Earth Day Collages

Earth Day fell on April 22nd this year which coincided with our last day before spring vacation and I was looking for a quick activity for my chemistry classes to do on this day that would have them focusing on how chemistry impacts the environment. I gave them a stack of magazines I had been collecting (National Geographic, Smithsonian, Wired, and Scientific American), a sheet of 11x17" paper, scissors, and glue sticks and said go to it and you must be done by the time the bell rings. Here are some examples of what they produced.

Energy Drinks and Cellular Respiration

Where do we living things get our energy from? Food of course which is broken down from the large polymers (carbohydrates, fats, or proteins) into their monomers. All of these monomers can then some how make their way into the Krebs or Citric Acid Cycle within the mitochondria of the cell. But is that the only way to get energy? What do students think? What about these Energy Drinks that are marketed and targeted especially at the age group I teach (high school)? Well let's take a look. A great web quest I found is called "A Can of Bull." It is a case study into a variety of products, their ingredients and how they work. Great place to start them looking, thinking, and talking about the use or misuse of Energy Drink Products.
I plan to follow up the web quest with having them research, read, and summarize a current event article about some aspect of energy drinks (health effects, marketing, regulating, etc). Then we will sit down for a Fishbowl discussion to share their findings and debate the topic.

1st Quiz and Lab

We had our first quiz today, and it wasn't so bad was it? We also performed our first lab. You had the opportunity to observe prepared slides of organisms from 4 different kingdoms (sorry protists, I didn't have any slides of your group today) the plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria.
Have a great weekend!

Homework: Complete questions 1-4 on the lab packet for Monday.

The Ten Themes and Microscopes

We have completed our outline of Chapter One, exploring the ten themes of Biology. We also took a look at the parts of the microscope. Tomorrow we will be having our short quiz on vocabulary terms and parts of the microscope. The second half of class will be devoted to working on looking at prepared slides of cells from plants, animals, and fungi.

Homework: Chapter review questions from page 20 numbers 1-10, 12, 15.

Day 2 - Friday

Today, we began outlining Chapter One. The key vocabulary words I defined for you were: biosphere, ecosystem, organism, cell, DNA, and species. We also looked at the characteristics of a mythical creature, the Whizzer, to determine if other unnamed organisms belonged to its species.
Homework: Read Chapter One, and log into the textbook website and register for the class (http://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com/) using the instructions on the colored sheet I gave you on the 1st day of class. Please let me know if you have any troubles. If you are able to get into the site, complete the WebQuest Activity for Chapter 1.

1st Day of School

Welcome back to school. I want to wish all of you a happy and successful school year. Today, I gave you lots of paperwork (sorry). Please make sure to read through it all. I will expect you to have your composition notebook and binder set up by Tuesday. Remember to sign up for the Internet access site for the textbook (the colored paper with the access codes).



After getting through introductions today, we did an observational activity. The challenge was to list characteristics that animals, plants, and seeds exhibit that lead us to think that they are living things. I also gave you a mystery item which stumped a lot of you. In the case of the mystery item more study was needed. Some of you suggested cutting it open to see what was inside. The mystery item turned out to be an oak gall (follow this link to learn more about it).



Homework for all classes (10 points): Have a parent/guardian sign both copies of the Safety Contract and return it tomorrow.

The Botany of Desire

I have just completed reading Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire (Random House, 2001). In this book he takes a careful look at the relationship between humans and the plants that we have cultivated in particular: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. The section on the potato might be worth exploring with students as it raises the question of whether or not we should bio-engineer the plants that we use to eat. At the time of publication, food labels were not required on bio-engineered products. Other topics worth exploring would be the large scale use of pesticides and herbicides and their impact on ground water and human health (particularly that of farm workers); the history of the Irish Potato Famine, and its impact on our country's development; organic farming techniques; and bioengineering techniques in plants and animals (including human gene therapy).

3-D Arthropod Models

When we completed our study of the 5 classes of Arthropod, I assigned a modeling project. Students could work independently or with one partner. They were to create a model of an Arthropod using recycled or craft materials, paying close attention to anatomical structure of the organism they were modeling. The following are websites that I provided them to help with their research: Insect Field Guide, Crustacean List, The Sea, Science Safari, eNature Field Guides, The Bug Guide, and The Garden Safari.

Worms, Worms, and More Worms

In our continuing study of the animal kingdom we have been studying three phyla of worms: Nematoda, Platyhelminthes, and Annelida. The Annelids include the gardener's best friend - the earthworm. I picked these nightcrawlers up at the local convenience store which carries live bait. Some of the students were a little grossed out by working with live worms.






