Pig Dissection

I think the purpose of the dissection is to help students identify the organs, tissues, and structures in a living thing and to help students learn the functions of different systems through this hands on activity. This dissection relate to our unit about immune, digestive, respiratory, circulatory, lymphatic system because it helps us understand the organs that make up each system and how they work cooperatively to allow the body to function properly. The dissection also reviews the order in which different processes, such as digesting food or breathing air, work. Furthermore, it shows how each organs actually look like and exactly where it is located in the body. My favorite part of the dissection is definitely dissecting the body and actually being able to see how the organs look like. I was so excited when I successfully dissected the heart and saw the chambers and the inner structure of the heart. I was also very excited when I was able to identify the structures in the body and correctly state the function of that organ. This dissection is absolutely the best part of the biology class! It was both a fun and educational activity. As a group, we were able to learn so much by looking at the actual structures as opposed to the boring textbook illustrations and charts. We were also able to see how the the food goes down from our mouths through the esophagus, to the intestines, and eventually being eliminated from the body. It was definitely a helpful, valuable, and unique experience for all of the biology students!

20 Time Final Post

     The Ted talk went pretty well for me. My final product is actually a pamphlet, which was suppose to be a guideline designed for PTSD patients. As you can see from the picture, it includes some of the professional treatment, such as the cognitive and exposure therapies, and some information about PTSD in veterans or children. On the back of the pamphlet, there is a plan filled with advices from patients or therapists.

Here is the front, where I included professional therapies and information about the disorder.

Here is the back, which includes the treatment plan I created. 

       Preparing for the presentation was extremely stressful for me mainly because I keep on forgetting some parts. I had to really try my best to not feel so anxious and to really focus on delivering good amount of detailed information. During the presentation, I was, of course, very nervous and worried. I was afraid that I wouldn't get all of my information across within the 4 to 5 minutes zone. I was also very scared that I would mess up somewhere in the presentation and forget the information I was suppose to say. Despite the anxiety, I was able to finish the presentation before 5 minutes and I was able to share all of my experience with everyone in the class. I was satisfied with my presentation because it went pretty smooth and was very detailed and educational. Something I could have worked on more is having a confident tone and having all parts of the speech memorized. When I was presenting, I was rushing the entire time, which causes my voice to sound unstable and shaky. I was also forgetting some of the parts, which caused me to pause and look at some of my notes. If I were to grade myself, I wouldn't give myself full point on many parts of the rubric, such as the memorizing speech part. However, I would give myself a good overall score because I was able to deliver all the information and my personal experience to the class.

      Through this experience, I really got to learn a lot about my weakness in giving speeches and what qualities make a student a great speaker. I am really thankful that I got to do a project on something I am very interested and that I was able to acquire the skills needed for creating and delivering a short, informational speech. I am also very thankful to have been given a chance to practice public speaking and presenting my work in front of students without reading off from the powerpoint. Twenty time is definitely one of the most interesting and educational project that I've done in freshman year.

20 Time Individual Reflection

My 20 time project was inspired by the stories that I heard from PTSD patients. By doing my project on this topic, I challenge myself to conduct surveys and interviews, and  to fully understand the lives of those being diagnosed with PTSD. I chose this challenge because I am very interested in psychology. I also wanted to improve my skills in conducting various activities and producing desired product. My goal for this project was to raise awareness among the student body and to educate people about this commonly heard disorder by providing a treatment plan with detailed information about PTSD. This was my goal because I love helping people who are diagnosed with different disorders. I really hope that I could produce a meaningful work that can help others understand how PTSD, and also other mental disorder, has brought a significant impact on a person's life. In the past few weeks, I have successfully conducted surveys and some research. I was also able to educate my relatives or friends about the disorder based on the knowledge I've gained from visiting official websites for PTSD. However, I wasn't able to get as many people as I had originally expected to participate in the surveys. I also wasn't able to interview anyone who has been diagnosed with PTSD. I am especially disappointed about interview because I have always wanted to talk to a PTSD patient about the details of the symptoms or effects of the disorder. Another disappointment is that I am a little lost about doing the brochure or the poster for this project. Despite the success or failure in some parts of the project, I was able to learn about the symptoms, diagnosis, statistics, and real life examples of the disorder. If I could do this project again, I would definitely spend more time on finding people for interview and finding students to take the surveys. I would also come up with a better plan of creating a visual product for the class. My next step is definitely sharing the information about PTSD patients' experiences and treatment. I would also like to start a new challenge of studying other psychological disorders.

