Jim: You've received a lot of good suggestions. I just wonder if burying these snapping young minds under pyramids of any kind might be too much "instruction" and not enough experience and teaching/learning is not something of a danger. I think you're right to be concerned about "bean-counting."
I don't know about "tried and true," but I wonder if modeling the watershed in the classroom and doing some simple demonstrations of things like rainfall interception, stemflow, infiltration, percolation, evapotranspiration, groundwater, available water capacity and the like, leading to the effects of water and other minerals upon soil biology and chemistry and how these factors lead to variations in populations and limits, then how direct and indirect influences of human activity affect these factors might not make those especially fertile minds (GL 4-6) anxious to progress to the next grade to continue the continuum? Experiments, field trips, and hands-on demonstrations can be done very much "on the cheap" without using value. Looking, for example, at the micro-community around a dripping faucet in the schoolyard could be a start, and some clear water bottles filled with sand, silt, and clay could be starters, as could simple excavations in the schoolyard and examination with cheap magnifying glasses could suffice. Tracing out watershed boundaries on topo maps, of course, and a thousand other ideas you have probably already thought of. Oh, yes--not only would I be interested in the compilation of suggestions, I would be most interested in (briefly) how you put the whole program together and what the three or five essentials that every child should know if they know nothing else are. And even more interested in what the teachers themselves think those essentials are. WT Email for details. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Biardi" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 6:13 AM Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Need suggestions for hands-on activity about trophic efficieny/biomass pyramids I work with a local environmental education group that is developing curriculum on local watershed issues. They are currently searching for a hands-on activity appropriate to primary (4-6) grade levels that can illustrate the energetic principles underlying biomass pyramids. We¹ve discussed several ideas, mostly centering on Oforaging¹ for beads or some other counter used to represent food items, but haven¹t yet come across anything that avoids a lot of bean-counting by the students. If anyone has suggestions or leads to a tried and true activity on this topic, we¹d appreciate feedback. I¹d be happy provide a summary of responses to others interested in this. Thanks, Jim -- James E. Biardi, PhD Assistant Professor Fairfield University Biology Department - BNW 206 1073 North Benson Road Fairfield, CT USA 06824 Phone: 203-254-4000, ext. 3465 Fax: 203-254-4253 -- Please consider wise use of resources prior to printing this email -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.9.19/1855 - Release Date: 12/18/2008 10:16 AM