The students began their studies of the earthworm by elliciting nervous system responses. In a dissecting tray the students laid dry and wet paper towels and placed the worms in the middle, covered them with a piece of cardboard and waited five minutes. The worms of course prefer a wet environment, and therefore moved to the wet paper towel side of the tray. Then with the tray covered completely with wet towels the students covered half of the tray with the cardboard and shined a flashlight on the worms. Worms like it dark so they beat a hasty retreat to the side of the tray that was covered by the cardboard.

Lastly, we set up a couple of "wormeries." We layered soil, sand, dead leaves, and some vegetable scraps (potato and apple peelings) in a two liter plastic bottle. Then we introduced 3-4 worms to each bottle. You can see the worms tunneling through this bottle (They are the pinkish layer right above the sandy layer). In order to provide the worms with the environment they prefer we have dark paper sleeves around the bottles to block the bright sunlight, and we keep the soil moistened.

To wrap it all up we have studied earthworm anatomy and conducted dissections. Many students were anxious about the dissections, but admit when it was all over it wasn't so bad.

New Unit - Animal Kingdom

Today, we introduced a new unit of study in class, the Animal Kingdom. At each lab station I placed samples of preserved animals, models, or skeletons of the various phylum (annelids, mammals, fish, amphebians, cnairdians, porifora, birds, arthropods and reptiles for example). The students went from station to station trying to name the group of animals, and to determine if the group were invertebrate or vertebrate animals. This was a sort of a K-W-L activity to see what the students knew about animals. We did not define what an invertebrate or a vertebrate was as this is a seventh grade class, and we really wanted to see what knowledge base they possess. The kids were definetely involved in this activity and exhibited high levels of interest. We currently have a pair of ringneck doves and several rats in the classroom which the students love to observe, care for, and interact with.

Baking Bread - A real world application

It is important for our students to understand why we study the curriculum that we do, and where will it apply in their everyday lives, therefore, as a follow up to our lesson and lab on yeast respiration, we made bread. I pointed out that for centuries we humans have been taking advantage of the process of yeast respiration for our own benefit. Yeast are used in baking, cheese and yogurt production, and in fermenting wine and beer. The emphasis in talking about the process of bread baking was on the requirements for yeast growth (food source, warmth, darkness, and moisture) and how the recipe fullfills these. I also stressed that the bread rises because of the carbon dioxide which is being released as the yeast cells respire. In a previous lab, the students had studied what yeast need to live by "proofing" yeast. They had set up a beaker with yeast and water (the control), and a second beaker with yeast, water and sugar (the experimental sample). They then made a wet mount slide of each sample, staining the yeast in order to see them and count them. The samples were then left overnight in a warm, dark place. The following day the students again prepared wet mount slides of each sample and discovered that sugar caused an increase in the number of yeast cells.

Studying Respiration in Yeast

In order to study respiration in yeast we set up an experiment using Bromothymol Blue (an indicator which is sensitive to the pH changes that result when carbon dioxide is dissolved in it), sugar, live yeast cells, and dead yeast cells (yeast were boiled). The students set up three test tubes with 15mL Bromothymol Blue solution and 2 grams of sugar. The first test tube served as a control containing only the Bromothymol Blue solution and sugar. The second tube had live yeast cells added to it, and the third had dead yeast cells added. The samples were then placed in a warm, dark room to incubate over night.















This lab group had an excellent result. From left to right the dead yeast tube, the live yeast tube and the control tube. Some lab groups had tubes that exhibited contamination in the dead yeast tube. Several groups had forgotten to clean their test tubes prior to beginning the lab. Lesson learned, never assume that your glassware is clean even if it looks clean. Of course we are not working under sterile conditions and some contamination is to be expected.

Edible Fungi Models

We made edible fungi models in class last Friday. The cardboard base represents a food source (tree branch, fruit, or piece of bread), the red and black licorice represent the hyphae, the tootsie pops standing are asexual spore cases, and the lollipop tops (orange in this model) represent sexual spore cases where +parent and -parent have met. The students had a blast making the models, and eating the extra modeling materials. If you can't get hold of shoe string licorice you may use two different colored yarns or ribbons.

Lichens

Lichens are a symbiotic relationship between fungi and either algae or photosynthetic bacteria (cyanobacteria). Yesterday and today we have been observing lichens in the classroom. For some students it has been hard for them to understand the concept that lichens are composed of two different organisms. One source of difficulty has been in preparing wet mount slides of crushed lichens. It is very easy to observe the algae, but harder to see the fungi hyphae. Any suggestions would be helpful.

