The Odyssey

That day, we were to work in groups of 3 or 4 to create a magnified version of a cell. My group, which consists of Zulhilmi, Wei Wen and me, decided to create an animal cell. We were supposed to choose some materials from the front of the laboratory to use in our cell. Wei Wen and I chose almost everything to put in the agar-agar, which is the cytoplasm of the cell. At first, we were at a loss as we had a huge supply of materials. However, we sorted the different parts of the cell out and decided on the material to be used to represent the cell part. We managed to successfully use all the materials we have taken. During the process of creating our animal cell, Wei Wen took plentiful photos. We were to use these photos to come up with a photo story. Simply put, it means that we have to arrange these pictures in an order to tell a cell story.Zul also took several snapshots of our final product together with Wei wen from different angles. I feel that this hands-on experiment is a really interesting way to learn about the cell parts and where they are located. Instead of reading from textbooks, we are able to have fun and at the same time, learn about cells. I hope that we are able to conduct more of these kind of experiments!

Everyone in the class was to be interviewed by Mdm Riza to see if we were suitable for the job we were applying. I felt really nervous about this interview for I wanted to impress the interviewer. However, I feel that I could have done a better job during the interview. This is a point which I need to work on so that I could be a better presenter in the future. We were also given a worksheet to complete when waiting for our turn to be interviewed. The worksheet was to test our knowledge of the different parts of an animal cell and its functions and how important it was to keep the cell healthy.

It was our second National education and the NE message we were to focus on was "we have confidence in our future". This was linked to what we were supposed to be learning through Biopolis, which is a center for biomedical sciences in Singapore. Each of us were to be a part of a cell, and submit a resume to apply for a job at the Biopolis. I was given the role of Mitochondrion, a part found in both animal and plant cells. I had to research for lots of information in order to understand what my cell part does and how t helps the cell "I'm" residing in. I think that completing a resume aids in our learning of cells, for we would conduct researches on different cell parts, which would enable us to understand the cell parts better. I think this is a fun way to learn a topic and ups our interest in cells.

That day, Mdm Riza went through a part of the notes on photosynthesis. After that, we conducted experiments based on respiration. Though I knew that breathing and respiration were indeed two different matters, I realised that many people had mistaken respiration for breathing and vice versa. After conducting the experiments, we were now clear about the difference between respiration and breathing.