Tsunamis & Supplements

Today Sammy and Jun taught the class about Tsunamis and Supplements, respectively. Sammy had the class participate in a Tsunami simulation to give us the prospective of what it would have been like for individuals in the 2004 Tsunami in Thailand and Sri Lanka to try and escape the wave. After the simulation we headed inside where Sammy impressed us with his vast knowledge of the mechanics of this wave of destruction.

Jun brought in weights for us to use and samples of supplements for us to look at as well as explaining how these work (or don't work for that matter).

Both boys had excellent, engaging and well researched presentations! They certainly set the bar high!

Life in the tall grasses

Today students in B blocked continued to learn about animal behavior in the grasslands, particularly the savannas in Sudan and the plains of the central United States.

B block: Designing an Animal Behavior Experiment

After reviewing the homework from the weekend on animal communication, students designed a detailed experiment to test an animal behavior of their choice.

Students need to keep in mind: how long will the study take, what will be measured, possible sources of error etc.

D block: Lesson Plans

Today students turned in their lesson plans.  Students continued to work on what activity they will do with the class and had time to practice it.

D block lesson plan update

Reminder: D block your lesson plan is due in class on Monday. Make sure you have written down the details of the content you are going to present.

Birds of Prey Cont.

B Block finished watching Birds of Prey and looked out pictures of one of my college buddies trapping lynx in Montana.

Homework: Prepare a short (5 minute) presentation for the class on how your specific organism communicates with those of the same species. Have information on how it communicates to find a mate, food and protect its territory.

Nate...whales (have a specific specie)
Tak...star nosed mole
Rachel...orangutans
Ben...frogs (have a specific specie)
Pat...birds (have a specific specie).

B block: Animal Behavior & Communication

B block had a quiz today on sections 51.1 and 51.2. After the quiz we started to watch the Discovery Channel video Birds of Prey.

D block project information

D block has decided that they are each picking a topic to teach the class about for the remaining class periods. Below are the requirements and due dates for the project.

On Friday May 2nd the notes pages are due. This will count as a homework grade.
On Monday May 5th the lesson plan is due. The lesson must include a pre-assessment, involve everyone in the class and be no more than 25 minutes in length. Students have been emailed a lesson plan template. (click the picture to make it larger).
On Wednesday May 7th the activity or demo that you are doing in class is due.

Presentation Schedule:
Monday: Sammy (Tsunami), Jun (Muscles and Steriods)
Wednesday: Dana (?), Nicoya (Drug Controversy)
Thursday: David (photosynthesis), Mike (Jane Goodall's work)
Friday: Andrea (Human Nutrition), Ji (Brain/Nervous System).

Animal Communication

Today we started some notes on animal communication and even tried to "train" each other to perform basic tasks to get a feel for what it is like when two individuals don't communicate in the same way or have the same knowledge.

Homework for B block: read sections 51.1 and 51.2, you will have a reading quiz tomorrow in class. Any notes you take you can use.

Chapter 53 Project Rubric

Wondering how your project is going to be graded? Well here it is:

Content 62 points: 2 points for each word/concept (one point for each image and one point for each explanation)

Bibliography 10 points: all images and text are cited in the proper MLA format

Creativity & Formatting 14 points: the use of color and text style enhances the presentation.

Spelling & Grammar 14 points: there are no spelling nor grammatical errors.

Chapter 53 project updates

Some changes to the content for the project have been made. Please see the changes below. I will be on duty in Lindsey this evening and around on Sunday if you need help. Please email me to set up a time.

Here are the terms that you need to include AND have collected evidence (pictures or drawings) from the sites we visited:

species richness
relative abundance
predation
secondary succession
interspecific interactions
parasitism
herbivory
community
biogeography
cryptic coloration
ecological niche
ectoparasite
prey
realized niche
exotic/introduced species
disturbances

The terms below you need to include along with images and an explanation, however you can find these in your book or on the web.

individualistic hypothesis
interactive hypothesis
coevolution
aposematic coloration
Batesian mimicry
Mullerian mimicry
endoparasites
interspecific competition
interference competition
exploitative competition
fundamental niche
symbiosis
commensalism
mutualism
primary succession

You no longer need to include the following terms:

parasitoidism
predator
parasite
host
competitive exclusion principal
stability
recruitment
dynamic equalibrium hypothesis

You should get satellite and or terrain images from google. You do not need a separate slide for each term.