Wednesday, 10 August 2011

Evaluation

What role(s) did you take on for this assignment? 
In this assignment I took the role of answering two questions: Why do we need the system and What parts make up the system. I also contributed to the making of the worksheet, I helped create the cloze passage/summary, I thought and made up the questions that are then needed to be answered that relate to the cloze passage/summary, also the diagram of the heart was found and edited by me. 
I also took the role of helping put the power point together. But I also took a role that I didn't originally have, I took the role of adding parts to the model used in our presentation. 
What did you like about working as  group? 
I liked working as a group because if I got stuck or needed help on something as I didn't understand the question I could always ask my group peers and they would usually help me. I also liked working as a group as for each individual has their own creative ideas, that we can bring together to create a unique and powerful presentation. I also liked working as a group because it's much easier and faster to get all the work done as everyone in the group would be focusing on one thing.                                                                                                But mostly I liked working as a group was that when we have to present the presentation my confidence would be high because I would be talking with other people that would comfort me and help me at the same time. 
What was difficult about working as a group? 
It was difficult at times working as a group because sometimes a group member wouldn't be doing the work they were allocated to do. Also as you are in a group and you are with yours friends, you become to comfortable with them and don't get work done as you become distracted and get off topic. It was also difficult to finish all the work and bring everything together because we couldn't always catch up and sometimes the only time we have to work on the assignment was school class time (45 mins usually). 
Also it was difficult on the time we had to do individual work such as the power point. We couldn't start on our individual power point until we have decided what the layout/design and structure of the power point would be. 
What did you learn from working as a group? 
I learnt that its not easy working as a group because when you are in a group you have responsibilities and you must stick to those responsibilities, otherwise you would let your team down, but not only your team, you let  yourself down too. I also learnt that when working as a group you might have to meet up sometime to get the work done, its not easy working as a group because you have to pay attention and work hard. 
Also I learnt that its necessary to communicate with your group members and share idea's because doing this you would ensure that your final presentation is perfect as it has many unique and different ideas. 
Identify you strengths and weaknesses as a group member. 
strengths: 

  • I was able to complete all the work that I was allocated without any struggle or hesitation
  • I helped anyone that needed my help and listened to my group members
  • I wouldn't argue with any other my group members and I had good communication and listening skills with my group member
Weaknesses:
  • I felt at times that I wasn't giving all my attention on helping other group members.
  • Also sometimes I felt that I might have gotten easily distracted and off topic. 
Outline suggestions to improve the effectiveness of you group.
To improve the effectiveness of my group work I think we should have tried to pay more attention to our work and not get distracted. Also I think in our class lessons we could have worked more to get more progression on our work and also I think we could have started our assessment earlier so we could have finished earlier than what we had finished before. So pretty much I think that as a group we should have managed our time more wisely and payed attention to what we were doing and when.  

Services provided

Hey Science Lovers,
The contribution I have had to the group is :

Answering two questions: To help out our group I volunteered to answer two questions. These questions were: Why do we need the system and What parts make the system. This helped the group as for not only one person would have to research all the questions, even thought I had two questions I was willing to do my best to help the group. With these two questions I created a two minute speech.


Finding and editing a diagram that is relevant to the system and that the students will label: In the power point to help answer one of the questions there is a diagram that I have edited for the students to label. The diagram is labeled on the power point but on the worksheets they have been given, they are to label it themselves. 


Helping Adriana with making the summary/cloze passage: I helped Adriana think and create a cloze passage/summary that has been used in our worksheet. 


Making slides for power point: In our power point each individual has there own part. Therefore I have provided 3 slides that include pictures/diagram, information in point form, animations and lots of colour. I think that my slides will help the class understand our topic more efficiently. Also I helped Monica bring the power point presentation together. 


Created questions used in worksheet: I helped the group by thinking and creating the questions that have been used in our final worksheet. The questions that I have created would get the class thinking and would make them pay attention to our presentation to answer the questions correctly. 


