The Task
My group, Daniel, Max, and I, were assigned the task to research a type of homeostasis, conduct a test, and create an article and poster presenting our results. We chose blood sugar as our research topic. We had to research what the body does to keep blood sugar levels stable and conduct a test to prove it. This was our process.
The Article
Part of this project was to create a scientific article about our research. Our article is 4 pages long with a works cited page at the end. The first section is the abstract, which outlines the entire article's content. The second section is the introduction, which introduces the reader to homeostasis, blood sugar, and the reason why we conducted the test. The third section is our hypothesis, which is the statement that we attempted to prove or disprove with our test. The fourth section is the materials, which is the items used to conduct the test. The fifth section is the data, which was the information we gathered from the test. We also had a data analysis section which further went into the meaning of the data. The sixth and final section was the conclusion, which tied the data back to the hypothesis, determined what went right and wrong, and talked about possible future tests.
The Poster
The other part of the project was the poster. The poster had to be modeled after our article. We just put our article into the slide and adjusted the font, size, and length of each section to fit into the poster. The poster was presented in a gallery walk in class on a chromebook in fullscreen mode on Google Slides.
The Scientific Method
The scientific method is a universal method used to learn and gather information about the world. It generally consists of 7 major steps:
1) Ask a question: The scientific method always starts off with observation and a question. A question is needed to turn a scientist in the right direction for their experiment. For our experiment, our question was "How does homeostasis and blood sugar connect?"
2) Do background research: The next step is to gather as much information as possible about the question. This helps a scientist figure out what's already known and what's not already known. It also helps them think of experiments. For our experiment, we researched homeostasis, the causes and effects of high and low blood sugar, feedback loops, and how are body keeps blood sugar from changing too much.
3) Create a hypothesis: This step is critical. The hypothesis, usually an "if-then" statement, is the statement the scientist will test in their experiment. It must be testable because the experiment is modeled after the hypothesis. Our hypothesis was "If a person’s blood sugar becomes too high or too low, then the body will produce a hormone from the pancreas to bring the blood sugar back to normal levels."
4) Test the hypothesis: The hypothesis is then tested with an experiment. Our experiment used one test subject and lasted 2 days. The subject would only eat foods high in sugar three times over the course of the first day and then eat salad three times over the course of the second day. The subject would take their blood sugar when they woke up, before they went to sleep, and before and after every meal they ate. They would take their blood sugar 8 times a day and 16 times overall. Our test also had multiple kinds of variables.
Independent Variable - Independent variable are variables that don't rely on another variable to exist. In our experiment, the independent variable was the consumed food.
Dependent Variable - Dependent variables are variables that rely on the independent variable to exist. In our experiment, the dependent variable was the blood sugar because the blood sugar changed with the consumed food.
Control Variable - Control variables are variables that don't change. Our experiment had multiple control variables. Some examples are the number of blood sugar measurements in a day, the number of meals, and the glucometer used.
5) Record and analyze the data: The next step is to record the data from the experiment and analyze it. In our experiment, we recorded all the blood sugar measurements. Upon analysis, we saw that blood sugar spiked when the subject ate sugary foods and dropped when the subject didn't.
6) Draw a conclusion: Drawing a conclusion involves figuring out if the hypothesis was correct or incorrect, why, and what further experiments can be done. In our experiment, we concluded that our hypothesis was correct. Our data showed that the body always kept blood sugar levels at a certain point and it brought it down when it went up and brought it up when it went down.
7) Communicate results: The final step is to share the results with other scientists and compare conclusions. Although we didn't share our data with other scientists, we did present our information to the class. We showed the poster to everyone and answered questions for them.
1) Ask a question: The scientific method always starts off with observation and a question. A question is needed to turn a scientist in the right direction for their experiment. For our experiment, our question was "How does homeostasis and blood sugar connect?"
2) Do background research: The next step is to gather as much information as possible about the question. This helps a scientist figure out what's already known and what's not already known. It also helps them think of experiments. For our experiment, we researched homeostasis, the causes and effects of high and low blood sugar, feedback loops, and how are body keeps blood sugar from changing too much.
