Hi Biology Student,
My name is Karthi Sankar, and I am 14 years old. I went to Foothill Elementary and Redwood Middle School. I was interested in computer programming and English at the beginning of the year. The classes I took were English, Geometry, Health/World Geography, Spanish 1, Introduction to Computer Programming, Physical Education, and of course, this class. My approach to school is to do the best that I can to the best of my ability. My interests outside of school include basketball. I played on the freshman basketball team this past year. I expected this class to be difficult, but something that I could still do well in. That is what it generally ended up being.
Mr. Orre's expectations are that you come to class prepared and ready to learn and pay attention. You must be able to listen, stay on task during your working time, and be safe during labs. When you get to class on a normal day, you take out your notebook. In your notebook, you answer a question Mr. Orre writes on the board called a Do Now. What is your notebook for, you ask? It is like your own personal biology textbook that you will add to almost every day. You will understand this better as you read on. For homework, you do vodcast notes. This is usually your only homework. Vodcasts are lectures in the form of a video, where Mr. Orre explains a lesson/concept. They are anywhere from ten to twenty minutes long, usually somewhere in the middle. They usually take half an hour to an hour to complete, depending on how fast you take notes. You will fill out handouts with fill-in-the-blanks that go along with them. This is your homework every day. As you get better at taking notes, you will take notes without a handout on some vodcasts. For every unit, you will take notes on a corresponding chapter in the textbook. Anyway, back to a class day. After the Do Now, you review the vodcast you did for homework with your table group. Then, you do activities or labs to help reinforce what you learned for homework. The labs are pretty straight-forward, and you have to follow the procedure safely while giving yourself enough time to complete all of the steps. Your blog is a documentation of what you're doing all year. On it, you write reflections about each unit. This includes explaining what you have learned and talking about how you have grown during the course of the unit. You also include conclusions for labs and occasional posts as assignments. This is one of my favorite blog posts because I believe that it is my best reflection, also my last reflection. As the year went on, I got better at managing my time and organizing my work. The notebook really helped me keep everything together, as it was much better than a binder filled with papers. It is important for you to know that you have what it takes to do well in this class, but you need to keep on top of your work and do the best that you can on all of your assignments.
Mr. Orre doesn't like people talking while he is talking. Listen while he talks, and then after the instructions, you can ask questions or discuss the assignment. He also doesn't take excuses for not finishing your work, unless they are legitimate. Complete your work well and on time. For assignments, you need to follow the directions and do the best that you can. You need to finish the whole assignment, not just parts of it. They must be thorough and informative. If you do not complete your homework regularly, you will not get a good grade in this class. Homework is a huge part of passing this class. If you do not do your assigned vodcast, you will be behind because you will not have learned what everyone else has, and therefore, you will not understand the discussion in class and possibly even the activity you do that day. To get good grades on tests, you will have to study. No question. If you don't look at your notebook from the time of the last vodcast to the test, you will probably not do well on said test. You need to find a way of studying that helps you prepare. Whether that's flashcards, quizzing yourself, doing the CFUs (short check for understanding quizzes you do after a vodcast), reading your Relate and Reviews (part of the vodcast), something completely different, or multiple methods, you should study before every test. To get the most out of this class, you need to give it your all, come to class prepared, and be ready to learn everyday. Now, I will describe three mistakes that I have made this year and hopefully you will learn from them. The first is not studying well or long enough for two tests. Because of this, I got two grades that I was not very proud of at the time. Do not put off studying to the last minute, or you could get the same result. Second, I procrastinated on a project and ended up not getting much data for it. I would have done better on the project if I did not do this. Again, don't let yourself get easily distracted or taken away from your work. Lastly, I didn't follow a part of a procedure for an experiment exactly right. My group still ended up getting results that we could use, but if I actually had made a large mistake, the data for our lab would have been messed up and not completely usable. The lesson from this is to follow the procedure during labs and be careful.