Helped build an idea for our model and add part to it: I helped build an idea for the model when I found the picture that we based the model on, although I cant take full credit for that as Gabby helped find it too. But I can take credit for making extra parts for the model that wasn't called for in the beginning, as now out of the bloom the model has been used in one of my questions. 

Giving ideas to the group: I contributed to the group when I helped some group members when they needed help and needed questions to be answered. I also shared some of my ideas for their questions that they have taken to consideration and have been used in there speeches. For example I have suggested some questions they can ask during their speech.
Keep It Science, 
Anonymous. 

Resources

Hey Science Lovers,
Here is a list of resources that I have found that have been used in our group presentation:

This is a link to the Diagram that I have used in our presentation. It answer one of my questions which is the question : What parts make up the system. (but i must state I have taken away some of the labels that are on the diagram) 
This diagram is relevant as it answers my question and the labels on the diagram are correct. Also the diagram is a Heart which is part of the circulatory system so it isn't an incorrect diagram. When i talk about each part of the heart the correct labels I talk about are on the diagram. So the diagram I have chosen and that is used in our presentation is defiantly relevant. 

This is a link to information about the Circulatory System. Some information from this site is used in our presentation as it is used in one of my questions: Why do we need the system 
The information on the site is relevant and useful as it informs us in and easy and understandable way why we need the system. Also it explains in a well manner why it helps us and what some of the parts, such as the capillaries do for our body. It also is straight to the point and was a great help in finding the answer to my question. 

This is a link to information about the parts of the circulatory system. Some information of this site was used in our presentation as it was used in both of my questions: What parts make up the System and Why do we need the system. 
The information of the website is relevant and useful as its straight to the point and was the correct information that taught me allot. It was written in an understandable manner as explained allot about the different parts of the system and how it is divided into three major parts. 

This is a link to two pictures that were used in our presentation. The pictures were of two different thermometers . One was showing hot weather and the other was showing cold weather. These two pictures are relevant as they help explain that the circulatory system and how it helps regulate our body temperature from hot and cold. It is also useful as it catches the attention of the students as it is colourful and without pictures in our presentation the students wouldn't be so entertained by our lesson and would not pay attention. 

  1. http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/human-biology/blood.htm
  2. http://wikieducator.org/The_Anatomy_and_Physiology_of_Animals/Heart_Worksheet
  3. http://biomechanism.com/regrowing-blood-vessels-with-a-potent-molecule
These three websites are links to three different pictures. The pictures are of blood cells, a heart and blood vessels. These links are useful and relevant as they help explain the three major parts that the circulatory system is divided into. Also it entertains and will catch the students attention as they are colourful and bright, as they are colourful and bright they will engage the students into listening and paying attention to our presentation and lesson.


Whalley,K. 2011, Science Focus 2, Pearson Education Australia, Melbourne. 
This is the bibliography to a book that I have taken information of that has then been used in our presentation. This resource is relevant and useful as it explains in a well manner what the circulatory system is and the parts that make the system up, it doesn't only explain well by the information but also by the pictures and visuals that are provided in the book. With all this relevant and reliable information provided in the book i was able to then answer in further detail the question: what parts make up the system. 

Keep It Science, 
Anonymous. 

Thursday, 4 August 2011

Planning

27/7/11
Hey Science Lovers,
Today in science we got an assessment on human body systems. In a group we are to teach the class about the body system in a fun and interactive way.
When the groups were getting chosen we were allowed to pick one person to work with, i picked Gabby. Then Gabby and I got paired with Monica and Adriana. We then got allocated a body system which was the Circulatory System.
As a group we started to flick through our text books to see what the Circulatory system was... we found out that it is the heart, arteries, veins and capillaries all combined that transports oxygen, carbon dioxide, digested food, chemicals and heat around the body.

Keep It Science,
Anonymous.


