The overall theme of this unit is that the body uses different mechanisms and barriers to fight and protect itself. For example, the body has three different barriers to keep pathogens out. The first two barriers of the body together are known as the innate response. The first barrier is the skin, which is composed of the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis. The skin is the outermost barrier and covers the body to prevent any pathogens from getting inside of the body. The skin also contains the appendages glands, nails, and hair to help. Hair and nails provide extra protection from things such as UV light or rocks. The glands are used to create an environment that is unsuitable for the bacteria to live in, causing them to die. The second barrier consists of many different mechanisms to prevent infection. This barrier includes inflammation, natural killer cells, phagocytes, interferons, compliments, and fever. The third barrier is called adaptive immunity. This includes all the specific cells that target and kill the invading bacteria. Two processes of this immunity is the cell mediated response and the humoral response. The main difference between these two responses is that the cell mediated involves T cells, while the humoral response involves B cells. Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of body cells, while tumors are the actual extra masses of tissue. They can either be benign, which are noncancerous, or malignant, which are cancerous. Tumors can be treated and they should be if they are malignant because they can go through metastasis, where they spread to other parts of the body. One common possibility of treatment for cancer is chemotherapy, which can result in the loss of hair.
My strengths in this unit is the immune system because I just learned it in AP biology earlier this year, so this is mostly review for me. However, that may also be one of my weaknesses because I can overestimate how well I know the topic and not know enough for the test. Overall, I believe my greatest weakness is thinking that I do not need that much time to study some topics in general and as a result I do not do as well as I would like to. I also feel like the integumentary system is one of my other weaknesses. I feel like some of the layers of skin and distinguishing the glands are tricky for me. I feel like one success for me this unit is that I understand the immune system a lot better. This unit has reenforced some of the topics that we went over in biology that were confusing. I also learned about how I work okay in groups, but can easily become distracted.
I feel that I understand our body's defense much better than before. One thing that I will definitely take from the debate is by staying on top of the work so there is no last minute cramming and everyone knows their jobs. One thing that I want to know more about is how the memory T cells and memory B cells are different besides the fact that they take part in different responses. How do their functions differentiate?
Based on my scores, my preferred style is kinesthetic. It is a whole four points greater than the next highest category. This does not surprise me because I like to be active and struggle to stay focused on one thing when I study. It was more obvious when I was younger because I would not sit still, but I guess it is not something you really grow out of. Based on this learning style, I can do more interactive studying that is more interesting than just straight memorization from a paper. I could make memory matching games out of vocabulary and its definition to make studying more interactive.
