benjaminburk's blog

When searching for the figure we must find for class I have multiple goals to reach and or meet. I hope to find a species that is native to the Americas and ideally something native to the northeast or Massachusetts. My hope is that by focusing my search I would be able to find the figure I look for on the campus and hopefully I can use it for my final project. In general I think I would benefit from looking up what the conservatory on campus holds and focus the search from there. Overall I am very excited for this activity because I believe it will greatly enhance my ability to complete the final project.  

After reading the article asssigned to us this week I had multiple thoughts. Overall I found the articel quite interesting and insightful. I specifically enjoyed the analogy the author mentioned comparing a cell to a large crowd. His explanation of the activity of letting the student describe the problems a crowd would face in a public event and then relating it back to the activity and challenges a cell faces was very, very intriguing. The author did a fantastic job of showing specific examples presented in the activity, for example a problem a large crowd may face could stem from concession or food, meanwhile on a cellular level gaining nutrient is of the utmost importance and a challenge each cell faces often. This simplification of the analogy would be very useful in a intro level biology class and Im sure with a few tweaks it could also be helpful in the upper level classes.

The separate category of transportation isnt the only category I could have chosen. Another category I could have chosen would been personal care, in my mind this includes personal hygiene acts, eating and other time spent to improving personal health such as going to the gym. I begin my day by showering and brushing my teeth I then began with breakfast, which included a banana and a coffee. After my two classes I went to blue wall where I ate lunch from The Deli and a glass of water. After lunch I walked over to the Rec Center beginning my workout on the second floor and ending it on the third floor on the stationary bikes. After this I went home showered, had a snack and then later on in the night I made dinner. Before bed I brushed my teeth one last time.

For the separate class of activity, I experience during my typical Mondays I decided to involve travel, whether it be walking, running or riding a bus. I began my day walking down stairs and out of my house. From my house I walked to the bus stop across from CVS, where I got on the 33 and rode it all the way to the Studio Arts Building bus stop. I then got off the bus and walked to my class in Morill 2 207, being sure to cut through Morill 1 because it was cold. I then left class and walked to my next class in Morill 2 131. After leaving that class I walked Blue Wall for lunch. After ordering a sandwich from the deli I preceded to walk to a table and eat my sandwich. After eating my lunch I walked to the dish room to put my tray away and then continued walking to the ILC bus stop, where I got on the 33 once more. I took the 33 to the bus stop across from CVS, where I got off and walked back to my house.

I found both articles that we were tasked with reading this week very interesting, they were also very similar structurally and information wise as well. After reading chapter 7 in the class required text the reason for the similarities is quite obvious, the methodically thought out structure allows a logical and strong flow of ideas making it extremely easy for the readers, even novel ones, to understand the topics at hand. As for the specific simlarites seen, one example is the  the level one headers, normally centered and bolded, of both articles contained both the title of the paper or large section, the authors and the publication information. The level 2 headers, which were bolded and orientated to the left, of the papers preceded to contain the section descriptions, such as introduction or abstract and indicated when a new topic or study was about to be discussed. When each section was broken down and looked at closely the similarites continued to appear. For each of the papers specific sections were structured similar to the way the whole paper was, but in an abbreviated version obviously. The individual section had intro paragraphs, normally the first paragraph of each section, to introduce the information and then the sections continue on, providing new statistics and information, each one building off of the last one. Each section was also responsible for providing new information and statistics of the overall topic. The similarities continued to be noticeable even when observing the individual paragraphs. For example they each had a topic sentence to either transition between paragraphs or introduce a new topic. This methodically thought out structure and the similarities seen throughout the field of scientific writing allow the ideas to be very logically organized and flow well. And the fact that each sentence continues to build on the ideas presented in the first and second level headers and the topic sentence of the specific paragraph really assists the reader in understanding the overall point of the paper.

I found both articels that we were tasked with reading this week very interesting, they were also very similar in the way they were structured. After reading chapter 7 the reason for the similarities is quite obvious, it allows a logical and strong flow of ideas and makes it easier for the readers to understand the topics at hand. As for specific simlarites scene one example is the  the level one headers of both articles contained the title of the paper, the authors and the publication information. The level 2 headers of the papers preceded to contain the section descriptions, such as introduction or abstract and are placed when a new topic or study is about to be discussed. When each section was broken down and looked at the similarites continued to appear. For the papers each section is structured similar to the way of the whole paper is but in an abbreviated version obviously, they have intro paragraphs, normally the first paragraph of each section, to introduce the information and then the sections continue on, providing new statistics and information. Each section was also responsible for providing new information and statistics of the overall topic. As for the individual paragraphs they each had a topic sentence to either transition the paragraphs or introduce a new topic. This methodical structure and the similarities seen throughout the scientific field allow the ideas to be very logically organized and flow well. And the fact that each sentence continues to build on the idea presented in the second header and the topic sentence of the specific paragraph really assists the reader in understanding the overall point of the paper.

• The level one headers contain the title and authors and publication information
• The level 2 headers contain the section descriptions, such as introduction or abstract and are placed when a new topic or study is about to be discussed
• Each section is structured similar to the way of the whole paper is but in an abbreviated version obviously, they have intro paragraphs to introduce the information and then the sections continue on, providing new statistics and information
• Each section is responsible for providing new information and statistics of the overall topic
• ​The first paragraph of each section stands as an intro for the rest of the section by giving  brief description and background of the topics about to be discussed
• ​All of the individual paragraphs had a topic sentence to either transition the paragraphs or introduce a new topic
• The idea are very logically organized and each sentence continues to build on the idea presented in the second header and the topic sentence of the specific paragraph

This projects specific goal is to create a multi paneled scientific illustration that displays a flowering plant on the Umass campus. Meanwhile the project also hopes to enhance our scientific writing ability and our ability to contruct a methods section that can be followed by a complete stranger and still provide the same results.(Include organism name and brief background here). The organism being sampled resides in the Durfee Conservatory and Garden on the Umass campus between UHS and Morill. It is a flowering organism that is not within normal human reach in order to reduce the amount of interaction witht he sample. It is a bright and vibrant organism that sticks out within the garden, allowing it to be easily identifiable. (Include physical description of organism here). The fact that the organism has reduced human interaction and is also easily identifiable will allow this experiment to be easy replicated by other interested scholars.  Overall this organism will provide a wonderful sample for this experiment and should allow for a succesful multi-panel to be created.​​

This projects specific goal is to create a multi paneled scientific illustration that displays a flowering plant on the Umass campus. Meanwhile the project also hopes to enhance our scientific writing ability and our ability to contruct a methods section that can be followed by a complete stranger and still provide the same results.

Possible locations to find organism

• Bushes near the library
• Inside conservatory near UHS
• Bushes near ILC

Factors to control/consider when selectiong oranism

• ​Must have flowers
• Must be on the umass campus​
• Minimal human interaction
• Easily Identifiable

Things to remeberfor intro

• ​Include organism background and description
• Explain factors included to facilitate replication

The creature was a bilaterally symmetrical living organism, approximately 50mm in length, with the physical make up and attributes of a maggot. It moves similar to a caterpillar; it consistently moved once being place in the dish except for when touched or when the dish was disturbed. It was brown in color but also slightly transparent allowing the observer to see structures within the main body. It had multiple sets of small legs, six to be precise, a proportionally long tail, approximately 35mm in length, and what appears to be a mouth like structure. It did not seem to have much control of the tail and also seemed to have a defense mechanism of freezing up when it was touched or when the dish was disturbed. Many questions still remain, what is this organism exactly, what does it eat and what is its normal environment, are just a few examples of the many fundamental questions that still remain.