12-3-07

 

Today during class Ms. Tucker and Ms. Jansen talked about the project, and explained it to us. It sounds pretty intense, but I think that Paige and I can manage to get an A. (I really hope so.) We wrote out our Timeline, which explains everything we are to accomplish each day before the project is due. We plan to be finished with all of the major content by next Monday, so this week I will have to work on one paragraph each night. Researching will be done tomorrow, and we each hope to have 3 good websites.

 

12-4-07

 

Today during class we researched and went over this journal, and we showed Ms. Tucker our timeline from yesterday. During class I couldn't find any websites, but I will definitely find some tonight for homework. I was searching the databases and through my research found all of the taxonomy on L. acidophilus. I have gone to many websites, and have printed some out, for highlighhting. I discovered today that L. acidophilus is actually a bacteria used in the fermentation process of many dairy products! I thought that was very interesting. It is also part of the genus Lactobacillus, in which there are many species that thrive in decaying plants. I also discovered that L. acidophilus are Gram positive, which means that they retain and are permeable to the iodine-dye used in many staining techniques. I did not know what Gram staining was until I found a great website for it on netTrekker, so the databases really helped while doing my research.

 

12-5-07

 

During class Ms. Jansen taught us how to evaluate websites on the free web. It was interesting to check the authourity on some of these websites. It seems like a bit of a long process though, for just one webpage. I'm sure Paige and I can probably find most of our information on the databases so we have to use the evaluation not as much. I really hope we don't have to use the free web as much as we use the databases. I am researching L. acidophilus, and I can't find a whole lot more than I found yesterday while researching. I might have to use the free web for some of my searches.

I have used all of the databases, and can find no other websites other than the ones that I already found. I searched the free web, and found one good website, but it had all information that I already knew. I am starting to worry about finding more information, because when I searched the free web, ads for supplements and vitamins kept coming up, because apparently, L. acidophilus is the most commonly used probiotic. It is becoming harder to find new information that I haven't already come across, and I still need notes for 3 of my topics for the content part of the website.

 

12-6-07

 

In class today Ms. Tucker gave us a research day.  Paige and I decided to go to the library, and we found some information on bacteria in general.  I think it will be helpful though, because it goes into more detail about certain characteristics that we know belong to L. acidophilus. I found a great website that I think that some of the other students could use as well.  It had all of the bacteria names on one side and loads of information describing each one.  I have gotten notes on almost all of my subjects, and our project is going along nicely. 

I hope that when Paige comes over tomorrow, we can get lots done for the overall design of the website.  While searching on the internet for the lab tomorrow, I found a few good websites for L. acidophilus, which looked like they would be helpful.  I will have to go through them more thouroughly though.  Tomorrow during my free period I hope to get some more work done.

 

12-7-07

 

In class today we did a lab including E. coli and S. epidermidis. The results will be discussed on Monday, after the bacteria has grown.  Also in class, we had time to do a little research.  I have started putting my citations into Citation Builder, so that I don't have to worry about that later.  I am taking a little break from research today, and I have put all of the websites I have used so far into Citation Builder.  It is a very helpful resource, I would hate to have to figure out the citations by myself.  Our website is coming along, and Paige is coming over tonight so that we can work on our project.

Now I am putting my notes into paragraphs for the final website. I have my first paragraph finished, and I am now working on my second.  On Citation Builder I have 5 citations, but one of my websites is from the free web, which I will have to finish a website evaluation for.  I am glad I only have to do one evaluation. 

 

12-8-07

 

Today, Paige and I made a movie that shows lactase helping to break up lactose into galactose and glucose.  The movie turned out good, even though it does not have to do wholly with our bacteria.  Our bacteria does produce lactase though, which is what the movie is about.  I have finished 3 of my paragraphs, and they are turning out to be easier to write then I thought.  I am glad that I did all of my research and am following my timeline. The timeline was helpful to space out our project, so we don't end up doing it all at the end.

