Earthwatch Summit: Harvard University

While in Thailand, Connie and I interviewed all of the researchers and the other volunteers.  One of the questions we asked was, "What advice would you give to our 7th grade students who want to do something really cool like this?"  Overwhelmingly and independently everyone said, "Don't hesitate to call up or e-mail the experts.  Chances are, they love their work so much, they would love to talk to anyone who will listen." 


Fast forward to the start of the school year, and thus, the start of our yearlong projects on endangered species.  As a department we meet at least once a week, if not more, to plan, analyze data, and look for cross curricular and real world connections.  It was at one of those meetings we wondered "what if we were able to find experts on the species that our students have chosen to focus on and set up interviews through Skype with our students?"

Naturally, this led to another amazing opportunity.  I followed the advice we received on our expedition,  I called the experts in connecting with ambitious scientist:  Earthwatch!  After chatting with folks there I was invited to attend Earthwatch's annual summit held at Harvard University's Science Center.  This was a big deal.  As teachers, getting to go to a science summit is a rare treat.  We are fortunate in our profession and especially in our district to have lots of professional development.  Most processional development however is centered around the art of teaching and not as often on the content that we teach.  As a science enthusiast I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to be immersed with conservation scientist from around the world.

My primary goal for the conference was to line up around fifteen scientist who study, work with and/or research the species that my students have chosen to adopt and advocate for throughout the year, to do a 30 minute Skype interview this spring.  I am happy to say that after lots of networking, e-mailing, and collaborating I now have some folks that are excited about the work we are doing, and thrilled to help out with our project.

More to come soon.

The Science of Smart

A personal passion of mine is to continue learning about how our brain works so that as a teacher I can use this knowledge to create effective learning experiences in my classroom. I am fortunate to work in a school and with a department that loves this sort of stuff too.

With all of that said, I listened to a great podcast on American Radio Works a few weeks back about the  "Science of Smart".  One key idea I walked away with was the importance of interlooping.  The main purpose of interlooping is to regularly and repeatedly ask students to refer back to, recall and apply previously taught concepts.  All too often, out students learn the information, we test on it, and move onto the mountain of other standards we need to teach.

This year, however, we are trying to be extremely conscious of bringing back and keeping relevant old topics again and again.  One big way we are doing it is through their species project.  So, as we wrapped up our unit on cells and the organizational levels of life, students were asked to look for unique features of their species at each level of life.

This is my example using the Asian Elephants.  Students needed to look for how their species fit into each level of life all the way from the biome to cells.  

At the end of the year we are planning on having an expo where students present all of the background information about their species prior to designing a PR campaign to help save the species from extinction.  The hope is that as they revisit these pages of their book at the end of the year they will have a chance to teach others about the levels of life through the lens of their animal, and apply this knowledge for a plan forward.

Seeking Expert Help

Ok, for those who know me in real life, you might have read the title and thought about time.  Well, think again, because it is not for me, and not that kind of help.  As we are diving into this year long project another pie in the sky idea has come to me.

See, when we were in Thailand we decided to interview all of the Think Elephants International research assistance.  One of the questions we asked each of them was "If you could give our 7th graders one piece of advice on how to get a cool job like this, what would it be?"  Everyone of them responded with a very similar answer.  "If you are passionate about something, find out who the expert is and pick up the phone and call them, Skype with them, or send them an e-mail.  Chances are they would love to talk to someone young and enthusiastic about their work."

So, here is what I (we really) want to do.  We want all of our students to make contact and hopefully interview a scientist who works with their species.  With that said, now we need to find some great folks out there who would be willing to either A) commit to skyping with a small group of kids for one 30 min. session this spring B) participate in an e-mail interview C) a phone interview.

Here is the list of animals that I need to find experts to match with kids.  So internet world here is how you can help.  Pass this post on to the people you know and have them contact me in the comments section or e-mail me at karon.decker@trussvillecityschools.com

·         Giant Otter

·         Giant Panda

·         Cheetah

·         African Elephants

·         Black Footed Ferret

·         Forest Owlet

·         Green Sea Turtle

·         Polar Bear

·         Florida Manatees

·         Siberian Tiger

·         Blue Macaw

·         Mountain Gorilla

·         Orangutan

·         African Wild Dog

·         Desert Fox

·         Red Panda

·         Snow Leport

·         Golden Lion Tamerin

·         Sand Cat

·         Aye-Aye Lemur

·         Asiatic Lion

·         Irrawaddy Dolphin

·         Leatherback Sea Turtle

·         Malayan Sun Bear

·         Bangle Tiger

·         Golden Mantled Tree Kangaroo

·         Red Wolf

·         Amur Leopard

·         Ethiopian Wolf

·         California Condor

·         Black Rhino

·         Hawaiian Monk Seal

·         Javan Rhino

·         Chimpanzee

·         Red Deer

·         Dwarf Crocodile

·         Florida Panther

·         Columbian night monkey

·         Galapagos Penguin  

·         Grizzly Bears

·         Borneo Pygmy Elephants

Words of wisdom so far...

