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!