Unit 10 Reflection

Ending the year

Unit 10 was our last unit in the class. In this unit we learned about physiology. We learned about all of the bodies different systems including the circulatory, respiratory, nervous, endocrine, digestive, immune, and lymphatic. In the vodcasts we watched we learned about all these different systems in detail and what their functions are and we applied our learning in a lab. Down below are diagrams of the nervous and circulatory systems. The function of the nervous system is to pass signals to the brain and the function of the circulatory system is to maintain homeostasis. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/1201_Overview_of_Nervous_System.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/Diagram_of_the_human_heart_(cropped).svg/2000px-Diagram_of_the_human_heart_(cropped).svg.png

The one lab we did in this unit was our Pig dissection. I really enjoyed this lab because it helped me understand the body parts we learned about in the unit from our vodcasts. Although at times cutting the pig was too much for me I am still happy that we had the opportunity to perform this lab. One thing I wish we had done for this lab was to look at the pigs brain and nervous system. One question I still wondered was how different is the pigs body from ours and how different our bodies would look like unborn like the pigs. Another question I still have is how do different body parts work for different animals? Lastly my last question is why did the pigs heart not have any blood in it, is it because it was unborn or because they first removed all the pigs blood? In my blog post I have linked the youtube video that we made identifying all of the pigs external and internal body parts and their functions (linked above). 

Since my first unit reflection last year I think I have really grown as a student and made my blog posts and reflections much more meaningful and organized in a well designed fashion. I think that all of my blog posts this year either if they were lab reflections or my 20 time blog posts, all made me reflect on what I had learned at the time. I remember in the beginning of the year I was nervous and stressed out because I thought that the blog posts always took so long to complete and we had so many of them, but as the year went by I realized that the blog posts always helped me better my understanding of that unit or lab and they became much easier to complete as the year went by and we had more and more of them.

One project I am really proud of accomplishing this school year was my infographic. I thought that mine was well designed and it took awhile to complete which made it much more valuable to post on my blog. I think infographics are a great way of studying concepts and I am really happy that I learned how to make my own. 

Few of my favorite blog posts were My Hunger Games Analysis and My unit 9 reflection. I really like my hunger games blog post because that lab was my favorite lab we did in the class and we talked about it a lot and I really understood it a lot. It was also extremely fun because it was a game lab and everyone was competing to win. My blog posts answers many questions given and also different photos. I also think that my unit 9 reflection is one of my better blog posts because I spent time putting different photos after I talked about them and my layout was very nice for that one. In the beginning of the year I used to just put all my photos at the end of my blog post but I have learned that sometimes it is much more eye catching to place them in the beginning or the middle. Overall I think both of those blog posts were my best from the school year. 

In the end, I am appreciate that I have had my own blog to place all of the work we have done in this class. Regardless if others even care to look at my blog posts I think the fact that it is open for anyone to see has forced me to care more about the outcome and make my posts the best I can. 

Pig Dissection relate and review

Pig Dissection 

In class this week we worked on dissecting an unborn big. We worked in our table groups to dissect the pig throughout two class periods. My understanding of the purpose of this lab was to help us understand the anatomy of an animal and work hands on to see the different parts of their body. The vodcasts we watched to prepare us for the dissection were an essential part of understanding their body but with this hands on lab it really boosted our understanding of the concepts we learned. 

This dissection related to our unit which was physiology. My favorite part of this unit was looking at all of their organs and opening the pig's heart. It was a great privilege to be able to look closely at the animals organs because it is a great way of learning about their body hands on. I think that this dissection was a valuable experience for everyone because they work hands on with the animal. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CW4JGWs5jA&feature=youtu.be

20 Time Final Post

Honey bee pollinated gardens 

http://www.starkbros.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Crabapple-Bee_LG.jpg

Overall I think that the TED talk went pretty well (20 time presentation). In the beginning of the semester I was nervous about the final TED talk because I had never done one and my project wasn't with any data or trials like a lot of other people had so I was nervous that I wouldn't have been able to present my project well. I also wrote a reflection on my 20 time project (20 time individual reflection)

I think that in the past I have mainly focused on having good information in my presentation, but with the TED talk I realized that the information is only half of what makes a great presentation and the other half is having a confident tone that can carry you through your presentation. I have learned a lot from my 20 time project and TED talk. First I learned more on how to give a great presentation and speak with more confidence and second I learned to think about saving a species in an easy and inventive way.

I really enjoyed working on 20 time this semester and appreciate the time we were given in class to work on a fresh new concept in school. It was eye opening to watch others' presentations and what they had learned and how rapted they were in their topics. I think I have grown as a presenter and I was given great feedback that can help me with any presentation I do. I would definitely take part in the next chance I get to work on a new and different project like 20 time.

