Arrangement Games

Oh my . . . it’s been a while since I posted anything. I had such good intentions last semester, but never found the time to sit down and write. Over the next little while, I’m going to go back and post about cool things that happened last year, but for now, I thought I’d jump back in by moving forward with some content that is timely for the beginning of a new semester: arrangement games. This isn’t anything particularly new or groundbreaking – people have been doing these things for years – but I thought I’d do a quick round up of some of the ones that I find work particularly well.

Arrangement games fall into the category of “Ice Breakers” – something to get a new group of students interacting with one another in a low-pressure way. In this case, the games get students up out of their seats, to mingle and form groups with other students based on some sort of criteria. I find this particularly important with a discussion or lab class, where students will be asked to do a lot of group work. It’s a nice way for them to interact with a few different people before having to make a decision about who they might want to partner up with for a longer-term assignment. I’ve also found it really useful in my big (125+ student) general education courses, as a way of helping them get to know their classmates, so they can work on homework together, or form study groups, etc. (In these big classes, though, I skip out on the “arrangement part,” and just have them chat with people already seated nearby).

These activities are great for freshmen classes, where the majority of them won’t know anyone else in class. And, while it might seem less important for upper division majors courses where many students have existing relationships (and could easily form groups with people they already know), it’s worth taking the time to integrate students who don’t yet know anyone else (recent transfers, change of major, etc). Plus, for any group of students, I find it tends to both relax and invigorate them, and at the end they’re more engaged for whatever we’re going to do next.

There’s another a really nice side benefit to this, especially for those huge general education courses: I ask them to jot down their answers to the questions on a sheet of paper – one sheet of paper per group – and turn it in at the end of class. Then I can use these responses to check attendance, rather than going through the process of calling out 125 names off of a roster.

There are endless ways to go about doing an arrangement game, but the basic format is as follows:

  • Ask them to arrange themselves into groups (some ideas for this below)
  • Have the group members “interview” one another with a list of questions provided to them
  • At the end, come back together as a group and do some sharing with the whole class. At this point, I usually share my own answers to the interview questions, as a way of helping them get to know me. Then, we go around the room and ask everyone to introduce someone else from their group to the class, or (in a large class) ask for a few people to volunteer their answers.

As for the arrangement activity, here are my favorites:

Hometown. Ask students to get into groups (of whatever number you like – I usually do groups of 3 or 4) based on what they consider their hometown. You can designate one corner of the classroom as the town your school is in, for people who didn’t move away from home to attend college, and the other corner for people who moved from a long distance. Then, they have to introduce themselves to one another and say where they grew up, and eventually they’ll find their way to the correct spot somewhere along the continuum. I’ve had really good success with this one – sometimes, students discover that someone else in the class came from the same place, even if it’s not all that close to campus. (“You’re from Fresno? ME TOO!”). Overall, this is my favorite of the games for forming groups where students will be doing long-term projects together.

Birthday. Ask students to get themselves into a single line, based on the month and day they were born (don’t include the year). Again, they’ll have to chat with one another to figure out who goes where. This is by far the simplest one, and usually takes the least amount of time to accomplish. It doesn’t work in all classrooms, though, depending on the set up of furniture. Ideally, there should be enough room for them to form a single-file line.

Clothing. This one is super fun, especially if you want them to have to think a little bit more to get to the end result. Tell them to arrange themselves into groups based on their clothing. That’s it. Those are the only instructions you give. It’s up to them to decide what that means. Are they grouping themselves by the color they’re wearing? By footwear (boots, sandals, athletic shoes, etc.) By short sleeves or long sleeves, jeans, skirts, etc.? This one is fun to watch, as they work out just what to do. A benefit is that this allows students who already know one another to potentially group themselves together – they just look for some aspect of their clothing that all matches – but it also opens the door for other students to join. “Hey, we’re all wearing jeans – I’m going to come hang out with you!”

