Category Archives: Systems Biology

Ecology, Systems Biology

Ecology and Systems Biology: Studio Day

Leave a comment

Students in periods 1, 2, 3, and 5 all received a reading packet with questions about the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park.  The reading and questions are due tomorrow.

Students in 4th period participated in Studio Day.  Our school has partnered with education researchers from the University of Washington as part of our continuing effort to constantly improve the quality of teaching and content provided to our students.  I was asked to host the Studio Day today, and I could not have been more proud of my students!  For our entry task, which served as the base of our lesson, we applied our understanding of the various factors contributing to the Great Salt Lake ecosystem by projecting ahead 10 years and considering how a decrease in water level might impact the populations of organisms present in the Lake.  We practiced the skill of A/B partner talk and the students used sentence stems to guide them through the process of clearly articulating their thoughts and describing what they were hearing their partner say.  Students shared their ideas, with the opportunity to considered whether the newly shared information altered their thinking.  We will continue to build on this skill as the year goes on.  I look forward to teaching this lesson to my other class periods in the near future.

Ecology, Systems Biology

Ecology and Systems Biology: Carrying Capacity

Leave a comment

In honor of DiscoverU week, I spent the first 15 minutes of class today sharing my own path from high school through, college and career as a biotech scientist, all the way to my new career as a high school science teacher.  On Wednesday, all of my students will be taking the PSAT, the SAT practice exam.  For the remainder of the class, students were introduced to the concept of carrying capacity through a Power Point slide deck (slides 1-7) and a reading passage.  Students then had class time to complete a worksheet providing them with practice using the SQ3R reading strategy combined with Cornell Notes.  Students who did not complete the reading and worksheet in class should finish both tonight as homework.

Updated: October 14, 2014 – Day 2 of Carrying Capacity Lesson

We began the day watching a video titled Monitoring the Brine Shrimp Population.  In their lab notebooks, students made a list of the various instruments they saw the scientists using, and we compiled a class list after the video.  Students learned how the different instruments are used to monitor various aspects of the Great Salt Lake.  Next, we completed the carrying capacity slide deck from yesterday.  We brainstormed factors that limit family size, and applied our thinking to the question of whether or not the Earth had reached maximum carrying capacity for humans.  Infectious disease, specifically the Ebola Virus, came up as a factor that limits the human population, so we held a discussion about what is currently known about the Ebola outbreak and how scientists are working to develop therapies.  Students were also reminded to get plenty of rest and to eat breakfast tomorrow in order to be at their best for the PSAT.

Ecology, Systems Biology

Ecology and Systems Biology: Concept Mapping

Leave a comment

As we head into the long weekend, students had the opportunity to work with their extreme environment groups and once again practice the skill of partner paraphrasing.  This time, student groups read student-selected paragraphs from books about life on Earth (including the oceans and Antarctica), as well as books with information about the Moon and the planets in our solar system.  The books were rotated around the room every 10 minutes, providing students the opportunity to read all about the biotic and abiotic factors present on and off of Earth.  After one student read a paragraph, the other group members paraphrased the reading, distilling the paragraph down to a key point that became the node on a concept map.  Groups were challenged to create at least 10 nodes (for full credit) and then to connect related nodes with edges (similar to a network).  At the end of class, students then wrote test questions based on information contained in their group’s concept map.

Ecology, Systems Biology

Ecology and Systems Biology: Trophic Pyramid

Leave a comment

We continued our study of ecology by discussing the concept of trophic pyramid.  Trophic pyramids are used to describe the amount of biomass in a given trophic level, with producers (organisms that produce energy through photosynthesis) being a source of food for primary consumers (organisms that eat producers).  Similarly, secondary consumers eat primary consumers, and tertiary consumers eat secondary consumers.  Decomposers are organisms that recycle waste products back into the ecosystem.  Students applied their learning about trophic levels to the Great Salt Lake ecosystem, guided by a worksheet they completed working in small groups.

Ecology, Systems Biology

Ecology and Systems Biology: Food Web Game Results

Leave a comment

We began the day by revisiting the grass/cow/hamburger slide from yesterday,  Students were challenged to apply their understanding of the food web by figuring out how much grass a cow has to eat to produce a hamburger.  Understanding that grass is at the bottom of the food chain (like halobacteria in the Great Salt Lake), and recognizing that cows eat grass (like brine shrimp eat halobacteria), students reasoned that it would take 10 times as much mass in grass to produce one hamburger.  If a hamburger has a mass of 100 grams, then a cow would have to eat 1000 grams of grass to produce the hamburger.  Several students wondered how much land is required to produce 1000 grams of grass, and I encourage all of my students to research that question for extra credit!

We continued our discussion of the food web game by analyzing group results, assembling a table of class results, and calculating the average number of organisms at each level of the food chain.  Students observed the 10-fold decrease in organism mass as we move up the food chain, and we connected the concept of biomass with energy.  The results for each class period are reported at the end of the slide deck.  We also discussed the variables involved in the food web game activity, with students identifying distance from the seed-trading space, number of students per group, and the efficiency with which groups worked as key variables contributing to how many higher-level organisms a group obtained.

