What's New!

This semester, we are focusing on developing a teaching greenhouse at Harper Creek High School. The greenhouse will function as an indoor ecological inquiry area that can be used throughout the school year. It will house a permanent collection of plants for use in the Physical Sciences, Biology, and Chemistry classroom (thanks in large part to donations from MSU's Plant Biology Department), and will maintain space for student plant-based experiments. Once the greenhouse is up and running, we will be developing lessons to insure the continued use of the space. In the future, a course will be offered in which enrolled students get to learn how to take care of the collection. Check back soon to see pictures of our progress!

During the Fall 2007 semester, we implemented a wetland simulating microcosm project we call “The Living Machine Experiment.” A living machine consists of a series of interconnected five-gallon water tanks with a bubbler to provide circulation (below left). The first tank represents a terrestrial wetland habitat much like a Michigan marsh, and is planted with plants typically found in that habitat. The second tank represents a transitional zone between terrestrial and aquatic habitats, containing floating plants and algae. The last tank represents an open water lake or stream, and can contain aquatic organisms such as fish, invertebrates, etc. In each classroom, we have built enough living machines to allow small groups of 4-5 students to each manage their own machine. Students can manipulate their machines in various ways and then observe the results. This model is extremely useful for demonstrating some of the ecosystem functions provided by our valuable wetland ecosystems. We performed two experiments during the Fall 2007 semester. The first was a fertilizer pollution experiment in which students compared the effects of a large single spill (point source pollutant) to continuous small over application of fertilizer (non-point source pollution). The second experiment involved an acid rain simulation and how the buffering capacity of different bedrocks can affect the acidification of wetlands.

The machines give us a unique opportunity to develop inquiry projects in this classroom. We try to guide the students to think about specific topics and course content, but they are largely in charge of the experiments. We are also using this project to address a major district goal of improving writing skills in our students. Each experiment culminates in some form of written summary that challenges the students' communication skills. For example, in the fertilizer experiment, students prepared a poster that contained all of the components of a typical lab report. Then we held a scientific poster session in which students rated each other's work.

This semester, we are continuing to implement and refine this project, and have been applying for several small grants to support its improvement. We are also preparing a manuscript for submission to Science Teacher about the project.

Jay Sobel (2007-2008)

Ph.D. in Plant Biology
sobelj@msu.edu

Justin Kunkle (2006-2007)

Ph.D. in Forest Ecology