Samantha+P+2

toc =SEMESTER 1=

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to my portfolio! Here you will find several examples of projects I have done over the course of the first semester in Anatomy and Physiology at Faith Lutheran High School. During the first semester I, along with the rest of my class, have learned a great deal about the human body and just how truly extraordinary it is. From learning about the different tissues, bones, and muscles, to the variety of disease and injuries that the body can attain, my knowledge and vast understanding of the human body has grown through the use of wiki’s, blogs, and other projects such as power point presentations and brochures. In my portfolio you will find a collaboration of 6 different projects relating to Anatomy and Physiology. First you will get to view the tissue power point I did at the beginning of the school year. This project will enable you to view and learn about all the different types of tissues. After the tissues project is the brochure I created about skin cancer. It explains the how a person can attain it, how to protect themselves from getting it, and what to do if they do get it. Following that you will find a link to view the joint wiki I created with the help of two fellow classmates. This wiki will tell you everything you need to know and more about the knee. Below the wiki will be a brain in which you can click on to view my blog on the mystery of the brain. After the blog is another wiki I did on Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, a medical device which helps doctors view and discover the chemical composition of one’s body. Following this is the last project, a blog on my trip to the Bodies Exhibit at the Tropicana hotel. Also in this portfolio I will talk a little bit about myself and my future goals, and why I took this class. To view the different projects please either click on the links in the table of contents or scroll down to the desired area.

BIOGRAPHY
Hello! My name is Samantha and I am a junior at Faith Lutheran High School. Swimming is my passion, and I have aspirations of going to the Olympics. I am currently at the national level and am ranked 2nd in the nation for 18 and under girls. The reason I took Anatomy and Physiology is to not only understand how my body works in everyday life, but also in swimming. I am extremely interested in learning about muscle development as this pertains directly to the sport. Practicing up to 5 hours a day, every day, my body is worked extremely hard and I find it beneficial to understand how the body recovers and develops in certain areas from that work. After I graduate from High School, I am interested in attending Cal Berkeley, USC, Florida State, Texas University, or Georgia University. I plan to swim all four years in college and after I graduate I hope to peruse a career in sports medicine

TISSUES PROJECT
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(Tissues power point presentation: created by Samantha Pearson in October of 2007.)

The tissues power point presentation was created for the purpose of helping others easily learn about the different tissues in the human body. This is attained through links on each page to view other pages associated with the current one. The pictures on the slides were all taken by me in a lab our class did. Also, to ensure the viewer is able to learn about the tissues both written fact and an audio with the facts recited are placed on each page. Since some people are visual learners, and others audio learners this ensures the viewer will learn information on each page. While doing this project I learned a great deal of information on tissues. If I were to change anything about this project, it would be to increase my level of speaking while recording the audio. Listening to myself speak, I really had to strain to hear what I was saying. Doing this project helped me grow in a sense that I now have a better understanding and appreciation for my body. I have realized that inside our body is like a whole other world and that the body must perform and protect so many things to work properly. I truly enjoyed doing this project and felt that I learned a lot from doing it.

BROCHURE
(Brochure on skin cancer: created by Samantha Pearson in October 2007)

The brochure was created with the purpose to tell others important information about skin cancer. Inside discusses three different topics, how a person can get skin cancer, how to prevent getting skin cancer, and what to do if you attain skin cancer. The information given is presented in a simple manner so that the reader won’t get confused. While I was doing the project I learned the dangers of too much skin exposure and how important it is to protect your skin. If I were to change anything about this project I would probably change the pictures as I felt they could have been better. While doing the project I was kind of pressed for time and therefore did not have time to look for the perfect pictures. Having the perfect pictures would have made the brochure seem more appealing and get the point across of the dangers of not protecting your skin. Other than that, I felt that I did a really good job at presenting the information and making the brochure look appealing. Personally, I learned a great deal about the dangers of sun and have become more aware of protecting my skin. Hopefully when others view this they too will get the same message I did and make an effort to protect themselves.