4/8/11
Hey Science Lovers,
Today was the day we worked on our assessment as a group. Firstly we talked about if we were going to do a power-point or not, and we decided we would, after quite a long time i may say... we decided that in the power-point we will have a diagram, pictures, some dot point information about the questions that need to be answered and maybe a video or a game.
With the questions we choice what question each person was going to research.
 I am going to do the following questions
  • Why do we need it?
  • What parts make up the system?
Monica is answering this question: How does it work?
Gabby is answering this question: Who made the discoveries?
Adriana is answering this question: Future developments
We also said that the answer we have, must be at least one page long and completed at least 3 weeks before the due date of the actual assessment, phew, that's good it gives me lots of time to complete it.

Then we were discussing what the worksheet should include and how the worksheet was going to look. From what we discussed I then made the plan of what was going to be in it. The front page is going to be a 'summary page' with a cloze passage and information/ question activity. The back page is going to be the fun page with a fun activity and a diagram that the student will need to label.
Keep it Science,
Anonymous.


9/8/11

Hey Science Lovers,
Today in class our group are all looking something up. Adriana and Gabby are working as a group trying to find how to make a model, as we thought it would be a good idea to help explain how the system works and what its made up of. Monica is trying to find a video that explains how the system works and Im finding a diagram that the students will be able to lable and also the diagram musnt be too detailed but also not to simple.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eoi0q7f_tRY this is the video that Monica found. We might use this video but as it is 5 minutes long, monica will try to cut the video sorter, but ofcourse only cutting the unrelivent information. 

Near the end of the lesson our group decided that they will come over my place in 2 weeks time to put together the whole presentation together and everything that we need to do, also we decided that instead of Gabby and Adriana making and finding a model, Gabby and Monica will do that and Adriana and I will make the sheets that the students will answer.

Keep It Science,
Anonymous.


18/8/11
Hey science Lovers,
Its been a while iv worked on the science assessment but today we planned alot as a group. Today we decided that we are all going to work on our individual question, as we are going to go to my place next Saturday we need to have all our research done so we can then work on our presentation and our script, etc. Also we discussed how we are going to start the presentation so the intro of our 'lesson' and we thought that we needed someone to say what the circulatory system is, so we then thought Adriana could do that and she also wanted to. (:
Keep it Science,
Anonymous.
24/8/11
Hey Science Lovers,
Today Monica and Gabby were looking for a model of just the heart. We all thought it would be a good idea to make the model out of paper mache and paint the veins on and then straw for the thicker viens. They will make the model when they come over my place while Adriana and I will make the worksheet  and may start the powerpoint.
Keep It Science,
Anonymous.


27/8/11
Hey Science Lovers,
Today everyone came to my house to work on our assessment, we completed our model and worked on our worksheet. The model is made out of paper mache and was then painted red and also blue and red veins were painted on, also we used playdough the form the bigger veins and chambers. Adriana and I made some of the work sheet.We made the cloze passage and also thought of some good questions. 
Keep It Science,
Anonymous. 


30/8/11
Hey Science Lovers, 
AT SCHOOL
Today in class we worked on our assessment, we talked about what we were going to do. To become more organised Adriana wanted to plan our powerpoint, and wright how many slides each question would take. As we wanted to finish our powepoint and start practicing our presentation we are going to book the seminar room in the library on friday and maybe monday. Also tomorrow at lunch we will go to the library to work on it too. 
I'm working on my individual questions too, i have finish my first question which is: Why do we need it. So now i'm working on my second questions: What parts make it up. When i go home I will make the script for the first questions and also try answer more of my question, I also have to find a diagram that relates to the parts of the circulatory, it also has to be able to be labeled. 
Also we said that hopefully by tonight we will all have our questions done and create our individual power point that we will bring together as a group maybe on Wednesday (tomorrow) or Friday.
AT HOME
Today at home i finally finish my questions and found a diagram that can be labeled that also is based on what i talk about :) . 
Keep It science, 
Anonymous.


31/8/11
Hey Science Lovers, 
AT SCHOOL
Today our group met up in the library. We work on our individual question a little and said that by tomorrow we should have our individual power point ready so we can put it together tomorrow. I also gave Adriana my diagram so she can put it on the work sheet and print it out for the class. We choice as a group the style the power point will be (what it would look like) and talked a little about what we are going to put on the power point. 
AT HOME
I have finish my individual power point. It takes up three slides and looks very pretty (: i'm sure my group would like it. 
Keep It Science,
Anonymous. 


