Summary from Week 1-7

Throughout the weeks that I have learned with my lecturer was very fun. At first I thought my lecturer will be very very strict but it is not like that. She is very friendly and cheerful person. I have a good time learning from her.

Everything that I had learned in the few weeks some had change my views towards it, some had add my knowledge, some were unlogical and some made me confuse whether to trust it or just learn it.

In the class, I enjoyed doing SCL because the discussion is very relaxed and convenient. I also found that the discussion stimulate my thinking skills. In school the discussion are held outside of the class so we are quite lost but here the lecturer are with us and ready to guide us. It is a very new experience to me as I get to know my friends in a different way. Other than the stereotype one, which we say our name and others, I know my friend by the way they are thinking and the way they interact with friends.

The best experience is when I get to be a cartoonist to draw and design the comic assignment. I don’t even know that I can draw that good actually. I just like colouring before and I will just draw when I am bored and have nothing else to do other than sleeping.

The other experience that I will not forget is walking to BioTech 3. I don’t know if it is good or bad experience. Sometimes it feels okay but sometimes it is hard. The good feeling comes when at least I know where is the building located. I also know that there are two ways to go there and while walking I can see animals that I cannot found at other places other than that street in UPM such as goat, snakes, flamingos and birds. I was quite excited actually. The hard thing is when it is raining, we don’t have other choice other than just walk through it. Even with an umbrella I am still soaking wet when I reached my room. The building is far away from other buildings in the campus so it took quite a long time for me to reach there. The furthest I walked is from Faculty of Science to BioTech 3.

The last experience is the most informational experience I know when preparing this journal. It is knowing how to create a blog. Before this I am not interested to have a blog and still I am. But for this task at least I know how to create a blog. I have asked my friends how to create a blog but most of them just tell me to google the way. I am quite frustated actually because no one want to teach me so I just find the way to create it in the internet on my own. It takes me a day of my weekend just to create it. At last I can create it and feel relieved. So this is the result even it does not look professional. 

This is maybe the last post in this blog. I just want to give my appreciation to Dr. Parames for teaching me passionately for over 7 weeks and my friends that had help me in a lot of ways for this course. I hope I can pass this subject with flying colours.

This is my faculty (BioTech 1). It is the main building of the faculty where the main offices located.

This is BioTech 3. It is where a lot of lab and lecturer's offices located.

Week 7: Hormone in Plants

This week will be the last lecture with my lecturer because she had finished teaching her part. The last topic is Hormone in Plants. This also not new to me because I had learned it in high school but not that specific. I just know their name and their function.

Unfortunately, this week the haze is so thick. The Air Pollution Index had increased to 260. It is in the range of very unhealthy so the class for that day were all cancelled. Because of that the class were not held. We only had another 1 hour for lecture and it is not enough for us to finish the topic. My lecturer just can explain the first part of the topic so she said that we can read by our own or if we still don’t understand we can still had another class with her.

Plant hormone

I think I learned the best from watching video so I will just find some video about plant’s hormone. If I found the video is boring I can switch to reading mode to read the lecture note and understand more about it.

Week 6: Pollination and Development of Plant

The next week of my campus life, I learned about Pollination and Development of Plant Embryo. The topic is quite familiar to me because I have learned it in high school but for me the process of pollination is quite complicated for me especially the double fertilization and I have forget some part of the fertilization.

Double fertilization

The thing that made me interested in the topic was when the lecturer explained about the cultured plant. Actually I have heard about it for the first time when I am in Form 4. From that moment I was interested to know more about it. But unfortunately I am not exposed too much about that after I finished high school. So I almost forget about my passion but when I was going to choose the course to study in degree I remember it back and try my luck by selecting the course. Then I get the spot in the course in UPM even it is not my first choice, but it is still in my passion. After I see the subject I will learn when I am in the course, I am quite excited because there were subject Applied Science for Plants that I will learned maybe in the third or fourth year. It made me remember straight away to callus because that it the thing that I was very excited to see.

Process to culture plants

During the class my lecturer brought some example of the cultured plant. At first I am very excited because I thought at last I can saw callus in real life. But I am just a little bit disappointed because my lecturer brought the one that had differentiated. I am expecting to see the undifferentiated one but after I had learned about it I just know that not all plant undergo callogenesis and there are some parts of the plant that we need to use to make sure it undergo callogenesis.

Callus

During the class we also did some SCL activities about cell division. We need to complete a flow chart about cell division. For me that activity is quite fun. We also get to discuss the thing that we were not sure before so that we can complete the flow chart. I think that discussion was one of the most productive discussion I had done before in the class.    