JOINT WIKI
CLICK HERE TO VIEW KNEE WIKI (wiki on the knee joint: created by Samantha Pearson, Ashley Taylor, and Angeline Pierson in December 2007)

The wiki was created to give accessible information about the knee to anyone who wanted it. When reading the wiki the viewer will find information about the anatomy of the knee, injuries to the knee, and the rehabilitation process of the knee. The wiki is set up to not only appeal to adults, but also to young kids. The wiki also provides a link where the viewer can watch and participate in a virtual surgery of the knee. While doing this project I not only learned how to work well as a group and communicate with others, but also how to present complicated information in a simple manner. Our group wanted anyone to be able to understand the information on our page, thus we took extra steps to ensure that the page did not intimidate anyone. After doing this project I have become more aware of my body and understand what goes on when I do a simple task such as walking. I also have learned that the knee needs to be protected and that if it is injured the recovery process will take a great deal of time. As an athlete I understand that injuring such a precious joint can end a person's career. I had fun doing this project and also learned much information about the knee. I really can’t think of anything that I would change about this project because I think the group I was in did a really good job!

BLOG
[|CLICK HERE TO VIEW BLOG!] (blog about the brain: written by Samantha Pearson on September 16, 2007)

The blog The Mystery of the Brain was my favorite blog I have written all semester. I found this great article on how the brain does strange and miraculous things that humans can not understand. The article discusses how one man was dying in the hospital and all the machines showed his brain was shutting down. Yet before he died his brain somehow ‘re -booted’ and allowed him to say goodbye to his family. I really enjoyed reading the article and it really got me thinking about just how amazing our body really is. Being assigned this blog allowed me to come across this article and give me a different perspective on the brain and just how powerful it really is. After reading the article I felt that there is so little that we have really discovered about our brain, even though it is the most used and largest muscle in our body. In the blog I reflect upon how little we truly know about the brain and how this article affected me. This blog was most enjoyable to do and by writing down my thoughts it allowed me to organize them and reflect back upon them. I would hope that upon reading this blog others would come to realize just the same things I did and it would give them a new perspective.

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WIKI
CLICK HERE TO VIEW WIKI (wiki about magnetic resonance spectroscopy: created by Lydia Heter and Samantha Pearson on September 4, 2007)

The wiki my partner and I created on Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) was the first wiki we had ever created. Thus we both took this as a great learning experience. We discuss what an MRS is, and compare it to an MRI machine, as they are both very similar. We also dicuss the uses for the machine and provide pictures so that the viewer can better understand the concept of the machine. Since this was my first time doing a wiki, I would probably change a lot of things. I would create more external links so that the reader can learn even more and I would also set up the information so it is easier to read. Besides that, I think that the goal of this wiki, to give the reader a better understanding of an MRS, was reached. The reader can quickly accesses information about the machine and learn the different tasks that it can perform. Doing this wiki also taught me about what an MRS machine was as I had never even heard of one before doing the project.

BLOG
[|<---click here to view blog!]

(blog about the bodies exhibit: written by Samantha Pearson on September 29, 2007)

This blog reflected my trip to the Bodies Exhibit at the Tropicana hotel. In it I discuss the comparison to seeing pictures and the 3-d live version of the skeleton, my favorite part about the exhibit, what I learned from the visit, and other thoughts I had about the trip. Doing the blog helped me not only organize my thoughts but also allowed me to persuade the readers of the blog to go visit this exhibit. The exhibit was truly life changing as it gave you a whole new outlook on life and your body. If I was to change anything about this blog I would probably add a picture of what the bodies looked like so that the reader can better understand what I was talking about. The trip to Bodies was amazing and the blog helps me remember what I learned and why it was so important. Also, it hopefully will encourage readers to go experience the exhibit for themselves because it is truly life changing. I believe that every person who goes to visit this exhibit will come out with a new perspective on life, as nearly my whole class had a changed outlook when we attended.

