Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Reflection #6
The blog was a good way for us students to learn about new topics. The fact that we had to research rather than receive a lecture made the learning more effective. I feel that we gained maximum knowledge from doing looking up a topic on our own. I especially liked when we were able to write about a topic of our own choosing, this is because when I am given choice in my assignment I enjoy am able to find more motivation to finish what I start. There was only one problem i had with the blog, being a forgetful person I there were many instances when I forgot to do my write up for the week I was assigned due to the fact that the blog isn't physical homework that you see in your binder. I feel this can be fixed simply by weekly reminders to either the bloggers and commenters or all the class. Although i wasn't very fond of it to begin with, overall i feel that the blog assignment was a good choice when it comes to assignments.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Personal Connection
This semester i was able to learn many new scientific topics that i can apply to my own life. Specifically the unit on the body systems. I feel that learning about the respiratory and circulatory system could benefit my sports and exercise over the summer months. The labs that were conducted in this unit helped me gain an understanding of how these two systems work together to make the body move and work the way it does. now the i have been educated in these system it may be easier for me to not only plans workouts in an effective fashion, but also help me conserve my energy when participating in high levels of activity. the labs involving breathing rate, heart rate and lung capacity also help me gain more knowledge about my own body. The more knowledge i gain about these subjects, the better my training and practice will be in the long run. knowing about my body will help me specifically train areas that I am weak in so my overall sports performance will be better. Thanks to the spectacular teaching of Mr. Kennedy i was able to gain more intelligence about the system of the body and how the effect my fitness, and yes, i am kissing your ass for a good mark.
#6
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Reflection
#4
This semesters blog assignment was a new experience. At times I really hated it, but other times I actually liked learning what I was writing about. I think it was interesting seeing what people thought of what I wrote and I liked seeing what other people wrote about. Although it was a good idea that we could write anonymously, everybody ended up figuring out who wrote what because the ‘secret’ numbers were assigned by the class list in alphabetical order. I liked doing the blog instead of having to do a bunch of big assignments but I think that it was a bit too much having to do one every single week, especially because we have four other classes with homework to worry about as well.
I think that in the future years you should give the students a choice in whether they want to do the blog or not. Like you said, you teach students, not a subject. And when you give students a huge assignment they should know what they’re in for.
This semesters blog assignment was a new experience. At times I really hated it, but other times I actually liked learning what I was writing about. I think it was interesting seeing what people thought of what I wrote and I liked seeing what other people wrote about. Although it was a good idea that we could write anonymously, everybody ended up figuring out who wrote what because the ‘secret’ numbers were assigned by the class list in alphabetical order. I liked doing the blog instead of having to do a bunch of big assignments but I think that it was a bit too much having to do one every single week, especially because we have four other classes with homework to worry about as well.
I think that in the future years you should give the students a choice in whether they want to do the blog or not. Like you said, you teach students, not a subject. And when you give students a huge assignment they should know what they’re in for.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Reflection
I thought the blog assignment this year was very interesting. It gave us real insight of how some university classes may be, and since we are becoming more and more technology dependent, I won’t be surprised if more of our future classes are held online. Most of the topics that I researched were interesting like ‘the impact of climate change on aquatic life’ and ‘the impact of pollution on the atmosphere’. I am sure we all learned a lot since we were all forced to contribute by researching new topics that we never would’ve on our own and reading and commenting of other student’s topics which they have researched. I really like the commenting part of the whole blog assignment because we got to give our opinions and also receive opinions from our fellow students.
But what I didn’t like about the blog assignment were the due dates. I always got caught doing the assignments on the last days, which is my fault. Also in the beginning I always forgot that I had to write a blog for that week, or when we had tests coming up for biology, I didn’t want to have to keep worrying about the pending blog assignment. Another thing that I did not like was not necessarily to do with the blog assignment but with the numbers which we were secretly assigned. This was meant to make the commentators and bloggers anonymous. But everyone could figure out each other’s “secret” numbers because it was based on our seating order; this might have prevented some students from writing what they truly felt about another students blog.
Overall I think the blog assignment was a wonderful idea for homework assignments. It forced us to learn outside the classroom, and prepared us for what university has to offer.