The year is here and the project is off and running.  We have big goals for our students, and lots of stairs to climb to get there.  Because this is a new way for us to teach I want this blog to be a reflective tool to share not only the products and assignments but also to show the necessary rethinking of work, students attitudes, and what we as teachers are learning along the way.

Quotes from students when picking their animal:
"Mrs. Decker, have you seen the World Wildlife Web site?  It is the coolest.  I am going to be reading through all of this tonight."

"Did you know that you can really adopt a panda bear?  What if I convince everyone to give one dollar towards adoption.  Our class could really help one and then next year another and so on.  We really could do something."

"I am totally protecting the cheetahs because they are fast like me."

"My family symbolically adopted the red panda at the zoo, and I can't wait to see what else I can do to help it."

"Did you know that mountain gorillas are caught in the middle of a civil war?  I never thought about the impact war might have on wildlife.  I guess we need to also figure out peace in the country for people so the animals can have peace too."

Species Students have Picked:
I am sure this list is going to be incomplete, but these are the main ones I remember from their introduction letters.  One concern that we have is that almost all of them are vertebrate mammals.  We recognize that this is a natural tenancies, but as teachers we are still working on how to increase the diversity of organisms represented in this project.  One idea is that advance students would have to chose a companion species from a different class or organisms.  For example from the Think Elephant International Blog
"Elephant dung also provides an important food source for other species. Many species will feed on elephant dung as it is a treasure cove of nutrients. These species include ground hornbills, banded mongooses, velvet monkeys, baboons and many insect species. For dung beetles, elephant dung is extremely important. The beetles roll balls of dung and bury them to store as a food supply for their larvae. This then provides the honey badgers with a rich food source as they will then dig up the dung beetle balls and feed off the plump grubs inside.

Orangutans, Gorillas, Aye Aye, Chimpanzees
Green Sea Turtles and leather back sea turtles
Black Footed Farretts
Black Rino
Dwarf Crocodile
African elephants
Golden Lion Tamerin
California Condor, Macaw
Fin whale, norwall
Kamono Dragon
Sun Bear, polar bear
Giant Panda
Grey Wolf, Red Wolf, African Wild Dogs
Manatee

How are we as teachers using data and student interest to drive our project design: 
So I have a confession.  I am a TED talk addict.  I am a TEDx Birmingham teaching fellow and regularly attend local TEDx salon events in my community, where no joke, a bunch of other TED junkies get together, watch TED talks and discuss.  My other confession is that I rarely sleep.  Together, this means I have a lot of nights where I listen to TED talks.  Last night I listened to this great Geoffrey Canada "Our Failing Schools: Enough is Enough"  Go ahead watch it.  It is worth the time.  If you did (or didn't watch it) the big idea I got lat night was:  Why does education spend billions of dollars on high stakes test that we get back the next year and rarely do anything with the results.  
We are fortunate to work for a school that has realized that ignoring the data and moving forward is not a useful habit.  The first full week of school we sat down as a department and analyzed the results from the Alabama Science Assessment to see how we did last year.  We were able to see huge gains in areas like our bodies, systems and tissues unit and meiosis.  We were also able to flag areas where our students struggled like abiotic and biotic variables in an ecosystem, plants, classification  and ecology.  Some of the low scores are just a result of the content being covered after the test, but some we feel they did poorly because of how much time we dedicated to the unit, or that students failed to find the relevance of the topic and thus probably took the unit test, and promptly dumped the information out of their crowded brains.

What is cool about this process and the work we did this summer with Earthwatch and Think Elephants International is we have a clear cool experience to bring almost every unit back to our experience and the big year long species project that students are working on.  Now, as a result of the data, and seeing science in action, students will create a book with a section for each unit as it relates to their species.  In the spring students will present all they have learned in some kind of public forum.  Our goal for the background information presentations will be two fold.  1)  Students will be able to form meaningful connections with the application of each concept taught throughout the year.  2)  Students can receive feedback and suggestions from their peers before moving forward with their capstone project of creating a public relations campaign for their species.

