In term 2, we learn 2 parts of biology, 1 is human biology and the other is environmental biology. For human biology, a favourite topic to my class was taught. Guess which topic? It is none other than sexual reproduction. Everybody might be thinking why are we learning sexual reproduction again? Actually, I have another question, have we ever even learn about sexual reproduction? You will know what I mean after I go through about the sexual reproduction we learn in secondary 2.
For the entire 6 weeks of teaching, Ms Nada went through with us the cycle of sexual reproduction, the gametes in both males and females and menstrual cycle.The cycle starts with our puberty stage, copulation, fertilization, post-fertilization and child birth. All these stages may seem common and easy but in actual studies, it is not as easy as I thought! At puberty stage, the brain will release hormones and our sexual organs will begin to produce sex hormones and our secondary characteristics will also start to develop. For males, puberty will start at around 11-15 years old, secondary characteristics will include growth of hair, growth of muscles/genitals, deepening of voice/occurrence of pimples and confusion (giggly excitement) etc while females start their puberty stage at around 9-13 years old, secondary characteristics include hair growth, development of hips/breasts, menstruation and confusion (giggly excitement) etc.
Next, I will be moving to talk about the male and female reproduction organs. They are much more "complex" than what we learn in primary school. In primary school, we learn the basics of sexual reproduction like ovum and sperms, but in secondary 2 now, we learn the different parts inside of the sexual organs. I cannot believe that our human body is so complex ! I shall show you a cross-section of a male reproductive system and a female reproductive system.
Male reproductive system:
Female reproductive system:
Here is a table of the male reproductive system and the functions of the different organs.
Organ
Function
Testis
Produces sperm and male hormones, testosterone
Prostate glands and seminal vesicle
Produces nutrients needed for the sperms and produces an alkaline liquid, which
neutralizes the acidic environment in the vagina. (semen)
Penis
Allows urination and transfer of sperms into female body, through ejaculation
Epididymis
Stores sperms produced by the testis and also ejaculate sperms out through muscle contraction
Sperm duct
Transport mature sperm to the urethra in preparation of ejaculation. Muscles contracts reflexively to propel the sperm
urethra
Carries the semen outside of the body through ejaculation
•For the Male
Here is another table that summaries female reproductive system and the functions of the different organs. 1. 11-15 yrs 2. Growth of hair
Organ
Function
Ovary
Responsible of producing ovum and female hormones, progesterone and oestrogen.
Oviduct
Ovary releases mature ovum into oviduct. Oviduct, a narrow0muscle tube that links to uterus. Fertilization usually occurs here
Uterus
A place where ovum develop into foetus
An elastic muscular wall that pushes baby out during pregnancy
Contains uterine lining which break downs every 28 days (depends on the person) when no fertilization occurs. Blood flows out of the vagina
Process known as menstruation
Cervix
Circular ring of muscle at the lower part of uterus
Becomes bigger during pregnancy to allow the birth of baby
Vagina
Known as birth canal
Semen is released here during copulation so that fertilization may occur
3. Growth of muscles / genitals
Complicated? This is what I have learnt in secondary 2, much more than the knowledge gained in primary school. Actually, there are more to go but we only learn about sexual reproduction till here. It does not end here though! There is still 1 more thing to be learnt, that is menstrual cycle.
Menstrual cycle is a very confusing process that is taught. It has the way that it functions and the 2 different outcomes, whether fertilization occurs or not. Luckily, my friend, Chia Ler, has done a diagram to illustrate what is menstrual cycle after what we learnt in class. He has done it on Microsoft words and I find that he has done quite accurately on the information and it is very good for revising menstrual cycle.D
There are actually 2 more steps to go from here, which is the occurrence of fertilization and post-fertilization. Also, there is a power-point slide that summaries all the "complicated" stuffs done by our teacher.
