Chicken Dissection Lab

I came in during that last ten minutes of class because of a doctor’s appointment so I wasn’t able to contribute a whole lot to the lab experience. However, my lab partners filled me in that they first got a whole raw chicken and made sure the drumstick was facing toward them. Then, they cut off some of the skin and started dissecting the chicken. They started intricately cutting the chicken to show each muscle.

As all organisms have different qualities that depict how they function, chicken, and humans alike, have different muscles bones and tendons that each play a huge role in their movement. The tendon in the chicken is what binds the muscle to the bone. The bones allow body parts to be flexible and move in different directions. Muscles help our bones move altogether. The pectoralis major give the shoulder movement, biceps give our arms movement, and the sartorius gives our legs movement.

Chicken muscles and human muscles have many similarities and differences. A chicken has deltoids, triceps, and biceps. Those are the essential muscles in a human arm that allows it to move properly. Also, both humans and chickens have tendons that perform the same function: attaching muscles to the bone. Another quality is that humans and chickens have the sartorius muscle and it is around the thigh area

What Happens When you Stretch

1. When this occurs, it helps to realign any disorganized fibers in the direction of the tension.

-I felt that this was a cool piece of information because it seems like stretching may be a small action, but it can actually help a lot with your health. The realignment in fact rehabilitates all of the scarred tissue back to health which was something I never knew about.

2. Proprioceptors (also called mechanoreceptors) are the source of all proprioception: the perception of one's own body position and movement.
 

-I have never heard of proprioceptors before and after learning about them, I found it interesting how it is able to detect any physical displacement within the body. Without them, our body cannot rehabilitate itself.

3. When stretching, it is easier to stretch a muscle that is relaxed than to stretch a muscle that is contracting.

-This is a useful piece of information so I know to make sure my muscles relax the next time I stretch. Getting a more effective stretch is very important to make sure that you are taking good care of your body. 

Summary: This reading taught me how stretching benefits the body and how to effectively stretch. It is beneficial to stretch because when the muscles contract, it sends signals to the spine to get informations from the proprioceptors that detect any physical displacement within the body. This is how certain organs help to protect the muscles, tendons and ligaments from injury. Therefore, when you effectively stretch, your body is able to rehabilitate itself. When stretching, it is best to do it when your muscles are relaxed.

Owl Pellet Lab

What happened was my partner (Mary) and I unfolded the pellet for the aluminum casing and weighed it in grams. After finding the weight, we measured the length and width of the owl pellet. The, we deconstructed the pellet and took out all the bones that were stuck in it. We then took all of the bones and tried to put it back into the place of the original animal. After comparing each bone to the manual, we found that we had a vole. Based on our picture, it is very clear that the back leg (upper leg bone and lower leg bone) and shoulder blade match. 

The bones are similar in which humans and voles have a fibula part of the lower leg bone. Second of all, humans have a femur bone as well. Animas have a humerus on their upper leg and humans have it on their arm. The difference between voles and humans are that other animals can have 7 cheekbones while humans only have two. Voles have thick hair all over their bosies while humans only have fine thin hair all over their bodies. Humans also have more teeth and ribs than volesz

Unit 5 Reflection

This unit was about our metabolism and and digestive system, basically how our body breaks down food and absorbs food. A main part of what we learned is that digestion breaks down the food we have consumed, and then afterward, all of the nutrition is taken in through the blood stream.

I believe that this unit was interesting because I never knew about what happened after I put something in my body. I found a lot of the topics more relatable to my daily life. However, there are some of the topics that I simply found boring, like the lymphatic system, but that is all based on personal preference. I tried to also study an hour every day for this class, but unfortunately, I was unable to due to being busy with other classes.

My favorite part of this unit was the digestive system lab. It was a fun and interactive lab that teaches you to appreciate your organs and to not underestimate them. http://michelleanatomyandphysio.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-digestive-system-lab.html

I want to learn more about what happens after we fully digest a food, when it has come out of the anus. After we flush everything down the toilet, where exactly does it go?

I believe that my New Year Goal requires a lot of time and cannot be accomplished overnight. I'm working hard every day, step by step, to reach my goals. Moving forward, I just have to continue working hard.

The Digestive System Lab

1. The organs of the digestive system are all measurable and it puts into perspective on how small or big certain organs are.

Digestive System	Color and Length (cm)
Mouth	red-27cm
Esophagus	green-48cm
Stomach	green-17cm
Small Intestine	white-660.4cm
Large Intestine	white-165.1cm
Total	917.5 cm

2. The length of my digestive system is around nine times my height. Even though my digestive system is so much longer than my height, it still fits into my body because the small intestine and large intestine are folded and proportionally placed, thus fitting into one body.