#8
But what I didn’t like about the blog assignment were the due dates. I always got caught doing the assignments on the last days, which is my fault. Also in the beginning I always forgot that I had to write a blog for that week, or when we had tests coming up for biology, I didn’t want to have to keep worrying about the pending blog assignment. Another thing that I did not like was not necessarily to do with the blog assignment but with the numbers which we were secretly assigned. This was meant to make the commentators and bloggers anonymous. But everyone could figure out each other’s “secret” numbers because it was based on our seating order; this might have prevented some students from writing what they truly felt about another students blog.
Overall I think the blog assignment was a wonderful idea for homework assignments. It forced us to learn outside the classroom, and prepared us for what university has to offer.
#8
Reflection
#15
I thought the blog assignment this year was a real pain in the but. I found it hard to remember to do it because of all the time we had in between posts. The majority of my posts were late for that reason. I also thought it was sometimes hard to get done because of work schedules and sports.
On the other hand it did show that some people, myself included, need to be a bit more responsible and learn some better organizational skills. It also gave some good insight on how it will be in university which is actually not very far from now. It also allowed us to learn about some interesting stuff that we otherwise wouldnt have.
Overall I thought the blog assignment was too much to remember and not really worth the little bit of information learned.
I thought the blog assignment this year was a real pain in the but. I found it hard to remember to do it because of all the time we had in between posts. The majority of my posts were late for that reason. I also thought it was sometimes hard to get done because of work schedules and sports.
On the other hand it did show that some people, myself included, need to be a bit more responsible and learn some better organizational skills. It also gave some good insight on how it will be in university which is actually not very far from now. It also allowed us to learn about some interesting stuff that we otherwise wouldnt have.
Overall I thought the blog assignment was too much to remember and not really worth the little bit of information learned.
Reflection
#3
The blogging assignment we had to do this semester was different. It gave us a real sense of university, something that we need to be prepared for to the fullest to succeed. I think that the blog helped people learn things out of class that normally we would not even care about. The Blog was a really good idea because we got to give feedback on others blogs through the comment, I like that because we get an opinion from our peers, we can see how we could have covered the topic more thoroughly by looking at the questions that we asked. Knowing how we could have covered the topic more is a great help because the next time we had to blog we knew to be more exact, this really helped our writing skills.
A lot of good things are to be said about the blog assignment, but it wasn’t all thought out to the best. Everybody was assigned a number secretly so the assignment could be anonymous, but that didn’t work to well because the numbers coincided with our alphabetical seating plan. Because people knew everybody’s number it made it more difficult to write, without feeling like your being judged by the other classmates. The other bad part about the blog site was the most people blogged late which made it pretty difficult for the commenter’s to comment on something new without being late.
Other than the numbers and all the late blogs, I think it was a very fascinating assignment. It was very creative and well thought of. It was a lot better than having to write a formal essay on a given topic every couple weeks. Overall, I liked the blogging assignment.
The blogging assignment we had to do this semester was different. It gave us a real sense of university, something that we need to be prepared for to the fullest to succeed. I think that the blog helped people learn things out of class that normally we would not even care about. The Blog was a really good idea because we got to give feedback on others blogs through the comment, I like that because we get an opinion from our peers, we can see how we could have covered the topic more thoroughly by looking at the questions that we asked. Knowing how we could have covered the topic more is a great help because the next time we had to blog we knew to be more exact, this really helped our writing skills.
A lot of good things are to be said about the blog assignment, but it wasn’t all thought out to the best. Everybody was assigned a number secretly so the assignment could be anonymous, but that didn’t work to well because the numbers coincided with our alphabetical seating plan. Because people knew everybody’s number it made it more difficult to write, without feeling like your being judged by the other classmates. The other bad part about the blog site was the most people blogged late which made it pretty difficult for the commenter’s to comment on something new without being late.
Other than the numbers and all the late blogs, I think it was a very fascinating assignment. It was very creative and well thought of. It was a lot better than having to write a formal essay on a given topic every couple weeks. Overall, I liked the blogging assignment.
Reflection
#17
What do I think of this whole blog thing? Well, it has it's ups and it's downs. I like how everyone had to take a turn posting, and then others would comment on it. I liked how it was all annoymous too, so that no one knew who's was who's. But by this point in the year, we have all memorized the seating plan, and have all memorized who has what number. We are smarter than that Mr. Kennedy! :) Some of the topics that we had to write about, specifically the ones I chose to write about, really taught me stuff; stuff I wouldn't have learned otherwise.