Other cool insights:
I feel that we should all get sponsored to participate in the Earthwatch Giant Panda research project this summer, because lots of students are choosing them.  Just saying...

Thanks Fund For Teachers!

Coexisting with the Biotic and Abiotc parts of the ecosystem

So, with all great new things comes trial and error.  Kim (one of the three daring science teachers) had her students in the lab yesterday working on this assignment and realized that some tweaking was necessary, so Connie revised the template for students to use when researching the abiotic and biotic needs of their organism.

Define:

Biotic Factors - _________________________________________________________________________________________

Abiotic Factors - ________________________________________________________________________________________

BIOTIC FACTORS- Use complete sentences to answer the following:

A) What does your animal species eat?  B) Is it an omnivore, carnivore or herbivore?  Why is this?	List and describe three plants species that exist in same habitat as your animal.
List and describe three other animal species that coexist with your animal.	List any predators of your animal species – (those that eat your animal).
Describe any interactions that your animal species has with humans.  What types of conflicts are taking place here?	Describe a biotic factor that your animal species might use for shelter?

ABIOTIC FACTORS- Use complete sentences to answer the following:

Where does your species live?  Be specific- include country, state, geographic region, etc.	What bodies of water does your animal live in or near?
What biome does your animal live in?	How much rainfall does your animal’s biome receive yearly?
What is the average temperature range of your animal’s biome?	What type of soil exists in your animal’s biome? (If your animal has an ocean biome, list other abiotic factors that can be found in the ocean.)

  




This is the second major assignment that students will complete for their year long species project.  This is the example I will use for them, and they will compile similar information for their species.

Your Name: ____Mrs. Decker

7^th Grade Life Science

Species Common Name:  _Asian Elephant___

Species Scientific Name: __Elephas  maximus__

Directions:  Research to find out the living things that your species coexist with (eats, uses for shelter, symbiotic relationships, ect.) List and describe at least four biotic species below that exist with your species.  Research the abiotic (non-living) parts of its habitat also.  (Ideal temperature, soil types, topography (shape of the land), water needs ect.)  You need to fill in at least four of the sections in the abiotic column.

Biotic	Abiotic
Definition: Something that is living or was once living	Definition: Something that is non-living and never was alive
Asian Elephants Eat: roots, grasses, fruit, and bark, and they eat a lot of these things. An adult elephant can consume up to 300 pounds (136 kilograms) of food in a single day. They are herbivores	Location Where does your species live?  Country/state geographic area?	Asian mainland, including India and Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia.  Elephants are also found on the islands of Sri Lanka, Sumatra and Borneo r.
Human interactions and conflict:  Humans and elephants do not make great neighbors.  Elephants can harm humans if angered (mostly males during mating season.)  Humans also poach elephants for their tusk.  Efforts are being made in Southeast Asia on helping humans and elephants coexist.	Biome	Rainforest with intermixed meadows and grasslands
Predators:  Young are in danger from tigers and lions but there are no known predators for adult elephants.	Ideal temperature range	Not much is mentioned about their temperature needs, but they do live in the tropics where there are no distinct seasons and it is typically warm all you around.
Other plants in their habitat:  These elephants spend the evenings in dense forest and typically spend the foraging part of the day in meadows and grasslands.  Deforestation of their habitats is one of the major reasons for them becoming endangered.	Water consumption needs	An elephant will consume between 18-55 gallons of water a day.
Other animals in their habitat: No specific information was found about this.	Bodies of water it lives in or near	They must have a good source of freshwater.  They will use their tusk to dig for water when necessary.  This helps out other animals that share their habitat.
	Sunlight needs	There are no specific sunlight needs mentioned for elephants
	Terrain/topography what is the shape of the land where it lives?  Mountains, hills, streams, ect.	Asian elephants typically live in hilly rainforest terrain. They are important to their ecosystem because their dung provides needed fertilizer for the soil and they churn up the ground and make pathways of light and passageways through dense areas as they travel.  The density of the forest where they live makes it difficult to study Asian elephants in the wild.

Choosing your own species

The first assignment is almost here for our year long project.  This is what we are asking our students to do.  Hopefuly we will have a few great samples to share once the letters start rolling in. 

