The Birds and the Beans

As a demonstration of co-evolution, the class was split into groups, each group then was assigned a different type of plastic silverware. The spoon, fork, and knife were to represent different kinds of bird beaks. Once we where all birded up, a curtain number of beans were spread on the floor, and as a group of birds we tried to get as many beans as possible. After a 30 second collection period we regrouped and counted how many beans our grope had, and divided them into the different kinds of beans.
This activity showed natural selection by slowing eliminating the knife beaked birds. This was the result because they could not pick up the beans as easy as the spoons and fork beaked birds. Also noticed was the slow decrease in beans that were easy to pick up. The larger beans were decreased in number and the ones that are harder to grab increased in number. This is a great example of co-evolution. As the beaks that could pick up beans easier increased, so did the number of beans that were harder to pick up.
Over the course of the activity different strategies were developed. Some of them were things like using ones thumb as a 'tongue', using the side of one foot to push the beans onto the beak, or using team work to scoop a large number of beans back to ones team members.
I thought this activity was great. I could see it being used in the classroom.

Celebrate The Cold

As the temperatures fall it is understood that winter is looming right around the corner. Many complain about the white precipitation and the cold temperatures that come along with it. However, I tend to like it. It adds beauty to a brown land that has seen better days after peak fall colors. The cold slows everything down. Even as water molecules slow and becomes a solid state of ice. The cold brings a crisp feeling to the air and calm to the land.

My celebration came as I steeped out onto the ice for the first time of the season. The ease of my skate blades gliding across the frozen pond brings a smile to my face. The sound that my skates make as they cut into the glassy ice is music to my ears. I could not help but smile. So many memories have been made on the backyard ponds in the winter. The excitement that comes with falling temperatures and waiting for ice to thicken is something I celebrate every year. Must be the Minnesotan in me.

The Odyssey of X and Y

"The Odyssey" by Leopold is such and interesting way to look at the carbon cycle. It helped me track through the biogeochemical cycle by painting a picture with the words. I enjoy Leoplds writing style because it is easy for me to follow and form a picture in my mind. It was also cool how he depicted the path of two different atoms and showed how they cycle can change so drasticly just by the journey it is sent on. From what I learned in chemistry class about carbon dating, I found it to be very interesting. How they can trace back anything with carbon int it using half-life's. Just thinking of what I ate today and where the atoms that made up that food as been is donating thought. Pretty nuts! It would be very cool to turn this same idea into a children book.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carbon_cycle.jpg

             

Think like a Mountian

Sleeping Indian Mnt., Jackson, WY (Photo Cred: Gerrit Bass)

As humans we try to play the good guys. We try to save the deer by killing the predators. But do we look at he bigger picture? In Leopold's "Think Like a Mountain" he brings this idea to life with his artful writing style. He shows that he once tried to eradicate the bullies or the mountain side but then saw the situation in a lager field of view. Like the mountain, that is above all and has been here longer than anything else, sees everything in the bigger picture. Leopold shares his view, and then leaves it up to the reader wither or not they will see life narrowly, or like a mountain, looking down from high above at the world below.

In "Think Like a Mountain" the part about shooting the wolf made me uncomfortable. I am not supportive of the wolf hunt for extermination. Yes, I believe that it needs to be kept in check, but not exterminated. This could be done by permitted hunting.The wolf is a vital part of the population pyramid. Without the wolf to balance out the secondary consumer population, they explode and reek havoc on the shrubbery of the mountain side, or what ever ecosystem they are present in. I think the idea of thinking like a mountain is very unique, and interesting. Seeing things in the bigger picture is an important idea to keep in mind.

Presque Isle Ecology

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

After spending a few days on Preque Isle, we learned quite a bit about the ecology of the ecosystem.

- Examples of Parasitism could be found in the burls of oak trees. A burl is an abnormal growth on a tree caused by by stress, usually from insect infestation. In that case the insect is benefiting by having an area to live. The tree is harmed by having this abnormal growth, but not killed.
 -Commesalism can be found when looking at the the nesting of birds on the island when a blue jay makes a nest in the tree, the tree is not affected, but the blue jay benefits from having a place to live.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_Jay

-The squirrels of the Isle have a mutualistic relationship with the oak and pine trees. When the squirrel gather and eat the acorns and pine cones of the trees, it is getting food. At the same time, the little guy is spreading and planting the trees seeds.

-Competition Intraspecific was noted when I saw a group of fur trees, and was was growing in a j-shape. It was in competition with the other furs around it for sunlight and had to grow differently to get that light. This can also be caused by stress or breaking as a sapling.
-Interspecific competition can be observed between the squirrels and the chipmunks in the ecosystem.
both animals are competing for the same food and habitat to live in.