Comic Strip. I print out a set of comic strips, and cut each comic into its individual frames. (The ones I’ve linked to below are designed to get students into groups of four, but you could also use comic strips with three frames if you wanted smaller groups). Cut up enough comics so there are the same number of individual frames as there are students. Put all the frames in a “hat,” and have each student randomly select one. Then, let them mingle around until they find the other 3 students with a frame from the same comic. This might not be as easy as it seems at first – I usually have more than one strip from the same comic strip, so even if they find another students with a “Calvin and Hobbes” piece, it might not be from the same “Calvin and Hobbes” strip.

Calvin and Hobbes

Once they’re in groups, you can have them ask one another 3 or 4 “interview” questions. I like to have a mix of school related ones, along with some fun, personal interest type stuff. I usually give them anywhere between 3 and 7 minutes to do this, depending on how many questions I’m asking. I also like there to be a little bit of time afterward for them to connect on a more individual level. The list of potential questions is endless, really, as long as you’re not having them share things that might be uncomfortably personal.

Some of the questions I typically ask include:

  • What is your full name? (I always start with this one, so I have that info to take roll)
  • What name do you like to be called? (Nicknames, people who go by their middle name, etc)
  • What is your major? If undeclared, what are some subjects of interest?
  • (For majors classes) What first got you interested/inspired to major in this subject?
  • What sort of work do you hope to do after you graduate?
  • What are some things you’re hoping to learn in this class this semester?
  • Tell me something fun you did over [the Summer; Winter Break, etc].
  • What song are you really into RIGHT NOW? (I particularly like asking this one, because I can go through later and see if there are any songs I like – it’s a great way of finding out about “new to me” music).
  • What is your favorite film (or film genre, or favorite film you saw this year)?

For a bit more extended version:

  • Collectively, find something that all three group members have in common (they can’t just say that they’re in this class, or attend the same university). Maybe they all come from the same hometown, or they all have dogs, or they like Canadian bacon and pineapple on pizz, whatever. Kind of a little scavenger hunt.
  • Then, they each come up with something totally unique – something about themselves that they think won’t apply to anyone else in the class. For example, I might say that I’ve lived in Scotland (since not that many people living in California have done that)

This makes for a fun classroom share (in a small class), as you can go through the various “unique” statements, and see if they really ARE the only one in the class with that trait.

For a very heavily discussion oriented class, you can target the questions specifically toward fostering good discussions:

“Think about your favorite class ever . . .”

  • What did the teacher do to help create a good learning environment?
  • What did the students do to contribute to this environment?
  • What did the teacher and students NOT do?
  • What is necessary in class for you to feel comfortable sharing with the whole group?

“Think about the CLASS FROM HELL . . .”

  • What did the teacher do to create this situation?
  • What did the students do to contribute to this situation?
  • What did the teacher and students NOT do?

With this exercise, I like to bring them together after they share within their groups, and have them share their responses while I create a brainstormed list on the board for each category. If you think students might be shy about calling out their own ideas, you can always anonymize it somewhat by having them write things down on paper, and then trade around with other students, so they’re calling out someone else’s comments.

That’s all there is to it. A full arrangement game, depending on class size, and how much sharing we do afterward, usually takes somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes. That’s a small amount of time to spend on an activity that can potentially increase engagement a lot. Also, with lecture classes, I don’t do this right at the beginning of class. I wait until about half-way through, and it gives them a little break, which helps them wake up and get refocused, after sitting still and listening for a while.

Here are some comic strips that I use for my biology/ecology classes (you might want to find comics that relate to your own field of study):

Dinosaur Comics: Chicken or Egg
Dinosaur Comics: Earth Day
Calvin and Hobbes: Tyrannosaurs
Calvin and Hobbes: Scientific Experiments
Sherman’s Lagoon: Ecosystem Services
Sherman’s Lagoon: Eating Assignment

If you’d like to read about some additional ice breaker ideas, check out this article:

https://blog.culturaldetective.com/2013/06/18/10-surefire-ways-to-divide-into-groups/

Vertebrate Biology Field Trip to Fairfield Osborn Preserve

For the first time since COVID, I’m able to take my students on field trips again, and we had a fantastic one yesterday: I took my upper division Vertebrate Biology class to one of our university’s preserves: the Fairfield Osborn Preserve on Sonoma Mountain. One of the preserve’s researchers and naturalists – Julie Wittmann – was our host for the day, and our primary target was herpetofauna (reptilian vertebrates and amphibians). We started out by surveying some of the coverboards that were established in 2015, and then we headed down to the creek to look for salamanders. All along the way, we saw AMAZING wildlife, with a couple of absolute highlights for the day.

