Mon Dec 1 - We
began organism inquiry. I'll add more to this journal page as I get time.
First period set up c-fern cultures and 2nd block set up jewel wasp cultures.
For wasps, each kid put an innoculated pupa anda fresh pupa in a tube.
I also asked them to try and sex the wasps. Rather than recording their
results in this journal, I am hoping that some of them will use the Student
Pages web site to creat an on-line journal with pictures and observations
- maybe a few hypotheses which they could test later. I remember that last
year at the JSHS one student
presented a c-fern paper. For now, just getting them interested in the
organism, become curious and begin to use the technology to record their
activities - especially for those who really don't like manual writing,
is sufficient.
It also MY time to learn WITH the kids,
because I have never looked at these organisms. In reality, the greatest
teaching I am doing now is probably modeling my own inquiry and having
them assist me. In that way they see a model, PLUS, I serve as a validator
for them. I become someone they can yell across the room at (although I
prefer walking over, John David :-)), "Hey Dr. H look at this, it's (a)
neat (b) weird, (3) gross, (4) what is it?"
Before we started, I went over
the moss life cycle to set the stage for the c-fern study. I focused on
the essential question: "What is a spore". Even in to college I always
had a difficult time with this concept. I think what held me back was thinking
spores were asexual reproduction and gametes were sexual. I could not see
spores as a stage in sexual reproduction. At this level I wanted the kids
to see spores as "can grow into an organism without recombination, while
gametes must recombine". I try to reflect on those concepts that were difficult
for me to understand and then check with a concept interview if
my kids are also having difficulty.
Tues Dec 2 - Virginia, one of
our classified staff, brought in the bullfrog
that had apparently choked on a chipmonk. We're letting it thaw in
the frig - she had frozen it. When I asked who thought it was the coolest
thing they had ever seen, Ashley raised her hand. She winds up with the
right to be the dissection-meister for the "frogmonk". Stephen will bring
his 35 mm camera in and be the photogrpaher. John Byrd seems to think that,
done properly, a good necropsy w/pictures would make a fine "herp note".
I agree and it's a good chance for the kids to do "real publishable research"
on something quite interesting.
Tonight I went to the Bio Explorers meeting. Claudia &
Les make me feel so good with the adjectives they use about my teaching.
They have discovered (their own inquiry) what motivates me - novelty, valaidation,
and challenge. I look forward to a developing relationship with them. After
the meeting, Les helped me with some things I can take back to class. First
he helped me with distinguishing sex differences in the wasps. I was looking
for ovipositors in the wrong place. I'll share that with the kids in what
I hope is a creative and fun way tomorrow. He also explained the necessity
for temperature control - 28 Celsius, and he gave me a small incubator.
He also gave me two 21-day c-fern cultures that are sexually mature, and
we watched the fertilization process. I'll try to get that on the flexcam
tomorrow. I also saw some of his students' work. Very impressive
poster presentations.
Wed Dec 3 - 1st block worked
on their organisms. I shared with them last night's experience vis-a-vis
ovipositors. I often use the expression that "if you believe an object
is in this room, you will never find it in another room. So consider all
possibilities". Cody and Scott worked on the flexcam getting shots of sperm
swimming to the female c-fern. Hopefully they will get up on the web site
tomorrow. Some people thought the clear rhizoids were the sperm. This led
to a discussion of perspective and why expectations of scale are so important
in making obervations. Especially in microscope work for the inexperienced,
your expectation influences greatly what you believe you are seeing!
2nd block worked on the FrogMonk. Some pictures
are posted and they will be posting their notes and additional pictures
later. We think it was a
baby squirrel, but have sent it off to a mammalogist for positive ID.
There were also other interesting items in the stomach, but I will let
the kids tell that story. The class worked wonderfully together to conduct
a thorough investigation. Before they began I talked to them a bit about
"I feel sorry for you if you can't find anything to interest you in this
class". This was in response to some of the students in 1st block just
sitting around idle after looking at their organisms some. Tomorrow I will
wear my T-shirt that says "The truly educated never graduate". The true
learners are never idle either - although they may be reflecting. The technology
doesn't work either unless you turn on your own lights!
