Reflection for Term 2

What we covered:

We mostly covered biology, sexual reproduction and ecology.

Sexual reproduction we basically learnt about the male's reproductive system and the female's reproductive system. It became quite complex when all the new terms were taught to us.





We also learnt about what happens when we go through puberty. For example, we tend to grow pubic hair, facial hair and armpit hair. Changes inside of our body also occur. We might experience things such as wet dreams when we hit puberty.

Furthermore, we learnt about the process of sexual reproduction whereby the sperm swims towards the egg. We learnt the parts of the egg and the sperm.



Menstrual Cycle:

Menstruation
Main article: Menstruation

Menstruation is also called menstrual bleeding, menses, catamenia or a period. The flow of menses normally serves as a sign that a woman has not become pregnant. (However, this cannot be taken as certainty, as a number of factors can cause bleeding during pregnancy; some factors are specific to early pregnancy, and some can cause heavy flow.)

Name of phase Average start day Average end day
( assuming a 28-day cycle )
Menstrual phase (Menstruation) 1 4
Proliferative phase (sometimes known as Menstruation) 5 13
Ovulatory phase (Ovulation) 13 16
Luteal phase (also known as Secretory phase) 16 28
Ischemic phase 27 28
Follicular phase 1 13


This topic was difficult because a lot of memorising was needed. Thus, I feel that this is one of the topics that need intensive revision in order to do well in.


Lastly, we learnt about the sexually transmitted diseases. These diseases can be consequences of unhealthy sex. They can be transmitted mostly through sex.
Gonorrhea, Syphilis and Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are examples of sexually transmitted diseases.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, A.K.A. AIDS, is a sexually transmitted disease.

The symptoms of AIDS are primarily the result of conditions that do not normally develop in individuals with healthy immune systems. Most of these conditions are infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites that are normally controlled by the elements of the immune system that HIV damages.

Opportunistic infections are common in people with AIDS. These infections affect nearly every organ system.

People with AIDS also have an increased risk of developing various cancers such as Kaposi's sarcoma, cervical cancer and cancers of the immune system known as lymphomas. Additionally, people with AIDS often have systemic symptoms of infection like fevers, sweats (particularly at night), swollen glands, chills, weakness, and weight loss.[42][43] The specific opportunistic infections that AIDS patients develop depend in part on the prevalence of these infections in the geographic area in which the patient lives.

AIDS is very dangerous and lethal and is a very serious disease. This makes us think twice when we want to have unhealthy sex.

Ecology

Ecology is basically the environment and the factors that affect it. There are 10:

1.Temperature
2.pH
3.Oxygen Content
4.Humidity
5.Amount of water
6.Wave Action
7.Wind speed
8.Light Intensity
9.Salinity
10.Type of substratum

These are the factors that affect the environment and others.
We also learnt about food web and food chain whereby the ecosystem will be affected if one species of living organisms were introduced or wiped out.

Reflections:
I feel that it was a challenging but interesting topic. All of them required a lot of memorising. However, I failed to study hard enough and thus did not do well for the test, acquiring a 23/40. I hope to do better for the next term as I have not been doing well for science for this year.