International Space Station Viewing Opportunities

At school this morning the principal announced that in our area the International Space Station was scheduled to pass directly overhead and the sighting was expected to last up to 5 minutes. You can visit NASA to get information for sightings in your area. The station is best viewed at dawn or dusk when the sun is reflected off it. We took the opportunity to refresh the kids knowledge of how to use a compass in order to locate the station in the sky. Luckily, we had a compass for each student to use. Several students signed up to borrow a compass to use at home tonight. This was also a time to discuss NASA's future plans for space exploration and the role that the space station plays in endeavor.

Bread Mold Lab

In the grade 7 Life Science classroom I am currently doing my student teaching internship in, the students are studying mold and fungus. Prior to leaving for Winter Vacation, the students innoculated homemade bread with spores from a moldy orange, sealed the bread in ziplock bags, and placed the bags in their lab drawers. Today, they took out their samples to view the results. First, the students observed the mold using the dissecting microscope. Second, they prepared wet mount slides to better view the hyphae and spores using the compound microscope. We had some great results. One student decided to try lifting the mold off the bread using scotch tape. She had an excellent result! Good thinking!

Do you know where your water comes from?

Recently, my cub scout den was working on their Engineering Webelo Activity Badge and we made a visit to our town's water department. (This is a photo of the collage we generated about water after our visit and given to the Water Department as a thank you gift for taking the time to meet with us.) I'm not sure what the boys got out of the experience, but I sure learned a lot. Here in New England, the majority of people get their water out of the ground via wells (the same is true for our town). Once the water is pumped up, the pH levels must be adjusted, and then chlorinated. It was fascinating to see how the whole system works. We learned that to work in the Water Department you need to be knowledgeable with mechanics (machinery does break down from time to time), chemistry (the handling and fine balancing of chemicals), geology, computers (the whole system is monitored by computers), and law (a myriad of state and federal laws and regulations governing the use and "production" of water). Today, we take for granted that when we turn on the faucet something will come out and that it will be safe to drink. It certainly is a lesson for all of us to know the behind the scenes process that make our lives so comfortable. (Hint: watch the Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs show sometime.) Maybe our next field trip should be to the Waste Water Treatment Facility - what goes in must come out.

Science Teachers - Free Movie Offer

The producers of An Inconvenient Truth have made 50,000 copies of this documentary on Global Warming available to teachers for free!! Beginning December 18, 2006 until January 18, 2007, these DVDs are available on a first come, first serve basis. Visit http://www.participate.net/ to register for your copy. You will need to provide the 9-digit Tax ID number of the school where you teach. Delivery will take 6-8 weeks. Also at this website you will find companion curriculum guides which you can download.

Project WET-The Incredible Journey Water Cycle Game

This fall I had the opportunity to attend a teacher workshop sponsored by Projects WET, WILD and Learning Tree held at the Beaver Brook Association located in Hollis, NH. My fellow participants and I enjoyed a fantastic day conducting and learning how to teach environmental science in the perfect outdoor setting.
Recently, I used one of the workshop activities called "The Incredible Journey," in the classroom. The fourth graders I was working with had just begun a unit on the water cycle. First, we generated a list of where we can find water. Then I introduced the "Incredible Journey" activity and sent them off on their own water journey. Pictured here is their "journey journal." At each station they placed a colored bead on their lanyard to record where they had been. After 25 minutes of journeying we stopped to discuss where their journey had taken them. In this example, the journey of this water molecule began (the right side of the picture) in a plant (green bead), which then evaporated to the atmosphere through the process of transpiration, condensed into a cloud (white), snowed onto a glacier (yellow), melted into ground water (orange), flowed into a lake (purple), which flowed into a river (dark blue), which flowed into the ocean (light blue), where it stayed for a while (now why would that be?), evaporated into the atmosphere and became a cloud again (white), rained into a lake (purple), was drunk by an animal (red), which urinated (the kids kind of thought that was gross), then seeped into the soil (black), which was absorbed by the roots of a plant (green), which was lost through transpiration to the atmosphere (white), which is where this story began but which will continue and continue and continue which of course is the whole point!!! (Sorry for the run on sentence.) As a follow up activity, the students were asked to imagine that they were a water droplet and to write a descriptive tale of their journey based on their beaded record. Needless to say, the kids had a blast with this activity.

Audubon's 107th Christmas Bird Count 12/14-1/5

Beginning tomorrow, December 14th the Audubon Society begins its annual Christmas Bird Count. Visit www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/index.html to learn more about this event and how you might be able to participate. What a great way to expose students to the concept of observation and how this data is used by scientists. You might consider setting up a feeder or two around the school to study the winter habits of birds in your area!!