I think the thing that I didn't enjoy the most about this blog was remembering to post or comment every week. Yes, we got a schedule at the beginning. Yes we are university bound students, but with an assignment that is this small, it just gets pushed aside due to our busy lives, and we usually don't remember about it until it is too late, or in my cases, just about too late.
What do I think of this whole blog thing? Well, it has it's ups and it's downs. I like how everyone had to take a turn posting, and then others would comment on it. I liked how it was all annoymous too, so that no one knew who's was who's. But by this point in the year, we have all memorized the seating plan, and have all memorized who has what number. We are smarter than that Mr. Kennedy! :) Some of the topics that we had to write about, specifically the ones I chose to write about, really taught me stuff; stuff I wouldn't have learned otherwise.
I think the thing that I didn't enjoy the most about this blog was remembering to post or comment every week. Yes, we got a schedule at the beginning. Yes we are university bound students, but with an assignment that is this small, it just gets pushed aside due to our busy lives, and we usually don't remember about it until it is too late, or in my cases, just about too late.
Personal Connection
#17
The entire reproduction process starts with 1 thing. Selection of a mate. This selection can be through natural selection, or artificial selection. Artificial selection is very beneficial when breeding animals, such as goats. My uncle got 3 nanny goats about a year ago. Before he bought them, he made sure that they had been bred with a boer billy goat, because that is the type of goat that he wanted from the mother, because she too was a boer goat. He wanted boer goats because they are supposed to make good meat goats, and good mothers as well. So while artificial selection is beneficial for many things, such as farming, natural selection as it's advantages. When dogs breed, as long as you are not looking for a pure bred outcome, it is always interesting to let them breed themselves, and see what the tiny puppies come out looking like, in comparison to their mother. This type of selection brings excitement and diversity into the litter of puppies.
Artificial selection is very beneficial for providing yourself with a specific outcome. If you just want a general outcome, or a random outcome, let natural selection happen.
Reflection
#10
Overall I thought the biology blog was a great way for us as students to learn what post secondary schools do to grade assignments. I found that when I started adding personal connections to my blog posts it was much easier to write. It was interesting to see other people's blogs to see what is important to them. Although the blog posting was a great learning experience I thought at times I was overwhelmed with other homework and had a hard time remembering when to post at the start making some of my posts late. Researching biology topics was a great way to go deeper into the units we were in.
Overall I thought the biology blog was a great way for us as students to learn what post secondary schools do to grade assignments. I found that when I started adding personal connections to my blog posts it was much easier to write. It was interesting to see other people's blogs to see what is important to them. Although the blog posting was a great learning experience I thought at times I was overwhelmed with other homework and had a hard time remembering when to post at the start making some of my posts late. Researching biology topics was a great way to go deeper into the units we were in.
Reflection
The blogging system was a good idea for us as individuals to develop our researching, writing, and independent skills. This gave us a sense of what to expect in university.
There were some positive and negative aspects to this blogging system that we did over the course of the semester. Some positive feedback is: - We could learn about new and interesting things.
- We had a selection of topics to pick from and sometimes we could write about what ever we wanted (but it had to be a biology related topic).
- We could give others feedback on their topics.
- Instructions were clear.
- The blog set up was very well organized.
Some negative feedback is: - sometimes I would forget about the blog until the last minute came because I would be doing my other homework.
Overall the blog was an excellent idea because it was a new experience everyone and it was sort of a challenge in a way to see if we could balance this and do our other school, and still be successful in the end.
#12
There were some positive and negative aspects to this blogging system that we did over the course of the semester. Some positive feedback is: - We could learn about new and interesting things.
- We had a selection of topics to pick from and sometimes we could write about what ever we wanted (but it had to be a biology related topic).
- We could give others feedback on their topics.
- Instructions were clear.
- The blog set up was very well organized.
Some negative feedback is: - sometimes I would forget about the blog until the last minute came because I would be doing my other homework.
Overall the blog was an excellent idea because it was a new experience everyone and it was sort of a challenge in a way to see if we could balance this and do our other school, and still be successful in the end.
