Homeostasis
Description:
For this project, we got to choose a type of homeostasis with our group to test how our bodies maintain homeostasis. The purpose of this project was to learn a better understanding of homeostasis and feedback mechanisms in our body and see how this is shown in keeping organisms stable and living. We started off this project by developing a basis of how homeostasis works and researching a little bit about it. We then got the type of homeostasis we were focusing on and developed a procedure and test and gathered data. My group who I worked on this project with included Tanner O'Keeffe and Ryan Wu.
For our homeostasis we chose body temperature and how it rises. Our test was based on each of us doing burpees for one minute and seeing how our temperature reacted. We took our temp. before, right after, a minute after and finally two minutes after. We came to the conclusion that this exercise didn't heavily affect our body temperature due to our results being very similar throughout the experiment. This could have been because we didn't work up enough of a sweat/didn't exercise enough or the thermometers at school could have been off/inaccurate. All three of us had different conclusions with each of our body temperatures during the experiment furthering the conclusion and accuracy of our experiment/data.
To finish off the project, we reflected on our data and the conclusion we came to using the scientific method. For our finidhed piece, we transfered the inforamtion from the document to a poster, printed it out and hung them in the stem building for people to stop and become more farmiliar with the different types of homeostasis and how they are shown in our everyday life.
Content:
Homeostasis: A state of balance/equilibrium among all the body systems needed for the body to survive and function correctly.
Link to Work: Our whole project's purpose was to learn about and test how homeostasis works in a body system. The worked on body temperature in relation to homeostasis.
Link to Other Subject: It is important to learn how homeostasis works for our understanding of our health and is very prominent in the biological science subjects.
Feedback Mechanisms: A physiological regulation system in a living body that works to return the body to its normal internal state, or commonly known as homeostasis.
Link to Work: Our feedback mechanism was sweating to maintain homeostasis.
Link to Other Subject: It is important to learn about feedback mechanisms for our understanding of our health and is very prominent in the biological science subjects.
Scientific Method: A method to help figure out and explain experiments and establish facts through testing.
Link to Work: We used this throughout our whole experiment, created a hypothesis and tested it with this method.
Link to Other Subject: It helps to stay organized and carry out an experiment to find facts and come to a conclusion, not matter the subject.
Independent Variable (IV): The variable that is manipulated by the researcher and it does not depend on anything else (usually indicated by the symbol of x).
Link to Work: Our independent variable in our project was the # of burpees, not dependent on any other part of our experiment.
Link to Other Subject: Independent variables can be seen and used in math, statistics and experimental science.
Dependent Variable (DV): The variable that is dependent on another part of the experiment (the independent variable). (Usually indicated by the symbol of y).
Link to Work: Our dependent variable in our project was our body temperature because it was based off of the # of burpees (IV).
Link to Other Subject: Dependent variables can be seen and used in math, statistics and experimental science.
Constant: The constant is the part of the experiment that doesn't change.
Link to Work: The constant in our project was the exercise we did (the burpees) because it didn't change during the whole experiment.
Link to Other Subject: Constants are big in many other subjects and experiments because they keep it stable and always stay the same.
Experimental: Conditions to collect observations from an experiment/data.
Link to Work: Our experimental run was when we did the burpees because we collected data based on how our temperature was changing,
Link to Other Subject: This is used in all subjects as when a part of an experiment is changes, the results may vary and change too.
Hypothesis: At the beginning of an experiment/investigation when you propose an explanation/ make an assumption on the limited evidence you have/start with.
Link to Work: We created a hypothesis for our experiment on how our body temperature would changes based on what we already know about homeostasis and temperature.
Link to Other Subject: A hypothesis can help guide you and determine what you are looking for.
Reflection:
Peaks: Me and my group worked well together in identifying the feedback mechanisms when we were researching. I grew in my improvising and problem solving as our data was not working out as we had anticipated. I also am now more familiar with how homeostasis stabilizes our body.
Pits: It was a struggle to analyze the data when it was all different and all over the place. The thermometers were also not the most accurate things ever and threw off the accuracy and reliability of our data.
6 C's: During this project, the two C's I demonstrated were communication and critical thinking. I worked really well with Tanner and Ryan as we communicated through the days of experiments and figuring out the data. I feel that we also did a good job in splitting up the work between us. In terms of critical thinking, I also thought I brought good ideas for how to improvise and come to a conclusion about what our data showed. I didn't let our struggles get the best of our success in this project.
Some C's I could have worked on is collaborator and conscientious learning. I could have taken more control and responsibility during this project. We could have also set goals which would have helped with work ethic and our overall success.