Class 8 - A Tiny World
Students will see in the aquaria a microcosm of the whole Earth's biosphere, with life cycles, energy capture and use, and mutual cooperation of plants/algae and animals. Models and ideas developed earlier will be made concrete and related to what's visible in front of them. This very simple ecosystem will be conceptually extended (e.g. inclusion of carnivores, discussion of classification and the wide variety of life) to describe the whole Earth.
Materials
- Aquaria from last week
- Students' observation sheets
- New aquarium, and dropper for transfer of shrimp
- Test tubes fir individual specimens
- Eggs
- Microscopes
- Camera & slide show
- Prepackaged molecule kits for photospiration reenactment
- Bromthymol blue
- NaCl for possible salinity experiment
Activities
- Review entries and observations of aquaria made over past week by students
- Hand out test tubes with individual specimens for analysis and description
- Q & A re anatomy, behavior, survival
- Start a test-tube hatchery for observation over the coming week
- Classification: other animals like this shrimp, cousins near & distant,...: general idea of organizing knowledge (e.g. file system
- (If TV available) slide show of life cycle of artemia
- If time, brief review of molecular "puppet show"
- Bromthymol blue
Wrapup: we've seen in action before our eyes the processes we've studied earlier with molecule models. All Earth is just like this, though more varied and complicated - the whole "family tree" of animals is involved.