- Slide Show of fetal devolopment, and some issues linked to pregnancy.
- most material we have covered about pregnacncy and development is awarness based as opossed to memory of parts and functions.
- Eye opener to see how majority of development occurs the first 9 weeks of development, and is very interesting to actually be able to see real photos of the progression of fetal development
- It is an important unit because it makes us more aware of the ethical issues involving reproduction and guides us toward having our own educated opinions of what we consider the beginning of life and what is classified as right vs wrong.
- I find it is a nice change from pure memorization, and encourages more critical thinking on our part.
While watching the slide show many questions come to mind on the many things that can go arye during pregnancy. One on which we touched on was FAS. This is a disorder that occurs when alcohol is consumed during pregnancy. Alcohol crosses the placential barrier and can stunt fetal growth, create distinctive facial stigmata, damage neurons and brain structure and cause other physical, mental, and behavioural issues. Surveys in the US show that up to 30% of pregnant women report having some amount of alcohol during pregnancy. This is a major issue in the western world, and is the #1 birth defect that can cause numerous forms of retardation, and yet it is preventable. The main effect of FAS is permanent central nervous system damage, especially to the brain. This creates an array of cognitive and functional disabilities including poor memory, attention deficiets, impulsive behaviour, and poor cause/effect reasoning. this is a major issue for our society in that so many complications in education, and integration into the work force take much more time, effort, and money that could be used in research or prevention of disorders that are not preventable. The best way to prevent this disorder from occuring at such high rates is education of the population in human reproduction, and pregnacy through courses such as ours, Bio 30. Until people realize the effect that they have on their babies is so great, there will likely be no change in the trend. No amount of consumption has been accepted as safe.
www.cps.ca/english/statements/fn/cps96
www.wickepedia.org/wiki/Fetal_alcohol_syndrome
very well done. You actually went well over the bar (worked harder than necessary). A brief paraphrase of what you find out is sufficient.
ReplyDelete3/3
Mr. C