Designer Species Project Blog 11/5/17

Summary

In order to surviv, organisms have to have certain characteristics and adaptations. These can include camouflaging coats of fur, certain body shapes, and much more. For example, to stay cool inside a hot burning desert, fennec foxes have giant ears. They provide more body surface for the fox's body heat to radiate around. The fur of sloths is able to suck up moisture and grow algae to help them camouflage. The gornopoulos, a mammal that lives in humid tropical rainforests has both of these characteristics as well as a flying squirrel body and sticky feet pads. Like all organisms, the gornopoulos has many specials ways that it survives to reproduce. It eats nuts, fruits, and insects. The large ears also serve another purpose. It gives the gornopoulos great hearing which allows it to hear predators and prey to know where they are. In conclusion, animals need certain adaptations and abilities to reproduce.

Backwards Looking - 

What process did you go through to produce this piece?

In order to produce our poster and presentation, we first had to research about what type of traits our animal would need to survive on its planet. The next step was to begin creating our species and answering the questions about our organism. Once we were completely sure about our idea, we began to make our model. For our model, we created a diagram (shown above). The final step was to make our presentation and script. Once that was completed all we had to do was practice.

Inwards Looking -

What were your standards for this piece of work? Did you meet your standards?

For this project, my standards were high. I felt that I had a good group and that there wasn't a reason for me to not do a great job. After presenting, I felt that I did meet my standards. My group was able to create a great poster that not only looked organized but was also informational. Our presentation was okay overall but I felt like with more practice we could have definitely improved.

Outwards Looking -

Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? In what ways did you do it differently? In what ways was your work or process similar?

Unlike other groups, my group decided to create a skit for our presentation. We were the only ones that did this. The reason why we wanted to do a skit was that we wanted to present our information in an interesting and entertaining way. However, like most groups, we created a poster for our model rather than making a 3d version of our organism. 

Forwards Looking -

One thing I would like to improve upon is...

One thing that I would have liked to improve upon was our presentation. Since we wrote the script eh day before, we weren't entirely comfortable with our lines. Since we used no script, some of us forgot their lines. In addition to this, we definitely could have added more to the performance. In the future, I can solve this problem by thinking ahead and making sure the script gets done early enough to allow our group to practice how we want to present.