Group 6 Pig Dissection

The fetal pig dissection was a very new and enjoyable experience. At first, the thought of even making physical contact with the pig made me cringe. Watching Mr. Orre's demonstration of how to make the first few incisions made me feel more comfortable, so immediately after being instructed on what to do, I turned around to my group and said "I WANT TO MAKE THE FIRST CUTS." I went from completely disturbed by the pig to completely in love with it. At first it was hard to figure out how deep each incision should be, then we finally got the hang of it. Each of my group members and I tried to be extremely careful that we didn't accidentally cut an organ. Breaking the ribs was kind of difficult, breaking the jaw was easier. I specifically liked the texture of the liver. On the second day I was suffering from a cold and did not want to go near the pig so Gabbi and I did most of the paperwork, figuring out the function of each part of the pig. It was really interesting to me that the intestines are very tightly together, and not actually able to fall out of a stomach if a person was stabbed. The overall experience was very fun, and my favorite part was holding the pig's hoof. I'm glad I got to experience this because it opened my eyes to new possible career options.

Here are some photos I took: 

Unit 9 Reflection

Unit 9 taught me about taxonomic rank and the different levels and groups belonging to each. The order goes Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, then Species. One species I learned about was the sponge. The sponge belongs to the Phylum Porifera because sponges have specialized cells but no tissues. Every organism can be classified into a Phylum for a specific characteristic it has; yet the protist group is miscellaneous. 

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

Next I learned about Anthropods, a type of invertebrate which has an exoskeleton made of chitin,  with joining appendages and segmented body parts. Anthropods are classified into five groups: Trilobites, Crustaceans, Chelicerates, Insects, and  Myriapods. Trilobites are extinct bottom feeders. Crustaceans live in oceans, streams, and on land. Chelicerates have specialized dagger-like mouthparts(Scorpions). Insects have 6 legs and usually live on land. Myriapods have long bodies with many pairs of legs (Milipedes). 

https://pixabay.com/p-87721/?no_redirect

I want to learn more about sand dollars because I don't completely understand how they function. Sand dollars have always interested me and I used to collect them. I wonder who thought of the idea to base kitchen sponges off of the actual sponge creatures living in the sea. 

My What on Earth Evolved Presentation was done about Roses. I truly enjoy public speaking so I liked getting a chance to share and teach the class about my topic. My presentation went well I'd say, I could have gone more in depth about the anatomy of the flower to make my presentation longer.

Sophie Z

I am very happy with how the presentation went well because I spent a lot of time researching. It is actually very difficult to find information about the origins of roses and how they evolved. During this presentation, I started connecting the rose to modern day movies to explain and show the relationship of how people view these flowers. I am going to try to make more connections in my presentations in the future.

Geologic Timeline Individual Reflection

In the Hadean eon, Earth was formed, along with the first life forms. In the Archeozoic period shows the earliest evidence of plate tectonics, as well as organic carbon. The Cambrian period has a diversity in which fossils have been recovered. It surprised me that there was evidence of plate tectonics in the Archeozoic period. It is amazing how much humans have impacted the Earth over time. I wonder how old the oldest rock is.

Hunger Games Final Analysis

To simulate the affects of natural selection, my class stood in a circle and fought for our survival by attempting to collect as much food as possible while being 3 different phenotypes: "stumpys," "knucklers," and "pinchers." The "Knucklers," who had to pick up food between their second knuckles of their index and middle fingers, ended up being the most successful with their survival. The "Stumpys" started dying out around trial 4. The population evolved to consist of "Knucklers" and "Pinchers." The results would be different if the food was smaller because it would allow the different beaks to pick up pieces faster. This relates to the real-world because in nature sometimes food becomes larger or smaller. When this happens certain species that don't have large or small enough beaks to pick up the food, die out. The relationship between natural selection and evolution is natural selection is necessary for evolution to occur. Individuals started cheating by turning around to see where the food would be located, as well as picking up food with their hands and not their correct beak form. This behavior could occur in nature if an animal hid or hoarded all of the food from the rest of its kind. In evolution, natural selection acts on both the genotype and phenotype. Positive or negative traits can be inherited that are not physically seen, such as an allele for a disease. Phenotype can also be affected, causing members of a species to have a certain beak. I wonder what kind of bird has the best beak to eat any kind of food.