I went out during my planning period and bought a "twister"
light bulb to make an incubator for the jewel wasp and c-ferns. I think
it's going to work and hold at 28 degrees.
We downloaded good diagrams of the male
and female
frog reproductive systems for the kids to use. Bullfrog
link. Another.
Another
w/diet.
Thur Dec 4 - Wearing the T-shirt (see
Wed note). Yesterday I took a picture of the weaving
I
made with the natural dyed wool. Not all, but a lot of it uses my hand
spun wool also. My hand spinning creates a yarn that has a slight inconsistancy
in guage. The result is a fabric with rich texture and feel as well as
color. In addition, the colors are simply not as vibrant in artificial
light. I think there is the makings of a good essay on the harmony of nature
in that work. Certainly, having written this down, I will probably always
see my work "in a different light" from now on.
Took a picture of the coyote
skull yesterday. The dermestid colony was not robust enough to handle
it. Again, this may be due to poor temperature control. Granted it's hard
to raise the temperature with a light, if darkness is also needed. In any
event, the room smells real bad and using mulling spices on the stove isn't
helping much. I'm going to move the bugs and skull out today, although
I'm not sure where I'll take them. Another problem (besides the smell)
is that when it takes a while - like two weeks - to clean the skull we
get a maggot buildup. I don't know if the maggots affect the dermestid
population or if they operate independently. The maggots are under the
skull, which I take as a sign of neeeding the warmth. I don't see many
beetles, but maybe they are inside to keep warm. It's intersting that a
lot of my kids say "Let's go to UT's body farm", but they have a hard time
dealing with the dead coyote. Hmmm? They could do some good research on
dermestid/maggot interactions; i.e. are they synergistic, competitive,
what?
In Class - turns out there is a nice colony of larva
and quite a few adults 5-6 laying eggs in the cavities of the skull. I
shook a few out and placed them directly on the squirrel skull from the
frogmunk. Garrett prep cleaned it wonderfully. We should end up with a
nice specimen for looking at dentition.
We hooked up two laptops side by side in the lab and
connected them to the internet so that two kids could work on the frogmunk
page simulataneously. That worked out well because it foster communication
and peer teaching.
Fri Dec 5 - Sent Richard Hoffman, Virginia
Museum of Natural History a request to identify our
millipede. I included a link to our picture. I got his name by browsing
information on the All Taxa Biotic Inventory in the Smokies. He was the
Millipede
March leader.
Ashley has hypothesized that the frog may have died
from cyanide poisoning, because frogs also breath through their skin. This
line of inquiry is working well with some of the kids and they are extending
their questioning. She also suggested that one way to test this would be
to get a millipede and feed it to a live bullfrog. I suggested that we
may have some problems with amphibian folks on that one.
One of Henry's blowfly pupa emerged. It
looked like a Tachnid fly to me. Also, although it is supposed to be a
Sarcophaga, " blow fly" refers to Calliphoridae. Sarcophagidae are flesh
flies. This is a good opportunity to revisit the idea on the importance
of scinetific names because common names can be quite misleading. It is
also achance to reinforce the idea of challenging authority. Students are
so apt to ask "Is it right?" and give others the authority over their knowledge.
I want kids to construct knowledge, which means challenge. Consequently,
I want us as a class to pursue deciding ourselves what Family the fly belongs
to. I want them to know know IF" it is a Sarcophaga, they know it because
the decided it is, not because they were told!
Sat Dec 6 - Found a good
millipede web site. Got a good letter back from Richard Hoffman. I
decided to start a Millipede Correspondence
page including my e-mail and his response. I'll add any others. Interesting,
Dr. Hoffman made the same suggestion as Ashley, which was to have a live
frog eat one of the millipedes. I need to check on the ethics surrounding
animal research and see if this is something we want to pursue.
