Unit 3 Reflection

     The over-arching topic of this units was cells. A few themes were the structure of cells and photosynthesis vs. cellular respiration. We had to understand that the cell is a basic unit of life and the cells' functions. Specifically, we learned how we got to today's eukaryotic cells from the earliest prokaryotes. We got a basic overview of how cells were discovered. Later on, we got to the structure of cells, specifically membranes. These include vesicles, lysosomes, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and of course the cell membrane itself. It led onto the vodacast about diffusion, the passing of objects through the cell membrane requiring no energy. This continued to the topic of osmosis, the diffusion of water through the membrane due to differences in concentration of a solute. After that, we learned about how cells make proteins with its organelles, and by the next vodcast, we learned about the organelles in a cell, like the centriole, choloroplasts, and mitochondria. 

     

     Finally, we learned how photosynthesis works inside a chloroplast with the stroma and grana. It involves the electron transport chain (ECT) , the ATP Synthase, and the Calvin Cycle. The final vodcast of the unit explains cellular respiration, which occurs in the mitochondria. It has three steps: Glycolysis, the Krebs Cycle, and the ECT. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration tie together and are essentially opposites.

My strengths are the parts of a cell and how eukaryotic cells came to be (through evolution). I understand how the cell works and what it does. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are a bit more complicated. I understand the basic steps, but I will go over them and then understand the specifics and the details, because they are both multi-step processes. My successes are the labs that we have completed and that I have completed and wrote a conclusion on. A setback was the fact that we could not complete the Microscopic Organism Lab, and we had to complete a packet instead. I am a better student now because I have learned from this unit. I am now thorough in the subject of cells and their functions. Two things I want to learn more about are photosynthesis and cellular. They are much more complicated than what we have learned. I wonder how complex these processes actually are. This unit has helped me learn and grow as a student.