Finally, I just want to rate the class for you. Using the grade scale, I would give it an A. I learned so much in this class, and I have become a better student because of it. I am able to complete work more efficiently and organize my work. As I said before, the notebook really helps with organization. The vodcasts helped me learn each concept very well, and you can also go back and re-watch them for another explanation. Mr. Orre is a great teacher, and you will learn a lot in his class and have fun too. Next year, I am taking Honors Chemistry. I decided to take this class because I was recommended for it, and I feel that I have enough skill in algebra, I can keep up with my work, and it seems interesting. Well, that's all I have to say. It's probably a lot to take at the moment, but don't worry. You'll get used to it. Have a great time in this class, and good luck!
Signed
- Karthi Sankar
Friday, June 2, 2017
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Pig Dissection
The purpose of this dissection is to learn about the different structures inside a body by physically seeing them inside a fetal pig's body. We can also see how all of the systems are connected and situated inside the body. This dissection related to the vodcasts because we saw a physical digestive, circulatory, and respiratory system. The esophagus, stomach, and intestines are all connected. We also saw inside the heart by cutting it open. It was easier to imagine the flow of blood from the left atrium, to the left ventricle, to the right atrium, and to the right ventricle. We could also see the lungs of the pig. My favorite part of the dissection was making the video because we got to explain and find all the important parts of the pig. That way, we could better understand how its body works to allow it to live. This dissection was a valuable experience. We can see the systems in the body. It is a real-life view of what we were taught in the vodcasts. In addition, since the pig was unborn, it never had to be killed. It was good that each group had one pig because we could see inside clearly without lots of people crowding around one pig. We got to learn about the systems in the body and apply our knowledge by making the video. Below is a video my group created showing and explaining the important parts of the body.
Monday, May 22, 2017
Calabaza Creek Clean-up
On Sunday, May 20. I went to the Calabaza Creek in Cupertino. Then, for three hours, other volunteers and I cleaned up the creek. We used gloves and trash picker-uppers to pick up plastic and other pieces of trash at the river. We means groups because we had to work in pairs. Because there was not very much water, we were able to walk around the rocks and dirt to look for trash. The most common trash were cigarette butts. wrappers, and small pieces of paper or plastic. At the beginning, it was easier to find trash. After that, it took some time to look for each piece of plastic in the dirt and brush. We had to dig around and use good observational skills to find small pieces of plastic. These are the parts that fish can eat and get sick from. That is why it is important to find and pick up these as well as large boxes or bags. From this experience, I gained more knowledge about what trash is our rivers and how much of it there is. I learned how fish can get affected by eating plastic that we leave behind. I helped the community of Cupertino and other communities like it, and that is a good feeling to have. I gained experience on how to use my time. Since we had three hours, I had to plan out how to use my time and when to take breaks. I took away with me a sense that I had done something important and worthwhile. These kind of events can also raise awareness about the wasteful actions that people do all the time, such as littering, which can cause trash to get into rivers. I could do this again if I had the chance to. There is another clean-up in September, so it is possible that I could. One thing that I know now is that we take advantage of the nature around us. We need to protect it in order to continue to live and survive on this planet.
20 Time Individual Reflection
My 20 time project was an experiment that was trying to find which food they preferred: genetically modified food or organic food. People rated the food on a scale of one to five on appearance and taste. The three foods we used were cheese, corn, and bananas. We also included some research that we did about the topic. I chose this project because at the time of choosing, we had learned about biotechnology and the modification of food. It seemed like an interesting topic to learn about and test. My partner and I did this project to inform people about the two different kinds of food. It was also done to see if there actually was a difference in preference among people. People can make their own decision about what they want to eat, but now they will have more information about each.
Our initial plan was to do research for a few weeks and then conduct our experiment. Our first weeks were well-spent, and we looked at and got sources for our information. The original plan was to use about ten people as test subjects. That number went down to about seven. In the end, we ended up testing four people for each of the three foods. One thing that I would have done differently if we had more time would be to get more people to do the test. Then, we would have more generalized data at the end. Still, our experiment provides a small sample of what people prefer. Our experiment also could have happened earlier in the year. We were not getting the materials in time to conduct the experiment on the dates we set. This could have allowed us to involve more people. A success was that we finished the project. We explained the experiment, put together data tables, analyzed our results, and included some of the research we had done at the beginning. We put it all together in a document and included a works cited.
