Final Exam

(100 points)

 As teachers I know that you are familiar with the various national and state standards defining what students should learn in school.   This question does not relate to any particular set of standards or learning outcomes so you can either think about this question in general or in light of the particular standards that you are required to follow.  Please answer these questions as an advocate for these standards (which I imagine is what you would be expected to do if you to do if challenged by a parent).

   (a) explain to parents of your students why their children should be required to learn about ecology as part of their high school curriculum (2 page double spaced max)

   (b) explain to parents of your students why their children should be required to learn about evolution as part of their high school curriculum (2 page double spaced max)

Extra Credit

Here is a chance for you to earn a little extra credit if you feel in the mood.  (I don't put these questions here to imply that you are in desperate need to earn extra credit.  Instead, I hope to provide some reward for you providing thoughts about the following issues in a relatively risk-free environment).  you are not required to answer any of these questions.

(1)  I asked you to answer the previous question as an advocate of the science standards.  However, if you do not think that ecology or evolution should be included as topics in national/state/local science standards then please articulate your arguement.

(2) Please, provide a critique of the online textbook.

(3) There is a group of us here at Tech who are interested in helping you to provide the best possible science education to your students.  We consider ourselves to be "content experts" and most of us consider that we are pretty good teachers at the college level.  You guys, however, are the experts in best practices in the classroom.  I would appreciate any suggestions about how we can help you.  If you don't teach biology you can answer this question based on your discipline.

Schedule for the Rest of the Semester

Hello Everyone,

With Spring Break behind us I guess that means we have passed the halfway point of the semester.  Here is what we have in store for the remaining time we have togther.

March 18 - 22- Ecosystem Ecology

March 25 - 29- Ecosystem Services

April 1 - 5- Introduction to Evolution, How Old is Stuff

April 8 - 12- Evidence for Evolution

April 15 - 19- Speciation

April 22 - 26- Environmental Issues

April 29 - May 3- Environmental Issues

Final Exam - Due Monday May 6th.  (more details on exam to come)

EoE Article- The remaining focus of the course is for you to write an article for submission to the EoE.  Originally, I thought that it would be reasonable for you to write two articles this semester, but as I have learned, what appears reasonable while I am making up the syllabus during the Winter  Break doesn't always turn out to be reasonable in reality.  Thus, we will adjust on the fly.

First Draft- Due by 5 PM Monday April 8th

Final Draft Due by Wednesday May 1st.

I have had a bit of conversation with some of you regarding these articles.  If you have any questions or suggestions about how I can help you then please get in touch with me at your convenience.

Good luck and enjoy!!

Midterm Exam

Hello Everyone,

Here is a copy of the Midterm Exam.  The essay questions are intentionally "broad" (you might say "vague") to allow you the greatest flexibility when answering the question.   If you have questions about this exam then please feel free to contact me via email.

Remember, you may use  any other source of info to answer these questions, just do not work with anyone else.  Good luck!

Due Date:  Please email your exam to me by 5:00 PM on February 28th.

1. (25 points)

Discuss the reasons for the climate experienced by your hometown.

2. (25 points)

Choose your favorite adaptation on your favorite organism in your favorite ecosystem and describe how natural selection has caused the organisms to have this trait.

3.  (25 points)

Discuss why exponential growth is an unrealistic model of growth for most species.  Why has the pattern of human population growth been so different from that of other species?

4. (25 points)

Discuss how interspecific competition can influence the distribution and abundance of organisms.

Feb 18 - 24th

This week I would like you to take a look at the remaining sections of the Community Ecology section from Ecology for Teachers.

After you have learned about the different ecological interactions I think that it might be careful to glance through the section on 4 focal ecosystems to get a feeling on how these interactions occur in different environments.

I have just posted an exercise examining the "Competition in Rainforest Bats" in the Malaysian Bat Education Adventure section of the Ecology of Teachers book.


Upcoming Assignments

Midterm Exam.  The midterm exam (which you will submit to me online) will focus on 1) the physical environment, 2) natural selection, 3) population ecology, and 4) community ecology.

I will try to email you the exam next weekend and you need to return the exam to me by the end of the day on February 28th.  My goal is not to make this an "exhausting" exam.  I would schedule one or two hours of your time to complete this assignment.

Encyclopedia of Earth Articles.  I would for you to focus on your EoE article after you have completed your midterm exam.  Let me know if you have ideas about topics or if you are still completely stumped on how to move forward.

Malaysian Bat Education Adventure

A few years ago several colleagues and I came up with the idea of using Dr. Tigga Kingston's research on the ecology of rainforest bats in Malaysia as the focus for a biology curriculum for grades 4 - 8.  Unfortunately, the project has never made it to completion, but we have come up with a cool website that contains lots of information that might be useful to you.  If you get bored sometime take a look at the website.  I may be biased, but I think it is pretty awesome.

http://www.ttu-mbea.org/

I have used the data that Tigga and her students collected as the basis for a number of exercises that I think might be useful to someone teaching ecology. I will try to post these as they become relevant.

I have added as section to the Ecology for Teachers book called "Teaching Resources".  If you click on that link it will take you to a more complete discussion of the project and contains a link to an exercise using the bat data to calculate population growth rates of bats.

