Unit 6 Reflection

2/26/16

Unit 6 Reflection

  This unit was about the skeletal system: bones, function, disorders, and joints. The essential themes and understanding were the various kinds of bones, the structure and function of said bones, disorders that affect the skeleton, and how the bones work in relation to other functions and structures in and outside our bodies.We got to learn about how bones are formed/ heal through osteoblast and osteoclasts. Even before that we recognized the basic functions of bones: structure, blood cell production, protection of soft organs, movement, storage of minerals and fats. The function bones does not change from bone to bone, although there are 4 types of bones: long, short, flat, and irregular. All of our bones are also classified by their location in the body. Axial bones are along the axis and basically consist of the skull, spine, and ribs while the rest of the bones are considered appendicular. However, sometime the skeleton does not cooperate the way it should. Disorders of the skeletal system include arthritis, osteoporosis, scoliosis, kyphosis, rickets, and lordosis.

Diagram of the human body- Wikipedia

  One thing I would like to learn more about would be all 206 bones in the bone. We did memorize a decent amount for the class, but our bodies are much more complex than we realize. An unanswered question that I have would be how structural differences come to affect our body such as scoliosis, bunions, etc.
  This unit's lab really helped me connect my knowledge with real-life concepts. The bone lab let me identify bones in the body (macroscopic) and examine what makes up bones (microscopic). The owl pellet lab we did (http://akmr16.blogspot.com/2016/02/owl-pellet-lab-conclusion.html) not only utilized our knowledge in a unique way, it also engaged everyone in a fun lab.

More pictures from the owl pellet lab

  Now, going back to the very beginning of this semester, the New Year's goals that I set are coming along well (http://akmr16.blogspot.com/2016/01/new-years-resolutions.html) I am a little more conscience of what I'm eating, and I do try to exercise everyday. In addition I do work consistently every Saturday for 8 hours, which, although tiring, is very rewarding. 

Intro to 20 Time

2/22/16

20 Time: 1st Blog Post

     20 Time is basically a project where we are given 20% of our time during the week to work on a project that addresses an essential question of which we choose. The question I have chosen to answer for my project is: How can I raise awareness of the arts in my community in a way that engages all age groups?

    For my project, I created a Facebook page called "An Original Movement" where people can post whatever they wish to share from dance to cooking to engineering. The hope is to show the community the benefits of the arts as well as expose the talent within our community that we often ignore. Even though the project is centered around art, I also want to recognize that STEM is important as well and that both can be artful in different ways. I specifically chose to address the problem this way because I feel that taking an aggressive approach toward either the arts or STEM would create an even bigger divide rather than bring the two closer together and boost the recognition of the arts. It answers my essential questions by bringing attention to the various forms of art in the community through an easily accessible site that anyone can view.

   My goal that I am aiming towards is gaining participation on my page. So far, it's proven to be a struggle as I feel that a lot of people don't seem to want to take the time to post. I can measure how much I have achieved my goal through the amount of people that contribute to the page and take interest in it, which is a nice concrete way to follow my progress/ achievement.
  Moving forward from this point I have to create my first video for the page, which will consist of a short piece of choreography that I put together myself. I also recent had someone design the page logo for me, so that has to be uploaded to the page as well. My next step is to start sending out more inquiries to my friends about posting to the page.
  I look forward to sharing my 20 Time journey on my blog. Please check out my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/anoriginalmovement/ . And here's the link to the blog associated with the Facebook page: http://anoriginalmovement.weebly.com/ . Feel free to post your own "movement" on the Facebook page as I hope to start a weekly/ biweekly contest for those who submit their works :)

An Original Movement logo
https://www.facebook.com/anoriginalmovement/

Owl Pellet Lab Conclusion

2/26/16

Owl Pellet Lab Conclusion

Our group taking apart our owl pellet- photo from Mr. Orre

The wonderful amount of fur that came from our pellet.

  In this lab we dissected owl pellets. First, we read an interesting packet about how owl pellets were formed, as they are just regurgitated by owls after they eat their prey. Then we picked our foiled wrapped pellet and started to pull apart the fur to separate out the bones. Unfortunately for us, our pellet was very densely packed so it took a lot of careful, slow fur pulling to loosen some of the bones. After we picked out all the bones, we set to work on trying to identify what animal the prey was based off of the skeletal structure by comparing what we had to pictures in the packets.

Hip joint of a rodent- photo by Mr. Orre

 After dissecting our owl pellet, my lab partner and I decided that the owl which the pellet had come from most likely ate some type of rodent and multiple of them. The bones we collected from the pile of compacted fur were all pretty intact. They consisted of various length long bones and a lot of irregular bones, which ended up to be probably almost a full collection of vertebrae. The long bones looked to be femurs and ribs. Unfortunately, we did not obtain a skull from the pellet, as the one to one ratio is not always perfect. Without a skull it was hard to determine what animal the owl actually ate, therefore, a rodent was the best guess we could make. Of course, even without the skull there were a few hints that told us what the owl had eaten. First was the femur bones that connected with the hip sockets that we found. Since both the femur and the hip bone were intact, we were able to assume that the unique hip bone structure was that of a rodent. The vertebrae too resemble a structure close to a human's, which also lead us to believe that the prey was a rodent.

The bones we found in our owl pellet, which lead us to believe that we found a rodent and multiple of them.

  One difference between a rodent skeleton and that of a human is the hip bones (the long bones with a loop on them). A close up of the pelvis and femur and the hip joint is included above at the very top. It was very apparent in the lab as the rodent's hip bone are much longer since they walk on all fours while we humans must maintain balance on two. Another difference is that the tibia and the fibula are switched in rodents, whereas in humans the tibia is the bigger bone compared to the fibula. Thirdly, rodents and human both have vertebrae, but rodents only possess 24 while human have 33 (the vertebrae are the weird roundish looking bones in the picture above). However, this was also a similarity as well because the way the vertebral column was structured was similar to humans. Our vertebrae grow larger the farther down the column we go and the same applies for the rodents. Another similarity was that rodents and humans both have 24 ribs to protect their organs from harm. In the picture above, the tiny scattered long bones are ribs. Lastly, the skull of rodents varies immensely from that of a human due to a difference in function. However, without a skull our group found it hard to identify this difference. Below is a picture of a rodent skull from some of our friends instead.

Skull from our friends since we didn't find one