As a group we found a micro habitat with the old fallen trees that can be found among the trees. On one that we saw there was moss coming out of the rotten wood and even some sprouting grass, These areas also provide a good home for insects such as ants and termites. It stands out because most of the other forest floor is just ground and fallen tree debris that doesn't support life as well as the rotting wood.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whitetail_doe

The white tail deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are very prevalent on Presque Isle. In an area like this the only real predator that the deer has is the human car. The deer plays a role by eating the under brush of the forest and fertilizing with its droppings. They also bring a lot of people to the Isle to view the deer up close, because the local deer are not that scared of humans.

Biogeochemical cycles of Presque include photosynthesis done by all the plants and trees. The nitrogen cycle is carried out through the dead and rotting plant debris and dead animals. The H20 cycle is also at work on the island, bringing water to the plants and animals to live.

Chernoff Faces

The Chernoff Face experiment was a very unique exercise. I enjoyed it, and would definitely use something like this in my own classroom. I could tweak it, with different and/or more questions, and possibly end up with a more detailed face. With younger students the questions would have to be more specific so that one student doesn't change his or her drawing to be with a friend, but definitely very do-able in a classroom.

It was cool to see in the end what everyone's face turned out looking like, and then as a class how we decided to split up. After that I don't really understand how it worked, but the groups changed so drastically changed, with only two people in one group, when we switched to the head shape being "Where you are from?". However some people had the same face. Pretty strange. It makes me realize that it must have been really difficult to come up with the original classification system. Linnaean was one smart guy to boil it down to the Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species system that we use today. Might be long, but it works.

Predator Pray

It is very interesting the relationship predator and pray can have on an entire ecosystem. And how tampering with one spices can effect an area so drastically. In specific the Western side of Wyoming in the area in and around Yellowstone National Park. It is in this area that wolfs had been completely eliminated by settlers of the area. They did not want the wolfs there, because they posed a threat to the farmers and there live stock.

With the missing puzzle piece of wolfs in the environment the population of elk increased to a very high level. As the elk population went up, the birch tree and other plant life was being destroyed because of the over eating by the elk. The trophic pyramid, that demonstrates the balance of an ecosystem, was out of wack will little to no top tear predator. It was not until the recent years, when wolfs have been reintroduced, that the situation has been brought back into check, and then some.

Brook Trout faintly seen in Flat Creek

As more wolfs come back to the area, the elf population was brought down to natural levels. The decrease in elf population has brought a rebirth of birch tree in the area. All was good and expected by the reintroduction of the predator. However what happened next was not planned.

With more birch trees along the river banks there was an increase in beaver population and dam sights. At first this may not seem like a good thing. However it provides better aquatic ecosystems in the rivers. By slowing the flow of water, the water table rose and the rivers began to take a  slower meandering path. Also hosting more fish life.

There was only one negative aspect pointed out by the film because of the reintroduction, besides the farmers dislike. That was the killing of coyotes. The wolf would not eat the coyote, it would be left after the kill. This was concerning to the park rangers as they thought the wolfs were merely killing for fun. It was then realized, due to intraspecific competition for food, the wolfs would kill a coyote that got too close to one of the elk that the wolf killed.

Open grass land and the Teton Range out side Yellowstone

Over all. I see the reintroduction of wolfs into the Yellowstone area as a very good thing. It is quite amazing the change that can come all the way down the pyramid and even in other trophic pyramids due to the stabilization of a key predator population. I know they can disrupt cattle herds, and elf hunting, but farmers will need to be smarter about were they have there cattle, and hunters still have plenty of opportunities. I see the well balanced ecosystem as worth it.

Container of Great Mystery

The Mystery container experiment is on of those experiments when you start off and you think, "how the heck am I supposed to know what is inside this thing?" However, when you start thinking about it more it comes together. Especially, with the help of a different container with possible items. As a group we started by using the magnet and found that there was a magnet in the container because of the attraction. After that we took the weight and found how much we had to make up for. The weight of our container and the mystery one were only a few grams off, so from there we went to adding small things.
This connects with the Inquiry wheel well because of  the circular way of going about finding out what was inside. It took a lot of observation to form a question, then testing it, then back to observing. We observed aspects such as sound and mass. After shaking the container our group could kind of tell what kind of objects we did or didn't have inside. Over all it was a very cool experiment that I could see myself using in the classroom.

http://cooperscorner.info/?p=2052

Wheel O Inquiry

Usually the round about way of doing something is not the best way to complete a task. However, when it comes to messy science, I believe that the round about Inquiry wheel is the best way to break up the scientific thought process. Opposed to the linear scientific method, that mostly everyone learns in middle school, the inquiry wheel does not have to be followed in any order and works along with actual science much better. There is no beginning or end, no right or wrong, it is just putting a little order to the messiness of questions that scientist have. It works quite slick once one takes tries it out with an experiment.