 Flow chart

If I were to get the chance to turn back the time. I would pay more attention in the class and maybe do some research before I entered the class so I will not be so lost as I was before and can understand better in the class. My lecturer had done a good job explaining to me but I am the want that need to work harder.

Week 5: Endosymbiosis

The next topic that I learn is about Endosymbiosis. This is not the first time for me to hear the word but I never know the meaning of the word. After knowing the meaning, the idea of it I have heard from my foundation studies lecturer but she said the idea is still fresh and the scientists are still finding more proof about the idea.

In this topic I can’t think how bacteria cell can enter a eukaryote cell and function to help the cell undergo process to produce energy. The theory that eukaryote arose from prokaryote is not relevant for me as it also related to the topic History of Life that I also cannot believe it enough. Maybe in the future someone will find more solid evidence that can make me believe it. Never mind about that because I need to learn it anyway.

Before the class started, my lecturer asked the class to answer a forum in Putra Blast about endosymbiosis and that help me a bit to know about the topic before entering the class. It is also a preparation before I enter the class. 

Forum 

This time the SCL activity helps me a lot in the class as me and my group mates need to cooperate to find the difference and similarities of mitochondria and chloroplast that both known as endosymbiosis bacteria. Before doing the activity I am quite blurry about that topic but Thank God I can digest it after doing the activity because to understand the topic we need to discuss it in a group.

Venn Diagram

Other than that I also learn about cell division in human. It is also a kind of revision session as I have learn about it in secondary school and foundation studies but my lecturer also explain in detail the process in interphase that I don’t know before this.

Cell division process

Mitosis

Week 4: Cell Theory

For the next class I learned about cell theory. The topic is not new to me because I have learned it before in the foundation. But after I learned about the topic it does not only discuss about the person that contributes to cell theory but also about bacteria and archaebacteria that I have heard but do not know their characteristics. I also just know that viroid is not the same as virus and I just heard about prions.

Bacteria

Archaebacteria

Virus

Viroid

Prions

Before the class started, our lecturer asked us to do a pre-class assignment about the person that contributed in the cell theory. At the same time I can revise a bit about what I have learned before. I also get to know the inventions invented by the person such as Robert Hooke, Anton van Leeuwenhoek, Theodore Schwann and Rudolf Virchow. I also get to revise the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell that I almost forgot.

Robert Hooke

Antoni van Leeunhoek

Theodore Shwann

Rudolf Virchow

In the class, after the lecturer explained to us about the topic, she asked us to do a SCL activity about the similarities and differences between bacteria and archaebacteria using Venn diagram. From that activity I can interact with my friends and my friends can explain to me the thing that I don’t understand about archaebacteria and bacteria. The discussion helped me so much to understand more about the topic.

Venn Diagram

After the class, my lecturer asked us to watch a video about cell theory. The video is very hilarious for me because it is an animation that portrays the life of the person that contributed in cell theory and how they interact with each other. I also need to do assignment. I and my group mates need to make a poster about either good or bad bacteria. My group choose the bad bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It is a good experience because I get to cooperate with my group mates and learn how to make a poster. I think it is very funny experience because we sometimes argue about the information that we want to put in the poster in a cute way.

In conclusion, the course had taught me to develop as a student that can identify similarities and the difference of microorganisms as they are very small and look alike.

Week 3: History of Life

In this week, I learn about the history of life. Before going into the topic, I thought the topic is about how human started to live on the earth but it is about how cell prokaryotes and eukaryotes can exist on the earth surface from inorganic substances. At first I can’t relate but after learning and listening the explanation from my lecturer I think it is quite logical and with evidence from Miller-Urey Experiments that inorganic compounds can form organic compound with some encouragement of heat and energy from natural disaster.

Miller-Urey Experiment

The issue that interest me a lot is how living thing exist from something smaller and after many years they become bigger and more complex. The event is very systematic. But I don’t believe the issue because of my religion. For me the logic stops when the organic compounds form polymer.

For this topic, I have learned the best when I  and my group mates are doing the SCL activities. It is due to before the SCL activities I think I have understand the topic but when I need to do the flow chart, I feel confused with the event that need to happen first. Then I try my best to flashback what I have learned and write what I think as the best answer. When we are discussing the answer it turned out that my group is the closest one to the answer. There are just some minor mistakes that we have to focus on. I am happy with that because that mean I understand most of the topic and just need to revise a little bit more for me to master the topic.

