Immune SySTEM
In this project we were given a system to study and build a model of a system in the body. Our group was given the immune system
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Our first step was to research our sySTEM. Here you can see our presentation we gave to the class on the immune and lymphatic system. Below this text I also included our document where we had our research
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Next we had to model it. Here's our proposal
Our Project
It was very hard for us to think of a project suitable for exhibition. We had lots of building and scrapping ideas. We settled on a wood board decorated with a water balloon within another balloon. The balloon represents a macrophage, or white blood cell, and the balloon within it is a bacterium that was engulfed. After this we pour various glitter colors on the balloon to represent antigens that show on the outside of the macrophage, and the T-cells coming to exterminate the infected cell.
Our final product differed greatly from our initial ideas to model the system. Our first idea was to smash fruit with a hammer, where the fruit represents a disease and the hammer is a white blood cell. This just wasn't scientific enough and was too vague. Next we thought to put food dye in milk then expel it using dish soap. This too was seen as too vague. Our last idea before making the final project was putting puzzle pieces together and when they matched, a light would go off. This was meant to symbolize the identification of foreign substances. We almost went through with this design, but we did not have enough time to execute it. |
The Final Product
Our project was completed with an array of posters, the balloon exhibit, and a play on the game Perfection. Our presentations went well, though awkward when time came to blow up the balloon and throw glitter on it. It seems that the audience enjoyed our performance though, so I'm happy with how it went. The parts of our model that did not work include our effort to make the model seem more complicated by attaching our cups to string. Also, the spray paint on the board didn't look great, but it had a lot of heart so I think that's some sort of compensation.
This project was difficult to get started. It was also difficult to finish. We didn't know how to even begin with the immune system. I still wasn't very satisfied with our final models, but I know that it was the best we could do. Some successes we had were finding fun facts for the immune system. They ended up being the answers to most of the questions asked of us on exhibition night. Our posters were also top-notch.
The Immune System Project
Buy it because I don't want it. Does not include laptop or plastic cup.
Details:
Includes:
-purple/gray/green plywood board
-spray painted cups
-string
-deflated balloon
Dimensions unknown. Sorry
Details:
Includes:
-purple/gray/green plywood board
-spray painted cups
-string
-deflated balloon
Dimensions unknown. Sorry
The Grand Rounds Project
In this short project each group was assigned an endocrine system disease. Ours was dwarfism. One member of each group would then roleplay as patients with that disease to a team of "doctors" (a group of our classmates) who would try to diagnose us by the symptoms we tell them we had. The diagnosis process was us researching the symptoms we were told and then try to find the corresponding disease. We made tables on a paper with columns "claim," "evidence," and "reason." We would put our ideas for the disease in the claim column, the symptoms of it in the evidence column, and the hormones that cause this in the reason column. When we thought we figured it out, we documented all of this in a paragraph. This is one of those paragraphs:
"The disease one patient we had had was Turner Syndrome. She came in because she was having trouble getting pregnant and had back pain. The symptoms and features of Turner’s include infertility, short stature, and scoliosis. This occurs because of abnormal developments of the second X chromosome meaning it’s only partially exists, which affects the body’s ability to produce estrogen. This lack of estrogen and ovarian insufficiency impacts growth and fertility. These reasons and correlations led us to believe our patient has Turner syndrome."
"The disease one patient we had had was Turner Syndrome. She came in because she was having trouble getting pregnant and had back pain. The symptoms and features of Turner’s include infertility, short stature, and scoliosis. This occurs because of abnormal developments of the second X chromosome meaning it’s only partially exists, which affects the body’s ability to produce estrogen. This lack of estrogen and ovarian insufficiency impacts growth and fertility. These reasons and correlations led us to believe our patient has Turner syndrome."
This concludes the Grand Rounds project.