#12
Reflection
#5
At the beginning of the semester I really had no interest in doing this blogging assignment. It was probably just the fact that I saw it as a lot of work. It ended up not being as bad as i thought though. I learned a lot of new things in doing this project, that i probably never would have found out about otherwise. I liked reading about the other things people researched and talked about in their posts and liked giving them feedback. The only thing i had a hard time with was posting or commenting on time. I always forgot what days i had to do and then ran out of time to have it in by the due date. Overall, this assignment wasn't too bad, i learned a lot and it gave me a little heads up of what college or university could be like.
At the beginning of the semester I really had no interest in doing this blogging assignment. It was probably just the fact that I saw it as a lot of work. It ended up not being as bad as i thought though. I learned a lot of new things in doing this project, that i probably never would have found out about otherwise. I liked reading about the other things people researched and talked about in their posts and liked giving them feedback. The only thing i had a hard time with was posting or commenting on time. I always forgot what days i had to do and then ran out of time to have it in by the due date. Overall, this assignment wasn't too bad, i learned a lot and it gave me a little heads up of what college or university could be like.
OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)
#5
OCD is an anxiety disorder that affects around 2.3% of people in the
http://helpguide.org/mental/obsessive_compulsive_disorder_ocd.htm
Reflection- #7
Doing an online blog was an excellent, and new idea. I've never done this before in any classes and I think that it was a neat idea. Although, there were good points and bad points about it. I mostly liked that I could read other people's blogs, and learn beyond what we got taught in class, and what I researched for my own topic. I also liked that people could comment on your blog, because it gives you some feedback on how other students think you did and how you could improve your blog for the next time. The last thing that I liked about the blog was that it was something that us as students had to do on our own, without the teacher assigning one thing for everyone. We all got to do different topics, and sometimes even got to pick our own topic to research. On the other hand there were a few things that I didn't like about the blog. I didn't like that some people, including myself, didn't blog on time and it was all over the place with comments and blogs. I also didn't like how some people didn't take it seriously and either didn't do it or just rambled on in their blog about nothing that made sense. Overall, I think the blog was a new experience for everyone that will help us on our way to college or university.
A common digestive disorder.
#5
Stomach and Duodenal Ulcers are very common and affect a lot of human beings. Ulcers are open sores found on the skin or on areas of membrane in the body. There are different types of ulcers; peptic, gastric, and duodenal. Most commonly they are just called peptic ulcers. These are ulcers that are found in the lining of the stomach or duodenum. "It is estimated that 2% of the adult population in the United States has active peptic ulcers, and that about 10% will develop ulcers at some point in their lives." At first, doctors believed that ulcers were formed from great amounts of stress, poor diet and lifestyle choices. Now it is believed to be the result of stomach acids like hydrochloric and pepsin acids. Symptoms that you may have an ulcer include nausea, vomiting, weight loss or sometimes weight gain, fatigue, heartburn and indigestion. Some ulcers may not have any symptoms at all, which is known as a silent ulcer. They can also cause symptoms like bleeding, perforation (when ulcers become too deep and break through the stomach), narrowing and obstruction (ulcers that block food from entering the stomach). Ulcers may be treated in many different ways. You may have to make some changes to the way you live. Things such as smoking, poor eating habits, and drinking can make ulcers worse and slow down the healing process. Medication, antibiotics, and surgery are also options as well. I personally know a few people with ulcers and they can become very uncomfortable but if taken care of and treated right you may lead a normal life. Overall, ulcers can affect your body if you don't do anything to treat them and get worse, but are very curable.
