EVOLUTION

Think/Discuss:

 

What makes humans so special? How did we get this way? Are we still evolving?

 

Humans are special because we are able to think differently. We were able to develop large brains and the ability to communicate through language. We also have hands that allowed us to manipulate objects and create tools. We have got this way through hundreds of millions of years of evolution. We are still evolving, one way is through wisdom teeth. Eventually no human on earth will have wisdom teeth.

 

Are we the most advanced life forms on the planet? Are we perfectly adapted to our environment? Why or why not?

I think that depends on the definition of most advanced. Humans are not the strongest, we are not the fastest, we are not the most resilient species on earth. However our brain is what sets us apart. We are able to create technology that no other organism is capable of. I don’t think that we are perfectly adapted to our environment because we still have to wear jackets during the winter, we still have to wear sunscreen when it is sunny.

 

What are the differences between various human races?

I believe the main difference between various human races is the colour of the skin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do:

 

What are the unintended quarks of having evolved? http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Top-Ten-Daily-Consequences-of-Having-Evolved.html

 

• Hiccups

• Goosebumps (normally Goosebumps help keep an animal warm but humans don’t have enough hair on their body to allow Goosebumps to keep us warm. So Goosebumps are basically useless)

 

Watch/Make Notes:

The Tree of Life (Last 11 minutes):http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsxubk_charles-darwin-and-the-tree-of-life-david-attenborough_shortfilms

 

• Life began in the sea 3000 million years ago

• Complex molecules clumped together forming microscopic blobs and cells

• These cells split and replicated like bacteria and diversified into different groups

• Sponges are the direct descendent of the first multi-celled organism

• Some organisms developed mouths

• 450MYA sea animals went on land

• The tree of life then started evolving on land

• Life then moved into air and continued to diversify

• Sea animals strengthen their back by adding bones to it

• Reptiles were ancestors to turtles and dinosaurs

• The birds were the only ancestors of dinosaurs to survive the mass extinction

• The first mammals had a ton of resources to take over because the land animals were essentially extinct after the mass extinction 65mya 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflect/Journal:

 

Looks like my 2 week journey is over although it was more like 4 weeks. I will be honest, I did procrastinate a lot because the week before the break started was really hectic. Luckily the break helped me unwind and catch up. This unit was honestly a lot more interesting than I thought. It is probably my second favourite unit behind the human systems. I really liked how this unit related to all of the other units that we learned about this year. It helped reaffirm the fact that everything is connected. There was a ton of genetics involved, bio-diversity was involved, and human systems in a way was involved. It was just amazing for me to have the ability to make these connections. I have stated this in a reflection before, but I will state it again, this unit has completely change the way I look at the world. I begin to make connections with everything I learned to real life and I look at everything like a puzzle just waiting to get solved.

 

When I first started the unit, I knew absolutely nothing about evolution but I was interested especially because I was born in a Muslim household. Chapter 7 was kind of boring but it was a good entrance to chapter 8 which is the main section. I came into this unit thinking a chimpanzee transformed into a human randomly (I know it sounds stupid) but that completely changed. There were so many concepts discussed in this unit such as the different types of evolution, speciation, the different types of natural selection, the different types of features (analogous, vestigial) and many many more. I took some time before writing this reflection to read through my previous reflections just to see how much I actually learned, and I was surprised. I was exposed to so much information it’s honestly amazing. There is still so much more I want to learn such as how life originated and perhaps I will go into university and pursue abiogenesis. There is so much information I can discuss in this reflection but for the purpose of length and to make sure you don’t fall asleep while reading the reflection I won’t get into it.

 

In this paragraph, I’ll talk about how I liked the self-directed unit. This self-directed unit helped me a lot because it was life a mystery. I learn best in an investigation type way. It allows me to draw my own conclusions and that forces concepts into my head a lot better than teachers just talking. So the fact that this self-directed unit forced me to draw all these conclusions helped tremendously to my understanding of the unit. It helped me actually absorb the information rather than the information just flowing into and out of my ears. But unfortunately, my procrastination took over. I know that I have to fix my time-management skills and I really need to take action. This unit could have been a lot less stressful if I just took my time and balanced my schedule rather than play PS3. The self-directed unit really opened my eyes to my skills and I understand what I need to work on as an individual and helped me create personal goals. I am really excited to see how self-directed units will be in the future.

 

Overall, this unit was full of information and I am happy I actually understood it. I know what I must do in the future and like I have said before this unit has completely changed the way I look at life!