Surveying coverboards, and a Western Skink we discovered under one of them:

Down by the creek, we found a variety of great wildlife:

While we were down at the creek, we also heard an exciting bird (although I was never able to spot it) . . . a Pileated Woodpecker was calling loudly (although sporadically enough that I was not able go get even an audio recording).

Not long before we were getting ready to head back from the creek, we had one more treat: an endangered Yellow-legged Frog (being handled here by an authorized preserve naturalist). This is only the second time I’ve seen one of these frogs in the wild.

On our way back to the parking lot, we took a swing by Turtle Pond, where we found this friend (a female Western Fence Lizard):

As we headed back to where we would have lunch before leaving the preserve, there were still two more surprised for us. First, one of my students spotted and captured this Coast Garter Snake:

A few minutes after finding the garter snake, one of the students backtracked on the path the way we’d just come, and discovered one more amazing friend.

It might look like a run-of-the mill blackberry bush, but if you look more closely . . .

Northern Pacific Rattlesnake

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! This sighting absolutely made my day. Oh, who am I kidding, it made my whole year to this point. 🙂

Overall, we had a fantastic day on the preserve, and we have more vertebrate adventures planned for the semester, so keep an eye out for more updates soon.

Ecosystem Exploration

This week, I’m using some Virtual Field materials in one of my classes (Ecosystem Exploration: https://thevirtualfield.org/virtual…/ecosystem-exploration).

In addition to the questions provided with the videos, I’m going to ask them to do some additional field journaling, including sketches. Here are the two I drew as examples (based on the Mojave Desert video), to give them some inspiration. (They aren’t expected to render things as completely as the tortoise, but the level of detail in the plant illustration should be doable by everyone).

As an aside, I think that Gopherus agassizii was the first scientific name I ever learned. My parents had hand towels with these tortoises (along with the name). Wow. It’s not actually too surprising that I’m such a nerd.

Roberts Family Development Center Outreach, 2018

Once again I helped introduce a bunch of local youths to the wonders of biology, by tabling during this year’s Roberts Family Development Center visit to the SSU campus. As always, it was loads of fun . . . you can read my blog post about last year’s event for more details in general. SSU published an article about this year’s event, and I thought I’d share that here (since I didn’t remember to take any photos of my own this time around).

SSU hosts 400 kids to highlight higher education*

The Roberts Family Development Center and Sonoma State team up for the third annual “I am the Future Day”
June 29, 2018
By Nate Galvan

 

From SSU website

Inside Sonoma State University’s Person Theater, hundreds of K-8 students from the Roberts Family Development Center fidgeted in their seats while echoing a familiar phrase. “G-O-O-D M-O-R-N-I-N-G, good morning, good morning, good morning,” chanted the students in unison, following the mulitude of instructors at the front of the stage. The theater full of enthusiastic students signaled the university’s annual hosting of the RFDC for “I am the Future Day” to give future generations a taste of college life.

From SSU website

The students were treated to lunch at The Kitchens, the student cafeteria, activities with faculty and staff, including dance battles, bounce houses and dodgeball, as well as a speech from Vice President of Student Affairs Greg Sawyer. “Higher education levels the playing field for all of us,” said Sawyer, “But no matter what you can always act better, be better and do better every day to make your family, school, or anywhere that you go for sanctuary, proud.”

RFDC serves mainly low-income families who are not in ideal situations to assure quality care and academic support for their children. According to the RFDC, most of the children in the program would be the first in their family to go to college, making the “I am the Future Day” all the more important in planting the idea of higher education within their future goals.

