Eye and Sight

As we are starting to work with the senses, today we have introduced the parts and functions of the eye.

Did you know that the reason why your nose runs when you are crying is because the tears from your eyes drain into your nose?

Psychology and Sociology (2nd Batx): presentations and practice.

We have made a video with clips which show some of the activities we have done in our subject in English lately: on the one hand, the introductions to presentations of the students about several topics of Psychology, and, on the other hand, a theatrical performance that simulates the interaction in the classroom that took place during an actual discussion of a documentary on the subject of therapy: the discussion lasted several sessions, from which some interventions were selected and put together for the final result.

Introductions to presentations and abstracts from papers: Students expose the subject of their presentation or an abstract of a paper or project they have done and delivered. They can choose freely the particular topic they want to work, though it must remain within the boundaries of the lessons about schools in Psychology, mental disorders and kinds of psychological therapy that we have recently studied. As you will see, some of the topics are related to experimental verification of Piaget’s stages of cognition (uauh!), food disorders, mental disorders, the role of love in Psychology (original, isn’t it?), bullying... and even a comic about the application of psychology to teaching practice, generated and written by a student (simply wonderful). All these works shared an extraordinarily high quality, and we learned a lot from them.

Practice “Carl Rogers counsels Gloria”: We have been dealing with different approaches to psychological therapy at our Psychology class. In order to dive deeper in the subject, we have watched a documentary about the great therapist Carl Rogers, founder of humanist therapy, whose seminal ideas have greatly influenced therapists belonging to a wide range of  psychological schools ever since. In the documentary, we see how Carl Rogers explains the main points of his conception of therapy: the conditions to create a suitable climate in the therapeutical session and the improvements expected to achieve in the client’s mental health.  We have actively got through these topics and have prepared a stage act showing some of the real interventions of the students during these sessions. We hope you will enjoy it as much as we did.

Working on buoyancy

Today we have been working on the concept of buoyancy and the difference between Weight and Upward Buoyant Force.

Did you know that the greek letter rho (ρ) is used in Science to talk about mass density, air density and charge density?

Taste sense

Taste sense   

Can a taste be identified by any part of the tongue?

Our sense of taste is the sense that enables us to recognize flavors, and this task is helped by our sense of smell.  Therefore, when we have a cold, food seems as if it has less flavor.

   

Basically, as humans, we are able to identify four flavors: salty, sour, sweet and bitter. 

The taste that we obtain when we eat something is a combination of all of these, perceived through the taste buds that cover the surface of our tongue. However, the taste buds are specialized in detecting specific flavors, and they cannot identify any other flavors that we consume.

 

Hypothesis: can a taste be identified by any part of the tongue or is it only identified by a certain area of the tongue? 

In pairs, we are prepared three concentrated solutions: one with sugar, one with salt and one with instant coffee, adding a spoonful of each to three different glasses. Then we also have added water gradually until they have been dissolved totally.

Then, students have put each other a drop on a specific point on his/her classmate's tongue without them knowing the place or the substance used. Afterwards, they have marked the position on the drawing of the tongue.

Finally, we have tried to prove our initial hypothesis. Taste sense is certainly dependent of different gustative receptor cells able to percebre the different chemical substances which contain food.

 

Conlusion: Our hypothesis was confirmed. And you can see it here

Exploring the kidney

Exploring the kidney

Lamb and pig kidneys are very similar to human kidneys. 

Kidneys are the organs that help filter waste products from the blood. They are also involved in regulating blood pressure, electrolyte balance, and red blood cell production in the body.

Today we have studied one of these at the laboratory. Specifically, we performed a dissection of this organ of the excretory system.

First, we have seen the size of the organ, its external form, identifying the main parts such as the renal cortex, ureter and renal artery and vein.

We have also tried to understand how the kidney works through the nephron, which is the functional unit of this small organ. Thanks to it, urine is produced in our body.

Did you know that we have over one million of nephrons in each kidney?

Some causes of kidney failure are treatable and the kidney function may return to normal. Unfortunately, kidney failure may be progressive in other situations and may be irreversible.

Adrià and Biel’s kidneys were the best ... to test the sense of smell! Too bad smell!

As we age kidney function gradually decreases over time.

If the kidneys fail completely, the only treatment options available may be dialysis or transplant.

 Did you know that…

...kidney stones are caused by high levels of calcium and phosphorus in the urine?

But... with ray of Harry Potter everything can be overcome" (Maricel dixit)

Anyway, some food may cause kidney stones in certain people. You may be more likely to get a kidney stone if you have

·                               a family history of kidney stones
·                               repeating, or recurrent, urinary tract infections
·                               blockage of your urinary tract
·                               digestive problems
·                               a condition that affects levels of substances in your urine that can cause stones to form

You may also be more likely to get a kidney stone if you don’t drink enough fluids.

 Very fun and profitable!

Working on the respiratory system

Today we have been working with the respiratory system by doing an experiment about pulmonary respiration.