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.