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Spicing Up Eco-Science in the Classroom!

Spicing Up Eco-Science in the Classroom!. Julia Malcolm & Kathleen Duguay Branksome Hall, Toronto ON, Canada. Presentation Overview . Who are we and our presentation rationale Two spicy Ecology Activities 5 Stations Probes and Planning Labs Inner City Labs

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Spicing Up Eco-Science in the Classroom!

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  1. Spicing Up Eco-Science in the Classroom! Julia Malcolm & Kathleen Duguay Branksome Hall, Toronto ON, Canada

  2. Presentation Overview • Who are we and our presentation rationale • Two spicy Ecology Activities • 5 Stations • Probes and Planning Labs • Inner City Labs • Computer technology and ecology • Philosophy and Ecology • Data based Questions • Wrap Up

  3. Deadly Links • At the end of this activity, students will: • Give examples of ways in which pesticides enter food chains • Describe possible consequences of pesticides entering food chains • Understand the concept of Bioaccumulation

  4. Your role • Butterfly sticker= grasshoppers • Blue space sticker= shrews • Happy face sticker = hawks • The ideal environment for this activity is outside, or in a gymnasium!!!

  5. Biomagnification • The process by which chemical substances become more concentrated at each tropic level

  6. Planning Lab Approach • What does this mean? • Inquiry-Based • More fun and interesting for the student • They feel more ‘ownership’ over their lab

  7. An example from our school: Mark-Recapture Planning Lab • Used to teach the Lincoln Index for estimating the size of a population • Formula = (n1 × n2) / n3 • n1 = the number of individuals caught in the first trial. • n2 = the number of individuals caught in the second trial. • n3 = The number of individuals in the second trial which were marked.

  8. Instructions to students: • Your task: To determine the number of students in a particular grade (will be determined by the teacher) using the mark-recapture method for determining population size. • You will work with your group during class time to come up with a method by which to do this. You will be required to spend time outside the classroom (ie lunch time) to conduct your actual sampling.

  9. Ways that students do this • Have ‘animals’ (= students) wear a sticker or tag • Marker on hand • Safety pins • Elastic/ribbon in hair

  10. Advantages • Students are much more engaged • Students find the activity ‘fun’ • More ownership over the lab • Greater ease of recall for the formula and its applications since it is meaningful to them. • Better able to identify with ecological studies.

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