After the slide deck and discussion, students worked in groups to complete the back side of the worksheet from yesterday.  Students learned that while the amount of matter in a system stays constant, the amount of energy in a given level decreases as we move up the food chain.  This is not always obvious, especially because organisms at the bottom of the food chain tend to be very small (yet great in number).

Ecology, Systems Biology

Ecology and Systems Biology: Food Web Game

Leave a comment

Today we modeled energy transfer through a food chain.  We worked through a brief slide deck and added the words food chain, matter, and energy to our vocabulary list and began thinking about what happens to matter (grass) eaten by an organism (a cow) that does not become food for the consumer of the cow (us, when we eat a hamburger).  We then modeled energy transfer through a selection of Great Salt Lake organisms present in a food chain.  Using 4 different types of beans, we played the Food Web Game and learned how only 10% of the energy in one level of a food chain is passed along to the next level.  The game took us to the end of the period, so tomorrow we will share group data, calculate class averages, and complete page 2 of the Food Web Game worksheet.

Ecology, Systems Biology

Ecology and Systems Biology: Let’s Read!

Leave a comment

With short periods today, students selected unit-articles to read from our vast collection of Scientific American magazines.  Students wrote summary paragraphs describing each page of the article they read, with paragraphs consisting of the main ideas presented on the page, three things the student learned from the reading, and a list of vocabulary words for follow-up.  Have a great weekend!

Ecology, Systems Biology

Ecology and Systems Biology: Extreme Environments

Leave a comment

Today we focused on 8 factors that are commonly found in environments we consider to be extreme.  Students began the lesson with an introduction to the bell curve and an brief explanation of the mean and standard deviation.  Students then silently brainstormed three examples of things they consider extreme, with an explanation about why.  During our share out, students were encouraged to consider whether the idea of “extreme” is relative.  For example, we might regard a skydiver as someone who participates in an extreme sport.  However, the skydiver might share a different perspective.  Similarly, we might classify a polar bear as an extremophile, given it’s ability to live in extremely cold temperatures.  However, the polar bear, being unable to live comfortably away from the south pole, might consider organisms living in warmer climates as extremophiles.  After learning about the 8 factors and exploring representative locations and organisms at those locations (see Power Point slides), students completed their extreme environments critter diagrams from yesterday.

Ecology, Systems Biology

Ecology and Systems Biology: Extremophiles

Leave a comment

At the beginning of class yesterday, students were faced with the following scenario: You are an extreme environment engineer.  Pick your next work assignment.  The options were: The Ocean Floor, Olympus Mons (tallest known volcano in the solar system, located on Mars), Antarctica, and The Moon.  Today, students were grouped based on their work site preference.  Working in groups of 3 or 4, students then were assigned the extremophiles reading packet.  Each group member was assigned a roles (slide 1), with the role rotating after each paragraph was read.  The roles were: Reader, Paraphraser #1, Paraphraser #2, and Recorder.  The Reader was responsible for reading the paragraph out loud to the group.  The Recorder highlighted words that were challenging for the Reader or needed to be defined for comprehension.  Paraphraser #1 was responsible for paraphrasing the main ideas they heard from the Reader.  Paraphraser #2 paraphrased what they heard from Paraphraser #1, further distilling the key points down to a single sentence or two.  Ultimately, those main points served as discussion points for answering the questions on the worksheet.  The exercise served many learning purposes.  Students practiced reading challenging scientific words and were supported by their group members who might be more familiar with the word or who could help the group find out the correct pronunciation and meaning.  Students also practiced listening and paraphrasing, applying those skills to answer specific comprehension questions about extremophiles.  Many students were able to complete the reading and turn it in at the end of class.  Students needing extra time should complete the worksheet as homework and turn it in at the beginning of class tomorrow.  At the end of the class period, students drew critter diagrams (slide 2) in their lab notebooks and filled out the leg corresponding to their chosen extreme environment.  The legs represent extreme conditions encountered by life either currently living, or wishing to live, in the group’s extreme environment.  Groups will share out their legs of the critter diagram tomorrow.

Ecology, Systems Biology

Ecology and Systems Biology: Great Salt Lake Initial Model

Leave a comment

Today we turned our attention to the Great Salt Lake.  We learned about the organisms that live in the lake, with students taking notes on a worksheet while we worked through a Power Point slide deck.   Students learned that in a food web, organisms are drawn as nodes and the edges represent energy.  The direction of the edge indicates the predator/prey relationship, with the arrow pointing away from the prey and toward the predator.  Students then used the information from the slide deck to construct a food web on the initial model worksheet. Students had a lot of questions about using the initial model, and it’s important to keep in mind that the model of our understanding of the Great Salt Lake ecosystem will develop over time.  Scientists often develop models with incomplete data sets and then use the gaps in their understanding to devise and test hypotheses.  As scientists in training, we will also learn to work with incomplete data and we will learn to keep track of our questions and devise strategies for filling in the gaps in our knowledge.

Updated 9/30/14: We completed the initial model today, with students using scientific reasoning to assign units of energy moving through their food webs.  Students turned in both the Power Point worksheet as well as the initial model worksheet at the end of class.