Evidence
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For this project, we were assigned to research a method of homeostasis that the human body does, and create an experiment to prove it. The method we chose was the regulation of blood glucose levels. The documents above shows the results of our research. The top document shows our scientific poster, the right document shows our research article, and the left document shows our basic thought process and research.
Content
This project was all about the homeostasis of blood glucose levels. We had to research what the scientific method, homeostasis is, how it works, what organs are involved, what hormones are involved, and what types of reactions the body does. Homeostasis is the internal stable state of the body. The body constantly works to keep homeostasis. The regulation of blood glucose levels is one way the body keeps homeostasis. The main organ involved is the pancreas, and the hormones, insulin and glucagon, are used to regulate blood sugar levels. Insulin helps to lower blood sugar levels and glucagon helps to raise it; a balance of these two is needed for homeostasis. The way this homeostasis is achieved can be described as a negative feedback loop, where the body senses there is too much of something, and works to bring it back down to normal levels. When food is ingested, it gets broken down into glucose for energy. It then passes through the pancreas, where the pancreas senses the glucose concentration. If it senses that glucose levels are too high, the pancreas triggers beta cells (which make insulin) to increase the production of insulin and decrease the production of glucagon. If glucose levels are too low, then the pancreas triggers alpha cells (which make glucagon) to increase the production of glucagon and decrease the production of insulin. In order to prove that homeostasis works, we had to create an experiment. In order to test it, we need to make our blood sugar spike from a baseline level, and then measure it again after a while in order to see that it went back down. Our procedure was to measure our blood sugar level using a meter and lancet for a baseline, which should be 100 mg/dL if normal. Then we measured out a serving of Yerba Mate, a sugary drink, and drank it in order to spike our blood sugar. We waited about 10-15 minutes before measuring. Then 10-15 minutes after that test, we kept testing our blood sugar levels in 10-15 minute intervals until our blood sugar went back down. Our dependent variable in our experiment was the level of our blood glucose and the independent variable was the amount of Yerba Mate we drank. After the test, we created a graph and saw that the blood sugar levels started at the baseline, then spiked up after drinking, then went back down (The amount of time it took for the person to reach homeostasis depends on the person's pancreas and varies from person to person.) proving that homeostasis of blood glucose levels exists in humans.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this project helped me learn a lot. I learned a lot how the body is able to function properly and the importance of homeostasis in order for an organism to survive. It was also a lot of fun creating testing our own experiments. We also had our high points in our project. One of these high points is the quality of our research. Research is very important in any project and the quality of it can determine how well you do. I felt like our research was very thorough and helped me understand the content well. Another thing we did very well was organization. Organization helps keep things easy to locate. It helped us easily write our papers and keep writing clear and concise. Thanks to this, we were able to get work done efficiently. Despite our high points, we also had our low points. One of the major low points was group participation. Most of the work was weighed very heavily on one person, which is not very fair or a good practice. If all group members can actively and willingly participate, work quality will be much better and get work done faster. Another thing we could do better was the accuracy of our testing. Despite trying to stay organized, we took small shortcuts, such as reusing needles, not being at a baseline blood sugar level, and not cleaning our hands before pricking our fingers. These shortcuts may have detrimental effects to the accuracy of our results, which could make our findings inaccurate. We need to make sure everything is accurate in order to have valid results.