Unit 6 Reflection

Unit 6 discussed the skeletal system and topics relating to this system. Themes related to this unit were maintaining a healthy lifestyle and learning disorders that may be present in our lives. Learning disorders relating to the skeletal system and the different bones in our body will help us diagnose our own medical problems and be more knowledgeable about our own bodies. This enhancement of knowledge will also give us more incentive to intake vitamin D and calcium due to the fact we are aware of the possible disorders we might have if not we do not intake those nutrients.

Learning about the skeletal system and its disorders was quite fascinating and I would be interested in learning more in details of the skeletal system and disorders.

During this unit, I found dissecting the owl pellets fascinating because it was interesting to see how all the disarranged bones would form a skeleton. In addition, the process of dissecting an owl pellet of an object was fun.

As a student, I believe that I have started my journey in accomplishing my New Year's Goals. I have been sleeping more during the weekdays and weekends, sleeping 6 to 7 hours. Although I am not sleeping the standard 8 hours teenagers should sleep daily, I find this as progress and I intend on improving as the semester finishes. Unfortunately, my procrastination has not gotten better but actually worse. I need to remind myself to always finish my homework before 12 am, or I will always procrastinate. I may be at my low point in accomplishing my goal in stopping to procrastinate; this, however, is a working process.

Pictures below are from the owl pellet lab, in which we scavenged bones from the owl pellet to form a skeleton and determine the animal.

Bones

Skeleton of Shrew

Owl Pellet Lab

After separating the bones from the owl pellet, my partner Vega and I began arranging the bones to resemble a skeleton of an animal. We found many small bones in our animal, which we thought were ribs of the animal. The key, however, of determining what the animal was, the shrew, was its pelvis. The pelvis, shown in the picture below, most resembles one of a shrew, which have bones that are irregular and have a hole in them. Another indicating factor was its tibia and fibula; however, this was not as detrimental in determining the animal due to the fact that two animals´ tibia and fibula resembled the ones we scavenged from the owl pellet.

Remains of the Shrew´s Skeleton

Bones and other remainings

The skeleton of the shrew is quite similar to the human skeleton. Both skeletons have pelvis that have a hole in it, tibia & fibula that allows them to walk, and ribs that protect vital organs. The differences, however, are marginally large, as shrews walk on four legs while we humans walk on two. This will effect the difference in size of the tibia and the femur. The way that the shrew´s skeleton is formed is also different from human´s, as the shrew´s skeleton curves more than the human´s. Another difference between the two skeletons are the size of the bones. The size of the bones is really indicating the size of the organism, hence the marginally large difference in height between humans and shrews.

Bones