The Digestive System Lab

     In our digestive system lab, we measured the length of our esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. We took measurements of each part and used colorful string to represent each stage in our digestion. In taking the lengths of our moth, esophagus, and stomach we used external parts of our body to get as accurate of measurements we could have; our small intestine however is 4 times the length of our body as you can see the white string coiled around itself in the picture below. After doing this project, I realized how much I underestimated the length of my digestive system, as I never thought about the complexity in each organ or step of the process. I knew that my small and large intestine were coiled up inside my body, making them longer than my esophagus which sits straight inside my body, but not until I had to measure 672 cm of white string did I truly notice their extreme length.

      The length of my digestive system is 734.8 cm longer than the total height of my body. While this accumulates to a large number, our digestive is able to fit inside our abdomen due to the coiling of our small and large intestine. In addition, our organs are placed both front and back from each other, allowing everything to fit in a smaller environment.
    I think it takes about 20 hours for food to pass through the entire system. In reality, it takes an average of about 50 hours for our food to entirely pass through our digestive system. When food enters our stomach, acids are produced to process and absorb the nutrients in our food and turn it into a mixture called chyme. Our intestines also absorb nutrients for our body and remove the bacteria and wastes, thus forming stool or feces that leaves the body through the anus.

     Digestion is defined as breaking down the food we eat, involving both mechanical and chemical digestion. Essentially it breaks down the food into smaller pieces for our organs to process. Absorption is defined as our body taking in the nutrients from our food and sending through our blood and towards the rest of our body. Digestion is breaking down our food while absorption is taking in the nutrients from our food, distributing towards the rest of the body.  
     I want to learn more about what kinds of food affect the travel time and health of my digestive system. In terms of junk food or other sugary foods, what how does our body respond overtime to processing those foods? In comparison I know that fiber helps to wipe out the toxins in our body and travels through our system fairly quickly.

     

New Year Goals

My SMART goal for this class is to become more comfortable going into exams, and developing better study habits when preparing for tests. I want to be less stressed going into the test and know I have studied to my full potential, and feel confident afterwards of achieving the grade I want. I am setting this goal, not intended as a ¨grade-motivated¨ goal; however I will achieving A in the class would be a indicator of my progress, I will focus on seeing my growth throughout the semester and prepare myself better for other classes as well. Looking back at last semester, I know that I would have had better performance on tests if I dedicated more time to studying effectively and making better use of my time. Leading into my second goal, I will procrastinate less and motivate myself to get things done as soon as possible, instead of stressing myself out till the last minute. I have always had the tendencies to procrastinate my school work until the night before it is due; however, I will alter some things in my environment and study plan to meet this goal. 

Action Plan for Studying and Test Performance:

1. I will review my test from semester one and see where I missed points the most. Go through the notes I took in preparation and see what worked and what did not. 
2. I will find an empty notebook or notebooks and dedicate them as my study notebook for all my classes. I have found I enjoy taking notes as review and will spend more energy using this method. Use colorful pens, and sticky tabs to make studying enjoyable and keep me organized. 
3. I will turn off all distractions when studying: power off my phone, go to the library often to find a quiet place, or the coffee shop. 
4. For harder subjects or units, I will gather a study group and make flashcards together/ quiz each other/ keep each other motivated while helping each other study. 
5. Track my test scores in my planner so I can look back at previous grades and continue aiming higher each time. 
6. I will not beat down on myself when I receive a poor grade, rather go to step one and see what I missed and see how I can fix those gaps or issues.