🦠 Small but Mighty (Pt. 2)

Our driving question for our first project in Life Sciences 11 was “How can we use cellular and molecular biology to understand the health of our local ecosystems?” Through out this project, we learned many things to help us answer this question. We learned about the different types of cells (eukaryotic and prokaryotic, as well as bacteria, plant and animal cells) and the cell organelles. We also learned about energy production and how they transfer in the food web, as well as viruses and the different forms they takes, along with how they infect us and the vaccines created to prevent them. To show our understanding of these topics, we were assigned mini projects at each benchmark. 

First off, to answer the driving question we had to gain a better understanding of cellular and molecular biology. To do this we learned about the different types of cells, their organelles, as well as their functions and their existence in our local streams. To showcase this topic, I created a mini presentation on a cell organelle (mitochondria!!) and created a little field journal with my observations and reflections on the stream behind Argyle. 

Making this field journal helped me gain a bit more knowledge on how my local ecosystem functions, as well as the cellular organisms and their part in the stream. Putting together the slideshow helped me gain a better understanding of the actually cellular biology, and how cells function. 

Next is our second benchmark. In this benchmark we learned about energy, how it’s produced, and how it’s transferred through out the food web. To show my understanding of this topic, I created a food web made up of the local organisms in my neighborhood. 

🕸️ Food Web Reflection

Doing this helped me gain a better understanding of the driving question, because it helped me see how each organism in every ecosystem is interconnected with one another. It also helped me see what a healthy and well functioning ecosystem was supposed to look like. 

Finally, in our third benchmark we learned about viruses, the different forms the come in (fungus, bacteria, disease, etc), how they enter and spread through out our bodies, and the different types of vaccines created to prevent illnesses. Squashing all of this knowledge into one, I created a mini informational zine on my choice of a virus (The Variola Virus, a.k.a. The Smallpox Virus). 

Creating this zine was a challenge, mostly because of the amount of information I had to squeeze into each small page. But making this zine helped me see the unhealthy parts of the ecosystem, and how viruses could affect the way an ecosystem functions. 

Now that this project is over, and I plenty of new knowledge gained, I think I can competently answer the driving question “How can we use cellular and molecular biology to understand the health of our local ecosystems?” (Incase you forgot). I think that we can use cellular and molecular biology to study the life of organisms in an ecosystem. If the organism in the ecosystem have a large, healthy, and thriving population down to the life underneath the microscope, I think that we can determine it as a healthy ecosystem. But an ecosystem also has to be well balanced, with all of the different organisms in each trophic level. With this knowledge, I was able to determine the stream behind Argyle as a relatively healthy ecosystem.

Overall, I think that I gained a proficient (possibly extending hint hint) understanding of all of the topics that I learned, and was able to showcase it in a fun way. Hopefully I can continue to do so through out the rest of summer learning!