Homeostasis
For this and all projects, really, one has to have intimate knowledge of the scientific method. It begins with the identification of a problem and background research. That is a very complex step, because sometimes research can be very difficult as some problems like global warming have so much literature and others like the etymology of the word “vatican” have so little. Next comes the hypothesis, which is essentially an educated guess on the results of a still-unplanned experiment. This needs to be as realistic and as measurable as possible, and intrinsically related to the background research. In our experiment, this was that a person’s breathing rate was going to be about 40-60 per minute. After this comes the planning and execution of the experiment, which needs to be able to either disprove or the hypothesis. Otherwise, the hypothesis would be meaningless and the problem would not be any closer to a solution. My group and I did this by thinking about typical exercises that may be implied by our earlier research. We also had to keep the exercise somewhat brief so that we could have a plethora of data. The penultimate steps of the scientific method is the Analysis and the Conclusion. The way that my group and I analyzed the data is we subtracted the initial rates from the end rates and calculated the mean of the differences. We then tried to figure out what this raw data meant in terms of our hypothesis, deducing that it meant that a breathing rate increase was consistent and therefore significant throughout the runs. The very last step of the method is the communication of results, which has to be understandable and somewhat simplistic. For this step, my group and I explained what this data meant in terms of breathing rates. It meant that breathing rates do rise after exercise, but stabilize after a relatively short period of time. The scientific method is essential for almost any kind of testing, be it technological, educational, or almost anything else.
Because of the particular characteristics of our project, we had to learn about the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, homeostasis, and where they all intersect at the regulation of a person’s breathing rate. The respiratory system primarily consists of the lungs, which transport oxygen from outside the human body to unoxygenated blood. Blood is then pumped by the heart to muscles being used which could explain the temporary uptick in breathing rate that takes place right after exercise. This entire phenomenon is caused by homeostasis, the regulation of stability present in many systems, including the human body.
Because of the particular characteristics of our project, we had to learn about the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, homeostasis, and where they all intersect at the regulation of a person’s breathing rate. The respiratory system primarily consists of the lungs, which transport oxygen from outside the human body to unoxygenated blood. Blood is then pumped by the heart to muscles being used which could explain the temporary uptick in breathing rate that takes place right after exercise. This entire phenomenon is caused by homeostasis, the regulation of stability present in many systems, including the human body.
Evidence
Reflection
During this project, I learned many things, about myself, and about society at large. I learned how to work with people who I may have disagreed with in the past, how to problem solve and how to manage paranoia. I found myself getting nervous about my role several times throughout the project as I had had similar issues with a certain member of my group in the past. However, all was well and my fears were never proven to be rational. I had done a solid portion of the work and was never undermined by anyone in my group in any way. My ideas were heard and some were instated. I enjoyed learning about homeostasis and breathing rates, as it is often very interesting to pore over. My only real issue was that I wish I was able to contribute even more in this project, but that was okay, because I could help with little problems such as awkward phrasing throughout my classmates’ work. Another issue that I had was that my group wanted to use somebody from our group to test the breathing rate. I knew that this would add a bias to our results, but my group members said that it would be very hard to find someone in the middle of a class period who could run for us, so I accepted that. It was then that I learned to problem solve, compromising with my group despite believing in something different. I enjoyed constructing the abstract for the initial portion of the project, figuring out how to best summarize the experiment and our findings. Through highs and lows in this project, I was able to learn so much about my peers and truly change myself.