When looking at the experiment that our group camp up with, we start with the question "Does deer scat work as well as store bought fertilizer?" From there we can go any number of different ways. We went to the 'investigating the known' part, and looked at the ingredients of normal fertilizer compared to what we think makes up deer scat. From there we can reflect on what we found or we could go to 'articulating the expectations' aka forming a hypothesis.You can see there that there really is no wrong way of doing it, it works right along with you as you work through your question. SCIENCE!

The Ban on DHMO

    The DHMO activity was a very cleaver way of presenting to a person the idea of thinking and digging deeper before trusting information that he or she comes across. After watching this video almost all of the class raised there hand to ban the DHMO substance from NMU. This would not end well, considering how important it is to us as humans.
     It showed me that I have to watch myself, and not take everything I read or watch at face value. If there seems to be something missing, I will now most likely did a bit deeper before investing or putting my trust into it. I will investigate more in the future and not be so quick to jump into something without more information. It is a lot like the old adage "look before you leap".

http://www.bellringerbrewing.com/2012/09/dhmo/

Dead or Alive?

What is Alive?

http://www.sourballpython.com/blog/email-its-alive/

• Ability to grow
• Ability to reproduce
• Ability to sense & respond to stimuli
• Ability to obtain and use energy
• Homeostatic being

As a class we did a pretty good job coming up with all of the basic characteristics of a living thing. Now time to put them to the test. After gathering living things from outside, we put them in a bag and supplied them with all the things we thought that they needed to live (such as water and air). After sealing the bag with everything inside we placed them in the window sill to hopefully grow. 

Coming back a week latter I would say that our group did a good job at keeping our plants, beans, and bugs alive, and then some. Mostly everything that happened we expected, except for the large amount of mold growth. That was a nice smelly surprise when the bag was opened up. I think the most interesting growth observed was how the pop corn sprouted its roots into the cotton ball.

A walk on the Bog

With a beautiful day upon us at NMU, MSED decided to take a field trip to the Presque Isle Bog Walk. We learned many things about the bog as we went on the loop and we were also just able to enjoy some good time outdoors in nature.

 But what is a bog? A Bog is very soggy land composed mostly of  mud water and moss, with an acidic composition. It is formed by sedimentation. A lake runoff will slowly fill with plant debris. Sphagnum moss and other plants (cranberries, tamarack, small shrubs, etc.) grow off the edge. Eventually they cover the entire surface. This process can take hundreds to thousands of years. Because of all the plant decay and the slow oxygen flow, bogs become oxygen and nutrient poor. This makes it so they foster a unique and small variety  plants.

One of the most interesting plants we fond on the walk around the bog was a pitcher plant. This is a carnivorous plant that eats insects that fall into its trap. The plant produces a liquid that attacks insects that then can not escape the slippery walls of the plant.  

We also saw a lot of other plants and animals on our walk. We saw cranberry bushes, tamarack trees, willow trees, spiders, birds, frogs and toads, cat tails, fungus, maple trees, and deer bedding areas. It seemed like the more time we spent in the the the more neat and interesting things we saw. I really enjoyed the sand dune on the far side of the bog. The sand was nice and warm. It was a fun day of class with great hands on learning.

Welcome

Greetings all,

View across Flat Creek Lake

My name is Jacob Bass and I and a Junior at Northern Michigan University. I hale from Waconia, Minnesota, a good size town West of the Twin Cities about 35 min. I enjoy to ski, mountain bike, play hockey and lacrosse. Really anything that will get me out and about,exploring where I am. I traveled to Jackson, WY this summer for work at Flat Creek Ranch, and it was a truly and amazing experience. FCR is a small ranch 15 miles into the mountains to the north east of Jackson.

Skiing In the Teton Range, Grand in the back ground

My time at Northern is spent in the Education program, where I have a focus in science. I was drawn to teaching because of the possibilities that it holds, the lives that I can impact and of coerce to make those piles of money... ha not. My dream position would be to teach at Teton Science School in Jackson.

I look forward to tracking my experiences while in MSED and the rest of my education. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Bull Willow Celebration

6 miles up Flat Creek Road lies the gate and the the Gate Keeper. The Gate Keeper is a large young bull moose. It was not uncommon for this moose to be drinking in the middle of Flat Creek in the late afternoon and evening. So one Monday afternoon in July, as I approached the gate riding my bike on my way down to fly fish, I was bummed to not see the Gate Keeper standing in the river. My discontentment was quickly diminished as I turned the corner in the road to find the large bull parked not 15 yards in front of me. I quickly came to a stop not wanting to startle the moose. As I gazed at him, he turned his head and looked back at me. Only for a moment, then returned his attention to the willow bow he was eating. After a few more minutes of sitting there watching, I remembered my original goal of fishing. With a few firm claps, the bull was startled back to the safety of the far creek, and I was able to pass down the road. One last glance was exchanged before turning the corner.