Stomach and Duodenal Ulcers are very common and affect a lot of human beings. Ulcers are open sores found on the skin or on areas of membrane in the body. There are different types of ulcers; peptic, gastric, and duodenal. Most commonly they are just called peptic ulcers. These are ulcers that are found in the lining of the stomach or duodenum. "It is estimated that 2% of the adult population in the United States has active peptic ulcers, and that about 10% will develop ulcers at some point in their lives." At first, doctors believed that ulcers were formed from great amounts of stress, poor diet and lifestyle choices. Now it is believed to be the result of stomach acids like hydrochloric and pepsin acids. Symptoms that you may have an ulcer include nausea, vomiting, weight loss or sometimes weight gain, fatigue, heartburn and indigestion. Some ulcers may not have any symptoms at all, which is known as a silent ulcer. They can also cause symptoms like bleeding, perforation (when ulcers become too deep and break through the stomach), narrowing and obstruction (ulcers that block food from entering the stomach). Ulcers may be treated in many different ways. You may have to make some changes to the way you live. Things such as smoking, poor eating habits, and drinking can make ulcers worse and slow down the healing process. Medication, antibiotics, and surgery are also options as well. I personally know a few people with ulcers and they can become very uncomfortable but if taken care of and treated right you may lead a normal life. Overall, ulcers can affect your body if you don't do anything to treat them and get worse, but are very curable.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
# 16
At first when i was told we were doing a blog for part of our mark in biology, i was furious and thought it was retarded. Well i still think it's retarded. However i didn't give the blog a good enough chance at first, i think now that is has the potential of being an excellent idea. The problem with the blog is that not everyone always has internet access, and it is a hard assignment to remember. If weekly handouts were given than it would be easy to remember and make the blog a much easier task to complete. Something i think that is excellent about the blog is how we can see how others think about certain topics and discuss what we think. Thank you.
At first when i was told we were doing a blog for part of our mark in biology, i was furious and thought it was retarded. Well i still think it's retarded. However i didn't give the blog a good enough chance at first, i think now that is has the potential of being an excellent idea. The problem with the blog is that not everyone always has internet access, and it is a hard assignment to remember. If weekly handouts were given than it would be easy to remember and make the blog a much easier task to complete. Something i think that is excellent about the blog is how we can see how others think about certain topics and discuss what we think. Thank you.
Reflection
#18
The blogs we completed this year were a good learning experience but also a pain in the butt. The one major thing I liked about blogging was that it gave me a feel of what university and collage classes will be like. I got a sense of what an online class is like and how it works. It has made me feel more prepared for university and collage because I am familiar now with using the internet to complete and submit assignments. I also enjoyed commenting on other classmates posts because I got to share my opinion and even have input on what they blogged about. The downside to the biology blog spot was that I felt like I was always crunched for time even when I didn’t leave it to the last minute. Once I completed one blog, there was already another one waiting for me. It was hard to keep up and not get bombarded with blogs and comments. I felt that not enough time and space were given between each new topic therefore I often submitted late work. Overall, blogging was a good learning experience for me and it has better prepared me for my post secondary education.
Reflection - #1.
I think that the blog was a very good idea. It's just people in our class didn't always write their blogs on time so the whole thing just ended up getting of course. If we would of done our work on time and not let three or four blogs or comments go by without doing them I think it would have been a very good on-going assignment. It was really interesting to see what people wrote and to be able to comment on their blogs, as well as people reading my writing and commenting on it. It was also a good idea to have it anonymous so that if you did terrible on a post nobody could tell it was your post. I think this will work better next semister because that rule that if you do your work late marks get taken off, so this will enforce people to have to do their work.
My Connection - #1.
How Asthma effects a Person
Have you ever been playing a sport and found it very hard to breathe? Well a person having a asthma attack would have this feeling but about ten times more extreme. When you are experiencing a asthma attack you feel like your whole chest is collapsing. You also feel like the only solution to this problem is that puffer, which you probably don't have on you..
Never had this problem? Well your extremmely lucky. Asthma sucks, to be blunt, it sucks because when I was a child I always had to be the one to take a puffer before going outside to have fun, to know when I had to stop playing because my chest would start pounding if I didn't. What eight year old kid wants to stop playing right in the middle of a game because they needed to use their puffer?
Asthma is caused by many things; pollution, genetics, and the way your raised. My asthma was caused because of genetics, my dad has it so I get to have it. Pollution has a big impact on asthma because now that our world is more polluted more childern are born with asthma. This is going to impact our society if we don't find a fix for it, so someone find a fix.
Have you ever been playing a sport and found it very hard to breathe? Well a person having a asthma attack would have this feeling but about ten times more extreme. When you are experiencing a asthma attack you feel like your whole chest is collapsing. You also feel like the only solution to this problem is that puffer, which you probably don't have on you..
Never had this problem? Well your extremmely lucky. Asthma sucks, to be blunt, it sucks because when I was a child I always had to be the one to take a puffer before going outside to have fun, to know when I had to stop playing because my chest would start pounding if I didn't. What eight year old kid wants to stop playing right in the middle of a game because they needed to use their puffer?