This end our sexual reproduction but we still have ecology to go. Ecology is about environmental biology and it is less complex than sexual reproduction but there are still many things to learn. In ecology, there are a few main topics you must know. First would be an ecosystem, what makes up an ecosystem, the energy flow in the different organisms and lastly, the nutrient cycles involved. At secondary 2, we are only needed to know 2 nutrient cycles, 1st is carbon cycle and the 2nd would be nitrogen cycle. Similarly, Chia Ler has shared with us how to study on ecology and came out with main points in learning about ecology. Also, I did more research on nitrogen cycle and had listed out everything about nitrogen cycle.
With the 2 notes that I have and the help given in Science Olympiad on ecology, I had benefited greatly from these sources as I am much clearer with everything about ecology. I believed that I would be able to do well for my test in term 3, my target this time is 37/40, which is kinda impossible but this is the score I need for exemption. So, I must work hard for it!
For the entire 6 weeks of teaching, Ms Nada went through with us the cycle of sexual reproduction, the gametes in both males and females and menstrual cycle.The cycle starts with our puberty stage, copulation, fertilization, post-fertilization and child birth. All these stages may seem common and easy but in actual studies, it is not as easy as I thought! At puberty stage, the brain will release hormones and our sexual organs will begin to produce sex hormones and our secondary characteristics will also start to develop. For males, puberty will start at around 11-15 years old, secondary characteristics will include growth of hair, growth of muscles/genitals, deepening of voice/occurrence of pimples and confusion (giggly excitement) etc while females start their puberty stage at around 9-13 years old, secondary characteristics include hair growth, development of hips/breasts, menstruation and confusion (giggly excitement) etc.
Next, I will be moving to talk about the male and female reproduction organs. They are much more "complex" than what we learn in primary school. In primary school, we learn the basics of sexual reproduction like ovum and sperms, but in secondary 2 now, we learn the different parts inside of the sexual organs. I cannot believe that our human body is so complex ! I shall show you a cross-section of a male reproductive system and a female reproductive system.
Male reproductive system:
Female reproductive system:
Here is a table of the male reproductive system and the functions of the different organs.
neutralizes the acidic environment in the vagina. (semen)
•For the Male
Here is another table that summaries female reproductive system and the functions of the different organs.
1. 11-15 yrs
2. Growth of hair
An elastic muscular wall that pushes baby out during pregnancy
Contains uterine lining which break downs every 28 days (depends on the person) when no fertilization occurs. Blood flows out of the vagina
Process known as menstruation
Becomes bigger during pregnancy to allow the birth of baby
Semen is released here during copulation so that fertilization may occur
3. Growth of muscles / genitals
Complicated? This is what I have learnt in secondary 2, much more than the knowledge gained in primary school. Actually, there are more to go but we only learn about sexual reproduction till here. It does not end here though! There is still 1 more thing to be learnt, that is menstrual cycle.
Menstrual cycle is a very confusing process that is taught. It has the way that it functions and the 2 different outcomes, whether fertilization occurs or not. Luckily, my friend, Chia Ler, has done a diagram to illustrate what is menstrual cycle after what we learnt in class. He has done it on Microsoft words and I find that he has done quite accurately on the information and it is very good for revising menstrual cycle.D
There are actually 2 more steps to go from here, which is the occurrence of fertilization and post-fertilization. Also, there is a power-point slide that summaries all the "complicated" stuffs done by our teacher.
This end our sexual reproduction but we still have ecology to go. Ecology is about environmental biology and it is less complex than sexual reproduction but there are still many things to learn. In ecology, there are a few main topics you must know. First would be an ecosystem, what makes up an ecosystem, the energy flow in the different organisms and lastly, the nutrient cycles involved. At secondary 2, we are only needed to know 2 nutrient cycles, 1st is carbon cycle and the 2nd would be nitrogen cycle. Similarly, Chia Ler has shared with us how to study on ecology and came out with main points in learning about ecology. Also, I did more research on nitrogen cycle and had listed out everything about nitrogen cycle.
With the 2 notes that I have and the help given in Science Olympiad on ecology, I had benefited greatly from these sources as I am much clearer with everything about ecology. I believed that I would be able to do well for my test in term 3, my target this time is 37/40, which is kinda impossible but this is the score I need for exemption. So, I must work hard for it!
Never give up!
5. Confusion, love/hate (puppy love), giggly excitement.