Archive for the ‘Ecology’ Category

Square of Life

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2003

Square of Life: Studies in Local and Global Environments is a collaborative project in which students investigate their local environment and share their data over the internet with other students from around the country and the world. Each group of students involved in the project will:

  • Identify living and non-living things in their school yards.
  • Share their findings with other participating classes.
  • Compare and contrast their data with data collected by other groups.
  • Summarize their findings in a final report or presentation.

    • Although Square of Life is recommended for elementary school students, anyone who is interested may participate in the program. The Fall 2003 session has just ended, but keep an eye on the Project Information page if you are interested in registering your classroom for the Spring 2004 session.

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    The Science of a City

    Sunday, November 16th, 2003

    1) Researchers at Arizona State University have a section of their Web site, “Chain Reaction”, devoted to urban ecology:

    “What’s Urban Ecology all about? Birds moving to the suburbs… trees struggling in parking lots… drinking water that smells like dirt. These are just a few of the things that urban ecologists study. Join ASU scientists as they explore the relationships between people, animals, plants, air, and water in one of the most important environments on Earth - the city.

    Learn more about urban ecology by following the links on the left-hand side of the screen of their Web site:

  • Dig in - information about urban ecology.
  • Surf and Teacher Tools - links to sites with additional information
  • Try This - ideas/instructions for experiments to do in the classroom…make a carbon dioxide detector, find out how pollution spreads, and more.

    • (more…)

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    Forest Fires

    Tuesday, October 28th, 2003

    The wildfires in Southern California continue to burn. Here are a few sites with ideas for classroom discussions and activities related to forest fires:

  • PBS presents information about forest fires and fire suppression.
  • CNN Student News has some ideas for activities related to forest fires.
  • The Discovery Channel School has some ideas for forest fire related lesson plans (including activities, web links, etc.)

    • Posted in Ecology | No Comments »