1/9/11
Hey Science Lovers, 
Today in class we had a test (may i say i think i did pretty good). After the test which only took around 35 minutes we got to work on our assessment. Unfortunately Adriana was away, but her, the smart one sent Monica her power point by email, so as a group we put together the power point with each of our slides and because we did this in class we didn't need to go to the library at lunch. Our power point turned out to actually be perfect as it doesn't have so many words on it and there are pictures and colours that will get the students attention and also the language used is reasonable for year eights. 


I got today a script of what Gabby is saying on the day the assessment is due. Here it is: 

William Harvey is known to be the man that published the first and most truthful/precise explanation of the circulatory system for the human body. He was known to be very successful and a very enthusiastic student of his time. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Cambridge in 1597.  He then studied medicine at the University of Padua in Italy and in 1602, Harvey received his doctorate.
William Harvey returned to England after receiving his doctorate so that he could put his medical studies to practice. And he married the daughter of the court doctor to Queen Elizabeth the first and King James the first. Through this connection, Harvey himself eventually became court physician. And during the period of time that he was the court physician, he was able to gradually conduct research on human biology and physiology. But through all his research, he focused mainly on how the blood actually flows through the body.
During William’s time, many scientists before Harvey believed that the liver was responsible for pumping the blood through the body and was responsible for the production of body’s blood supply. But William thought otherwise and this caused him to dedicate himself to life-long scientific investigations based on his research. And it was not until William Harvey’s theory that other scientists began to question this.
Through his research and findings, it can be seen that William believed that the heart played a very important role in the circulation of the blood. He conducted experiments on animals to support his hypotheses which included dissecting and observing their hearts. From dissecting the hearts, Harvey observed that the heart valves only allowed the blood to flow in one direction. He also removed the beating heart of an animal for observation and it still continued to beat – from this it can be seen that the heart still pumps and is not a sucking organ.
His research also shows that he found that the blood enters through the right side of the heart and then is moved or forced to the lungs prior to returning to the left side of the heart. His observations of the heartbeat of living animals challenged Galen’s theory of the blood being forced from one ventricle to the other because Harvey’s findings showed that the ventricles actually contracted together.  
Its kind of long but no worries because Ms Simpson said it was alright if we go over time and even if we do we wont loose marks. (Only if went under time we wont loose marks). 

Also here is a script of what i will say (its not as long as gabby's).
1st question script: 
Probably one of the most popular questions that come to mind is; why do we need it… well our circulatory system helps regulate our body temperature. When you are hot your capillaries, which are like blood vessels grow wider to allow more blood near the surface of your skin, then allows body heat to escape. This is why when you’re hot your face becomes red. So knowing this do you think you would know what would happen when you’re cold? Pretty much the complete opposite.   

The circulatory system brings the body's cells what they need to survive like oxygen and nutrients. The center of the circulatory, is the heart, a powerful pump organ designed to beat many millions of times. We need the circulatory system because without that we would have no blood in our body. We would not get the nutrients we need and we would not be living without the heart.
Second Question script: 
The circulatory System is divided into three major parts:
1.     The Heart
2.     The Blood
3.     The Blood Vessels
This is and 3D model of just heart, here you can see the main Artery *point* also called the Aorta. Here is the Superior Vena Cava *point* which leads the the right Atrium and the left Atrium *point* which is inside the heart.
This ‘pipe’ is called the Pulmonary Artery which leads to the Left Ventricle and the right Ventricle which are inside the heart. These two ‘pipes’ are called the Pulmonary Veins. 

On Monday i hope to get Adriana's script and Monica's too. First Adriana is going to say her introduction of what the system is, then i am going to explain why we need it and what parts make it up. Then Monica will go into detail of what each part does and then Gabby will explain who discovered the system then last Adriana again will talk about some future developments.


Keep It Science, 
Anonymous. 


