Letter to a Biology Student

Dear bio student,

Hi. I'm Christina. I'm in 9th grade, and at the beginning of this year, I was 13. My classes this year were World Geo/Health/Driver's Ed, Bio, Algebra 2H, Winter Sport/Spring Sport, Spanish 2, English 9, and Orchestra 2. I didn't look at my schedule to type this up, so I might have forgotten a number or something, but that's basically it.

Mr. Orre expects you to pay attention in class and do what is asked of you. When you come to class, the first thing you do is to write your homework in your planner, if you're still using it, and to get out your notebook and write down and answer the Do Now, which is written on the whiteboard.

Typically, our class days consist of either labs or time to work on miscellaneous assignments, like lab write-ups, projects, and blog posts like this one. Labs include writing down data during the lab, and writing a write-up on our blogs after the lab. Most of the labs are pretty different in topic, but they always have something to do with what we're learning with the vodcasts.

The vodcasts, our homework, are videos of Mr. Orre explaining different concepts, kind of like an online lecture. Basically every night, our homework is to watch one and take notes on it, including a Relate and Review and HOT Questions, as well as complete a CFU (Check For Understanding) after we're finished.

We don't have any quizzes, only tests, and we have one test after the end of every unit, as well as finals. This means that there are only 5 or 6 tests a semester, as the units are pretty long. Tests are always multiple-choice, and they should be easy if you really understand the content.

Everyone in the class has a notebook, which contains notes for all the vodcasts, answers for Do Now's, and notes on any movies we might watch in class. Everyone in the class also has a blog, like this one. Blog posts include most lab write-ups, a reflection after every unit ends, and some others. My favorite blog post is the sex infographic, which is exactly what it sounds like. It was a fun project, and it also helped me understand the concepts of that unit.

One of Mr. Orre's biggest pet peeves is having to repeat himself because no one is listening to him. He also doesn't like when students ask him questions like "where is the sharpener?", since we literally have a unit called the Rookie Module where we learn where things are, etc.

Getting good grades on assignments is easy as long as you follow directions and don't mess around during the assignment. Although the vodcasts, as homework, are worth only 10 points, they are the main way to learn the material, so you should always do them unless you want to fail. In order to get a good grade on a test, you need to actually understand the information. Memorization isn't really helpful for most topics, because the questions are multiple choice, and even so, it's rare that the tests have the same wording as the vodcasts. The CFU's are also considered a good way to study for the tests, but I don't tend to use them to study because sometimes there are problems with them. Also, for me, if I take something once, I'll remember the answers when I go to take it again, so that doesn't help me study.

Overall, I would give this class a 7/10. I think that Mr. Orre is a good teacher, but I don't really like flipped teaching. Next year, I'll be taking Chemistry H. To summarize, just do everything you should in class and you'll be fine.

Signed,
Christina

Pig Dissection Relate and Review

We recently completed the pig dissection lab. In this lab, we dissected a fetal pig, examining its interior and exterior bodily structures. We also filmed a video explaining these structures, which you can see here:

I think the purpose of this lab was to learn where organs and body systems are located in a body. Before the lab, Mr. Orre told us that pigs' organs and body systems are very similar to humans, and we're currently learning about human body structures, so I think this lab was to help us with human biology as well.

During the dissection, we looked at many organs from systems that we were studying at the time. For example, the digestive system was the first system we learned about, and it was also the first system we saw with the dissection. We also learned about the respiratory, circulatory, and endocrine systems before the dissection. Because of this, it was a lot easier to find organs, since we had already learned what they looked like in a human body.

My favorite part of the dissection was when we looked at the structure of the mouth. We cut down the sides of the mouth, and then used the probe to open the pig's jaw. Seeing the inside of the pig's mouth was really interesting because of how similar it looked to the inside of a person's mouth, especially the hard and soft palates. I also thought the papillae, on the side of the tongue, looked really cool.

I think this dissection was a valuable experience. I think it furthered our understanding of systems in the body, and their organs. Instead of just knowing what an organ was, we also had to find the organ, and the physical structure and location of that organ would often help us understand what that organ did.

Unit 9 Reflection

This unit was about life, and how it is organized. We learned about classification, which is how groups are grouped based on similarities, as well as taxonomy, which is the study of naming and classifying organisms with the binomial nomenclature, or a 2-part naming system where a scientific name is comprised of the genus and species of an organism, in order to avoid confusion with common names. We also learned about phylogeny, the evolutionary history and relationships of different species. This was especially interesting as phylogeny is closely related to the last unit. We also learned about the 8 taxonomic levels, or taxa: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.



