Reflecting on Unit 1

In this first unit we learn pretty much just the basics of anatomy to set us up for everything else we are going to learn. We started off with terms of how to simply describe the parts of the body and how to identify where specific spots are on the body. We performed a post-mortem examination on a banana to put the vocabulary in use. We used terms like anterior/posterior, superior/inferior, proximal/distal, medial/lateral, and sagittal to describe where the wounds were located on the body.

We next learned about the different kinds of tissues that make up all the organs and organ systems in our bodies. The four types of tissues are:

Epithelial                                       Muscle                                   Connective                              Nervous  

Epithelial Cells cover every organ and make up our skin. Epithelial tissue can be made of three different types of cells, squamous, cuboidal and columnar. Epithelial tissues are made to protect our bodies from infections and secrete/absorbs substances to provide what we need for our body. 

There are three different types of muscle tissues: skeletal, cardiac, and smooth all with unique functions and structures. Skeletal muscle is for voluntary movement of our limbs. The cardiac muscle tissue is exactly what you would expect as it is the type of muscle in the heart to push blood throughout our body. Smooth muscle makes up the walls of the organs to move nutrients and other stuff around our digestive system. Smooth and cardiac are both involuntary. 

Connective tissues are the most varied classification because they make up everything that isn't covered in the other types of tissues. I don't quite understand everything about connective tissues since it is such a broad category with many different types of cells. The picture shows bone, but there is also fat cells, collagen, cartilage, and blood all within the extra-cellular matrix. 

Nervous tissue is the simplest in a sense because its only purpose is to send signal through out the body and let cells communicate with each other. 

We learned, through the sugar tasting experiment, that the structure of a thing, directly relates to is purpose, and in the context of the lab, how it tastes.

In the next unit, I plan to apply all the terms and general concepts we learned so far to the upcoming units so I retain as much as possible and simply build on the concepts rather than throwing it all out and restarting.