If I did this experiment again, I would stick to our deadlines and get more test subjects. I got better at doing experiments because we had to put together our own instead of it being given to us. My researching also improved because we had to find reliable sources for our information. Since I worked with a partner, I made my communication skills better. We did not always agree on what was best for the experiment, but we compromised and ended up finishing. We were able to work together to complete work and reach a common goal. I learned that I could get things done (while not always meeting deadlines) when I put my mind to it. I need to procrastinate less if I want to get things done on time and done well. I am done with this challenge now because we completed our project. We collected our data and analyzed it. There is still more to learn about this topic, but this experiment can give people more information about what they eat. It's not too much information, but it will include things that people have never seen before.
Our initial plan was to do research for a few weeks and then conduct our experiment. Our first weeks were well-spent, and we looked at and got sources for our information. The original plan was to use about ten people as test subjects. That number went down to about seven. In the end, we ended up testing four people for each of the three foods. One thing that I would have done differently if we had more time would be to get more people to do the test. Then, we would have more generalized data at the end. Still, our experiment provides a small sample of what people prefer. Our experiment also could have happened earlier in the year. We were not getting the materials in time to conduct the experiment on the dates we set. This could have allowed us to involve more people. A success was that we finished the project. We explained the experiment, put together data tables, analyzed our results, and included some of the research we had done at the beginning. We put it all together in a document and included a works cited.
If I did this experiment again, I would stick to our deadlines and get more test subjects. I got better at doing experiments because we had to put together our own instead of it being given to us. My researching also improved because we had to find reliable sources for our information. Since I worked with a partner, I made my communication skills better. We did not always agree on what was best for the experiment, but we compromised and ended up finishing. We were able to work together to complete work and reach a common goal. I learned that I could get things done (while not always meeting deadlines) when I put my mind to it. I need to procrastinate less if I want to get things done on time and done well. I am done with this challenge now because we completed our project. We collected our data and analyzed it. There is still more to learn about this topic, but this experiment can give people more information about what they eat. It's not too much information, but it will include things that people have never seen before.
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Unit 9 Reflection
In this unit, we learned about the seven taxonomic levels and how life is classified into these levels. The seven levels are kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species. An addition is the three domains, Eukarya, Bacteria, and Archaea. Bacteria can be gram-positive or gram-negative, which means they either have less or more peptidoglycan in their cell walls. The different kinds of bacteria include cyanobacteria, symbiotic bacteria, and actinomycetes. Archaea live in extreme environments including anoxic mud, hydrothermal springs and digestive tracts. They challenge what we think is required for living. In the domain Eukarya, there are the kingdoms Fungi, Plantae, and Protista. Protista are very diverse and can be plant or animal-like. Fungi have cell walls made of chitin, absorb food through hyphae, and have fruiting bodies and spores, They include club and sac fungi and bread molds. Plantae (plants) have pollen, seeds, vascular systems, cuticles, and fruit. Bryophyta are seedless non-vascular mosses. Pterophyta are vascular seedless ferns. Gymnosperms have seeds in cones, and angiosperms have seeds in fruit. Throughout the different levels so far, there has been continual change between each kingdom. Each organism evolved to become a more recent one. This continues in the kingdom Animalia.
In the kingdom Animalia, there are phyla of invertebrates and vertebrates. The first invertebrate phylum is Porifera, or the sessile filter-feeders, otherwise known as sponges. Another phylum is the Cnidarians, who are the first vertebrates to have specialized tissue. They include coral, hydras, and jellyfish. The next three phlya are closely related. Platyhelminthes are flatworms with an incomplete or no gut. The three classes are planarians, flukes, and tapeworms. Molluska have a digestive system, and they are snails, slugs, clams, and squids. Finally, Annelida are segmented worms with a coelom, like earthworms. A huge phylum is Arthopoda. The two classes in it are Insecta and Crustacea. The last phylum of invertebrates is Echinodermata, who have a water vascular system with a skeleton made of interlocking ossicles. The five classes include sea stars, sand dollars, basket stars, sea cucumbers, and sea lilies. Then comes the phylum of all vertebrates, Chordata. It starts with fish, specifically the jawless fish of class Agnatha. There are two other classes of fish. Condricthyes have a skeleton made of cartilage, and Osteicthyes have a bony skeleton. After the tranistional forms of fish climbed up onto land, the amiphibians (Amphibia) came into being. They include the salamanders, caecilians, and the frogs/toads. Reptilia is the class with the crocodilians, snakes, lizards, and turtles. They are ectotherms with a three-chambered heart and a cloaca. Aves (birds) evolved from therapod dinosaurs, and they have wings, feathers, and re-arranged hip muscles. The last and most recent class is the class Mammalia. Mammals are complex, social organisms with hair, a chewing jaw, and a four-chambered heart. The three gruops are marsupials, monotremes, and eutherians, or the most recent mammals. In each ensuing phylum and class, there is more diversity and more helpful traits that all lead to the existence of humans. As life went on, speciation and evolution occurred to create the organisms that exist today.