We also learned about the history of Domains and Kingdoms, and the many different systems that existed before the 3 domain system. The 3 domains, Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya contain all living organisms. There are also 4 modern kingdoms under Eukarya: Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia.



Later, we learned about bacteria, which can be gram-positive or gram-negative depending on the makeup of their cell walls, and viruses, which are not actually alive. We also learned of the anatomy, diversity, reproduction, and importance of fungi, as well as the evolution and adaptations of plants, and the major plant phyla.

We then moved onto animals, which are grouped by body plan symmetry, tissue layers, and developmental patterns. 97% of animals are invertebrates. There are several invertebrate phyla: Porifera (sponges), Cnidaria (which includes Scyphozoans, like the jellyfish; Anthozoans, like coral; Hydrozoans, like the hydra; and Cubozoans, or the box jellies), Platyhelminthes (flatworms, like planarians, flukes, and tapeworms), Molluska (which includes Gastropods, like snails; Bivalves, like clams; and Cephalopods, which includes the octopus), Annelida (which includes earthworms, marine worms, and leeches), Arthropoda (which includes Trilobites; Crustaceans, which can be Decapods like lobsters, Barnacles, or Isopods like the pill bug; Insects; Chelicerates, like the scorpion; and Myriapods, like the millipede), and Echinodermata (which includes feather stars, sea stars, brittle stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers).

All vertebrate belong to the phylum Chordata. There are 7 classes of Chordata: Agnatha (jawless fish like lampreys and hagfish), Condricthyes (fish with cartilage skeletons, like the shark), Osteicthyes (fish with bony skeletons), Amphibia (which are grouped into salamanders, frogs and toads, and caecilians), Reptilia (which have 4 modern groups: turtles and other bony-shelled reptiles, snakes, lizards, and crocodilians), Aves (birds), and Mammalia (grouped into monotromes, marsupials, and eutharians depending on how they give birth to their young).

I would like to learn more about the classification of different groups in some of the phyla and classes. The vodcasts often said that phyla were "grouped" into groups with common names, so I would like to know more about the taxonomy and scientific names of these groups. I wonder what kind of organisms would have to be discovered in order to change the taxonomic system again.

During this unit, I did the What on Earth Evolved? Presentation on stony corals. You can see it below:



The presentation went pretty well, although I talked a little too fast, in my opinion. I think the first slides were all good, and I went over them pretty well. For the last few slides, I didn't really go into enough detail. I also think I was missing a bit of why corals are so important.

From this presentation, I have learned to relax before presenting in order to talk more slowly. I have also learned that presenting earlier is often easier than later.

Geologic Timeline Reflection

While working on the geologic timeline, we were asked for the most significant events in Earth's history. I found that the Triassic Extinction was a very significant event in Earth's history. During the Triassic Extinction, it was estimated that 80% of species went extinct, although how this happened is unknown. This would have significantly impacted life and life's diversity in the following periods, especially since the Triassic Extinction allowed the rise and adaptive radiation of mammals. Another significant event in Earth's history is the Cambrian Explosion, which was an event that caused a lot of diversification in life. This also impacted the diversity of life in the next periods, and some of the Cambrian Explosion's impact is even seen today in organisms that have survived. Finally, the last significant event in Earth's history is the Great Oxygenation, an event in which cyanobacteria produced enough oxygen to influence the environment. This was very impactful, as there is now oxygen in the atmosphere due to this event. Without the Great Oxygenation, life would probably not have been able to become very complex.

Earth's history is very, very long. I was surprised by the how little happened near the formation of Earth, although it makes sense that there would be more events near the present time.

Even though we've been on the Earth for a very short time (on the geologic timeline, the period humans evolved in was barely a millimeter long), I think we have impacted the Earth a lot. Humans live basically everywhere, and there are so many people. Our habitat isn't just a forest or a desert, but basically the entire Earth. On top of that, we are causing climate change and hurting the environment. It's very interesting how much we managed to impact the planet in a tiny sliver of time.

I wonder if there are any more events that we just haven't discovered during the times near the formation of Earth, and if any other species could have changed Earth like humans did.