Create an Animal. . be careful what you wish for!

                  CREATE AN ANIMAL PROJECT

 

   The purpose of this project is to use your knowledge of

the animal phylums and classes.  You and your team will make

up an animal to fit the phylum or class you are assigned.

You will work with your team to describe the animal in

descriptive paragraphs.  You and you partners will also draw

or make a model of your animal.   You will make up a

scientific name and a common name for your animal.   This

project is due on April 10.   It will be graded on

accuracy, effort and creativity.  It will be graded

separately based on what each partner contributes to the

project, so you should include a breakdown of how much time

each person spent on it.  This project will be worth eight

homeworks, and will be graded by the point system below.

 

   The first step in writing a good description of your

animal is to read some descriptions of other animals in your

phylum or class.   To do this, you will need to look in

the reference books in the library.   You are required as

part of your grade (15%) to read about at least three animals

from the same group.   Your evidence of this will be brief

notes on each animal, naming it and telling the most

interesting things you read about it.   Your team should then

think about what kind of animal you want to invent.  You will

write a description of your animal.   It should be one or more

paragraphs.  Your paragraphs must contain a topic sentence.

The description of your animal should be printed on the

computer, using your heading, as it will be displayed with your

model and/or drawings.   You should also make drawings/and or a

model of your animal.

 

   Your final project would include the following: (points)

     _____ Your heading including all team members' names(1)

     _____ The written description of your animal telling the

           following: (50 points)

          _____ the phylum you were assigned

          _____ the scientific name of your organism

                correctly  written (5)

          _____ the common name of your organism (2)

          _____ external appearance

          _____ internal workings

          _____ habitat

          _____ diet

          _____ natural enemies

          _____ life cycle

          _____ importance to people

          _____ any other interesting facts

 

     _____ Your model and/or drawing of the animal (25)

     _____ Your notes on at least 3 real animals in your

           group  (15)

     _____ Bibliography (10)

     _____ The breakdown of how much time each partner spent.

 

Ida Swenson, idathefriz.blogspot.com, 2012 Adapted from 2000

Design an Experiment

I first did this in around 1985.   Got a bit hysterical when one of my student teachers brought it from her University seminar. . . came from a classmate teaching two counties away!!!  It was even from MY typewriter!(Which tells you how old it was!)  Guess a good thing goes on and on.  Wonder if my typewriter font is still floating in classrooms out there!?!

DESIGN AN EXPERIMENT

CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING PROBLEMS.   DESIGN AN EXPERIMENT

 TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM.   TELL WHICH IS THE CONTROL, THE

 VARIABLE, AND YOUR HYPOTHESIS.

            1.  Farmer Brown sees a new type of  fertilizer on sale.   The bag says it is better than any other fertilizer on the market.  How could she design an experiment to see if the fertilizer really is better?

   

            2.  Mary owns 20 guinea pigs.   How could she prove whether they prefer guinea pig chow or oatmeal cookies?

            3.  How could Mary prove which would be better for her guinea pigs- oatmeal cookies or guinea pig chow?

            4.  Jose wonders if watering his plants with warm water would make them grow more quickly.   Design an experiment that would show whether warm water has an effect on the

 plants' growth.

            5.  Mayor Crabb needs to know if using a new type of paint on city hall will last longer than the usual type of paint.   How could she find out for sure which is better?

            6.  Suppose that you have invented a rubber band which you are sure will stretch farther than any other.   How could you design an experiment to prove your invention is better than

 other rubber bands?

            7.  Alf wants to know the best kind of bait to use in his cat trap.  How could he experiment to find the most successful bait to use?

   

            8.  Singh would like to know which would be the best kind of gasoline to use in his go kart.  How could he scientifically prove whether regular, unleaded regular, premium, or unleaded premium gasoline would be better?

  

            9.  Moe would like to know the best study method to help him do well on tests.  How could he find out if watching T.V.while he studies makes a difference in how well he learns?

   

            10. Does playing music help plants grow better?  How could you test if music makes a difference in how plants grow?   You may want your experimental design to include different

 kinds of music such as hard rock, classical, easy listening and rap.  What will be your control?