I have discovered a lot about my bacteria, and so has Paige.  We work very well together, and today when we worked on the webpage it was fun.  My sister and her friend also helped us with our movie.  I am glad that my sister was willing to help me with my school project.  Our webpage is going well, and I feel confident that we will get a good grade on this project.

 

12-9-07

 

I had some trouble loading the movie onto our website, but it finally got onto there! It took a long time to though...Oh well, it was definitely worth the wait! I really like the way our movie turned out. I hope that counts as going "above and beyond" for the project.  I still have to finish one of my paragraphs, which will be easy to do because I already have all of the research. Today I did not do much for the project other than load the movie and work on one of my paragraphs, but yesterday Paige and I got so much done! We are almost finished with the entire webpage!

 

12-10-07

 

Today I made 2 more sets of my notes into paragraphs, and I added links to all of my paragraphs to the sidebar.  I think that our website is looking great.  All I really have to do now is to put in citations and just to spruce it up a little.  I think that the website is coming along nicely, and during study hall tomorrow we can get a lot done.  I think that our hard work will pay off in the end, and that our website will all come together soon. 

In class we found the lab results, and one of the bacteria, S. epidermidis, did not grow at all! It was really wierd, but Ms. Tucker will put it into an incubator overnight to see what will happen.  The halos that appeared looked very interesting, and I was impressed that the antibiotic disk worked. 

 

12-11-07

 

Today I finished one of the website evaluations, and now we only have two that we have to finish.  Today we had the entire class period to work on the project, and I mostly organised our website.  I put the sidebar into categories, to make it more organised for the users of our webpage.  I hope that is helpful to our grade.  This weekend Paige and I are going to get together again so that we can add the finishing touches to our project.  I think that it will all come together in the end.

Today we also got results back from the S. epidermidis antibiotic sensitivity tests.  It turns out that all the S. epidermidis needed was a little heat in the incubator. It ended up working, and both of the antibiotics were affective against it.  We are starting a new lab tomorrow, and the pre-lab was for homework tonight.  I hope that the lab doesn't take away time from working on the project.

 

12-12-07

 

I finally finished the Recent Research section of our website.  I have also finished one of our 3 website evaluations, and it is good to get at least one finished, so that I don't have to worry about it.  Today we started a lab, and it was pretty interesting.  I do need more practice for the motility test though, because it is hard to keep the needle so straight in the jello-like media. 

Paige and I are going to get together over the weekend to finish up anything that we need to do for the project.  I am excited to get it fully finished and ready to present.  It will be good to finally, after 2 weeks, finish this project.

 

12-13-07

 

Today I finished the last website evaluation. Now all three of our website evaluations are finished.  Paige went home sick today, and I hope that I can still go over to her house to work on the project.  I am also finally finished with the organisation of the sidebar.  Paige emailed me back, and said that I can still go over to her house so that we can finish it.  I am so ready to get this project finished. That is all I did for the project today.

 

12-14-07

 

Today we finished the lab, and did the write-up.  Our group did the Gram stain wrong, and we got the wrong results for some of the bacteria.  I wrote in the procedural errors that we did it wrong though.  The lab report had to be finished by the end of class, but then Ms. Tucker said that we could email it to her after class.

Tomorrow we will have to finish the evaluations for us and the audience.  We will also have to find all of the authors for all of the pictures on our websites.  That might be hard to do, because I don't want to have to find all of our pictures again.

 

12-15-07

 

Today we are finishing the website, and we will then email it to Ms. Tucker and Ms. Jansen.  I am so glad to be finished with this project! (finally!) It has been a long 2 weeks, and I can't believe it is actually over! We have finished our entire Bibliography, and we found all of the authors for our pictures.  It was a pain to have to find them all again, but we did and it turned out OK.  We have finished our personal evaluations, and are now starting the audience evaluation.

I am still not sure what kind of questions to put on the audience evaluation.  I understand what it is for, I am just not sure of the specific questions we are going to write.  I am sure we can figure it out though.  We have done everything on the rubric, and I really hope that we get an A on this project!