Sonoma State has made diversity and inclusivity a top priority, including supporting initiatives and programs with the message that everyone has the potential to attend a university. This is represented in SSU’s recent recognition as a Hispanic Serving Institution last year.

“As a campus, we believe in access, affordability and excellence in public education,” said Provost Lisa Vollendorf. “The RFDC and SSU program is a great opportunity for Sonoma State to welcome future seawolves and give these younger students a chance to experience life on a college campus.”

*****

Here’s a video about the day . . . I’m not actually in it, but the last scene (with kids looking at some pinecones) is the Biology Department table, where I was sitting just off camera. 🙂

* Originally published here: http://news.sonoma.edu/article/ssu-hosts-400-kids-highlight-higher-education

Newt Research at Sonoma Mountain Ranch

For our first off-campus field trip of the semester, today I took my Field Biology class up Sonoma Mountain, to the Sonoma Mountain Ranch . . . a working cattle ranch about 30 minutes’ drive from campus. A wide variety of research is being conducted at the site, about the interaction between cattle and ecosystems, and also on the wildlife that uses the preserve. Today, our visit was hosted by Daniel Hudson, an SSU graduate student who is doing research on the various species of Pacific newts.

Before we left campus, the weather was looking a bit dodgy – overcast and chilly – and one of my students joked that it was probably snowing up on the mountain. We all laughed . . . of course, there was no WAY it would actually be snowing up there. Ha ha ha ha ahh hahahahahahahaha . . . .

Well, can you guess what the weather was like when we arrived at the top of the mountain?

No. It wasn’t snowing. Not really. I think “hailing” is a more accurate description.

Of course, this is a field biology class, and everyone knows that field biologists are not daunted by inclement weather (or biting insects, or venomous snakes, or bad road conditions, etc. etc.). So, we bundled up in as many layers as possible, and ventured out of our cars.

Daniel was there to meet us just inside the entrance gate, with a few little critters to start off the day: some lung-less slender salmanders (Batrachoseps attenuatus), and a Sierran Treefrog (Pseudacris regilla), who looked gravid (heavy with eggs).

We decided to have a quick look around near the entry gate, to see what we could find by flipping over some rocks and fallen branches. Spoiler alert: We found some really great stuff!

We really hit the motherlode when we turned over some abandoned railroad ties . . .

 

My personal favorite of the day . . . this GORGEOUS California newt (Taricha torosa):

Josh and the newt!

 

Next, we visited one of the ranch’s stock ponds – a great place to dip net for newts! Daniel had already caught some rough-skinned newts (Taricha granulosa) earlier in the day, but we also had the opportunity to try and catch some ourselves!

One of my favorite moments of the day: Régine falling madly in love with the newts. (This is a feeling I know well . . . I so often fall madly in love with all sorts of gorgeous wild critters)!

We also found a few larvae (juvenile newts), an adorable tiny newt, and Daniel and Régine did some dip netting:

We headed a bit farther up the mountain, so Daniel could show us what he’s doing with his research. The weather had cleared up (look how GORGEOUS that sky was!), and we made some mammalian friends along the way. Some curious, and reasonably friendly, cows:

Near the research station, we were met by managing ecologist Jeff Wilcox, who taught the group how to do radio telemetry. Josh was the first one to give it a whirl:

We’d already had an amazing day, and we hadn’t even see Daniel’s research yet! But finally we made it to the location where he had his Y-maze set up – an apparatus he is using to test the newts’ ability to detect chemical cues that allow them to choose an appropriate mate. He’s also PIT-tagging them, so individual newts can be identified if they are recaptured later. (Daniel actually let me insert one of the PIT tags, and I know someone took pictures – I’ll add those to the post when I’m able to track them down).

Finally, it was time for us to call it a day, and head back down the mountain. We had SUCH a fantastic day, though, and many, many thanks to Daniel and Jeff for giving us such a wonderful experience at Sonoma Mountain Ranch. And we’ll be back . . . we have another trip planned near the end of the semester.

