(Submitted by CHS Junior, Mikaela Hastings)
Mr. Bradley's third block anatomy and physiology class has been learning the ends and outs of the body from day one in class. From body growth on a cellular level, to the function of whole organ systems and how they work in the body, the anatomy class has been immersed in material about the human body in hopes to obtain knowledge that will carry them through their college careers, and the rest of their lives.
Currently, the third block anatomy and physiology class is in chapters 17-19 of their Patton-Tibodeau book studying the blood, the anatomy of the cardiovascular system, and the physiology of the cardiovascular system. On top of learning a multitude of material from the book and in-class lectures, the class has also performed a few experiments to expand their knowledge and get hands on experience as to how the body works.
This past week, Mr. Bradley's class performed a blood typing experiment to learn about blood types, antibodies, and antigens that present. There are four types of blood: A, B, AB, and O. Type A blood has type A antigens and type B antibodies, type B blood has type B antigens and type A antibodies, type AB has A and B antigens and no antibodies for A or B, and type O has neither antigen for A or B blood, but has antibodies for A and B. For these reasons, type AB is the universal recipient, and type O is the universal donor. If one type of blood were to be mixed with a separate type of blood with opposite antibodies, agglutination would occur. This is very dangerous and can be fatal.
To practice blood typing skills, the experiment consisted of six different types of fake blood for six different people. In the test, students were supposed to figure out which parents belonged to two different kids. To do so, two drops of each kind of blood were placed in separate mixing wells on trays. Then, a type A antibody was placed into one well with the blood, and a type B antibody was placed into the other well with the blood. Next, students had to stir the substances for thirty seconds to check for agglutination between the blood types. By doing so, determining the parents to each child was possible. A child with type O blood could only have parents with either A, O, or B blood. A child with AB blood could only have parents that both obtained type AB blood. After the lab, students worked with genotypes to determine recessive and dominant alleles.
On top of accomplishing the lab inside the class, each individual researched DNA testing and what is is used for. They then each created a brochure or flyer explains what they obtained while accomplishing their research. A second task that was accomplished on top of the lab was researching a career in which having knowledge of blood and blood typing was crucial. Among the careers researched were genetic therapists and crime scene investigators.
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