Do you see what I see?

We began this class period by looking at a variety of rocks and shells. Using a magnifying glass, we observed and separated the shells from the rocks. Next, we observed only the shells and separated them into categories of our choosing. My partner and I decided to separate them according to their size. When we finished, we discussed the different variations of species.

You see, the variations of a species are caused by DNA mutations. This causes different species to evolve. Some variations can be different shapes, sizes, patterns, and even color. The DNA mutations exist so that the species can adapt the their surroundings and survive. Whichever species survive can then reproduce and pass on their genes to their offspring. The offspring will continue to pass on these genes for generations. 

Then, we began the brine shrimp lab. Brine shrimp are really small, tiny actually. It is pretty difficult to see them, which is why we used our handy-dandy magnifying glass! We were given five different solutions of NaCl: 0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0%.  We had to put at least 20 brine shrimp eggs in each solution to see what type of environments the shrimp could live in. Our main test was to determine how many of the brine shrimp could hatch and survive in a specific environment. As I said before, we were supposed to put about 20 brine shrimp eggs in each solution, but let's be honest: that didn't happen. They are just too small! Plus, we had to pick them up with a brush, and the brush just decided that it was going to pick up 120 eggs instead of 20. 

After we counted the eggs, we were done for the day. This lab took place in 3 days. So, the next day, we came back and counted how many of the brine shrimp were dead/partially hatched and how many were swimming. And that was pretty much it. The day after that, the last day of the lab, we counted again how many brine shrimp were dead/partially hatched and how many were swimming. We then drew a graph of our data...