I wonder about what species we still have to discover and how we will classify them. There are so many species in the world that humans have not discovered yet. New phlya and classes could be created to accommodate a new, diverse species. Also, all of these organisms lived during different time periods, and we did a project showing a timeline of Earth's history. Click here to see my reflection on the project. In this unit, we also did presentations about different organisms to show exactly what on Earth evolved. My presentation went well and I was able to be in the time limit range. I believe that this is because I was well prepared, I practiced beforehand for my presentation, so I didn't read from my slides as much. One thing I could have improved on was putting less information onto the slides and not relying on it so much. By that, I mean that I could have spoke more from my own memory and not crowd the slides with information. I could have used it more as an aid than as the basis for my speaking. This gave me valuable experience with public speaking, as I will certainly have to do more of it in my life. I practiced speaking in front of an audience, and I got to see other people do it too. I learned a lot about other organisms on Earth, and each one was taught be a different person. Below is my presentation about the Australopithecus, the first ever upright-walking hominid.
In the kingdom Animalia, there are phyla of invertebrates and vertebrates. The first invertebrate phylum is Porifera, or the sessile filter-feeders, otherwise known as sponges. Another phylum is the Cnidarians, who are the first vertebrates to have specialized tissue. They include coral, hydras, and jellyfish. The next three phlya are closely related. Platyhelminthes are flatworms with an incomplete or no gut. The three classes are planarians, flukes, and tapeworms. Molluska have a digestive system, and they are snails, slugs, clams, and squids. Finally, Annelida are segmented worms with a coelom, like earthworms. A huge phylum is Arthopoda. The two classes in it are Insecta and Crustacea. The last phylum of invertebrates is Echinodermata, who have a water vascular system with a skeleton made of interlocking ossicles. The five classes include sea stars, sand dollars, basket stars, sea cucumbers, and sea lilies. Then comes the phylum of all vertebrates, Chordata. It starts with fish, specifically the jawless fish of class Agnatha. There are two other classes of fish. Condricthyes have a skeleton made of cartilage, and Osteicthyes have a bony skeleton. After the tranistional forms of fish climbed up onto land, the amiphibians (Amphibia) came into being. They include the salamanders, caecilians, and the frogs/toads. Reptilia is the class with the crocodilians, snakes, lizards, and turtles. They are ectotherms with a three-chambered heart and a cloaca. Aves (birds) evolved from therapod dinosaurs, and they have wings, feathers, and re-arranged hip muscles. The last and most recent class is the class Mammalia. Mammals are complex, social organisms with hair, a chewing jaw, and a four-chambered heart. The three gruops are marsupials, monotremes, and eutherians, or the most recent mammals. In each ensuing phylum and class, there is more diversity and more helpful traits that all lead to the existence of humans. As life went on, speciation and evolution occurred to create the organisms that exist today.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a5/Biological_classification_L_Pengo_vflip.svg/399px-Biological_classification_L_Pengo_vflip.svg.png
I wonder about what species we still have to discover and how we will classify them. There are so many species in the world that humans have not discovered yet. New phlya and classes could be created to accommodate a new, diverse species. Also, all of these organisms lived during different time periods, and we did a project showing a timeline of Earth's history. Click here to see my reflection on the project. In this unit, we also did presentations about different organisms to show exactly what on Earth evolved. My presentation went well and I was able to be in the time limit range. I believe that this is because I was well prepared, I practiced beforehand for my presentation, so I didn't read from my slides as much. One thing I could have improved on was putting less information onto the slides and not relying on it so much. By that, I mean that I could have spoke more from my own memory and not crowd the slides with information. I could have used it more as an aid than as the basis for my speaking. This gave me valuable experience with public speaking, as I will certainly have to do more of it in my life. I practiced speaking in front of an audience, and I got to see other people do it too. I learned a lot about other organisms on Earth, and each one was taught be a different person. Below is my presentation about the Australopithecus, the first ever upright-walking hominid.