3. I think food takes around 5 hours to move through my entire digestive system.
I looked it up and it actually takes 6-8 hours for food to digest. I was 1-3 hours off.
The factors that influence the time it takes for our food to digest is how well the food we ate breaks down, how each organ is functioning, and how long food contracts through each specific digestive system.

4. Digestion (mouth, stomach) is what chemically and physically breaks down food. The nutrients released is absorbed (small intestine) into the bloodstream.

5. A question I have is if we someone didn't have a well-functioning digestive system, how will that be treated?

New Year's Goals

My two SMART goals for this semester are to be more organized and to manage my time better. I think these two goals go hand-in-hand so it will be a attainable and timely goal. I'll start by waking up at one set time every day, eating at a set time every day, and to make myself drink water throughout the day. Then I will eventually transition to my school work by organizing binders, folder, pencil case, etc. I also want to stick to a strict regime of keeping my room and closet neat, organized, and clean at all times. I have a tendency to mess everything up after a couple days I clean and organize it. As for managing my time, I'll make sure to finish all of my homework right after school and study 20 minutes of each subject per day so I don't feel so crammed during test days. If I try my hardest and stick to my plan, I believe that I will grow and become and even more mature and independent individual by the end of the semester.

Monday Wellness Reflection

Monday Wellness Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1VQsAD1gyAjAnpoLChrEFwpLQpaIMFZn-IrRGGS7peG0/edit#slide=id.p

I just couldn’t sit still in a chair and focus. Naturally, my second grade teacher, Mrs. Becky, asked me if I had a learning disorder. From a young age, I felt very different from the other kids.

In school, I was usually the class clown. A performer as I would like to call it. I was the kid who could even make adults cry with laughter. I was that good. I even put up shows for my family to watch, and it replaced their favorite Friday night entertainment. Little did I know that I was the costume designer, director, stage designer, and actress for my own shows.

Later on, I explored a different kind of art: drawing and painting. My ever-evolving art career began at an after school where art was offered every Friday. Once a week wasn’t enough for me. Soon, my parents started looking for art studios to see how far my talent and interest would go.

Studio 1: a small box room. There was the contagious dust of charcoal smeared everywhere, from the tables, to the shelves, and all over the students. I still remember when my art teacher, the ruthless Mr. Fang, yelled at me for blowing charcoal at the other students.

Mr. Fang was rigid, militaristic. I sketched until my paper ripped. The "ripped paper moments" was when Fang allowed me to move on to a different shape.

The strict practice from Studio 1 taught me the value of art. It molded me into a technical artist.

Studio 2: a wonderland. I began crafting 3D works with Mr. Akamichi. As I cut and hot glued my pieces together, he told me to be free and organic. I went with it. Eventually, I realized I was creating art about me.

Art has gifted me a way to express myself. It has given me the maturity and control to do simple things like sit still in a chair and focus.

Throughout my Monday Wellness, I wanted to share with my peers an influential and beautiful part of my life that has changed me for the better. I knew that not everyone is able to have years of art practice, but I did realized that something that anyone can do is adult coloring.

I was excited to share my passion to the class so I started working on my presentation very early. I made sure to make everything organized, easy to understand, and teach students about this calming activity, while teaching them about what it does to your brain. The most interesting thing that I learned while collecting all of my information is how it calms your brain from Beta waves to Alpha waves. I also found it interesting how serious and popular adult coloring has become. I had no idea there was such thing as coloring parties or gatherings!

Throughout the course, I tried to relate the topic as much as possible to class lectures—5 pillars of health (sleep, stress, social), mindfulness, anatomy and physiology of the brain due to adult coloring, and more. This topic is essential to our mental health and wellness. In the end, a healthy mind leads to a healthy body. Since adult coloring has the ability to calm your brainwaves to the state of Alpha,  you can distress and this is what gives you a better night’s sleep. Also, the act of focusing and coloring can help clear your mind from negative thoughts for a more positive mentality. Since adult coloring is an anti-technology activity, it naturally makes you more engaged with other people, thus forcing you to be more social

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate myself a 9 because I felt passionate about my topic and thought I delivered everything in an academic and fun way. However, I did feel nervous and unnatural (due to my fear of public speaking), thus the -1 on grading myself on a scale of 1-10. Despite it all, I pulled through and I couldn’t be more happier with my job.

In all, I hope my presentation inspired people to go out and try out some art. The fact that I saw how art has changed me mentally, I know that others can be changed by this phenomenon as well.