Unit 9 Reflection
In this unit, we learned about how to classify organisms and about their evolutionary relationships through the taxonomic levels. One mnemonic used to remember these levels is: Kings Play Chess On Fine Grained Sand. We also learned about bacteria and viruses, and their importance to our world. Life on Earth, in fact, is theorized to have been started by viruses. After learning about Bacteria and Viruses, we learned about Fungi. There are three types of fungi; sac fungi, bread molds, and club fungi. In addition, we discovered the many different types of plant phyla, including Bryophyta, Pterophyta, Gymnosperms, and Angiosperms (which are either monocots or dicots). Invertebrates make up about 97% of all animal species. There are a variety of ways to group them, and sponges and cnidarians are the simplest of them all. We learned about the different phylums and the species in each. We also studied arthropod diversity including insects, crustaceans, and Echinoderms. Later in the unit, we learned about chordates, or vertebrates, such as us. We learned about chordate's taxonomic levels and some of the different classes like amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, as well as fish, learning about the theory of our relationship to each other.
Personally, I would like to learn more about plants and their phyla. I would like to learn more about the differences between Monocot and Dicot (Angiosperms) and how they evolved. The only question that I have is how you can tell male and female pine cones apart. I wonder about how viruses may have been the first form of life on Earth, despite not being alive and surviving off of other living things.
Our "What on Earth Evolved" presentations played a huge role in this unit. Overall I think mine went very well, and was very interesting both to me and my audience. During the presentation I barely had to look at the screen because I knew my topic, the honey bee, very well due to my extensive time spent researching. I could expand on the topics in my presentation without having to read any notes whatsoever. I think I should have figured out how to exit from the screen before my presentation had started in order to play my Video on the bee's "Waggle Dance" which I thought would be a fun and intriguing visual aid for the class. While giving my presentation I definitely learned a few things about keeping your audience entertained. I also practiced some of the good public speaking techniques I've learned from previous experiences. On top of that, I have definitely improved on the quality of my work by starting the process earlier and not procrastinating on my work, therefore meeting my goals which I set at the start of the semester. Here is the link to my full presentation.
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