Wachstumshormone

Jan

2

Resource: Ocean Currents

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OceanCurrentsCvr
What causes ocean currents? What impact do they have on Earth’s environment? How have they influenced human history?

This teaching guide for grades 5-8 provides 7 activities for students to explore the causes and impacts of ocean tides and gain an understanding of the influences of wind, temperature, salinity and density on ocean movement.

Students are given the opportunity to explore such real-world situations as the 1990 Nike shoe spill, the raft Kon Tiki, and other oceanic voyages in history.

From Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS). ISBN 0-924886-44-7. $21.00. Order online at www.lhsgems.org.

Jun

12

Why Care About Pollinators?

Filed Under Biological Diversity, Resources, Science, Service learning | Leave a Comment

monarch1Many people think only of allergies when they hear the word pollen. But pollination — the transfer of pollen grains to fertilize the seed-producing ovaries of flowers — is an essential part of a healthy ecosystem. Pollinators play a significant role in the production of over 150 food crops in the United States — among them apples, alfalfa, almonds, blueberries, cranberries, kiwis, melons, pears, plums, and squash.

Bees, both managed honey bees and native bees, are the primary pollinators. However, more than 100,000 invertebrate species, including bees, moths, butterflies, beetles, and flies, serve as pollinators — as well as 1,035 species of vertebrates, including birds, mammals, and reptiles. In the United States, the annual benefit of managed honey bees to consumers is estimated at $14.6 billion. The services provided by native pollinators further contribute to the productivity of crops as well as to the survival and reproduction of many native plants.

However, long-term population trends for some North American pollinators are “demonstrably downward,” says a new report from the National Research Council1.

Observable decreases in wild populations of bees, butterflies, and moths are of great concern to producers of fruits, vegetables, nuts, alfalfa, and flowers. These crops depend on wild and domestic pollinators. Growers in California, Florida, Arizona, Utah, Washington, and Hawaii are especially concerned. More important is the disturbing notion of an imbalance in the natural ecosystem and biodiversity on which all food production depends. Habitat loss for pollinators by human activity poses an immediate and frequently irreversible threat. Other factors responsible for population decreases include invasive plant species, broad-spectrum pesticide use, disease, and weather.

For the most part, the general public is unaware of the decrease in pollinator populations and the implications this has for agricultural production. The Nature’s Partners: Pollinators, Plants, and You curriculum is designed to educate young people about

  • pollinators and the important role they play in providing many of the foods we eat and the plant fiber used in our clothing and household goods, and
  • ways they can help pollinators survive and flourish by protecting and creating pollinator-friendly habitat.

The Nature’s Partners curriculum is just one step toward increasing the public’s awareness and sense of responsibility that are essential to a successful conservation program for pollinators.

Go to curriculum

May

20

Exploring Forest Ecology: The Northern Flying Squirrel Project

Filed Under Biological Diversity, Forests, Outdoor education, Place-based Education, Science | 1 Comment

flysqui1_by Victoria Lewis

Spawned out chinook salmon, brown , spotted and beak-nosed lie dead in the shallow water near the banks of the Salmon River in the Wildwood Recreation Area at the foot of Mount Hood.

The smell of rotting fish is sharp and pervasive, but Jill Semlick’s Pauling Academy ecology students ignore the odor. They are busy yanking off their shoes and snapping the clips of their chest waders. The bridge upstream is under construction and the high school students must ford the cold, fast-moving river to reach their research sites on the other side. Read more

Dec

17

Grades K-2: Sustainability

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“The frog does not drink up the pond in which it lives” -  Indian Proverb

Science – How do Plants Help Soil?
Take two large baking pans (about 12 x 6 in.).  Place bare soil in one pan and line the other with grass sod.  Place the pans at a 20 – 25 degree slant in front of the class.  Have a hand-held hair dryer and a watering can or spray bottle ready.  First take the hair dryer and blow air from the hair dryer on the dry soil and then on the soil with grass.  Discuss the reasons for what is happening.  Using the same pans, pour/spray  water on the soil and grass.  Have students look for differences in the two pans.  Ask what would happen if it rained hard all day on the two pans.  again, discuss the reasons for what is happening.  Do other types of plants help soil? Is it important to have plants growing on soil.

Have the class walk around the school grounds looking for evidence of erosion and plant soil relationships.  What happens outside in areas where there is dirt with no plants growing on it?  Where does the dirt go when it is carried away by wind and water?  LIFE

Mathematics (& Science) – Sun Heat and Drink
You need several, clean, empty pop cans, 5-6 kitchen thermometers, some aluminum foil and a few different colored acrylic paints.  Paint the cans a variety of colors (black, white, red, green . . .).  Leave one unpainted and cover another with aluminum foil.  Fill the cans with equal amounts of cold water and set in full sun, either in a window, or in a sheltered place outside.  Take the temperature of water and record on a chart as a class, or individually.  Read more

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