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Geologic Timeline Reflection
One major event is the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era. This event led to the rise of mammals, and that is why we are alive today. Without the dinosaurs ever going extinct, the dinosaurs might still be here on this planet. The history of the Earth in its later stages would be drastically changed and would not not be the same at all. Most of the mammals on Earth could be killed by dinosaurs. Another important event was when Pangaea formed in the Carboniferous period. If Pangaea never formed, the continents would not be like they are today. It's possible that the continents could have still been formed but they would not be the same. A third important event is the when Archaeopteris, the first successful trees, in the Devonian period came into being. If trees never existed, we would be be alive and the Earth would definitely be different and other organisms would be on Earth. Only organisms who don't need oxygen would survive. If any of these events never happened, the Earth would not be as it is today.
The longest era is the Precambrian, and it took up most of the time in the history of Earth. The Cenozoic era only just started and yet humans have had a large impact on the world. I was surprised when I found out that humans only take up a very short time in the span of everything since the Earth has formed. I thought that humans were on this planet for longer than they actually are. I think that I just didn't realized how long Earth has been in existence. I also did not really know about the Paleozoic era, and that is the era that I researched. Some important things happened in this era, like the diversification of vascular plants and the colonization of land by fungi, plants, and animals.
Humans have had a large impact on the Earth. The good things that we have done have been to help ourselves to survive and reproduce on this planet. However, we have also had a bad impact on Earth. We are using its resources without knowing what it is doing to Earth. Also, some scientists have evidence that shows what we are doing, like using up the oil on Earth and releasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, is harming our planet. Some people are listening and are raising awareness, but not enough. A question that I have is, "Will we do anything to slow this mass extinction we are currently in?" Many people don't know about what is happening on the Earth now. There is climate change and ocean acidification and many other events happening. People are smart enough to come up solutions to the problems that we are facing, but enough minds are not on the problems. I do not have any more questions, but I wonder whether we as humans and as organisms on this planet will try to do something to help the planet, not only ourselves.
Monday, April 10, 2017
Unit 8 Reflection
This unit was called Constant Change, and it focused on evolution. It was about what causes evolution and what effect evolution has on populations. Natural selection is the driving force behind evolution, and populations, not individuals, evolve. Humans have come up with artificial selection. They decide what trait they want to see in an animal, mate two individuals with the desired trait, and see what they end up with. In other words, they are effectively breeding for a trait, and sometimes, the resulting individual will be different enough from its parents that it is considered a new breed. This selection is therefore not natural, and the end product is created because of the preference of a breeder. Evolution is defined as changes in allele frequency over time. Allele frequencies is the percentages of different alleles in populations. Natural selection is when traits that help organisms survive and reproduce continue into the populations that come after, while the unhelpful traits decrease in frequency and can eventually disappear. In other words, the population starts to look like the winners, while the losers' traits go away from the population.
Natural selection was demonstrated in the Bird Beak Lab and the Hunger Games Lab because different traits were tested for their ability to help organisms survive and reproduce. There is also evidence of evolution that has been found today. There is the usual, fossils, and they physically show the change in populations over time. Also, they can be dated to see how old they are. Embryology, the study of embryos and their development, and evo-devo, comparing the developmental processes of different organisms, are also new ways that scientists have found to prove common ancestry and evolution. Homologous structures, similar bones with different functions, and analogous structures, different bones with similar functions, show that individuals have a common ancestor. Different organisms having analogous structures has occurred because of convergent evolution. This happens when two unrelated organisms develop similar traits because they have to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches.
