Invertebrates: How To Get It Covered When You Are Running Out Of Time!

Help!  I am running out of time, and I still have the animal kingdom to cover!

This happens to me EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR!!  I really can't think of any topic in my biology class that I don't enjoy.  I am a biology nerd and I love teaching! But there are certain topics that I REALLY love and I spend too much time on them.  Cell physiology, biochemistry, cell division, photosynthesis, respiration, genetics, DNA, evolution ..... I get so excited about these, and I love the labs that go with these topics, and well, I just spend too much time on them!  Which brings me back to the purpose of this article:  I need to get the invertebrate material covered, and I have very little time to do it.

It's time to flip my classroom.

For most concepts, I prefer a traditional teaching approach. Flipping my classroom means that I am shifting the responsibility for teaching and learning to the student. The idea is that the student must study and learn the material at home, and class time is used to answer questions and clarify any misconceptions students might have about the concepts.  As I said above, I am a traditional teacher, and I prefer to teach most topics "the old-fashioned" way.  But I do believe that certain topics require less instruction from the teacher, and these topics can be covered quickly and efficiently by shifting some or all of the responsibility over to the students.

Like the invertebrates!  I want my biology students to be well versed about the origins of the animal kingdom.  They need a basic understanding of embryology, body form and symmetry, and the unique characteristics that place an animal in a particular phylum.  After a few really good lectures on embryology, I usually shift the rest of the learning over to the students. There is nothing difficult about the characteristics of each phylum, and my students often are relieved and excited for things to be a little different in the classroom.

So how will I cover the invertebrates? You are probably already familiar (hopefully!) with my warm ups and interactive notebook pages.  I use them all year long as warm ups, homework assignments, and for review and reinforcement.

For the invertebrates, I use them as a tool for flipping the learning over to the students.  Students are placed in cooperative learning groups - (groups of my own choosing, and not theirs!) - to complete the interactive pages on all of the invertebrate phyla.  I give them class time to work, but some of the work will have to be completed outside of class.  Each day, I devote time to answering questions the students might have, and focusing their attention to a few concepts that might need a little more traditional instruction.

I have my students prepare a notebook on the invertebrates.  You can get an idea of how this works from the photos below.  Click on any of the images below to view these products in my TpT store.

 

Each set can be purchased individually (click on each image above) or you can save money by purchasing them in a big bundle.  Use this link to view the big bundle.

I hope this gives you a few ideas of ways cover some topics quickly when you are crunched for time. Good luck in your teaching!

Beware the Blue-Ringed Octopus!

This octopus is one of the most venomous creatures on Earth!

One of my favorite things about being out of school for the summer is that when something catches my interest, I actually have time to stop, do a little research, and learn something new. Not only does it satisfy my wild craving for all things biological, but it adds to the plethora of factoids and interesting tidbits that I can use to stimulate my students next school year. Nothing is more exciting to me than getting a kid excited about science!!

In the early morning silence of my house (another summertime favorite!) and with coffee in hand, I headed to my deck with my laptop to peruse the science news sites that I love.  I ran across a small blurb about this octopus that really caught my attention.  My best friend, Google, and I quickly came up with this list of facts about the blue-ringed octopus:

• The blue-ringed octopuses are recognized as one of the world's most venomous marine creatures.
• They are small in size, ranging from 5 to 8 inches.
• Their venom is powerful enough to kill a human.  There is no blue-ringed octopus antivenom available.
• They are found in tide pools and coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, from Japan to Australia.
• They are recognized by their characteristic blue and black rings and yellowish skin.
• When the octopus is agitated, the skin darkens and the rings may appear to pulsate.  

• The octopus hides in crevices and can squeeze into spaces much smaller than itself.  It uses the pigment cells called chromatophores to camouflage itself.
• The venom contains a neurotoxin that blocks sodium channels, causing motor paralysis and respiratory arrest within minutes of being bitten.
• This toxin is produced by bacteria that live in the salivary glands of the octopus.

• Treatment involves artificial respiration once the victim's respiratory muscles have become paralyzed.  The paralysis is temporary and will pass over several hours as the toxin is metabolized and excreted from the body, but it is essential that rescue breathing continues until the victim is able to breathe on their own.
• The octopus is very shy and docile.  It prefers to stay hidden and comes out to hunt small crabs and shrimps.
• There are three confirmed species, and a fourth is still being considered.

• The female blue-ringed octopus will lay only one clutch of about 50 eggs during her lifetime.  The eggs are incubated under her arms for about 6 months, during which time she will not eat.  When the eggs hatch, the female dies.

