1. Reflect on what has helped you in understanding the "big idea" of the unit. ( Big Idea: Students will understand the use and management of natural resources, the transformation of resources into human capital, goods, tools and machines as well as sustainable development of human society to maintain the delicate balance between man and the natural environment.) This has been a really fun unit for me, and when I look back at how much I knew at the beginning of the year, and how much I know now, it is just unbelievable. There are a lot of things that led to my better understanding of this unit. Firstly, there are the stories that Mrs. M read to us. They were the perfect start of the unit. They were short, and they told us in just a few minutes what we would be learning about, and what are animal adaptations, ecosystems, and biomes. I really liked the story about the little salamander, because it showed that there are a lot of factors in an ecosystem that we need to think about, and those include all the abiotic and biotic factors. Another thing that has helped me is the presentations we did as a group about different ecosystems. It showed me how ecosystems vary, and how different organisms have different adaptions to be able to survive in their ecosystem. I studied the ocean ecosystem, and I found it really fascinating. I can't believe that there are so much abiotic and biotic factors, and, even more, I haven't ever wondered how we affect the ocean, through our waste, and pollution. Another thing that has helped is Mr. Watts' visit. It showed me how animals in the Arctic live, as well as what resources are available to them, and how they fight the extremely harsh conditions to survive. Another part of the unit that has helped me was watching the movies. Some of the parts were really horrible and disgusting, but it just shows how we are treating our planet, and how we are not taking any care of it. If we want to keep our resources, we need to use them wisely, and extremely carefully, since nothing lasts forever. The movie that has helped we the most is "The Human Footprint", since it showed me how much we waste, by performing just daily tasks, and it also sparked some ideas to how I could reduce my footprint on the planet, and how I could be more eco-friendly. Through this unit I have learnt that every little bit helps.
2. Reflect on the unit question ( What is a necessity and how does an organism ensure survival of its species within its environment?) and how it relates to the unit title: Ultimate Survival.
In my opinion, a necessity is something an organism/living thing needs in order to survive in its habitat. To ensure their survival, different organisms have different adaptations, whether they are predators or prey, whether they are producers, primary, secondary or tertiary consumers. Every living thing has its own role in the environment, and every species in the ecosystem depends on one another. The different roles that organisms play are called niche.
As I said above, in order to survive, organisms need their adaptions. For, example, a camel can go a long time without water, since it stores it in its humps. This is really good, since it lives in a dry, warm desert biome. Bears and some other animals hibernate during the winter, so that they do not freeze to death.
However, there are other necessities an organism needs. There is oxygen. No living things are capable of surviving without oxygen. They need it for their bodies to function properly. Without oxygen, not one of the body organs would work. Another necessity is food and water. Food gives organisms energy, and without energy, living things wouldn't be able to do anything, since their brain wouldn't function properly. All living things also depend on sunlight, since that is where the producers get their energy from, and all food webs starts from the producers.
The unit question relates to the unit title a lot, since without necessities that living things need, they wouldn't be able to survive. Also, an organism fights for its survival, by hunting and adapting to its environment.
3. How did the unit question allow us to view survival through The Area of Interaction: Environments:(FOR EXAMPLE: The effects of one environment on another, the roles our environments play in the lives and well-being of humankind, and the effects of our actions, attitudes and constructs, such as sustainable development and conservation.)
We are the ones who are affecting the environment around us, and our planet, in our fight for survival. But, that is the thing. We have gone way too far. Is everything we use, and everything we consume and waste necessary for the survival of our species? In the last few decades, we have deforested tons and ons of trees, and have polluted massive amounts of our oceans and air. We have wasted lots of food, and we have wasted lots of precious resources such as coal and oil. We have also started mass productions of food. Soon enough, this could lead to going over the Earth's carrying capacity. We are affecting our environment negatively, more and more, every single day. Just take a look at our human footprints. I hardly doubt that anyone got one planet or less. If we don't start making smart choices now, and if we don't tace care of our planet. our survival could be at risk.
4.What would you have liked to do more of? Less of?
I think that we should have done a bit less current events, simply becasue we would have more time to concentrate on the unit itself, and the homework connected to what we are currently learning. Also, maybe we could have had a little more written projects and posters, instead of always writing up reflections and thoughts on the Internet. We could have also done a litte more activities, including labs, since I think that this was a really good unit to do experiments in. This is because there are a lot of factors you can analyse and a lot of things to research. I would have also liked if instead of commenting on the blog posts, people could discuss it in class. I think this, because that way, people wouldn't take some of the criticizm too badly, and, also the people who wanted to comment could say more, and show simple ways to improve our writing.
5. In your point of view, how well did we investigate the unit question, concept, and area of interaction? Include this in your reflection as well and give specific examples to support your opinions.
I really enjoyed this unit, and I believe that Mrs. M taught it really well. Everything was thouroughly explained, and we had something for everyone to do. Whoever was a visual learner could look at diagrams, and the movies we watched. If you learned through listening, you could listen to all the presentations that we did, and learn something new from every single presentation. If you are a person who learns through reading, you could have read over the notes we took in class, and the notes we took from reading the chapters in the textbook. And, if you are a person who learns through doing, we had two diffexrent labs (the closed ecosystem, and the owl pallets).
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