Monday, March 31, 2014

Observation #6

Observation #6

El agua de el ecosistema se bajo mas de el nivel donde estaba la ultima vez que hicimos nuestras observaciones. Ay mucha vida en el agua, igual con los camarones se miran mas grandes, ahora el caracol es visible en contraposición de la ultima vez. El agua también se mira mas turbio que la ultima vez y las plantas están creciendo algo extraño en el tallo, y están creciendo a un ritmo lento. La elodia también esta creciendo pero mas recio que las plantas.

In what ways has our dual ecosystem become consistent with what we have learned about constructivist science instruction from out text book?

Our ideas are being developed and constructed through hands on and observations, which has been emphasized greatly in the text book, and from a constructivist teacher's point of view. We are experiencing hands on experiments that is ultimately going to facilitate to our learning. Inquiry can be easily integrated in this project due to the various actions we can take (process skills). This ongoing experiment is an excellent definition of a constructivist model because it allows the students to formulate their own thoughts. They have to figure out why their ecosystem is working or why it't not, why their plants aren't as tall as the others, or even why they animals live or die. It gives the students great freedom because they are able to reflect on it however they want to. They state what they see and try to explain why it's like that.
This was our first time doing an ecosystem, so none of us had any experience with it, but we were able to work it out. It's a great way to get a class to change to a constructivist method because it let's the teacher regulate it less and less as time goes. Setting guidelines in the beginning like most students are used to and as time progresses, begin to take them away until they students are completely in charge of what happens. As a group we can all agree that this is the type of experiment that students like to do because they see what they've created and have the ability to watch it grow. It portrays science in a completely new light that most students don't have the chance to see.

Bottom Ecosystem
(Elodea & Snail)
Bird's Eye-View of Terrestrial Ecosystem and Pepper Plants
3 Pepper Plants and their Heights
Tallest Pepper Plant

Monday, March 24, 2014

Observation #5

Los caracoles parecen estar muerto, sin embargo los camarones siguen activos; Elodea es todavía muy vivo. El agua se ha vuelto más oscuro que la última vez se observó, además, también ha bajado desde la última vez que observamos. Los caracoles están muertos, no se saben la causa.  La planta esta creciendo unas espinitas blancas en el tallo.

With magnifying glass
Daphnia se puede mirar mas claramente, una de la planta que estaba mas chica ahora esta casi igual de  la planta anterior. El agua aparece  ser mas sucio por causa de la daphnia.
No se ve tanta condensación como las observaciones previas. 

Se ve que mas raíces están creciendo en la planta.