Want to know more?  Here is a really good YouTube video.  The footage is very good and it is just 3 minutes in length....perfect for a grabber at the beginning of your biology class.

Happy Teaching!

The Amazing Ant

The ant is truly amazing.  

Like many of you, I also get irritated by them.  But have you ever taken a few minutes to just watch ants?  

This past week end our family joined several other families for a Memorial Day picnic.  We live in the deep South, so it was no surprise to anyone when the ants found our picnic so quickly.  Like other normal people (a biology teacher is rarely normal, but this time I was!) I tried to flick them away from our food and off the picnic table we were using.  

I happened to look down at the ground around the picnic table and spotted the ant hill.  One of us had already stepped in the middle of it, and the ants were in a frenzy.  What caught my eye was the site of the ants lifting the eggs and/or pupae and carrying them to safety.  It was a pretty amazing site, and our group became interested in watching the busy work of these ants.

As I am the biology teacher in the group, my friends began to ask me questions, such as "How do they lift an object that seems as big as they are?"  Other than knowing that they are insects and undergo complete metamorphosis, I had few answers to offer the group.  Since I love being able to spout off biological facts to anyone who will listen, I knew that I had some research to do about ants.

These are some amazing facts that I discovered:

1.   Ants can lift objects that are 20 to 50 times their own body weight.  

2.   Ants live 45 to 60 days.

3.   The ant brain only contains 250,000 cells.  It would take a colony of 40,000 ants to have the same brain size as one human.

4.   Ants have powerful jaws that open from side to side.  They cannot swallow food.  They swallow the juice from the food as they chew.

5.   There are over 10,000 species of ants.  

6.   Each ant colony has one or more queens.  The job of the queen is to lay eggs.

7.  Worker ants are sterile.  Their job is to look after the queen, take care of the eggs and larvae, search for food, clean up the nest, and defend the nest.

8.   Fertile males have one job only.  They mate with the queen and usually die shortly after.

9.   Ants have an amazing ability to communicate with each other.  They use their antennae for tactile communication as well as for smell.  They use chemicals to alert other ants of danger or to lead them to a promising food source.  A trail of scent (pheromone) is used to lead other ants to a source of food.  Cave ants use high pitched squeaks to communicate in the dark.

10.   Some ants live in a mutualistic relationships with plants.  The acacia ant lives in the huge thorns of the acacia tree.  In return, the ant protects the plant from being eaten by herbivores.

11.   Ants evolved 130 million years ago and lived alongside the dinosaurs.

12.   Ants were farmers before humans.  Many species of ants grow and cultivate fungi to support the hive.

13.   Ants are found in almost every corner of the world.  They are not found in Antarctica, Greenland and a few other remote islands.

14.   Ants do not have lungs.  They breathe through a set of spiracles and trachea, which is essentially a bunch of holes along their abdomen.

Here are some links to sites for more information and for some pretty amazing pictures:

National Geographic:  Ants

10 Things About Ants You Didn't Know

7 Reasons Ants Will Inherit the Earth

Happy Teaching!

What Does This Have To Do With Biology?

We went to Disney World!

I have completed deserted my blog for over a week, but now I am back and am looking forward to a great year!  The day after Christmas our family went to Disney World for a week.  Yes, it was crazy crowded, but very magical.  The decorations were so pretty and festive.  We were in the Magic Kingdom on New Year's Eve, and I have never seen so many people in my entire life, but the New Year's Eve fireworks were out of this world!!

Now for a reality check.  School is starting back.  Time to grow up and be a responsible teacher/mom/wife again.  I have been racking my brain trying to think of something "biology related" to write about.  I have some ideas for new labs and activities for my classes this semester.  As I try them out on my students, I'll pass them along to you.

For now, I have some wonderful photos to share with you.  One of our days at Disney was spent at the Animal Kingdom Park.  We arrived at opening which was 7 am for the holiday crowds.  It was a cool morning, but very sunny.  We headed straight for the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. Because of the early time, and the coolness of the early morning, and because it was feeding time, we had some amazing encounters with the animals.  Here are some photos for you.

This giraffe walked right up to our truck
and practically stuck his head inside!

Beautiful ostrich!

The rhino was heading toward the feeding station
and walked within 10 feet of our bus.

Is there anything any cuter than a baby elephant??

I don't know why, but I just love flamingos. 

I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season and a very Happy New Year. Here's to a great 2012 with our families and our students. My blog has survived the first year, and I greatly appreciate the support from all of you.  

Happy Teaching!!