Field Biology – Learning to Identify Birds

Took my Field Biology students out for the first time on Thursday, for a field experience on campus. I’m planning to spend the first part of the semester introducing them to different taxonomic groups, and helping them develop naturalist skills – especially observation, identification, and keeping details notes in the field – and this seemed like a good way to start.

https://ornithology.com/bird-external-anatomy/

As I told them on Tuesday, during the introductory lecture, I’d decided to throw us all into the “deep end,” and start out with learning to identify birds. On the one hand, birds can be difficult to learn to ID, as there are so many different varieties (more than 600 species in California alone), including many that look frustratingly similar to one another. On the other hand, birds are extremely easy to find – they’re everywhere – so any birding excursion will almost certainly be a success in one way or another. Plus, there’s something to be said for teaching to my strengths, and birds are where I honed my own naturalist skills.

I did have some stressful moments during the day. Class begins at 1:00, but around 11:00, it started pouring down rain. I spent the next little while panicking (just slightly), and trying to come up with an indoor activity we could do if the weather chose not to cooperate. Fortunately, it cleared up enough that I felt good about taking them outdoors. It’s not like there was any great risk to us – we were just going to wander around on campus, never more than 5 minutes from the nearest shelter. Still, inclement weather usually sends the birds into hiding, so I was glad to see the sun peeking out from behind some otherwise ominous rainclouds.

We started out in the classroom with a relatively brief lecture on the anatomy of a field guide – an indispensable tool where birds are concerned – and then a run-down on the major groups of birds we were likely to see this semester.

http://wildbirdclub.com/activities/activities-01-beginner-201509/

I handed them each a pair of binoculars, and we grabbed some field guides (mostly Peterson’s Western Birds, 3rd edition; since our campus library doesn’t have a lot of field guides on the shelves, I’d picked up several copies relatively cheaply on eBay, for students to use for the duration of the semester). After a few minutes of practicing focus out the window, we headed out on campus.

 

 

Jesica studying a warbler

Almost immediately out the door, we started spotting birds: a crow or raven on the roof of Stevenson Hall, a hawk of some sort (probably red-shouldered) spiraling far overhead. We took at peek at the barn owl boxes on the west side of Stevenson, but didn’t see any owls (no surprise – it was still full daylight). A smallish brown bird stopped running right in the middle of the path, and I set my students on their first ID of the day. It didn’t take long for them to identify this extremely cooperative California Towhee.

When I looked up from the bird, to see my students lined up, with their binoculars trained on the bird, or flipping through the field guide, I knew I’d made the right decision starting with birds.

We headed over to the Art Pond, where we found some Canada Geese (always reliable there). A Black Phoebe demonstrated some textbook flycatching behavior, and a Yellow-rumped Warbler flitted about in the trees. From there, across the lawn to the Commencement Lake, where Mallards tried to beg for food. A California Scrub Jay sat at the top of a tree. I spotted another pair of ducks on the other side of the lake, and when I had them in focus, I realized we had something reasonably different. These weren’t Mallards. I pointed out the birds, and set my students on a hunt through the field guides. Once again, they were quick to get the ID: Common Mergansers. OH YEAH!!

Next, we headed toward Copeland Creek, and I showed them one of my favorite places to look for birds on campus – some deciduous trees between the big lake and the bike path. It was quiet while we were there, but I suggested it as a possible “patch” for some of them to set up their regular outdoor observations (1 hour per week, throughout the semester). I think we spotted a Turkey Vulture here, before heading toward the Environmental Technology Center.

We had some nice surprises there: seeing this gorgeous rainbow on our first field experience seemed like a good omen. And I noticed for the first time some adorable little carvings on one of the arbors in the garden – mostly, I was surprised that I’d never seen them before. One definitely looks like a dragon, and the other maybe a turtle? (Or maybe I just see dragons and turtles wherever I go).

On the way back to Darwin Hall, we saw some American Crows and a trio of Mourning Doves, and there are probably a few other species I’ve forgotten (while I asked my students to take detailed field notes, I neglected to do this myself)! We also saw quite a few mushrooms, but I’m going to wait and talk about fungus, as that will be the focus of next week’s lab.