Asthma is caused by many things; pollution, genetics, and the way your raised. My asthma was caused because of genetics, my dad has it so I get to have it. Pollution has a big impact on asthma because now that our world is more polluted more childern are born with asthma. This is going to impact our society if we don't find a fix for it, so someone find a fix.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Reflection
#13
The blog that we did this year was something that I haven't really done before. Although I didn't really enjoy it very much, I think it was a good experience for University. I thought that it was okay doing the research, but I didn't find my research topics very interesting. It was alright researching my own topics, but some ideas would have been nice as I had a hard time finding a topic that was interesting to me. It was interesting learning about some of the topics that others wrote about although I didn't read very many. Over all it was a good experience.
The blog that we did this year was something that I haven't really done before. Although I didn't really enjoy it very much, I think it was a good experience for University. I thought that it was okay doing the research, but I didn't find my research topics very interesting. It was alright researching my own topics, but some ideas would have been nice as I had a hard time finding a topic that was interesting to me. It was interesting learning about some of the topics that others wrote about although I didn't read very many. Over all it was a good experience.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Reflection
#9
Throughout this semester i have learned very many things. First i learned how to post a blog and commen t on one too. Also i have learned very interesting facts from other post and my own. I have to say that i did not care for some of the topic we had to choose from in the week i had to post. It was hard to post or comment, sometimes becuase the computer or the site had a problem at the time. This is my last post #9, and i'm glad that it is too.
Throughout this semester i have learned very many things. First i learned how to post a blog and commen t on one too. Also i have learned very interesting facts from other post and my own. I have to say that i did not care for some of the topic we had to choose from in the week i had to post. It was hard to post or comment, sometimes becuase the computer or the site had a problem at the time. This is my last post #9, and i'm glad that it is too.
Course Reflection
#19
The blogging system was a very new addition to the course for me. It was well planned out and helped how we only had certain weeks to do one post or one blog and not something every week, well until the end. I liked how we got an entire week to make our post or comment because then it gave us lots of time to plan it out according to our schedule too and it gave us time if we forgot one night that we still had til the end of the week left before it was due.
The blogs helped me understand alot of concepts about biology that I didn't get in class or that I always wondered about. If we were to post a blog, we had to research on the interent which was alot easier then looking it up in a textbook and also gave alot more information about the topic. However, when we had to comment, we had to read someone else's blog and then reflect. In addition, either job we had, we still learned alot about the topic.
Another concept I enjoyed about the blog was how we had many choices. We got to pick from a list of topics to post a blog about and when we commented, we were able to choose the most interesting to us.
One thing I didn't like to much about the blogs was how alot of people didn't post on their assigned week so it made it hard for the commenters to get their job done on time when the others didn't. However, after a while, we were allowed to comment on anyones post so that we didn't have to suffer being late.
The blogging system was a very new addition to the course for me. It was well planned out and helped how we only had certain weeks to do one post or one blog and not something every week, well until the end. I liked how we got an entire week to make our post or comment because then it gave us lots of time to plan it out according to our schedule too and it gave us time if we forgot one night that we still had til the end of the week left before it was due.
The blogs helped me understand alot of concepts about biology that I didn't get in class or that I always wondered about. If we were to post a blog, we had to research on the interent which was alot easier then looking it up in a textbook and also gave alot more information about the topic. However, when we had to comment, we had to read someone else's blog and then reflect. In addition, either job we had, we still learned alot about the topic.
Another concept I enjoyed about the blog was how we had many choices. We got to pick from a list of topics to post a blog about and when we commented, we were able to choose the most interesting to us.
One thing I didn't like to much about the blogs was how alot of people didn't post on their assigned week so it made it hard for the commenters to get their job done on time when the others didn't. However, after a while, we were allowed to comment on anyones post so that we didn't have to suffer being late.
Reflection
#14
The blog was definatley new to me for a class assignment. I thought it was a good idea and was a good way to gain additional marks. One negavtive was it was easy to forget about because it wasn't something handed out weekly, you really needed to keep your self aware of the schedule or else it was very easy to fall behind. Another negative was when it was your week to comment on a certain topic, and there was no post for that week, although we were able to comment on other posts from previous weeks.
