Homeostasis Investigation

Our Goal

For this project we were placed in groups and given the task of proving how the body maintains homeostasis through a specific function. My group was Noela and Blossom and we were given the body function of temperature. We throughly researched how the body maintains homeostasis through temperature and with that information designed an experiment to prove how the body reacts when the temperature changes.

Evidence of Work

For our experiment, we wanted to identify how running impacts body temperature, and how the body reacts to the change of body temperature. To conduct our experiment we took initial temperatures and then ran in periods of 2 minutes and 4 minutes. The body temperature of each runner was taken right after running stopped, 5 minutes after, and 10 minutes after.

Our hypothesis was that body temperature would increase 2 degrees Celcius after running for the allotted time.

Using the data collected in the experiment, our group wrote a scientific article and created a scientific poster.

Content

Homeostasis -

Homeostasis is the body's self regulating process of which the biological systems maintain stability while adjusting to external conditions. Homeostasis is a critical part of survival and it usually maintained through feedback loops. Our group chose to investigate the homeostatic process of temperature.

Positive Feedback Loop -

Positive feedback occurs when the output of a system acts to increase the changes from the input of a system. The positive feedback tends to magnify or amplify fluctuations from the input.

Negative Feedback Loop -

Negative feedback occurs when the output of a system acts to oppose changes from the input of a system. The negative feedback tends to lessen or reduce fluctuations from the input.

Scientific Method -

The scientific method is a method of procedure used internationally. The process is typically built from 7 steps: ask a question, background research, hypothesis, experiment, collect and analyze data, conclusion, share your findings. These are the steps we followed during our project.

Independent Variable -

An independent variable is one that it's variation does not rely on the outcome of another variable. Our independent variable was running time.

Dependent Variable -

A dependent variable is one that it's variation depends on the outcome of another variable. Our dependent variable was temperature change.

Control -

The control is the standard to which data is compared to in an experiment. Our control was the resting body temperature of each runner.

Reflection

I think that two things I did well in this project was critical thinking and collaboration. We had to use critical thinking in order to construct and complete an experiment. We also had to collaborate and listen to each others ideas and work together so our project came together cohesively. I think that during this project I could have improved creativity and productivity. Our project came together quite quickly and because of this we did not come up with a very interesting way to test the data. I could have been more productive in class because when I finished my task for the day, I would not begin work on my next task until the next class period. Overall the two C's I demonstrated well during this project was critical thinking and collaboration.