20 Time Individual Reflection

20 Time Individual Reflection 

My 20 time project was a great experience for me. It went a different direction than what I had originally thought I was going to do but I personally like the new way much better. Originally I wanted to find a environment for honey bees to live in so they could stay safe but now I am finding ways to save honey bees and spread the message and ways to save them with people I know. I challenged myself in this 20 time project because I had a problem throughout a large majority of this semester trying to figure out what to do with the information I learned. I needed to figure out how I was going to share the knowledge I gained but still have put something together that could help the bee species for people who don't hear my TED Talk. My goal for this project that hasn't changed is to have people understand how important honey bees are and how effected the economy, world, and nature would be without this big species. I knew from the beginning that a lot of people wouldn't care much about my topic even after they heard my TED Talk so I wanted to create easy ways that people could save honey bees without them having to do too much. If I were to do another 20 time project regardless of the topic I think I would focus more on developing a new originally idea or product rather than finding more and more information. I thought I spent too much time finding out why honey bees have become endangered rather than developing a way too save them. Overall I think that 20 time definitely was a great experience for me and I hope to try it again. In the what on Earth evolved presentations and In 20 time I really understood more that there is so much information in the world to be learned and doing a project like 20 time really lets you research deep into a topic that interests you. 

Unit 9 Reflection

Unit 9 Reflection 

In this unit I have learned about evolution through past species and how us, modern day humans, have a number a traits given to us from past life like fish and reptiles and of course early humans. I did my what on Earth evolved presentation on Homo erectus (My what on Earth evolved project) and I was happy of the knowledge I had gained. In the beginning I was a little worried about how I was going to remember all the information about my species but as I was doing research I realized it was easier than I thought. A critique that I had received during my project was that I should change the tone of my voice at times so I can sound more knowledgeable.

We learned about taxonomic levels which are: Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, & species. Recently they have added domain which is before kingdom and is split into 3 different parts, eukarya, bacteria, and archaea.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Taxonomic_Rank_Graph.svg/2000px-Taxonomic_Rank_Graph.svg.png

Another thing that we learned in unit 9 was about Viruses. Viruses kill or damage cells and they cause the cell to produce toxins. Two different types of viruses are Lytic vs Lysogenic. A lytic infection is when the virus enters the cell makes a copy of itself and then causes the cell to burst. A lysogenic infection is when a virus integrates its DNA into the DNA of the host cell. Down below is a diagram to show the two infections.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Phage2.JPG

Two blog posts that we have written this unit are Invertebrate of your choice and my inner fish reflection. The first reflection was about sponges. The second reflection was about a documentary we watched in class that showed how us modern humans are carrying traits from millions of years ago from the first fish and reptiles. If you would like to learn more click on the link above.

There are three different types of fungi. There is Sac fungi which forms a reproductive sac. Bread molds come in various shapes and are used to make soy sauce. Lastly, there are club fungi which come in various shapes and are fruiting bodies which means that they grow above ground like mushrooms. 

My Inner Fish Reflection

My Inner Fish Reflection

This video series was about understanding our past ancestors and their traits that have pasted on to us. The first video was my inner fish and that was focusing on the similarities between fish and modern day humans and how even though they don't look alike they have similar bone structures. The second video, my inner reptile, was talking about those same things and also talking about the transition from fish in water to land living reptiles. Reptiles have a hard scale skin that derived from fishes' scales that were much less hard. This video series helped me understand evolution more and also the connection between animals and reptiles to modern day humans.
Why are mass extinctions important? Mass extinctions are important because they allow smaller species to evolve and live without being in danger from larger animals. Without mass extinctions the dinosaurs might have still been alive and dominating the Earth which wouldn't have allowed other species to evolve and survive. Without mass extinctions there is an extremely high possibility that us, modern day humans, wouldn't extinct today.
How and why did hair first evolve? Hair first evolved because of colder climates to keep species warmer. This is a prime example of how important and useful traits have been passed on to us. Without hair many animals today would not be able to survive.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fishapods.png

4th Blog Post

Endangered Honey Bees 

Through these two weeks I have done research about a honey bee farm that I want to visit. I have gained a lot more interest in my project in these past two weeks. This weekend I plan to visit that farm and talk to somebody who works there and ask them questions about their bees. At the farm I want too hopefully video tape the trip and make a video about  my experience. I will show that video in my Ted talk at the end of the year to show my experience. I will go with my family to the bee farm and when they visit the farm they can hopefully understand the importance of bees some more and appreciate them more too. The video that I can make will hopefully grabbed peoples attention in the class that watch it.