Final Reflection

I have learned by writing down my learning objectives, I can easily keep track of what I have done. I have realised that my eating habits are way too unhealthy.In my opinion, I ought to include more fruits and vegetables into my diet. It wasn't really usefulto me, I would prefer using Pages to this project as it would be possible to change to change the date of the post and it wouldn't be fair to those who have done their work according to the instructions.

Week 8 Reflection

It really has been busy during the school holidays.I have finally completed my learning objectives.I have also finalised my powerpoint slides and everything is ready to be handed up to the teacher.

Week 7 Reflection

Gastric juice is produced by the lining of the stomach and contains hydrochloric acid and proteases.Proteases in the stomach digest the proteins in the food into shorter chains of amino acids and the hydrochloric acid provides the acidic condition in the stomach for the proteases to work.It also kills bacteria which may have been swallowed with the food.

Week 6 Reflection

The liver produces a liquid known as bile.Bile is a yellowish,blue and green liquid.It is stored in the gall bladder and released into the small intestine through the bile duct to break down fats into tiny fat droplets.Bile is also commonly known as vomit.

Week 5 Reflection

Through research,I have discovered that there are 2 different types of digestion namely physical and chemical digestion.

Physical Digestion
Your teeth help to break big pieces of food physically into smaller pieces.The physical breakdown of food into smaller pieces without any chemical change to the molecules of the food is called physical digestion.Smaller pieces of food have a larger surface area compared to a big piece of food.

Chemical Digestion

Chemical digestion is the breakdown of large food molecules into smaller molecules. The enzymes speed up specific chemical reactions in the body. Enzymes are special proteins produced by the body.Saliva contains enzymes which speeds up the breakdown of the large food molecules into smaller food molecules.

Week 4 Reflection

This week,my aim is to find out the importance of a nutritional and healthy diet. Healthy eating is not about strict nutrition philosophies, staying thin, or keeping away from the food you love. In fact, it’s about enjoying yourself,having more energy but still stay as healthy as possible. This can be possible by learning some nutrition basics and using them in a way that works for you. Choose food that is beneficial to you and stay away from food that increase the risk of illnesses such as diabetes,heart disease and cancer.

Week 3 Reflection

I have just finished constructing my graph according to the data I have recorded.I have started researching on my learning targets as I have actually finished my project earlier then expected.

Parts of the digestive system and the functions

Mouth

Physical and chemical digestions take place in the mouth. The teeth break down food into smaller pieces to increase the surface area of the food exposed to enzymes. Saliva is produced by the salivary glands. Saliva contains the digestive enzyme,amylase, which breaks down starch in the food into maltose, a type of sugar. The tongue helps to mix the food with the saliva and rolls the partially digested food into a small ball(bolus) which is then swallowed into the oesophagus(gullet).

Oesophagus(gullet)
The oesophagus(gullet) is a long narrow tube joining the mouth and the stomach.When is food is swallowed, it does not 'drop' into the stomach as one might have imagined because of the force of gravity.In fact, the oesophagus has strong muscles in its walls.These muscles help to push the food down into the stomach by contracting and relaxing.

Stomach
The stomach is a muscular bag.The muscles contract and churn the food to mix it with a digestive juice called gastric juice.The proteases in the gastric juice digest the proteins in the food and the remaining food would turn into a thick mass of semi-liquid also known as chyme.The chyme would then move to the small intestine after a few hours.

Small Intestine
The small intestine is where most of the digestion and absorption of food takes place.The pancreas produces pancreatic juices and the small intestine,intestinal juices.Amylase from the pancreas breaks down starch into maltose.Maltese from the walls of the small intestine further breaks it down into glucose.The large surface area enables small food molecules from the digested food to be absorbed quickly.

Large Intestine
The undigested food moves from the small intestine to the large intestine through peristalsis.There are different types of bacteria living in the large intestine but most are harmless.Some are beneficial as they make vitamins required by the body.Cells linig the large intestine absorb these vitamins as well as mineral salts and excess water.A mixture of undigested food and dead bacteria are known as faeces and is temporarily stored in the rectum.Mostly the muscles of the rectum are contracted.Only when the muscles between the rectum and anus relax,will the faeces then be passed out of the body.This is know as defaecation.