A very respectable list of birds seen in a relatively short outing, and I think it was exactly the right way to introduce my class to learning some identification skills. Best of all, they were all smiles as we made our way around campus – they seemed to really enjoy it (of course, we were looking at birds . . . what’s not to love)?

Oh, and one tiny postscript – after I’d collected the equipment, dismissed my students, and left the building to head to my car, the sky opened up and started raining on me. Perfect timing, as far as I was concerned.

The Wildlands Will Recover

Near the start of Winter Break, I was able to tag along on a walk-through of Crane Creek Regional Park, hosted by Hattie Brown of the Sonoma County Regional Parks, and John Parodi, with Point Blue Conservation Science. The primary reason for the trip was to discuss opportunities for students to get involved in fire recovery research, as parts of the park burned in the Nuns Fire last October. We did come up with some great ideas for student research, which I’ll talk more about during the Spring semester, when the research will be happening. For now, I thought I’d share some of my photos from that day.

The thing that struck me most is how undamaged most of the park appears. Already, the landscape is green, and there are very few obvious signs of the fire. As Hattie said while we were walking, “the wildlands will recover.”

Planting Graminoids!

 

Yesterday and today, we achieved a big milestone in the Copeland Creek riparian restoration project: putting in some native plants! For this first phase of planting, we started out with grasses, rushes, and sedges (collectively known as “graminoids”), all of them planted near the spot we call Snowberry Corner.

The plants were cultivated here on campus, by the Native Plant Propagation class – they provided us with more plants than we were able to get into the ground! Here they are in the greenhouse, the day before our first planting day:

On Friday, first thing, I sent part of my Restoration Ecology class to retrieve the plants from the greenhouse, while the “surveying team” marked out some plots, all roughly 800 meters square. They were marked with PVC piping – these would become our permanent zones, to help us track survivorship. We’ll keep track of how many plants were planted in each zone, and in future years we’ll be able to come back and monitor their progress.

Map showing the newly established plots. The large building in the lower left quadrant of the photo is the Environmental Technology Center.

(A more detailed map can be found here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FFenhZLMw8nbpMbxJlZYa94mki-3vQPT&usp=sharing)

Finally, we were ready to start planting! In the drier area close to the bike path, we put in mostly native grasses – Blue Wild Rye (Elymus glaucus), and Beardless Wild Rye (Elymus triticoides). To the east, and back a bit from the path, there’s an area that retains more moisture throughout the year, so we’re treating it as a seasonal wetland. In those areas, we put in mostly Santa Barbara Sedge (Carex sp), and Juncus.

Alongside the planting, we also grubbed out a bunch of Himalayan blackberry. I did most of the grubbing (so my students could focus on planting, which is arguably more fun).

We made some great progress on Friday, but since there were still plants left unplanted, a smaller group of students offered to come in on Saturday morning, and help me get even more plants in the ground:

Dream Team: Wendy, Desirae, Audrey, and Jesica

In addition to the planting, we also constructed a little woodpile out of sight behind a slight hill. Partly, we wanted to clear away some branches from the wetland meadow area, but we also took the opportunity to build it up around a small California blackberry plant, to give it some support as it grows.

Even though we didn’t get every single plant into the ground, I’m thrilled with the progress we made. Look at all these precious baby plants in the ground, ready to grow:

The final touch: a string of yellow flagging tape all around the Snowberry Corner area. That’s an area where joggers and bicyclists like to cut through, rather than staying on the path. So, we put up some tape to discourage this type of “foot” traffic while the plants are getting established.

A little bit of pedestrian protection.

Such great progress! Looking forward to watching them grow.

 

Maker Space: 3D Printing

Last October, a really spectacular space opened up on campus – we now have a dedicated Maker Space! Loads of equipment, including: vinyl cutter, embroidery machines, sublimation printer, oscilloscope, Arduino, soldering station, engraving machines, laser cutters, Carvey mill, and a virtual reality set up. Oh, and of course, we have 3D printers.

That’s where I decided to start. I don’t really have any pressing need for things I can laser print, but the technology is SO cool, I wanted to learn how to use the machines. My son and I started out with two projects: some Lantern rings (Indigo for me, and Yellow for him). Mine didn’t come out too well – I need to learn enough about the software to make some adjustments, and try again.