One positive was that it was a good way to learn new things related to biology, you either have to research a topic and post it, or you have to read the post and comment, so either way you were learning something new. I also liked having homework that only needed the computer and internet for.
The blog was definatley new to me for a class assignment. I thought it was a good idea and was a good way to gain additional marks. One negavtive was it was easy to forget about because it wasn't something handed out weekly, you really needed to keep your self aware of the schedule or else it was very easy to fall behind. Another negative was when it was your week to comment on a certain topic, and there was no post for that week, although we were able to comment on other posts from previous weeks.
One positive was that it was a good way to learn new things related to biology, you either have to research a topic and post it, or you have to read the post and comment, so either way you were learning something new. I also liked having homework that only needed the computer and internet for.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Personal Conection: Allergies
# 16
Like many people I have allergies a disorder of the immune system. Allergic reactions are cause by usually harmless substances known as allergens. These reactions are very rapid and very predictable and usually happen at a certain time in the year annually. Common allergic reactions include hay fever, asthma attacks, food allergies, and reactions to the venom of stinging insects such as wasps and bees. Personally i have hay fever reactions. Hay fever is an inflammation of the nasal airways. It occurs when an allergen such as pollen or dust is inhaled by a person that has a sensitized immune system and it triggers antibody production. The antibodies bond mostly with mast cells which contain histamine. When the mast cells are stimulated by pollen or dust they release the histamine that causes itching, swelling, and mucus production. When mucus builds up it can start clogging up your airways. This can make it harder for some individuals to breath and stress the respiratory system. Swelling of the throat can also make it harder to get air to the lungs when an individual is struggling with allergies. The goal of treatment for hay-fever is to reduse the symptoms caused by the inflammation. Hay-fever can typically be treated much like any other allergic condition. Eliminating exposure to allergens is the most effective preventive measure, but requires consistent effort. Many people with pollen allergies reduce their exposure by remaining indoors during hay fever season, particularly in the morning and evening, when outdoor pollen levels are at their highest. Closing all the windows and doors prevents pollen blown from the wind from entering the home. When traveling in a vehicle, closing all the windows reduces exposure.Several drugs are used to block the action of allergic mediators, or to prevent activation of cells and degranulation processes. These include antihistamines, cortisone, dexamethasone, hydrocortisone, epinephrine (adrenaline), theophylline and cromolyn sodium. One antihistamine, azelastine, is available as a nasal spray whish some people find a very attractive alternative. However many allergy medications can have unpleasant side-effects, most notably drowsiness. That is how allergies can effect the body and how it can be treated.
Like many people I have allergies a disorder of the immune system. Allergic reactions are cause by usually harmless substances known as allergens. These reactions are very rapid and very predictable and usually happen at a certain time in the year annually. Common allergic reactions include hay fever, asthma attacks, food allergies, and reactions to the venom of stinging insects such as wasps and bees. Personally i have hay fever reactions. Hay fever is an inflammation of the nasal airways. It occurs when an allergen such as pollen or dust is inhaled by a person that has a sensitized immune system and it triggers antibody production. The antibodies bond mostly with mast cells which contain histamine. When the mast cells are stimulated by pollen or dust they release the histamine that causes itching, swelling, and mucus production. When mucus builds up it can start clogging up your airways. This can make it harder for some individuals to breath and stress the respiratory system. Swelling of the throat can also make it harder to get air to the lungs when an individual is struggling with allergies. The goal of treatment for hay-fever is to reduse the symptoms caused by the inflammation. Hay-fever can typically be treated much like any other allergic condition. Eliminating exposure to allergens is the most effective preventive measure, but requires consistent effort. Many people with pollen allergies reduce their exposure by remaining indoors during hay fever season, particularly in the morning and evening, when outdoor pollen levels are at their highest. Closing all the windows and doors prevents pollen blown from the wind from entering the home. When traveling in a vehicle, closing all the windows reduces exposure.Several drugs are used to block the action of allergic mediators, or to prevent activation of cells and degranulation processes. These include antihistamines, cortisone, dexamethasone, hydrocortisone, epinephrine (adrenaline), theophylline and cromolyn sodium. One antihistamine, azelastine, is available as a nasal spray whish some people find a very attractive alternative. However many allergy medications can have unpleasant side-effects, most notably drowsiness. That is how allergies can effect the body and how it can be treated.
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