Dear Reader Directions:

Science is going to be SO amazing this year that you are going to get to write a book about it!  All great books have a great author behind them and it is important to the reader (me) to know you.  I want this to be a page (or two) where you introduce yourself. 

You might be wondering, “What is my book going to be about?”  This year, we are trying something new.  We asking each 7^th grader to choose a threatened or endangered species that you are going to adopt and advocate for throughout the year.  At the end of each unit, you will add a new section to your book about how the topic relates to your chosen species. 

Directions:  Type a three paragraph letter telling the reader about you, your interests, your family, and the animal you are choosing to focus on this year and why.

Choosing an animal:

Use the websites below of threatened or endangered species and choose one that interests you.  Be sure to read the information provided about your animal and choose wisely.  You may not change species in the middle of the year!  Your animal must be chosen from one of these four websites unless you ask the teacher for approval of a different species. 

 

http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/vanishing.htm

https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/directory?direction=desc&sort=extinction_status

http://www.earthsendangered.com/

http://www.allaboutwildlife.com/ten-most-endangered-animals

Grading: 

Task	What is expected	Points Possible	Points Earned
Name, date, and formatting.	Letter should be typed - handwritten letter will not receive full credit.  It should include your first and last name in the first paragraph and be signed at the bottom.  The date should be present	10
First paragraph	Introduction of the author (you), information about your family, your interests and activities/hobbies.	10
Second Paragraph	Explain what animal your book will be about; tell a little bit about the animal, why you chose it and why it is endangered. Include which website you used to choose your animal.	10
Third Paragraph	What do you need to learn in order to help your animal survive?  Come up with five questions to explore this year so that you are better prepared to help your species.	10
Pictures (2)	Include one of you and one of your animal.	10
Total		50

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Who says 7th graders don't like story time?

We are just finishing our first week back.  Teachers started on Monday and our new 7th graders started on Wednesday.  Our goals for this week were straight forward:

1. Creating an welcoming, safe and inquisitive atmosphere
2. Let the students know our expectations and how to take care of their needs
3. Establish lab safety rules
4. Introduce our students to the subject of Life Science
5. Encourage curiosity through scientific inquiry

We are already getting to apply our summer expedition in Thailand to our teaching.   I have shown the video Connie made to hook kids into the cool places science can lead you.  (I described our Earthwatch expedition as "Summer camp for grown ups".). After the video I briefly told them about our vision for the year and how they will get to choose a species that interest them to advocate for throughout the year.  What I love is that a bunch of kids have already started to research endangered species and are talking to me about what they want to do, or what the looked up last night.  Ladies and gentlemen 7th graders volunteering to do homework that was not assigned on the first night of school is an unheard of thing.  A great thing, but not something I expected. 

Today I also got unexpected results.  See, when I wrote the grant to Fund for Teachers, I referenced the Indonesian fable The Blind and the Elephant.  The story is about how each of the six blind men try to understand an elephant by only touching one part of it.  As a result they end up thinking an elephant is like a wall, a snake, a spear, a tree, a fan or a rope.  They each feel they are right in their perception but are puzzled about how they each touched the same animal but came to such different conclusions.  Eventually the prince explains that an elephant is very big and in order to really know what an elephant is like, you must put all of the parts together.  In my writing of the grant I talked about the disconnect science education and science professionals often feel.  

Today, though, I got to read the fable to my new students.  Not only did the listen with rapt attention, they actually applauded at the end of the story time.  When I finished I asked them "why do you think I chose to read you this right after I explained the scientific method?"  

Their answers were profound:

"To remind us to not only look closely at our work, but also to make sure we are paying attention to the big picture" 

"There are many different ways to observe things, not only our sight."

"The men followed the scientific method to learn more about the elephant, but not always in order" 

"Sometimes people argue when they analyze the data, and outside help is needed". 

"It is possible for there to be many correct answers that are still not right". 

"The men showed curiosity and persistence because they were interested in something" 

Lots of great thought, profound discoveries, and a nice way to see how my students minds work.   

Fun with Movie Maker

Connie, as older kids, and is much more tech savvy than I am.  She made this fun video clip about our jorney that we can share with other teachers and our students .  Enjoy

Here comes the school year, so now what?

