Anatomy lab was definitely interesting this week. We dissected sheep brains! It was fun to have some hands-on experience in lab, especially coming out of quarantine.
We went through the dissection following step by step guide, and learning how the actual anatomy looks as sheep brain are very similar to human brain.
I didn’t get a picture of it, but we split the brain in half down the longitudinal fissure that separates the left and right hemispheres. We were then able to look at the corpus callosum, thalamus, hypothalamus, ventricles, and more!
A couple weeks ago during Anatomy and Physiology, we looked at different tissue types during lab. This was a really cool, and we learned how to identify the different parts of the tissues that we looked at as well!
Last semester I learned a lot in organic chemistry. The most valuable thing I believe we did in class was the poster and presentation for the lab final.
We worked in teams of six for the experiment, and our final product was a poster that everyone understood and could explain in detail. We had a class presenation where all six of us spoke on a certain part of the lab, and then a final presentation in which we recorded ourselves speaking and turned it in for individual assessment.
This is the final poster presentation, in which we found that the electrophile Iodoethane produced the greatest percent yield due to it having the least amount of steric effects. This is because the other electrophiles had larger carbon chains.
This was by far my hardest class this semester. It was extremely difficult because it is not all like any class I have taken before.
It’s not about memorizing specific things, but overall trends so that we can answer any question by problem solving with what we know. I struggled with this not only because of the change from different classes, but also because I have never had to work this hard for a class before.
I loved the class when I knew what I was doing, but got so frustrated when I didn’t. I loved the labs and felt accomplished when I did them right, yet I was so nervous to start them.
See, I learned a lot of content, as well as life skills in this class. Being someone who gets frustrated when I don’t get things on the first try was not helping me. Neither was being someone who gave up. This class, like experiments, are all trial and error.
Chemists don’t give up when their experiements go wrong – it is a happy failure. This is more than just a way to look at chemistry. It’s a way to look at life as a whole. When things don’t go the way I plan in life, I find a new way around it. This is something that I’ve learned I need to push myself to do within my school work, which has been mainly started and progressed within this class.