Also, I plan to encourage Ashley to e-mail Dr. Hoffman
directly and ask if she can be involved in the description of this new
race of millipede - especially since she is quite an artist. Also, here
is the chance to revisit the idea of "How many species are there?" which
we studied weeks ago. The kids were told there are many species (and varieties)
that have not been discovered or described, but now they have the chance
to experience working with one - and maybe even contributing to
its description!
Sun Dec 7- Pearl Harbor Day. Funny,
I didn't realize it until I typed in the date. Amazing memorizong dates
can help recall knowledge.
I drove to Norris on a beautiful winter morning and realized
I missed my Dad - the forester. Although we didn't share much on an emotional
level
as I was growing up, he did introduce me to a love of the woods, nature
and learning. It would be nice to stroll through the woods with him now.
So much I have learned about nature, and how much I am now ready to learn
from him. I'm sorry he's not here to walk with me for we could be amazed
together.
Mon Dec 8 -
1st Block: Still on the Blowfly issue. We had another emergence
over the weekend. and it was definitely a Sarcophaga. The first one probably
was a Sarcophaga, but hard to tell when it was wet. Nevertheless, I still
can't see plumose arista on the flies. Murray is doing an experiment. He
has put 20 pupae into each of 20 jars. He will see if they emerge all the
same or some are different. In this manner he doesn't have to identify
exactly, only observe differences. Right or wrong is not the question.
It is finding a way to test the question. This has been productive. Today
we need to take a picture of the first two flies side by side.
Joe Fink gave me a book on how to draw insects. For
about 50 insects it presents a six-step sketching process. I had each student
choose an insect and sketch it. Without exception, they were quite
good. I'll do this with 2nd Block tomorrow. Learning how to draw nature
. . .
2nd Block: John David found the
millipede head and what are probably segments three and four. Total
length was about 18 segments. A group of students
began an e-mail to Dr. Hoffman. They'll finish it tomorrow.
One student had a fly emerge and he believes
it's from his parasatized pupae. Now he has to find a way to confirm that.
SLowly They are oberving difference phenomena and questioning what they
see.
E-mailed Butch Brodie re:toxins.
Tues Dec 9 - Several of the kids sent
an e-mail to Dr. Hoffman. I had 2nd Block
try the insect drawings today. 1st Block put together a collage of their
drawings
and posted them all over the hall of the science wing. They also got
a good picture
of the frogmunk squirrel skull next to our other squirrel
skull from the dermestid beetles. Another picture.
Stephen is continuing work on his roach research. I think
he's got the good design now. Respiration during light vs. dark.
I gave Nicole a task of identifying an unknown
lichen using my lichen book. She did a good job of IDing it as a Cladonia
- eve to species which I don't have in front of me right now.
Wed Dec 10 - Sort of a low key day.
I have a number of vieos that I want the kids to see and reflect on before
the semster is over, so I showed them the Butterflies today. It reinforces
the work we did with Monarchs and it includes wonderful visuals of pupation
and emergence.
This evening I got an e-mail from Carolina wanting
to know what date I got the jewel wasp materials. As it turns out they
had been doing some substituting so the jury is still out that issue.
Thurs Dec 11 - I got Stephen's pictures
up and running on the web. I also posted
the document that I submitted to Herpetological Review for them.
A short lecture on mimicry today. Butch Brodie sent
a reply e-mail to my inquiry Monday about toxins and anura. His
reply was a great seque into mimicry, which although I have discussed
I have not labeled: Muellerian, Batesian, Self. Also contrast to camouglage
and then all lumped as "Deception". I found a wonderful summary
site for the guys.
Showed the "Endangered
Species" video. While it was running in 2nd Block, I got on-line and
ordered a copy of their book Witness. Looks great (Amazon.com
:Middleton and Littsschwager)!
After school Stephen and I worked on his roach research.
He got his first good data run. 9 more to go.
Fri Dec 12 - Lexie's wasp emerged
so I had the class observe them closely. The took a few pictures but didn't
save them as jpeg's so it will be next week before I can get them on-line.
In first block Several of us cleaned the dermestid aquarium and transferred
all the beetles, larvae and pupae to a new home - another darkened aquarium.
