Difference between Learning from the Class and Practical - Essay Example

Field Trip Journal There is a big difference between learning from the and practical. While room learning is sometimes boring, practical are more fun and make a student understand the real life better. This is one reason that made me choose the Marine Biology since the class trips that are a must for the students taking the class. I settled for the class since I love travelling and new experiences. A previous student had told me that the class was easy to score good grades, and again, I love knowing new things. Therefore, when I got to the grade, I was happy choosing the class since I would be able to know new animals and plants and their biological names. I even found myself loving the class more and more, especially when we began discussing the textbook and the beach types. By the time we started going for the trips, I was already in love with Marine Biology. A number of field trips that we went during the semester made the class more fun and lively and indeed, I learnt a number of things during these trips. Here is my journal on the various field trips that we went to. On 9th March 2013, we visited the Cabrillo Marion Aquarium. We arrived at around midday. The professor and the tour guide showed us around the shore. He told us to take care and be watchful of the animals and avoid those that were likely to harm us. He insisted on the safety measures that he had taught us. We then started the trip, and looked at the various animals in the aquarium. The various marine animals in the aquarium include the Lion Nudibranchia, which is a soft bodied animal. I learnt that it normally sheds it after the larval stage. I found it quite confusing with the sea slug, and could not tell where their difference lay. Bat star (Patiria miniata) has five arms with a centre disc which is very wide. I was able to identify the many colours that the animals had, which were green, purple, red, orange, yellow and brown. I found it rather funny that an animal could have so many colours. Among the rocks I could make out the Giant sea star, (Pisaster giganteus) especially due to its huge size and the length of its arms which were very long. I also saw the warty sea cucumber (Parastichopus parvimensis) and felt its soft body that was cylindrical in shape. Its skin was leathery and which is either reddish brown or yellow in colour. California spiny lobster scared me with the huge body and large antennae that protruded from its head. I wondered how it would feel like for the animal carrying such large antennae on its forehead, imagining that it must get tired at times. California moray eel looked so ugly to me, with the huge mouth and the rock like body that made it appear uglier and disgusting to look at. After visiting the aquarium, I think that looking and observing these marine creatures in real person is very different from studying them in a textbook. I felt that they are living, with their funny features, and sometimes weird nature making me awe at their uniqueness. I would suggest to the Cabrillo marine aquarium to assign bigger tanks or separate them because they appear to be too squeezed and uncomfortable. The following trip was to the Marine Mammal Care Centre that was on the 20th March 2013. The centre is a rehabilitation place for various animals in California, especially those that are hurt and the ones that cannot properly look after themselves. I felt quite sorry for the ones that were really wounded. However, the attendants who were mostly volunteers made me feel compassionate about animals. Their devotion towards the animals made me look at animal kingdom in a different way. While some people kill animals for food and others wound them, some take care of their mess. There were two animals that I greatly mistook for sea lions since I had not gotten much used to their differences apart from the textbook pictures. However, I realized from the sign on the cage that they were On 27th March 2013, we visited the Point Fermin. Our professor allowed us to go to up to the shore. I climbed up the rocks and there, together with a number of my friends we found many crabs. Since we did not understand the behaviour of the animals, we assumed that they were playing. There was a number of sea stars in a different rock that lazily swum in a pool of water. Some looked beautiful in their different colour. I touched a sea star and felt that its body was very hard, and I confirmed what I had learnt from the books that its body is very hard. At some point, I imagined that it would be fun for the animals relaxing in the sun and enjoying the warmth without having to worry about class work and exams. My friends and I were informed that La plata dolphin (francsiscana) animal is equivalent to a human being in size and has a long beak. It is greyish or brown in colour and a belly that glitters. Other animals that we saw were the Rock barnacles, the Giant green sea anemones, and the Dog whelk that looked more of a snail, the Hemet crab that had a curved body, the sea snail and short crab. I also saw the feathery Boa kelp algae that I touched and felt its feather like body. Next we visited the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve on 3rd April 2013. The location was lookout point, located on GPS 33’ 42, 235 (N) and 118’ 3. 181 (W). I was excited by visiting this site, but also very nervous. The corn snake scared me very much, while the giant pink sea star looked like a real star lying on the sand. Some young ones were on the rocks. I also saw the bat star that did not have long protruding like the giant pink sea star and was quite smaller in size. I also saw the ochre sea star that was purple in colour and whose rays were rather short. Another star that I saw was the California spiny star. It was hard to remember all these differences because they were confusing. I could not differentiate them even after a few minutes of seeing them. I also the Warty sea cucumber and the Pickle weed plants. Finally, we visited the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium on 10th April 2013. Here, I even took some pictures that would remind me of the certain animals that aroused my interest of marine life. If I was to become a marine biologist, I would be fond of them. However, there are some that made me feel like I would hate my job too. I was more interested in learning more about the various animals that had aroused my interest and I got the information from the information board. I learnt that the sea cucumbers normally sweep up food from with a crown of tentacles. It has a reduced skeleton with oscillations that ar microscopic. It is a soft bodied echinoderm. Another animal that looked interesting to me was the feather stars. The information provided said that it normally feed outstretched arms. Even more perplexing to me was that they are the only echinoderm whose mouth faces upwards. I kept wondering how it manages to chew food and swallow without getting chocked. I understood that the animal filter food with its outstretched arms and its tube feet erect. It feeds on tiny particles the tube feet, and then the food is flicked to the gloves and then to the mouth. The animal can move in water by either crawling or swimming for short distances. To be able to move comfortably, it lowers the sets of arms and crawls. It has special limbs that are located at the base and allows them to hold on to surfaces. What an animal? I found myself wondering, after reading the story about it. Another animal that I was able to get some information about was the sea urchin which said that the animal harvests sea weed with a 40 piece chewing apparatus. The animal’s body is enclosed in a rigid skeleton of close fitting skeletal plates. It travels about by the use of long tubes and spines that are movable. Its spines are fitted with certain spikes that enable it to float on water and they keep predators away. I felt very excited during these trips and for I learnt a lot of new things that I had not learnt in my life. It was an experience that I cannot forget in a long time. again, they helped me to break the monotony of the class. Read More