 

One of the few distinct lessons I can remember from my 7^th grade health teacher was about goal setting.  I can remember him comparing goals to shooting a bow and arrow at a target.  He stated simply, “you will never get the bull’s-eye if you don’t have a target.”  Makes sense to me.  If we don’t have a vision of how we are going to apply what we learned this summer in Thailand to our classes and our teaching, then we don’t have a chance of accomplishing it.  So, here is the vision that we are starting off the 2014-2015 year with for how we will apply what we learned this summer in Thailand. 

The Big Idea:  We want our student to choose a threatened or endangered keystone species to adopt and advocate for throughout the year.  At the end of the year, during their ecology unit, students will create a PR campaign using their research to develop a plan to protect and save their species from extinction.

Why:   One of the more profound things I heard Dr. Plotnick  http://earthwatch.org/scientific-research/our-scientists/joshua-plotnik   (the founder of Think Elephants International) http://thinkelephants.org/pages/who_we_are.html say was, “We are very likely to fail at saving wild Asian Elephants because we started too late.  I am still hopeful about our work though, because I feel that our model of using species specific science research to guide our conservation and education efforts has the ability to save many other species from the same fate.  Other species that are not even on our radar now, are going to benifit from this work.” 

Starting with the Science:  Our 7^th grade science students have a lot to learn about the living world.  We are planning on using what we learned on our expedition about elephants to teach about many of the basic principles of life science throughout the year.  We will teach the concept; then show how it applies to elephants, then our students will build a book about their species adding a page/section a unit, of how the information applies to their adopted species. 

What will be in their book?  (This is the dream before the year starts)

·         Introduction/about the author:  This will be a letter about the author (the student) explaining who they are, what species are they choosing to adopt and advocate for, and why did they choose it.  http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/vanishing.htm

·         Eight Characteristics of life:  Students will create a section of their book explaining how their species meets each of the eight characteristics of life. 

·         Classification/taxonomy:  What is the scientific name of your animal and how is it classified all the way from Kingdom to Species.  They will need to explain how their species qualifies for each taxa level. 

·         Cells:  A detailed drawing of a somatic cell for animals and information about specialized cells present in their species.

·         Genetics:  How many chromosomes does the species have?  What are the main acquired and inherited traits observed in the species?  Presence of genetic disorders?  Is the population wild, captive or domesticated? 

·         Natural Selection/Species Variation:  Closest living relatives, ancient relatives.  How has this species changed over time and why?  How does it need to change to survive the current threats to its population? What are the different varieties of your species and where do they exist and why?

·         Human Body Systems and Tissues:  Compare and contrast a system of your choosing between humans and your species and a section on your species reproductive system.  Does the way they reproduce contribute to their endangered status? Why or why not?

·         Plants:  Why types of vegetation is your species dependent on for food or shelter?  Are any of these plants threatened or endangered?  If so, what needs to be done to keep the plant population healthy?

·         Trophic Levels and Food Webs:  The students will create detailed food web and trophic level diagrams for their species along with an explanation for the weak links in the system and the effects of loss of levels in the food web. 

 

Culminating Capstone Project:  As teachers, we will discuss how Think Elephants International is combining science, conservation and education in an effort to save Asian and African Elephants from extinction.  Students will then work to decide on how it would be best to protect their species.  They will then design and implement a public relations campaign.  Project can take on many forms including:

·         Facebook page with daily advocacy information shared https://www.facebook.com/#!/thinkelephants 

·         Pintrest board with links to all sorts of inspiring information about why protection is needed

http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=Think%20Elephants%20International 

·         Conservation policy planning

http://www.elephantconservation.org/programs/asia-programs/

·         Proposal of legislation to protect land or purchase key habitat

http://www.amnh.org/explore/science-bulletins/bio/documentaries/wild-at-heart-the-plight-of-elephants-in-thailand/asian-elephants-threats-and-solutions

·         A blog http://thinkelephants.blogspot.com/

•   A website http://thinkelephants.org/pages/who_we_are.html

·         A children’s book http://www.ifaw.org/sites/default/files/education-publications/intl/aaw11_my_elephant_neighbour_guide_us.pdf

·         A lesson plan for younger kids (and teach it) http://thinkelephants.org/pages/teaching_kids.html

·         An app http://iberianature.com/wildworld/nature-and-wildlife-apps-for-iphone/

·         And probably lots more that I haven’t even thought of yet. 

So, this is where we are starting the year.  With a plan, a dream, and a leap.  I am sure some parts will go really well, and some not so great.  But, I know one thing, we will all learn a lot.  We will keep the blog up chronicling student work, adding useful links, assignments and what is working/not working.