CONCLUSION
Overall I really enjoyed doing these projects. I thought they were extremely educational and I honestly felt that I learned so much about Anatomy. Doing the tissues powerpoint allowed me to present information in an organized way and I don’t think I can ever forget the information about the tissues project because I had to re-read the facts about a thousand times! The brochure on skin cancer taught me how important it is to protect your skin and I had a lot of fun doing the project because it allowed me to add my creative side to it. The Joint wiki that I did with Angeline and Ashley was one of my best projects in my opinion. We all learned a whole slue of information while doing the project and our final product succeeded in reaching our goal as the facts were presented in a simple manner. The other wiki on MRS that I did with Lydia was a great learning experience. I learned not only a lot of information on the machine, but also on how to set up and do a good wiki page.Doing the blogs on the brain and my trip to the bodies exhibit really allowed me to reflect back on my experiences and share with others the knowledge I had gained. I really enjoyed writing the blogs and having other classmates write their opinions to me. Though not all were positive feedback, they all helped me improve my writing and made me re-think my opinions. These projects have helped me grow as a student and have allowed me to have a better concept on my own body. I hope you have enjoyed viewing my projects and have gained something from them. Thanks for reading!

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=SEMESTER 2=

Blog and Slide Show-Muscle History
(wiki about the history of the muscle: written by Samantha Pearson on March 6th, 2008) [|Click here to view my blog 'Muscle History']

media type="custom" key="812489" Doing research on the great scholors Andreas Vesalius, Bartolomeo Eustachi, Leonardo DaVinci, and Henry Gray really helped develop my understanding as to how unknown the body really was up to a couple centuries ago. I did much of my research on these men by doing tutorials online, which provided a lot of information, some which is not published widely about them. After completing my research I collected all the information I had obtained and then disscused it in a blog. In this blog I discussed the lives of each men from their child hood to their death, and explained how they helped contribute their knowledge to the world and how that affected us. After I completed the blog I created a power-point presentation to help easily illustrate the knowledge I had attained. The slide-show consists of only 5 slides with one picture on each. Each of these pictures were illustrated by one of the men I did research on. In the notes section I briefly listed and explained the importance of the picture and its artist.

Nervous System Wiki
(wiki about the nervous system: created by Samantha Pearson, Ashely Taylor, and Angeline Pierson on April 9th, 2008) Parkinson's Disease

I chose to do my wiki on the nervous system about one of its most devastating diseases, Parkinson's Disease. Parkinson's is a progressive, degenerative disease of the nervous system which leads its victim to become disabled. This disease is life altering and unfortunatly many people must battle it. After a week of much intesive research through not only the internet, but books, I was able to gather a large portion of valuable information which could be shared with anyone who read my wiki. In the wiki I discuss the cause of Parkinson's, the treatment that is used to help those who have aquired it, the singns and symptoms, and the prognosis. I also inlcude the research that doctors and scientists are doing in order to try to cure it and personal testimonies from those who live with the disease. I really enjoyed doing this wiki and I hope you enjoy reading it and attain as much information as I did!!!!

Blog- A Whole New Mind
(blog about the human brain: written by Samantha Pearson on May 1st, 2008) [|Sides of the Brain!]

After being assigned to read the essay A Whole New Brain, i wrote a blog about what the essay disscused and my opinion on it. In the essay the author discusses the differnece between the left side and the right side of the brain. I also discuss what side of the brain I think I am more dominate in and explain why. I conclude with which side of the brain Faith Lutheran helps develop more of and provide pictures to help enhance the readers understanding. Before doing the blog I had never really put much though into what side of the brain I use more and after researching on it I find myself noticing that I am definatly right sided, as I am a VERY emotional person. I hope after reading this blog you will also discover which side dominates your brain!