Ida Swenson, 1995, idathefriz.blogspot.com

FUN AND GAMES RESOURCES

Want to encourage kids to love science?   Below are a number of links to websites with science games for kids.   I didn't have time to check out each and every game, but you should find some things that are fun for your children as well as educational on whatever topic you are studying.

 

Enjoy!!! 

http://cibt.bio.cornell.edu/labs_and_activities/images/Plant_Game.pdf  This plant game does a terrific job of helping students understand the functions of the leaves, flowers and roots of a plant.  It also shows the relationship of weather and growth.  My students loved it, and really came to understand plant processes and photosynthesis much better from using it.   I suggest you (or a helper) cut out the leaf and flower  shapes.  Use a large paper clip for the stem to hold roots, leaves and flowers.  It may take you two periods to play the game to completion.

 

http://csmte.binghamton.edu/scienceskepticismlinks.htm  Bad Science should be good for a laugh.   Other resources, too.

 

http://education.jlab.org/indexpages/elementgames.html   Online games of many types.

 

http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/kids/  Games for kids to play on the computer.

 

http://www.planetarkive.org/games.html   Cute site.

 

http://sciencespot.net/Pages/kdzscigames.html 

 

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/browse_topics/index.cfm  Various games for  younger kids on the environment.

 

http://pbskids.org/games/science.html    Hooray for PBS!!!

 

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities/foodchains.html

 

http://www.primarygames.com/science.php

 

http://www.primarygames.com/science.php

ENVIRONMENT INTERVIEW

•

ENVIRONMENT INTERVIEW

 

   Interview someone who is over the age of 60 or from another country.   Ask them about their childhood concerning the following things.  When you have finished, write an essay comparing and contrasting life for you and life when they were your age.   The interview is due for a science grade.  The essay will count for an English grade (grammar, structure, and punctuation) as well as for two science home work grades.

 

1.  How was garbage different?  (For example, they may have used a hanky instead of tissues.)

 

 

 

 

 

2.  How did their family dispose of their garbage?

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.   Were people concerned about pollution?

 

 

 

 

 

4.  Was there more or less pollution?

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.  What appliances required electricity? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.  Do they remember gas prices?   What were fuel prices when they were your age?

 

 

 

 

7.  Do they remember any concern over saving energy or electricity?    What were their concerns?

 

 

Garbage Lab

GARBAGE LAB

 

TABLE 1 - All of these packages were sent to our school.   Tell why each is or is not a good way to package materials.  Keep in mind recycling, reusing, and reducing.

 

Package #1-

 

 

 

 

Package #2-

 

 

 

 

Package #3-

 

 

 

 

Package #4-

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE 2 - What do all of the things at the table have in common?

 

 

 

Which ones are made of tree products?  

 

 

 

Which ones are made of oil products? (plastics)

 

 

 

  

TABLE 3 - What materials at this table can be recycled in our County?  Which can not?

RECYCLE -

 

 

 

LANDFILL -

 

 

TABLE 4 - Choose one item from this table.  With your team, think of as many ways as you can to reuse it.

ITEM - _____________________________    USES -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE 5 - What are four ways you could wrap a present so it would make less trash?  Use the examples at the table to help you .

 

1.

 

 

2.

 

 

3.

 

 

4.

 

 

 

 

TABLE 6 - Make your daily observations of the "Pollution in our Pond" experiment.

 

 

GARBAGE LAB

 

TABLE 1 - All of these packages were sent to our school.   Tell why each is or is not a good way to package materials.  Keep in mind recycling, reusing, and reducing.

 

Package #1-

 

 

 

 

Package #2-

 

 

 

 

Package #3-

 

 

 

 

Package #4-

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE 2 - What do all of the things at the table have in common?

 

 

 

Which ones are made of tree products?  

 

 

 

Which ones are made of oil products? (plastics)

 

 

 

  

TABLE 3 - What materials at this table can be recycled in our County?  Which can not?

RECYCLE -

 

 

 

LANDFILL -

 

 

TABLE 4 - Choose one item from this table.  With your team, think of as many ways as you can to reuse it.

