Animal Investigation Labs: Self Assessment

Mussel Dissection
Squid Dissection

Curricular Response

Throughout the animal unit within my life-science eleven class, we had the opportunity to dissect a various number of animals. My two favourite dissections were the squid dissection and the mussel dissection, which are pictured above. Although my teacher provided the class with diagrams of each animal, seeing them up close and in real life, allowed me to improve my understanding of each body system. An example would be the squid lab, there were so many different body parts that I had not heard of before, and I was nervous going into the dissection. Once we arrived in the superlab and I had my squid in front of me, I was able to look at the provided diagram and figure out where each part was. My teacher also went through each body part, pointing to where they were. I am nearly certain that if we did not go over that, I would have been confused as to where each part is, what it looks like, and the function of each. When I was dissecting the mussel, I opened it with a razor blade and studied the parts. Seeing all of the parts in real life helped me to memorize where the parts were, which is important to know for my upcoming animal exam. Within the animal unit in my life-science eleven class, using the dissections to my advantage furthered my understanding and helped me to learn each part of the different animal body systems.

Core Competency Self-Assessment

The Mantel, Arms, Pen, and Tentacles of the squid.

The dissection I am most proud of is by far the squid lab; and not only because we made calamari with it. I believe it is important to celebrate your accomplishments, it is a great way to award yourself after doing something challenging. I was nervous going into the squid lab, as it is the biggest animal we have dissected within this course. There were many hard cuts that I had to be precise with, or else I would have messed up my entire dissection. I am proud to say I completed everything successfully, and in order to celebrate the class’s accomplishments, we made calamari with the squids that we dissected. After a long lab, eating calamari with the squid that we dissected was the perfect way to celebrate. As seen in the photo to the right, my final product can be seen, which I am very proud of.

Throughout the various animal labs, I faced physical, intellectual, and emotional challenges. A physical challenge that I face in almost every dissection lab was my shaky hands. It was hard to make precise cuts when my hands were shaking. In order to overcome this challenge, I went slow and took my time. I eventually made those precise cuts, although I fell behind the class. I really wanted to make sure that all of my cuts were perfect, and by taking my time I did just that. An intellectual challenge I had was in the mussel dissection lab. I was confused as to where all of the body parts were. In order to overcome this challenge, I had to look at multiple diagrams and ask my partners for help. Eventually, I identified all of the parts, but it took me some time. An emotional challenge I had was during my worm lab. We got to play with the worms one day, and then the next day they were dead and we had to dissect them. It was hard for me to dissect them, as I was sad that they were dead. Emotionally it was hard to cut into them with a razor blade, as I had previously named them. I overcame this emotional roadblock by realizing that in order to get a good mark, I would need to dissect the worms. I also realized that they were already dead, so even if I were to dissect them, it wouldn’t matter, as they were already dead.

Natural Selection Critical Thinking Self-Assessment

Collecting and sorting red and black prey, while they are camouflaged in a red environment. An example of natural selection.

I demonstrated that I can collect and analyze evidence when I recorded my data for both labs. During the first lab pictured, I successfully went through the steps of the lab, executing them properly and efficiently. Afterward and during the lab, I collected all of the evidence I had found; an example is when I counted the amount of red prey vs black prey and compared them towards each other in each environment. A second example is when in the second lab, I analyzed all of my collected data and came to a conclusion. The conclusion was that the spoon-feeding tool was the best for gathering food in each environment.

I demonstrated I can collect evidence and connect big ideas when doing lab questions. After each lab, we were asked multiple questions regarding the data that we found. This is a perfect example of connecting evidence/data to big ideas. An example would be within the pictured lab; I connected my evidence/data and discovered that, over successive generations, there would be genetic changes based on the specific environment that the prey are in. In a red environment, as pictured above, over successive generations due to natural selection the black prey would slowly turn more into a red colour, as demonstrated the data recorded, the red survived/thrived more within this environment than the black.

I demonstrated that I can make predictions based on evidence during the second lab. Within this lab, we were each given different feeding tools, (spoon, fork, knife, chopsticks, broken fork, and handle,) and we had to pick up various food with them, to fill up a small-sized cup. During the lab, I recorded evidence and data to make and prove predictions. One of the predictions I made was that the spoon-feeding tool will become the most common in each environment. This is because of the data I found; in each of the four environments, the spoon filled up the cup in the fastest amount of time and was efficient doing so. Based on this evidence, I can confidently say that the spoon will be the “alpha utensil,” within each tested environment, with the other utensils either migrating, dying off, or struggling for survival due to starvation and competition with the spoon.

I demonstrated that I can come to reasonable conclusions when completing lab questions. During both of the labs, multiple conclusions were made based on the data and the process of doing the lab. An example of one of these conclusions is from the first lab; the ultimate conclusion was that when prey are camouflaged, they will survive compared to the prey that are not. An example of this conclusion is within the red environment pictured above; the data was a clear depiction of camouflage equalling survival. The data collected shows a significant number of red prey survived, and a significant number of black prey died. This reasonable conclusion uses both knowledges of natural selection, as well as using the data to its full advantage.