Unit 9, called "What on Earth Evolved?", explained the diversity and complexity of life on Earth and how evolution has impacted all organisms today. A big part of this unit was the
"What on Earth Evolved" presentation, in which we researched a unique organism that has had a significant impact on Earth. My presentation was on wheat, and I made an
infographic to present and teach others about the significance of wheat. We also took a trip to the
California Academy of Sciences and did a scavenger hunt to find different organisms and answer questions about them, relating them to what we've done in class. At the end of the unit, we looked at a nice
Prezi that covered classification and taxonomy.
We learned about the taxonomic levels and how to classify organisms using binomial nomenclature. Then we took a closer look at all the taxonomic levels and what characteristics define different groups. The three
domains: Eukarya, Bacteria, and Archaea, are grouped based on biochemical and genetic differences. The domain Eukarya is by far the largest domain and includes four
kingdoms: Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia. Bacteria were the first organisms on Earth, have a flagellum to help with movement, and are decomposers. Archaea are unique organisms that challenge what we think is required to live.
The kingdom
Protista is very diverse and contains more than 55,000 species. Fungi are the main decomposers in any ecosystem and can reproduce both sexually and asexually. The kingdom
Plantae has four major
phyla: Bryophyta (mosses), Pterophyta (ferns), Gymnosperms (cone-bearing plants), and Angiosperms (flowering plants). Angiosperms are the dominant plants on Earth and produce fruit that allows for efficient seed dispersal.
Animalia is the largest kingdom, has over 800,000 species, and is diverse but share common characteristics. 97% of all animal species are invertebrates which can be categorized in the phyla Porifera, Cnidaria, Platyhelmithes, Molluska, Annelida, Arthropoda, or Echinodermata. The phylum Chordata contains all vertebrates as well as some invertebrates. The phylum Chordata contains jawless fish (which were the first vertebrates), cartilage fish and bony fish, amphibians, reptiles (such as snakes, turtles, and crocodiles), birds, and mammals.
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| A poster I made showing the defining characteristics and classification of domains, kingdoms, phyla, and classes. |
We also learned that humans are actually related to fish and even more closely related to reptiles when watching
"My Inner Fish". We have many of the same structures that appear in fish, such as the muscles that control our finger movements and the nerves in our head. Humans evolved from monkeys and primates, which evolved from reptiles, which evolved from fish. Many
transitional species have been discovered, such as the
Tiktaalik, which was the transitional species between fish and reptiles, and
Hadrocodium, which was a species that showed how we have three inner ears bones while reptiles and fish only have two.
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| Hadrocodium |
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| Tiktaalik evolution |
The
"What on Earth Evolved" presentation was a pretty fun learning experience in the sense that I got to find out a lot about wheat because a lot of the food we eat has some wheat in it. My presentation went pretty well and I liked that I made an
infographic instead of a Google slides presentation because infographics provide more of an artistic and visual element to information. When there are graphics, pictures, and diagrams incorporated with a lot of information, it makes it a lot easier for people to absorb the information. You can also make it so that more important pieces of information can be easier to remember. A problem I had was the amount of time I had to work on it. I like making infographics because it is fun and easier to look at visually, but it also takes a lot of time to find graphics that go well with the information you are trying to convey to readers. I spent a lot of my time working on perfecting the colors, shapes, sizes, pictures, and every little detail down to the spacing of the graphics, but I think it was all worth it because I liked the way it turned out.
I think I could have made some of the infographic blocks a little smaller because when I presented it, I couldn't scroll down the inforgraphic, so some of the blocks were small and hard to see. From this presentation, I need to learn to make my voice sound louder because I have a quiet voice. My presenting skills would be a lot better if people could hear me better. For the next presentation about the
Effects of the Amount of Sleep (
Update #1,
Update #2,
Update #3), I need to focus more on speaking to the class more rather than looking at notes for help.
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