil War as a nurse and cook.

What I already knew... 

Before doing this topic I didn't know who Harriet Tubman even was. 

What I want to learn... 

I want to learn about her second husband Nelson Davis and their relationship, as well as their adopted daughter Gertie. It would interesting to learn about how Gertie and Nelson would have felt when they saw her and knew about the great things she had done.

Why Harriet Tubman was an important figure... 

Harriet Tubman was an important figure because of who she was and what she did. She freed only sixty or seventy people herself. But her influence and story is important and has saved so many people, I have said this maybe too many time by now but it is true. Harriet Tubman is an inspiration.

"There was one of two things I had a right to: liberty or death. If I could not have one, I would take the other, for no man should take me alive. I should fight for liberty as long as

Textiles Work

This is a slideshow used to show every piece of Textiles work I have done online and most I have done in practical activities. This should be the only blog post to include any work from my Textiles class as I plan on having the entirety of my work on the Slideshow above this text. It will include what I have done, what I have learnt, and what I had to do to learn it.