The flow chart 

In the nutshell, the topic is very interesting because this is the first time that I learn about it and I can digest the information clearly as the topic is very related with my course that is Cell and Molecular Biology.       

Week 2: Evolution

            This week my lecturer asked my class to watch a lecture video titled ‘Selection in Action’. I watched the video but I don’t really understand the content. So I decided to understand the content when my lecturer explains it in the class. What I know is the evolution of teosinte to corn plants by artificial selection which were breed by humans. Another example is for dogs, that vary in all sorts of interesting traits, colours, hair textures, sizes and behaviours that are useful to humans. Unfortunately, in this week, the haze was so thick. I fall sick because of the environment so, I could not go to the class. I just watched the video again and tried to understand the contents by asking my friends. For this topic, I learned it more from the internet than in my class because I didn’t get the opportunity to learn with my friends because of my health. Maybe you are wondering why I didn’t just ask my lecturer. The reason is I will not ask my lecturer or teacher if I still can find the answer on the internet or from my friends. I just want to try to think and solve the problem by myself.

My medical leave

The haze in my campus area

           

 Even I was not in the class, I still did the group assignment with my friends. The assignment was about natural selection. We need to be a cartoonist this time as we need to draw a comic on the topic. We selected tortoise as our main character.  I think it was a very fun assignment because I get to draw tortoises. I also experienced how to create funny dialogue for the tortoises. I need to put myself in the tortoises’ situation and think what they maybe thought during the natural selection process. In the meantime, I also get to know my friends better because during our discussion about the assignment, all of us just show our true self and get to know each other. At that time I also learned how to cooperate with other people and try to consider everybody’s opinion when making a decision.

Our comic

           

 If I were given the opportunity to turn back the time, firstly, I would like to take care of my health better during the haze so I can enter the class and learned with my friends. I also would like to join SCL activities with my group mates and have a clear idea about the topic. If that happen, I can write better in this entry and can tell more about my opinion.

Week 1: Evolution

            For the first week that I entered the class, I was feeling excited because that is the first time that I will meet my new lecturer and friends after more than 5 months break. I am very curious about what was the subject about. “Cellular and Development Biology”. That is the title. So for the first class my lecturer was introducing the topic that we will learn for the whole semester and happened that the first topic is EVOLUTION! I know that is a very controversial topic in biology. When I heard ‘evolution’ it reminds me straight away to Darwin and monkey turned into human. It is also opposite to my religion’s thought. So I decided to just learn it without believing in the theory. My lecturer also shared the same thought.

Charles Darwin

            Then, my lecturer asked us to watch a lecture video titled “Endless Forms Most Beautiful”. The video told me about the history of Charles Darwin’s life and his contributions. The video opened my mind that Darwin did not only propose his theory of evolution on human but includes animals and plants. His first observation was about the formation of coral reef. His idea was when a volcanic island was tossed up out of the ocean and the corals would grow around the shallow waters surrounding that island. That would form what would be called a fringing reef. And then as the land mass started to sink, a lagoon would form between the outside reef and the land and that outside reef would be a barrier reef and then as the land sank completely out of sight, that's when atolls formed. This made my perception towards Darwin change.

The formation of coral reefs

           In the 5 years of his voyage, he actually found a lot of new things that challenge his thought because the animals that he found in Galapagos island were same as in England but with different characteristics. So, when he returned to England he joined the dots together and came up with the theory of natural selection. This theory came up with the thought that maybe mutation happened and the environment favoured the mutated trait. With this theory my confusion was cleared up and I can think his theory in a logical way.

Galapagos tortoise shell evolution

Bird's beak evolution

            But the video did not explain about the theory how monkey can evolve to human. I still cannot relate the theory of natural selection with human evolution because if monkey had evolved to human, why monkey still existed nowadays as monkey evolved because of maybe the environment did not favour their characteristics. Monkeys still exist today so that means they are favourable to the environment. Why would they evolve if they didn’t involve in circumstances that they need to? That is the reason why I don’t believe Darwinism. I can accept natural selection theory but not in human situation because I believed human was created by God perfectly without any flaws.

Evolution of human from monkey

            The video had taught me a lot of new impression on Darwin and helped me to understand better when my lecturer was discussing the subject in the class. In the end of the day, I really enjoy my learning with my friends because they were very cheeky and that made the class lively. The stereotype tells that Biology class is very boring and sleepy but with my friends, we proved that Biology class is fun.