3) Create a hypothesis: This step is critical. The hypothesis, usually an "if-then" statement, is the statement the scientist will test in their experiment. It must be testable because the experiment is modeled after the hypothesis. Our hypothesis was "If a person’s blood sugar becomes too high or too low, then the body will produce a hormone from the pancreas to bring the blood sugar back to normal levels."
4) Test the hypothesis: The hypothesis is then tested with an experiment. Our experiment used one test subject and lasted 2 days. The subject would only eat foods high in sugar three times over the course of the first day and then eat salad three times over the course of the second day. The subject would take their blood sugar when they woke up, before they went to sleep, and before and after every meal they ate. They would take their blood sugar 8 times a day and 16 times overall. Our test also had multiple kinds of variables.
Independent Variable - Independent variable are variables that don't rely on another variable to exist. In our experiment, the independent variable was the consumed food.
Dependent Variable - Dependent variables are variables that rely on the independent variable to exist. In our experiment, the dependent variable was the blood sugar because the blood sugar changed with the consumed food.
Control Variable - Control variables are variables that don't change. Our experiment had multiple control variables. Some examples are the number of blood sugar measurements in a day, the number of meals, and the glucometer used.
5) Record and analyze the data: The next step is to record the data from the experiment and analyze it. In our experiment, we recorded all the blood sugar measurements. Upon analysis, we saw that blood sugar spiked when the subject ate sugary foods and dropped when the subject didn't.
6) Draw a conclusion: Drawing a conclusion involves figuring out if the hypothesis was correct or incorrect, why, and what further experiments can be done. In our experiment, we concluded that our hypothesis was correct. Our data showed that the body always kept blood sugar levels at a certain point and it brought it down when it went up and brought it up when it went down.
7) Communicate results: The final step is to share the results with other scientists and compare conclusions. Although we didn't share our data with other scientists, we did present our information to the class. We showed the poster to everyone and answered questions for them.
Important Concepts
Homeostasis - Homeostasis is a term for when the body maintains a stable internal environment. It does this by releasing a wide variety of chemicals and performing certain actions depending on the situation. In our studies, the body maintains homeostasis with blood sugar by producing hormones from the pancreas to keep it at a normal level.
Feedback Loop - A feedback loop is a loop where a cause, or stimulus, creates an effect, or response, which goes back to being a stimulus. This creates a loop that can either amplify or dampen a stimulus.
Positive - A positive feedback loop amplifies a stimulus. There isn't necessarily a positive feedback loop in biology, but a common example is with sound. If a microphone picks up sound from its own amplifier, then the sound becomes exponentially louder. The stimulus is the microphone and the response is the amplifier, increasing the stimulus.
Negative - A negative feedback loop dampens a stimulus. Homeostasis is many negative feedback loops. In our example, when blood sugar rises, the body dampens this stimulus by responding with insulin. The blood sugar levels drop, returning to normal levels.
Pancreas - The pancreas is a digestive and endocrine organ that produces hormones that control blood sugar levels. In our experiment, it was the pancreas that leveled out the subject's blood sugar.
Insulin - Insulin is one of the hormones produced by the pancreas. Its job is to lower blood sugar if it gets too high. Insulin can be seen in action on the first day of the experiment.
Glucagon - Glucagon is another one of the hormones produced by the pancreas. It's job is to raise blood sugar if it gets too low. Glucagon can be seen in action on the second day of the experiment.
Blood Sugar - Blood sugar is the amount of glucose in the blood of a human body. This was the main thing focused on in our experiment.
Hypoglycemia - Hypoglycemia is a term for when someone's blood sugar is too low. This is caused by eating too little sugar.
Hyperglycemia - Hyperglycemia is a term for when someone's blood sugar is too high. This is caused by eating too much sugar.