3D printed Indigo Lantern ring - not quite right!
3D printed Indigo Lantern ring – not quite right!

3D printed Yellow Lantern ring. Nice!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had much better success with a little owl figurine. I’ve been collecting owls for years and years, so I hoped this would make a cute little addition to my collection.

It did take me two tries – the first machine we tried cut out part-way through – but look at this little cutie:

3-D printed owl

 

Summer School – Day 14 and 15 – Ecosystem Services and Food Security

The penultimate day of the summer term! Compared to some of our other days, this one was pretty low key, but we did have a little unexpected adventure.

I’d intended to lecture on ecosystem services in the morning, and then watch one of my favorite “teaching” films, “Hurricane on the Bayou.” And this is mostly what happened, except for a little detour part way through. When I arrived on campus, I noticed some flyers posted in the science building – one of the biology grad students, Vanessa Dodge, was giving her thesis defense. Not only was I really interested in her research, as I’d been up to the field site in Point Reyes a couple of times, but I also thought this would be a good way for my students to learn a bit more about the process of science. So, I gave them the choice – do you want to listen to me lecture all morning? Or do you want to go hear someone else talk for a while? They voted in favor of variety, so about an hour into the day we headed upstairs to the thesis defense.

Taking them was, I think, a good experience for them. The talk was good – she did her research on the effects of tule elk on soil composition, so it was very ecology focused, and not too technical. And my students were a great audience! So, that was a little bit of serendipity for our last week.

Eventually, though, I did finish up the ecosystem services lecture, and then we watched “Hurricane on the Bayou.” It’s a beautifully filmed documentary about Hurricane Katrina, and the ways in which the loss of natural coastal habitats led to more severe storm damage than would have happened otherwise. Probably the most interesting thing about this film, though, is the circumstances under which it was made. They’d actually started filming it some time before the hurricane hit, and obviously had no idea that Hurricane Katrina would happen when she did. The original intention was to talk about the importance of wetlands, and the need to conserve them, to protect against a “big one” that could hit in the future. But part way through filming, in August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina happened, and the film changed from something more theoretical into video documentation of the disaster and some of the people whose lives were devastated. There’s an authenticity about it that is remarkable, and disturbing, and really gets the point across: preserving ecosystems and the services they provide is so crucial to human well-being. I highly recommend this film, even though it can be difficult to watch at times. (All photos © MacGillivray Freeman Films)

After lunch, we started talking about human populations, including an activity on population growth. This makes an easy transition to our next topic: food security, but we didn’t get all the way through the lecture . . . I decided to save one of the most interesting topics for the next day: GMOs. Oh yeah. That’s always an entertaining lecture. 🙂

Mealworm behavior experiment lab

ETA: Somehow, I never quite managed to write up the post for Day 15 of the semester, so instead of trying to put something together now, I thought I’d just update this post with a quick wrap-up. On the last day of the semester, after our final lecture (on GMOs), we revisited the scientific method, by conducting experiments on mealworms. I provided the class with the worms, and some various materials, and allowed them to formulate their own research questions and experimental protocols, and then conduct the experiments. Among other things, we discovered that mealworms will move toward light surfaces (instead of dark ones), and warmth, rather than cold. It was a nice final lab for the semester.

Of course, the last thing on the syllabus was the final exam, which we completed in two phases. There was the more traditional write-on exam, but we also did a sort of lab “practical” . . . I took the students on a walk around campus, and asked them questions that would allow them to demonstrate their knowledge about various things we’d learned during the course of the semester. For example, they had to talk about the different evolutionary adaptations of plants, to identify a couple of birds using a very simple “field guide” I created, and describe the genetic relatedness of these baby ducks to their parents.

It was a fun way to end a genuinely fantastic “semester.” And . . . every single one of my students earned an “A.” That’s never happened (for me) before. 🙂

Selected Materials

110 Hurricane on the Bayou
110 Population Growth
115 Campus Walk SP17