Busy in Biology
September 29, 2019
Mrs. Thornton’s biology classes have been busy. The students are working hard on their experiments for their science fair projects and some have already started to collect data! They started on their projects the second week of school and should finish up before Christmas.
These classes began the year with a look through the history of life on Earth and how the theory of evolution explains what has been learned from the fossil record of Earth. The theory of evolution will be examined all year in class by observing evolution through many different types of organisms.
The last couple weeks have been all about ecology. It started with an investigation into the populations of grasshoppers and plants in the school yard and a field close to school. Sampling occurred for about a week and included techniques such as mark and recapture of grasshoppers and percent coverage of forbes, legumes and grasses as well as soil sampling and sifting. The data collected will be used throughout the unit to investigate the local ecosystem and how humans change the plant and animal populations of that ecosystem. The students enjoyed the opportunity to sample in their own backyard and to get out of the classroom for a few days.