ITEM - _____________________________    USES -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE 5 - What are four ways you could wrap a present so it would make less trash?  Use the examples at the table to help you .

 

1.

 

 

2.

 

 

3.

 

 

4.

 

 

 

 

TABLE 6 - Make your daily observations of the "Pollution in our Pond" experiment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GRAND THEFT: WORLD

 

    When Mrs. Swenson came into room 400 this morning, her globe of the world was GONE!!   So were the globes in Mrs. Tucker and Mrs. Grysko's rooms.  A ransom note is on the bulletin board with the valentines for the Earth.  Where the worlds should have been, there were possibly some clues of who stole them.   They include sand, skin, hair, white paper or fabric and a white powder.   Fingerprints were found on the ransom note, and of course the writing of the ransom note can be examined microscopically.   Who took her?   Where did they take her?   And how can we get her back?

The Plant Game

THE PLANT GAME

Adapted from http://cibt.bio.cornell.edu/labs_and_activities/images/Plant_Game.pdf by Ida Swenson, Palmyra, Virginia.

 

            Plants need water and sunlight to grow.  Their goal in life is to reproduce.   Most plants reproduce with flowers.   The object of this game is to decide how your 'plant' should grow.   The winners are the plants that have the most flowers at the end of the growing season.   When plants have water, sunlight and carbon dioxide, they can make sugar to grow.  As they grow, they make more leaves which make more sugar under the right conditions.   As more energy is changed to sugar, it can be used to make flowers for reproduction.

            Water is absolutely necessary for plants to live and grow.   The tall graduated cylinders represent the ground.  To get water, plants need roots.  Roots are represented by the little paper clips.   We will start the game with 100 ml. of water in each tall graduated cylinder and two paper clip roots.  If the roots can not reach water, the plant can not grow or  change sunlight energy into sugar.   Plants also give off water, especially on very hot days.  This is called transpiration.   When transpiration occurs, you will remove water from the graduated cylinders to show the loss.   If the roots can not reach water, you do not lose any water to transpiration.

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

      1.  Be sure you have a graduated cylinder filled to 100 ml. with water.

You need a paper clip unfolded, one leaf and 2 paper clip roots.  You also

need a small graduated cylinder and a pipette.

 

      2.  Choose a team member to record, another to measure the water, another to be 'gopher' and one to coordinate or manage to be sure everyone does their job.

    

     3.   The teacher will roll the dice.  Figure the amount of sugars your plant

will make and the amount of water you gain or lose.

 

DICE  WEATHER                           PHOTOSYNTHESIS                       RAINFALL OR H₂0 LOSS

  1        chilly, downpour                     no photosynthesis                               gain 20  ml. of water

  2        cool, light rain                         make 1 sugar X # of leaves                 gain 5 ml of water

  3        very humid, overcast               make 2 sugars X  # of leaves              lose 1 ml H₂0 x # of leaves

  4        warm, partly cloudy                make 3 sugars X # of leaves               lose 2 ml H₂0  X # of leaves

  5        humid, sunny                          make 4 sugars  X  # of leaves             lose 3 ml H₂0   X # of leaves

  6        sunny, very dry, hot                make 4 sugars  X # of leaves              lose 4 ml  H₂0  X  # of leaves

 

    4.   The team should decide when to buy more plant parts and what to buy.  However, there is a one minute time limit between each roll of the dice, so you should try to plan ahead.  Here are the costs for plant growth:              To make a leaf, the cost is 10 sugar tokens.

                                    To make a root, the cost is 10 sugar tokens.

                                    To make a flower, the cost is 21 sugar tokens. 

 

     5.  The winner is the plant with the most flowers at the end of a growing season.  The teacher will announce what the end of a growing season will be.

 

    6.  When the game is over, write a paragraph describing what you learned from this game.  What do plants need to live and grow?   What do plants try to do with the energies they get? 

THE PLANT GAME

CHANGING LIGHT ENERGY TO CHEMICAL ENERGY

 

DAY   #	ROLL OF DIE	# OF LEAVES	PHOTOSYNTHESIS FACTORS (# OF SUGARS)	SUGAR TOKENS MADE	MAKE LEAF, ROOT OR FLOWER?