Unit 8 Reflection

This unit was mainly about speciation. Isolation is necessary for speciation to occur. The three factors that contribute to speciation are behavioral isolation, geographic isolation, and temporal isolation. Behavioral isolation is where there are changes in mating behavior. Geographic isolation is where a physical feature separates a species into groups. Lastly, temporal isolation is where reproduction is prevented because of the timing. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Mutation_and_selection_diagram.svg/2000px-Mutation_and_selection_diagram.svg.png

This unit also taught about Darwin's conclusions. Darwin's first conclusion is that there are winners and losers in the natural world. His second conclusion is that due to natural selection, populations usually end up looking like the winners. An essential theme for this unit is that natural selection causes evolution. I want to learn more bout birds and why some have very colorful feathers, such as parrots, while others have bland colors, such as crows. In an attempt to be more assertive, I have been trying to sit up straighter and make more eye contact. My goal is to very assertive by June.

Below are Darwin's finches.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Darwin%27s_finches_by_Gould.jpg

Story of Cosmetics

After watching this video, I learned that there are toxic chemicals linked to cancer is brands I have at home and use everyday before going to school. This was quite shocking to me because I didn’t know there weren’t strict laws about what can and what cannot go into a product. Even soap made specifically for babies contains chemicals that are linked to cancer and even neurotoxins, which damage the brain. In the end, there is nothing we can do except convince the business people controlling this entire industry that consumers want to buy SAFER products that aren’t linked to cancer. People can also take it up with local governments to try and get a bill created that has more narrow restrictions on what can and cannot be placed inside of products for human use. Annie Leonard says that we are  basically just test subjects being experimented on with various chemicals not knowing the effects. That is really scary to think about. This video was very similar to the Story of Stuff video because they both point the leading cause of the problem to the big industry owners at the top, deciding what/how products are made. I plan on using this information to safely buy makeup and hair products that have the least amount of toxic chemicals inside of them. The video refers to safecosmetics.org, so I decided to check it out. I learned about how products that are marketed as “anti-aging” contain chemicals linked to breast cancer. L’OREAL’s products contain chemicals linked to cancer as well. The website was very informative and I am going to remember what products not to buy.

Unit 7 Reflection

 A few major themes we talked about during this unit are biodiversity, ecology, and food webs/chain. Biodiversity is how the diverse species on Earth provide us with food, industrial products, and medicines. Ecology is the study of interactions between organisms and their environment. Food webs/chains consist of producers and consumers than can be herbivores, which are plant eaters, carnivores, which are meat eaters,  omnivores, which are everything eaters, or detrivores/decomposers, which eat decaying/non-living things.

I want to learn more about how to save endangered animals. Threats such as disease are a large factor that contributes to the death of animals such as the Tasmanian devil in Eastern tropical Australia. I wonder how many endangered species there are on this planet and if there are common threats which made those species endangered.

Since I am quite an assertive person, I found collaborating with my group members in the Ecology Conservation project fairly easy. The project was a success because we each individually completed our assigned work. No one completed anything late. All of our personalities somehow meshed, making it easier for us to problem-solve and find solutions.

I learned about how threats such as deforestation and mining destroy the environment and its animals. Construction also plays a role in the endangerment of animals, since in many cases animals fall into trenches, to their death. The ecosystem is very fragile and we must do what we can to protect it. My group came up with the solution to create more national parks to protect animals and the land around them.

I learned from the video that my dominant personality is being assertive. I am a fairly confident person and this helped me share my ideas to my group members because I wasn't afraid to speak up. Things I could do to be even more assertive would be to sit up straighter and try harder on maintaining good eye-contact.

Reflecting back on my New Year's Goals, I have started getting 7 hours of sleep every night, which is an improvement from last month.