5/9/11
Hey Science Lovers,
Today in class we had another research lesson, so as we have pretty much completed everything we made sure that the power point was working... but something went wrong, Gabby's pictures for her slides wont showing... but no worries she fixed it in the end, and now for sure they wont and the power point is complete.
I also got the script of what Monica and Adriana will be saying on the day the assessment is due.  Here is Adriana's script: 

Does anybody here know what the circulatory system is basically about?

------------Choose someone to ask-----------------
Good, well we are going to talk about it in further detail.

So now we know about the past discoveries, but what about the future? With new information usually forming from old discoveries, researchers have found further solutions to illnesses, injuries and improving health.                                                                                                                                                                                       A new study has found that the heart of a newborn mouse can heal itself completely, even when part of it has been removed.                                                                                                                                                              When a mouse’s heart is less than a week old, the cells contract to make the heart pump blood, which are called cardiomyocytes, are able to divide, so they can regenerate heart tissue. A week after birth, the cardiomyocytes lose this ability.                                                                                                                                                    The discovery is promising for the development of future heart treatments. If researchers can learn why newborn hearts have this ability to regrow tissue, they might be able to apply that knowledge to damaged adult hearts, such as those of people who've suffered a heart attack.                                                                                           Blood substitutes could help the blood transfusion services to ease their two biggest headaches: annual shortages and the safety of donated blood. The big attraction is that it would cut down the time and money we spend on testing for infectious diseases and checking for blood type.                                                                                  Stroke, also known as a brain attack, occurs when blood flow to the brain is disrupted. Stroke may cause impairments in movement, speech, thinking and memory. Although there is no cure for stroke, advanced medical and surgical treatments are being improved and tested, giving many stroke victims hope for an optimal recovery.                                                                                                                               Researchers have discovered that a protein found in the walls of blood vessels plays a key role in maintaining healthy blood pressure, a discovery that could one day lead to new treatments for people with high blood pressure.                                                                                                                                                       We have to be able to change our blood pressure at the drop of a hat -- quite literally! If you dropped your hat and bent over to pick it up, your body would automatically reduce your blood pressure to account for the position of your head relative to your heart and the effect of gravity and then when you stood up again, your body would.                                                                                                                                         The muscles in the walls of your blood vessels play a role in adjusting blood pressure and if they need to increase it, they squeeze the blood vessels more tightly to literally put mechanical pressure on your blood.                                                                                                                                                                            Researchers hope that by understanding the key role they play in maintaining healthy blood pressure we can use this knowledge to develop new strategies for adjusting blood pressure using drug treatments in the future.

This is Monica's script:
From what we have already explained before, the main function of the circulatory system is to pump blood along with nutrients and oxygen all around the body with every heartbeat. And a heart usually beats 60 to 100 times per minute, meaning that in a year, our heart beats around more than 30 million times, pumping the adequate amount of blood needed for our body.  Of course, the centre of the circulatory system is the heart and what the system depends on and revolves around. So as this is the pump organ in the system, this is where the whole process of ‘blood flow’ or circulation begins.
First of all, you all need to know that the heart is split up into four chambers; the right atrium and ventricle and the left atrium and ventricle. Both right and left halves of a heart has two different jobs to carry out. The right half of your heart, receives the blood with no oxygen left in it or the ‘poor blood’,  and then lets it flow through the pulmonary artery from the heart into the lungs, letting it discard carbon dioxide and receive oxygen. This is called the pulmonary circulation which is; when blood travels through the lungs and back to the heart.
On the other hand, the left half of the heart actually receives the blood WITH oxygen and simply distributes it and generates force to propel blood through the rest of the body, coming back again to the heart to re-cleanse the blood. This is called the systemic circulation.
Now moving on to the actual detailed circulation of blood! Here is a flow diagram that will help you all understand the process and how it should work properly if the individual is healthy. As you can see, the very beginning of the circulatory flow starts at the right atrium and then passes through the right ventricle and up the pulmonary artery and into the lungs, still distributing blood, nutrients and oxygen. After that, the blood then travels out the aorta and into a series of even smaller vessels called the arterioles, where the blood’s pressure may actually differ as some segments may be different in size. Then, the blood simply flows easily through the capillaries in our body, supplying itself with more oxygen and may then be replaced by some waste products. Finally, the blood then travels through our body’s veins and returns it back into the heart where it can be refreshed. Then the whole circulation is repeated again and again. And that is basically how the circulatory system works.