A geologic timeline can show how life on Earth has changed over time. Earth was formed about 4.6 billion years ago. The time since has been divided into eras, periods, and epochs. There have been five mass extinctions, and we are now in the midst of a sixth. The four eras are the Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic. Then, the eras are split into periods. Life appeared in the first era, then the Cambrian Explosion. After that, it was the Age of Reptiles, and finally, us humans came into being. Earth has changed rapidly throughout its history, and humans have just arrived onto the scene. We are still making a big impact on the Earth itself. New species occur through speciation, which is caused by reproductive isolation. It can be behavioral, temporal, or geographical. Populations evolve through three different kinds of selection. Disruptive favors the extreme phenotypes, stabilizing favors the intermediate, and directional favors either one of the extreme phenotypes. Evolution continues to happen today, and it is important to learn about it because this knowledge can help us to deal with change when it happens in our world.
I want to learn more about the evidence that we have of evolution. It would be interesting to physically see fossils that show the changes over time, and see evolution that has taken place in past generations. This could be with analogous or homologous structures. I do not have any unanswered questions. I wonder about what will happen to our species. We have been on this planet for so little time, yet we have made so much change to this planet. I wonder if we will change what we are doing to try and help the planet instead of harming it. Everyone should become aware of what is going on in the world. I also wonder how our species will continue to evolve over time and if natural selection will play a role in our survival. Relating to assertiveness, I am mostly able to say what I want and speak about myself. I can probably become more clear with my priorities when I am doing something with other people. I can still continue to become more assertive while also listening to what others have to say, rather than dominating a conservation. That said, I should listen and contribute my own ideas that relate to what another person is saying. I can continue to become more confident in everything that I do and every situation.
Natural selection was demonstrated in the Bird Beak Lab and the Hunger Games Lab because different traits were tested for their ability to help organisms survive and reproduce. There is also evidence of evolution that has been found today. There is the usual, fossils, and they physically show the change in populations over time. Also, they can be dated to see how old they are. Embryology, the study of embryos and their development, and evo-devo, comparing the developmental processes of different organisms, are also new ways that scientists have found to prove common ancestry and evolution. Homologous structures, similar bones with different functions, and analogous structures, different bones with similar functions, show that individuals have a common ancestor. Different organisms having analogous structures has occurred because of convergent evolution. This happens when two unrelated organisms develop similar traits because they have to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches.
A geologic timeline can show how life on Earth has changed over time. Earth was formed about 4.6 billion years ago. The time since has been divided into eras, periods, and epochs. There have been five mass extinctions, and we are now in the midst of a sixth. The four eras are the Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic. Then, the eras are split into periods. Life appeared in the first era, then the Cambrian Explosion. After that, it was the Age of Reptiles, and finally, us humans came into being. Earth has changed rapidly throughout its history, and humans have just arrived onto the scene. We are still making a big impact on the Earth itself. New species occur through speciation, which is caused by reproductive isolation. It can be behavioral, temporal, or geographical. Populations evolve through three different kinds of selection. Disruptive favors the extreme phenotypes, stabilizing favors the intermediate, and directional favors either one of the extreme phenotypes. Evolution continues to happen today, and it is important to learn about it because this knowledge can help us to deal with change when it happens in our world.
I want to learn more about the evidence that we have of evolution. It would be interesting to physically see fossils that show the changes over time, and see evolution that has taken place in past generations. This could be with analogous or homologous structures. I do not have any unanswered questions. I wonder about what will happen to our species. We have been on this planet for so little time, yet we have made so much change to this planet. I wonder if we will change what we are doing to try and help the planet instead of harming it. Everyone should become aware of what is going on in the world. I also wonder how our species will continue to evolve over time and if natural selection will play a role in our survival. Relating to assertiveness, I am mostly able to say what I want and speak about myself. I can probably become more clear with my priorities when I am doing something with other people. I can still continue to become more assertive while also listening to what others have to say, rather than dominating a conservation. That said, I should listen and contribute my own ideas that relate to what another person is saying. I can continue to become more confident in everything that I do and every situation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)