the classroom where they analyze and compare them. This activity also shows students that not all creatures are sleep- ing during these months, and they are surprised to find signs of life during the winter season. During warmer seasons, students collect water samples from lakes with different amounts of human activity (i.e. a pristine lake with little human activity to one with a lot of human activity). They can compare the amount of dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, type and amount of bacteria, micro-organisms, plant life, and other ecosystem characteristics.


Photo Evidence of Secondary Succession Start the lesson by asking students to imagine what their


city would look like if humans stepped away for a hundred years. Then, bring them outside to find evidence to support their speculations. For example, opportunistic plants may already be growing in unexpected cracks and moss may cover walls and other structures. The purpose of the ques- tion is for students to explore the processes of succession by making careful observations in their local environment. This activity can be completed as a group, using a class set of digital cameras (smartphones or iPads will also work). Or it may be assigned individually, where students bring pho- tographic evidence from their independent explorations out- side of school hours. The teacher who described this activ- ity is usually surprised at what students find, for example, weeds growing out of the side of a building or a little tree growing on top of a shed behind the school.


Environment’s Role in Natural Selection Sprinkle a package of coloured toothpicks (green, blue, yel-


low, red) that have been pre-counted, outside on the school field (the amount of toothpicks and the colour distribution will depend on the package purchased). Start the lesson by showing students pictures of different creatures that are considered to be prey. Tell students that they are the preda- tors and must go outside to look for their prey, the coloured toothpicks. Working individually or in groups, students will have a fixed time, such as three or five minutes, to find as many prey as possible. Back in the classroom, students record the amount of prey they or their team found and the class results are pooled. For discussion, ask students why they found almost all of the yellow and red but few of the blue and green toothpicks. This will lead to a discussion on natural selection favouring camouflage, such as green tooth- picks on a green background (grass).


River Studies Students raft on a river with RiverWatch, a non-profit group


in Alberta that does science activities in outdoor aquatic settings. (Teachers elsewhere might find a similar organiza- tion in their area. Failing that, adapt this activity by collect- ing samples from different spots along a river and doing the same kinds of tests.) RiverWatch takes students upstream from a waste water treatment plant to test various water quality indicators. Students then take a tour inside the waste water treatment plant. Next, they are taken rafting down- stream from the plant where they do further testing. Back in the classroom, students examine the collected samples in the following ways: identify and interpret invertebrate data (effects of pollution, pollution tolerance); abiotic and


biotic factors that increase and decrease dissolved oxygen; and determine the health of a river ecosystem based on the amounts of dissolved oxygen, pH levels, ammonia nitrogen concentration levels.3 During the trip, students are quite excited about rafting to different spots along the river. While the above activities are fairly structured, one of


the teachers we spoke with views the outdoors as the per- fect setting to stimulate the natural curiosity of students. He feels it is important to let students experience the outdoors “naturally”, i.e. without completing a formal investigation or any worksheets.


Appreciating Fossilized Evidence of


Evolution On a day trip, students experience the Royal Tyrrell Museum (a paleontology museum focusing on dinosaur fossils) in Drumheller, Alberta and explore the sedimentary rock formations of the surrounding Badlands. Teachers outside of this area may want to look for similar museums close to their city. Another suggestion would be to contact the pale- ontology or similar department at your local university or an informal science institution that may be able to provide some fossil samples for students to look at.4 In this case, students first develop a chronological sense of evolution through the indoor display, organized by chronological time from the pre-Cambrian to the Cenozoic. This is followed by a visual exploration of the chronological strata exposed at the Bad- lands. Afterwards students have a better understanding of chronological time. The students looked forward to this trip and in the following days they told other students about it, and shared photos and stories on social media. Although the previous five examples strongly emphasize biology, teachers of other sciences may also incorporate the


GREEN TEACHER 113 Page 13


Rothney Astrophysical Observatory


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52