Plan:
Begin the presentation by describing the life of a PTSD patient. Start the sentence with "Imagine..." and try to catch the attention of the audience as I describe the panic and the fear that patients have been going through. Then introduce the topic of the disorder, describing the symptoms and the diagnosis of PTSD. (1.5 min)

Middle: Talk about inspiration for my project. Talk about my passion for studying psychological disorder. Talk about what I have done to raise awareness. Talk about my goals and the ways to achieve them. Describe the problems i have encountered during the process. Talk about  my personal experience as i read stories about other people's PTSD symptoms.
describe what i failed to complete.  (1.5 min)

End: describe how i use the knowledge i gained from the research and surveys to help other people. Talk about the taiwan trip and how I educated my relatives. Talk about how I can help the community. Talk about what I believed is the most valuable thing that I learned from the 20 time project. (1.5min)


Rough Draft:

Title: 

Introduction: 

Attention grabber- Imagine you woke up and changes

Unit 9 Reflection

           Unit 9 provides detailed information on the evolution and classification of different organisms. To avoid confusion with different names of organisms around the world, scientists develops an effective system through taxonomy, which is the study of naming and classifying organisms. This system, which is called the Linnaean System, shows relationships by integrating the genus and species of the organisms into the name. For example, we can tell that polar bear, which has the name of Ursus Maritimus, is closely related to grizzly bear, Ursus arctos, because they are in the same genus. Aside from the naming, scientists also developed taxonomic levels to classify organisms into groups. The levels are kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.

Credit: http://www.slideshare.net/mrtangextrahelp/06-6-kingdoms-and-3-domains

           There are three domain, Eukarya, Archaea, bacteria. Domain Eukarya includes protists, fungi, plant, and animal. It includes both unicellular cell and multicellular organisms. Archaea are organisms that live under extreme condition. Domain Bacteria includes bacteria that produce antibiotics, live in guts and help with digestion. These Domains are then divided into kingdom, one of them being animalia. Kingdom animalia includes phylum chordata, which contains invertebrates and vertebrates, phylum Cnidarians, which is the oldest group containing specialized tissues, and phylum molluska, which have a complete digestive tract. Each phylum can then be divided into smaller groups called classes.
             In this unit, we've also watched My Inner Fish, which is a series of videos that show us the evolution from fish to mammals. The videos helps us understand the similar structures that we share with fish and with other organisms. We can also see how humans share characteristics, such as large brained and complex thinking, with other mammals. It is fascinating to see how our beginning embryo stage looks almost exactly like those of reptiles, fish, and other species.
            Something that I want to learn more about is the way human evolved from other species. I want to ask the question that "How did our large, complex brain evolve?"

Credit:http://www2.hawaii.edu/~pine/book1qts/embryo-compare.html

            The What On Earth evolved project was a fun, educational presentation. Although I was very nervous in the beginning of the presentation, I enjoyed the process of teaching the class about my topic. One thing that I believe I did well is making the presentation interesting and easy to understand. Students seemed to have paid attention to the presentation and have displayed their interest of my topic by being engaged in asking questions. However, I believe I still have to work many parts of the presentation, such as elaborating my points instead of just saying the ideas written on the power point. When I was presenting, I simply said the ideas that was memorized. I should learn to talk as if I was having a interesting conversation with the class. Therefore, for the ted talk that is coming up, I am going to practice sharing my ideas without just stating the points. I am also going to make the tone of my voice sound more exciting and engaged. Overall, I learned a lot from students who are superior at giving presentation. I was very thankful for having the chance to practice my public speaking.

Here is my presentation for What On Earth Evolved Project!