I was surprised to find that the beetles were using the styrofoam for pupation
chambers. I never new why the styrofoam was in the kit we received. I assumed
it was to rest the wet sponge upon. Anyway, it makes it very easy to move
adults and near-adults to a new home as a starter colony. We put a new
piece of foam in the new house. After it appears we get full emergence
we'll move that old foam out - it stinks.
We put the coyote skull in peroxide, so for a treat I gave
the beetles som round steak in their new home - sort of a house warming
gift. Also, the adults, of which we probably have 75 or so, need meat to
lay eggs on. The larvae can eat the dog food that came in our starter kit.
After picking out all the critters from their old home I realize that we
have quite a large colony now. It can probably reduce a head quick now
before the flies can get their maggots going. Getting rid of them was one
of the primary reasons for moving the colony.
The kids turned in journals today. I'm looking forward to
reading them.
It was a very good week. This is by far the best ecology
class I have had - from a creativity standpoint and from engagement.
Mon Dec 15 - Getting down to the
end. Today was Compost Presentation day. Some of the kids were quite creative
and I was able to make additions to my "Highlight Tape" that I've been
building over the past five years. I need to take the time now to edit
and have separate Anatomy and Ecology tapes.
A reporter from the local paper,
the Courier-News, came 2nd Block and interviewed the kids about the frog
and what they had learned.
Tues Dec 16 - What a great way
to end the year. Morgan Simmons, feature and environmental writer for the
Knoxville News-Sentinel, came to class to interview the kids about the
Frog
That Croaked experience. As it turns out, he stayed the entire 95-minute
period and the discussion was in reality a general reflection and processing
of the semester experience and the learning that transpired. A link to
his article will make wonderful closure for us all. One of the themes to
his questions of the kids was: "What have you learned and what do
you still have questions about?" I watched him take a wonderful epistemological
journey with them at their level. He was a good teacher today.
For myself, I am even more convinced of the benefits
of journaling. Several times the students went into their journals to clarify
items for Morgan. I founnd myself scanning the on-line journal for things
we had done. Yes! I had forgotten some important events - at least they
were not in my "ready memory". Most likely because so much high energy
and involved teaching-learning had occured in between. How then can I expect
the kids to remember without prompting? All their activities become auditory,
tactile, visual, olfactory, and gastronomic stimuli that down the road
will bring memories flooding back. For example, I had forgotten about the
hornworm experience, yet next year, like every year, as the tomatoes ripen
I will find myself looking for them just like I look for morels when the
ground warms in Spring. I know they will also look closer and be more aware
of the world around them.
As I watched the enthusiasm of the kids and listened to them
rushing to tell Morgan of their experiences this semester, I was overwhelmed
with joy. They have indeed had a wonder-filled experience, and I
am grateful that all our lives converged at this time and place. And Morgan
. . . Thanks!
Wed Dec 17 - This wraps it all up for the year. Ellen has surgery tomorrow and I'll be out. The kids Final Exam will be to write an essay on what they have learned - Globally (concepts) AND locally (their own lives). Afterwards, I'll have them watch the video on "Alien Species", invasive exotic plants. These have undoubtedly been the best two Ecology classes I have ever had. The Biology Explorers activity with the Appalachian Math and Science Partnership was also beneficial. Five college undergraduates spent a class period per week with me. I believe that I am a better teacher for having them there - for several reasons. It's been fun ya'll. Bye!
POSTSCRIPT
- I was out on Thursday and school was cancelled on Friday. When
I came in over the holidays, I found two collages the students had made.
The first was made from cutouts of all the pictures that were used in this
journal. The cutouts had been pieced together with some forming the letters
"ECOLOGY" on poster board, while the remainder became a border/frame. A
second collage was made using photocopies of various inscriptions/drawings
gleaned from the students' journals.
In the week after the end of classes the Knoxville
News-Sentinel published the story on The Frog That Croaked on
12/20/03, and the Clinton Courier-News published a story on 12/26/03.