Blog- Steroids
(about the negative effects of steroids; created by Samantha Pearson on March 2nd, 2008) [|aNObilic steroids]

In this blog I discuss the negative sides of using anabolic steroids and that to use them to enhance ones performance is never acceptable. I did much research on what anabolic steroids actually are and also discovered how easily they are availible over the internet, even though the use of them are illegal. I also discuss what happens to ones body when using them and the terrible consequences they have later down in life. I end the blog with a video of the man who's arm exploded. A weight lifter name Greg used anabolic steroids to such an extent that after deveoloping an infection his muscle literally exploded in his arm, which required intensive surgery and recovery. I myslef would never use steroids as it is cheating and I hope that after reading this blog you will make the same decision!

Anatomy Apprentice
(discusses disease multiple sclerosis: created by Samantha Pearson, Olivia Makinso, Cameron Tripp, and Erin Cawley on April 20, 2008) media type="custom" key="812495" Out of all the projects, the anatomy apprentice was by far my favorite one to do. Each group was assigned a topic to research and our group was assigned the disease Multiple Sclerosis. Each of us were assigned parts to research, from causes, to treatment, to how many people n the US deal with the disease, to research being done to try to cure or prevent it. After we found all of our information we created a power point presentation which we prevented to our class. Each member discussed the information they had learned and explained important pictures that worked as visual aids to what we were discussing. We also included a video which had an exert explain the disease. Doing this research made me realize how fortunate I am to not have this terrible disease and gave me compassion to those that must deal with it everyday. After viewing the slide show Im sure you will gain the same compassion and understanding as I did.

Sheep Heart Dissection
(pictures taken of sheep heart dissection: taken by Samantha Pearson and Ashely Taylor on May 12th, 2008) [|click here to view sheep hearts!]

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Doing this dissection of the sheep heart helped to give me a better understanding of what an actual heart looks like and how the heart actually looks. The book gives many pictures and diagrams, but seeing it in 3-d really helps give a whole new understanding. I got to see the different valves and arteries of the heart and by doing so all of the explanatins the book gave me was made much clearer. Even though I did not enjoy cutting open the heart or touching it at all, I'm glad I did as it helped me understand my own body more. If you click the link above it will lead you to all the pictures taken of the sheep heart. I hope looking at these pictures enlightens you on what an actual heart looks like. This dissection also helped prepare me for dissecting a cat.

Cat Dissections
(pictures of the dissection of the cat; taken by Samantha Pearson and Ashley Taylor on May 25th, 2008) [|click here to view pictures of the dissection of the cat!]

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The cat dissection was the final assignment of the year, and everything that I learned in anatomy this year came into play during this not so pleasant task. The first day of the dissection was definatly the hardest as the first cuts were made on this full grown cat, who's eyes were glaring up at you. In order for me to not get distracted I placed a towel over the cats face. The dissection of the muscles was the hardest as in order to not destroy them, I had to be very precise and careful in cutting them. After completing the dissection of the muscles I moved on to dissecting the nervous system and the internal organs. I found it fascinating as I was able to see what an actual stomach, lungs, and kidneys looked like and hold them in my hands. Dissecting the cat really changed my view on the human body and helped me realize how truly amazing it is. The human body is so complex and even though I was not thrilled at first to be dissecting the cat, Im glad I did as it was really educational and something I will never forget.

Final Thoughts
During the second semester of projects, I was able to learn a lot of things that the textbooks don't teach in depth. Doing th blog and slideshow on the history of muscles made me realize how new and how little is known about the body. The nervous system wiki helped teach me better than a textbook as I had to go and find information myself. The blog on steroids allowed me to help voice my opinion on how wrong I think they are when used to enhance one's performance. The anatomy apprentice not only made learning fun but allowed us to teach the class for a change. The two dissections not only made me get over my fears but allowed me to absorb so much more knowledge then a book could ever give me as I first hand got to see and touch the parts of a body. I am really glad I took this class as I became more aware of my body and it is nice to know and understand what goes on inside of me. The only thing that was frustrating about the class was that I am technology retarted and at times I found it difficult to do certain assignments on the internet. I would suggest anyone interested in a career in medicine or even just curious about how their body works to take this class. It definatly taught me a lot and I'm sure it will do the same for you!!!! :)