Homework and Updating the Game

Tuesday, September 21st. Today we revisited the Food Web Connections Game in small groups and brainstormed ways to make the game better. Some groups decided to have specific ratios for how many producers are required before you can add primary consumers and so on up the food chain. Other groups added more specific details about what each species eats and how that limits your options when building a food web. Several groups decided to add "Disaster Cards" to the game. These included fires, floods, droughts, toxic spills and land development each with a different impact on the food webs. We will play our modified games on Friday.
Monday we revisited our homework from the previous week. We went over expectations for what constitutes a "good" answer and how it is important to give detailed answers in full sentences. I gave the phrase, "When in doubt, write it out" to remind them to always add more details instead of less. Often they assume that I know that they know what they are talking about, but they need to be explicit so that everyone is clear on the details. Many of them got their homework back with comments to guide them in redoing their work. We will be having a quiz on Thursday that will cover the same topics that were addressed in the readings and homework. These include drawing a food web, describing how energy and matter move through a food web and the role of decomposers in the food web. No Homework.

Food Web Connections Game

Friday, September 17th. Today we played a card game that models a food web. The object was to create a diverse food web with 5 levels, from decomposers to tertiary consumers. During the game various threats to the stability of the food web had to be dealt with. Homework was collected, no new homework.

More Food Webs

Wednesday, September 15th. Today we modeled a food web using string to connect the different organisms and to illustrate the interdependence between the parts of the food web. We made an energy pyramid to show how the numbers of consumers decrease as we move up the food chain. Homework was collected.

Food Chains and Food Webs

Tuesday, September 14th. Today we constructed food chains that might exist in different ecosystems like a desert or a rainforest. We examined how energy and matter move through these food chains. As we added more organisms to the ecosystem we created food webs that illustrated the interconnectedness of the organisms and their various roles and niches within the ecosystem. We went over the different levels of producers, consumers and decomposers as well. Homework is due tomorrow.

Characteristics of Life

Monday, September 13th. We went over the 8 basic characteristics of all living things. These included that living things have cells, genetic material, use materials and energy, respond to their environment, maintain homeostasis, grow and develop, reproduce, and as a group change over time (evolution). Homework for Wednesday, September 15, Read "Web of Life" handout, pages 5-10 and answer questions 3, 4, 5 on page 10. The second part of the handout is Homework for Friday, September 17th. Read the rest of the handout, pages 10-14 and answer questions 3, 4, & 6 on page 13.
Friday we shared articles that students brought in about environmental issues in the news.

Notebooks

Thursday, September 9. Today each student got a science notebook. These composition books will be used as Field notebooks, Lab notebooks, and Project notebooks. They will generally stay in the classroom so that students don't have to carry them around and they will be available when we need them. The plan is to use them when we go outside to take notes when we are taking an inventory of local species or when we go on a field trip to monitor stream quality. We will use them to document lab activities, collect data, and write conclusions and reflections. We will also use them for documentation of ongoing projects. The students will only write on one side of the book, leaving the other side blank for me to write comments, observations, and evaluations of their work. We will also do some peer reviews this way.
Today we took our notebooks outside and started our inventory of some of the local plants. These included White Clover, Japanese Stiltgrass, Dogwood, Tulip Poplar, and Sweet Gum.

A New Year of EPS!

Wednesday, September 8.
The first two full days of school. It is good to be all together and getting started on classes. These past two days (and our short day last week) we have been talking about Ecology and the basic requirements for living things. Today we compared definitions of Ecology by asking different people to offer their ideas of what it means. We moved on to look at ecosystems and started looking at the forest ecosystem on the CFS campus. Homework for Friday, September 10th: Find an article in a newspaper or magazine that describes an environmental issue. The article needs to be summarized and brought in to be shared. What is the problem? What is the cause of the problem? What is the environmental setting? What is the impact of the problem?