Feb 11 - 18

Hello Everyone,

I hope by now that everyone has been able to get on to the Trunity website and has access to the Ecology for Teachers book.  If there are any problems please let me know ASAP (I am sorry that this has been such a hassle!!!).  The semester is rapidly moving along now which means that we are now getting to the "meat" of this course.  A typical introductory ecology course will focus on population, community, and ecosystem ecology.  

I hope that you are becoming more comfortable with the material relating to population ecology.  Please feel free to ask me any questions that remain.  The last topic that I like to talk about related to population ecology is human population growth.  I personally feel that human population growth is one of the most important issues facing humans today.   I find that most of my students from West Texas have little idea about what is going on in the rest of the world so it is worth taking some time to discuss this issue.  Thus, this week I would like you to look at the section on Human Population Growth in the Ecology for Teachers book.

The next topic that we are going to look at is Community Ecology.  One of the fun parts about studying community ecology is that you get to talk about some of the cool ecological interactions, e.g., competition, predation, and mutualisms, that take place in communities.  This week I would also like you take a look at the section on competition in the Community Ecology section of the Ecology for Teachers book.

Upcoming Assignments

Midterm Exam.  Because this is a college class I need to assess that you are actually learning something.  The syllabus says that you will have a midterm due February 28th.  This exam (which you will submit to me online) will focus on 1) the physical environment, 2) natural selection, 3) population ecology, and 4) community ecology.

I have not figured out the exact format of the exam, but I promise that it will not be too overwhelming.  Instead it is just a chance to make sure that some of the info that I have thrown at you has managed to stick.  I will send the questions to you on the weekend before the exam is due. More details to come (as I make them up).

Encyclopedia of Earth Articles.  I think that community ecology provides many great topics that you could choose to write about.  In addition, this is the section where a number of basic articles are needed so there are plenty of "empty niches" (see how I cleverly inserted an ecological concept here?!?).

Basic topics that are lacking include (but are definitely not limited to)
- niche differentiation
- interference competition
- competition in (name your favorite group of organisms)
- niche partitioning
- anti predator adaptation in (name your favorite group of organisms)
- examples of specific mutualisms

There might also be some interesting articles to be written about human population growth if that was a topic that interests you.

In the next couple of weeks you should start to think about what you would like to write about.  It is OK if you don't feel like you are the "world's expert" because I can help you do the research you need to do to feel confident writing a basic article.  Please let me know about any ideas you have or if you feel completely stumped.

Teaching a Class Online

Far too frequently, some so called "education expert" spouts off about how "lectures are bad"!  

Here is a link to a recent article entitled "Is the Lecture Dead?" which provides what I consider to be one of the best statements about how lectures and and should be used effectively in the classroom.  (I got the link from Jeff Lee's website and you MSCIers should be familiar with him, right?).

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/is-the-lecture-dead/272578/#.UQgzhpI63P8.facebook

Here are some of my favorite sections of this article-

To begin with, we lecturers must ask ourselves a basic question: why am I lecturing? What will I be able to get across to learners through a lecture that they could not get just as well and with less inconvenience by reading a book or working through an online learning module? The answer, in part, must be that the physical presence of the lecturer and the unfolding of the lecture in real time will make a difference for learners. Great lecturers not only inform learners, they also engage their imaginations and inspire them.

The core purpose of a great lecturer is not primarily to transmit information. To this end, other techniques, such as assigning a reading in a textbook or distributing an electronic copy of the notes, can be equally effective. The real purpose of a lecture is to show the mind and heart of the lecturer at work, and to engage the minds and hearts of learners. Is the lecturer enthusiastic about the topic? Why? Could I get enthused about this, too? 

This leads to the issues that I am facing when teaching via distance.  I think that I can provided the information that I would like you to know (if we can ever get all of you able to see the online textbook), but I think that distance course inherently lack "the magic" that can occur when motivated teachers and students meet face to face.  As one of the commentors on the "Is the Lecture Dead? article stated, "a good lecture is like a dance between the teacher and students, but it is difficult to dance online (Don't worry- I promise you will never have to see me "dance" either in person or online!!!).

So here are some of the things that I try to get across to my students when I lecture about ecology.l

1. Ecology is cool!!!  I am a self-admitted nature and science nerd.  I can't think of a better way to have spent my life than to have been able to learn and tell other people cool things about nature and science.  I worry that kids today do not have the experience playing around with nature that I had growing up as kids.  Thus, I try to get them interested in learning more about nature, both in their own neighborhood and around the world.

2.  An understanding of Ecology should help them in their real lives.  Ecology is the science that will help us to understand the environmental issues facing us.  I worry that we have not been very good stewards of our planet and that things will continue to get worse until we have the will and the knowledge to try to change things for the better.

Thus, where possible I will try to related things we are talking about to real life problems.  Ideally, I would like to provide you with the information that you need to introduce these ideas to your students.  I know that you are the experts in interacting with your students so I want to try to provide you with the best info possible so that you can translate that to your kids in the way that you think is most effective.

Please let me know how I can help you be better prepared to teach your students!!