Glucometer - A glucometer is a tool used to measure blood sugar. The subject used a glucometer for the test.
mg/dL - This unit stands for milligrams per deciliter. It's used to measure blood sugar. For instance, when the subject's blood sugar was 120 mg/dL on the first morning, it would be 120 milligrams of glucose per deciliter of blood.
Feedback Loop - A feedback loop is a loop where a cause, or stimulus, creates an effect, or response, which goes back to being a stimulus. This creates a loop that can either amplify or dampen a stimulus.
Positive - A positive feedback loop amplifies a stimulus. There isn't necessarily a positive feedback loop in biology, but a common example is with sound. If a microphone picks up sound from its own amplifier, then the sound becomes exponentially louder. The stimulus is the microphone and the response is the amplifier, increasing the stimulus.
Negative - A negative feedback loop dampens a stimulus. Homeostasis is many negative feedback loops. In our example, when blood sugar rises, the body dampens this stimulus by responding with insulin. The blood sugar levels drop, returning to normal levels.
Pancreas - The pancreas is a digestive and endocrine organ that produces hormones that control blood sugar levels. In our experiment, it was the pancreas that leveled out the subject's blood sugar.
Insulin - Insulin is one of the hormones produced by the pancreas. Its job is to lower blood sugar if it gets too high. Insulin can be seen in action on the first day of the experiment.
Glucagon - Glucagon is another one of the hormones produced by the pancreas. It's job is to raise blood sugar if it gets too low. Glucagon can be seen in action on the second day of the experiment.
Blood Sugar - Blood sugar is the amount of glucose in the blood of a human body. This was the main thing focused on in our experiment.
Hypoglycemia - Hypoglycemia is a term for when someone's blood sugar is too low. This is caused by eating too little sugar.
Hyperglycemia - Hyperglycemia is a term for when someone's blood sugar is too high. This is caused by eating too much sugar.
Glucometer - A glucometer is a tool used to measure blood sugar. The subject used a glucometer for the test.
mg/dL - This unit stands for milligrams per deciliter. It's used to measure blood sugar. For instance, when the subject's blood sugar was 120 mg/dL on the first morning, it would be 120 milligrams of glucose per deciliter of blood.
Reflection
This project was more focused on the scientific method and testing. We worked with different kinds of homeostasis and connected a lot of what we learned to our project. I believe that I contributed well to the project. Some of my strengths were the poster design and the introduction. My group all did their part on the article, but I worked on the poster mostly on my own. I found ways to fit the text onto the slide in creative ways and tried not to make it cumbersome at the same time. The poster managed to fit all the information we needed. Another strength of mine was the introduction writing. I combined a lot of my research into the introduction and wrote it as concisely as I could. The introduction ended up being strong and it helped set up the rest of the project and experiment very nicely.
I had strengths, but I had noticeable weaknesses. Some of my weaknesses were the lack of contribution to the actual experiment and my confusion over the actual test. The test required the poking of a subject's finger 16 times over the course of two days. I was unable to be part of this test because of my dislike of stabbing myself at school. It would've been great if I participated as a subject, but I can't poke myself. My other weakness was my confusion over the experiment. The experiment changed multiple times before we actually performed it. It took me longer than needed to figure out that it changed and even longer for me to understand the change. It would've been better for everyone if I was able to clear up the confusion with myself.
My weaknesses impacted the group, but my strengths impacted the group much more. This project was unique and I'm glad I had a strong group to do it with. I'm excited for the next project.
I had strengths, but I had noticeable weaknesses. Some of my weaknesses were the lack of contribution to the actual experiment and my confusion over the actual test. The test required the poking of a subject's finger 16 times over the course of two days. I was unable to be part of this test because of my dislike of stabbing myself at school. It would've been great if I participated as a subject, but I can't poke myself. My other weakness was my confusion over the experiment. The experiment changed multiple times before we actually performed it. It took me longer than needed to figure out that it changed and even longer for me to understand the change. It would've been better for everyone if I was able to clear up the confusion with myself.
My weaknesses impacted the group, but my strengths impacted the group much more. This project was unique and I'm glad I had a strong group to do it with. I'm excited for the next project.