Keep It Science, 
Anonymous. 


6/9/11
Hey Science Lovers,
Today was our last research lesson. In this lesson we decided to run through our whole presentation. So we went into this small room and practiced. We started to change things in each of our scripts, each of us added little things such as some quick questions we would as during out own individual speech. Also we timed our whole presentation, it was around 14 minutes, i guess that's fine as for miss said it was okay if we went over time and we wouldn't loose any marks. Also we decided that at the end when each of us has finished our individual questions we would ask the class if they have any questions and then if they do we would answer them and that would be the real end of our presentation. 
Well... this is my last blog to you guys... don't miss me and wish me luck for tomorrow (the assessment is due) all should go well (: x
Keep it Science,
Anonymous. 

Problems

4/8/11
Hey Science Lovers,
Today we faced a problem... There are five questions that need to be answered for the presentation and only four people.
So the solution I thought of was that I will kindly love to complete two questions. This is what each person is going to complete and answer.


Monica: How does it work?
Gabby: Who made the discoveries?
Adriana: Future developments
Me: Why do we need it and What parts make up the system
Keep It science,
Anonymous.


27/8/11
Hey Science Lovers,
Today While making the paper mache model we came across a problem. When we tried to pop the balloon the whole model was caving in. Not such a good idea was it, so we blew another balloon in the model and it stood up again, while still looking good. 
Also we had trouble putting the play dough is also made the model collapse, because the play dough was too heavy, so we used tooth picks to stick the play dough on the model and also used less play dough so it wasn't as heavy.     
Keep It Science,
Anonymous.


30/8/11
Hey Science Lovers,
Today in class we came across a problem. Monica said she didn't know how she was going to use the model we made for her question. 
Every one in our group said that its better for my question, i didn't really agree as for with my question i have a diagram that will be labeled. I didn't want to argue so I went with it and started to think how I would use the model. I thought that I will talk about the parts of the heart with the model and keep the labeled diagram on the power point screen so they know how to spell the parts and where they are if they forget or don't remember. 
But another problem occurred, not every part of the heart i talk about is on the model so now I have to fix the model and make more parts for it... not so fun. 
Keep It Science, 
Anonymous. 


31/8/11
Hey Science Lovers, 
Today while in the library a problem occurred. We couldn't book a seminar room as they had already been booked. This was a real disappointment as for we really needed a place to practice our speeches and run through our power point, and we couldn't do this in any place as we would be too loud. But this problem was solved when miss Simpson said that we will have two more research lesson, and these lessons were on the Monday and Tuesday, just before the assessment is due on the Wednesday. 
Keep It Science,
Anonymous. 


1/9/11
Hey science Lovers,
A problem we have as a group is that we aren't working fast and have been leaving things almost to the last minute. We want to finish our assessment as soon a possible so to make this happen and fix our unfortunate problem we have been meeting in the library every lunch time and have been working on our assessment. We also will continue to meet up in the library until the assessment is due so we can practice and make final touches. 
Keep It Science,
Anonymous. 


4/9/11
Hey Science Lovers, 
Today while watching our already made, complete power point we occurred two problems. 

  1. Gabby's pictures were not showing on the power point anymore, so to fix the problem Gabby had to delete each slide she had and then copy and paste slides that DID have the pictures on to the power point.  
  2. As each member has a copy of the power point we were not worried about if someone lost it or if it got wrecked because there was a VERY low chance of that happening BUT as in one of Monica's slides there is a video there was a problem. The video only worked on Monica's copy of the power point as she had downloaded it only onto her copy. But we resolved the problem by making sure Monica doesn't loose her copy as we are going to use her one on the day the assessment is due.
Keep It Science,
Anonymous.