Natural Selection and Predator-Prey Activities Blog

In the class activity, we were exploring natural selection, predator-prey relations, as well as looking into adaptations within organisms that help them evade predators. In this activity, three different types of prey (beans) were to be “hunted” by predators (students) with three different types of foraging equipment (teaspoon, knife, and fork.)  You would then hunt and acquire your prey and then place the prey in the cup (predator’s stomach.) The predators would begin hunting for a set time. After hunting, the predators with the same foraging equipment then went and recorded there kills to the “accountant” of the group. The people starting with the spoon has the least trouble while those with knives and forks had a much harder time getting food. After the first generation hunt, the animals that starved to death had the opportunity to become a fork or a spoon forager instead, representing reproduction in which adaptation played a role. However, as the generations continue on, the prey began to significantly decrease in numbers, and it became harder for the predators to find food.

            This activity very clearly demonstrated natural selection because the predators with the better foraging equipment were able to flourish within their environment and acquire the amount of food necessary to survive. This activity also demonstrated adaptations because those predators that died off and could not survive with their original foraging mechanism reproduced with the better foraging mechanism for survival.

            Cryptic coloration didn’t have much to do with this activity, but competition, however, played a huge role as the generations got further down the line with adaptation. The more predators with efficient foraging equipment, the lesser the surviving prey. Therefore, the competition between predators rose.

            I found this activity a great activity to do within a classroom to help students understand the concepts of natural selection, adaptation, as well as to make clear the concept of competition amongst predators once the prey pool had shrunk. The cost of the activity overall seems quite cheap, and the activity was fun for me as a college student.

Photosynthesis Carbon Dioxide Activity

Sadly, we were not able to acquire our own results during this investigation because the we were not able to observe much/any change in our specimens within the experiment. However, we were able to use previously found data from the same experiment to draw some conclusions. The jar directly under the lamp was dark purple, the jar being shaded from direct light was orange/red, and the jar placed in the cupboard was yellow.

These observations all make sense given what we know about photosynthesis. Photosynthesis happens at a faster rate when exposed to light; therefore, carbon dioxide was used faster in photosynthesis than it was being replaced during respiration causing the solution to turn a dark purple because the carbon dioxide was being reduced in the indicator. The solution in the jar that was thinly shaded from the light of the lamp turned orange/red because photosynthesis and respiration were happening around the same rate; therefore, the carbon dioxide in the solution was being replaced at the same rate it was being used causing the solution to reach an atmospheric carbon dioxide level. The solution of the jar placed in darkness turned yellow because photosynthesis was not taking place; therefore, no carbon dioxide was being used while respiration was producing more carbon dioxide, causing an increase in the carbon dioxide in the indicator solution.

These observations did very much confirm what we set out to show in this experiment.

The indicator turned yellow when the pondweed was placed in the dark.

We can deduce that the solution turned yellow because there was an increase in the carbon dioxide in the indicator solution. We can also deduce that there was an increase in carbon dioxide in the solution because photosynthesis was not taking place.

In our actual experiment, we think it may have been more beneficial to use a larger amount of pondweed from the very beginning of the experiment. We also think the experiment would have worked better if we had cut an inch down the stem of each piece of pond weed before moving the jars. We also think that using less of the indicator may have sped up the process.

The indicator would become yellow if I blew into it because I would be increasing the carbon dioxide in the solution.

The indicator would become red/orange is the plant were to respire and carry out photosynthesis at the same rate because carbon dioxide would be used at the same rate it would be replaced.

At mid-morning and in the afternoon, respiration and photosynthesis would occur at the same rate.

Photosynthesis Oxygen Activity

Bubbles Released At Various Lengths Over Time 

	1st 30 sec	2nd 30 sec	3rd 30 sec	Mean # of  Bubbles
Directly	29	28	27	28
6 in. away	20	20	19	19.6
12 in. away	13	12	13	12.6
36 in. away	8	7	7	7.3
No light	5	3	4	4

The independent variable in this experiment is the distance of the plant from the light while the dependent variable in this experiment is the number of bubbles released at any given distance. The control variable in this experiment is the number of bubbles released when the lamp was shut off. 

In my graph, the pattern shown is that the further the graduated cylinder got from the lamp, the fewer the bubbles produced over a thirty second time frame. Another pattern I began to notice is that the number of bubbles produced in the first thirty second trial tended to be greater than the number of bubbles produced in the third thirty second trial. 

The number of bubbles produced (the dependent variable) changes based on how close the plant in the graduated cylinder is to the light (the independent variable.) The amount of bubbles produced when there is no light from the lamp reaching the plant (the control variable) sets the basis for bubbles produced over a time period exposed to no/little direct lighting.

Because photosynthesis uses light to complete the process, it makes sense that the fewer bubbles released happened farther away from light exposure. We were slowly removing light; therefore, we were slowing the photosynthesis process every time we moved the plant further from the light slowing the rate of oxygen leaving the plant. 

The pattern shown in the graph does correlate with what I expected to happen. 

I feel as though one way we could have made this experiment more reliable is by performing the experiment in a darker room. If we had performed the experiment in a darker room, the direct lighting of the classroom would not have had an affect on the amount of bubbles released in any of the trials. The bubbles also were not the same size, meaning we didn't necessarily have a standard bubble size, we simply just counted all bubbles released. You may be able to measure the volume of gas being released by catching it in some sort of balloon (or something similar) and calculate the volume from there. 

I predict that the number of bubbles would increase if you increased the power of the light bulb. 

(The chart was complicated to copy and paste, and Blogger would not allow me to attach the cropped version of the chart.) 

Photosynthesis Oxygen Activity

Bubbles Released At Various Lengths Over Time 

	1st 30 sec	2nd 30 sec	3rd 30 sec	Mean # of  Bubbles
Directly	29	28	27	28
6 in. away	20	20	19	19.6
12 in. away	13	12	13	12.6
36 in. away	8	7	7	7.3
No light	5	3	4	4

The independent variable in this experiment is the distance of the plant from the light while the dependent variable in this experiment is the number of bubbles released at any given distance. The control variable in this experiment is the number of bubbles released when the lamp was shut off. 

In my graph, the pattern shown is that the further the graduated cylinder got from the lamp, the fewer the bubbles produced over a thirty second time frame. Another pattern I began to notice is that the number of bubbles produced in the first thirty second trial tended to be greater than the number of bubbles produced in the third thirty second trial. 

The number of bubbles produced (the dependent variable) changes based on how close the plant in the graduated cylinder is to the light (the independent variable.) The amount of bubbles produced when there is no light from the lamp reaching the plant (the control variable) sets the basis for bubbles produced over a time period exposed to no/little direct lighting.

Because photosynthesis uses light to complete the process, it makes sense that the fewer bubbles released happened farther away from light exposure. We were slowly removing light; therefore, we were slowing the photosynthesis process every time we moved the plant further from the light slowing the rate of oxygen leaving the plant. 

The pattern shown in the graph does correlate with what I expected to happen. 

I feel as though one way we could have made this experiment more reliable is by performing the experiment in a darker room. If we had performed the experiment in a darker room, the direct lighting of the classroom would not have had an affect on the amount of bubbles released in any of the trials. The bubbles also were not the same size, meaning we didn't necessarily have a standard bubble size, we simply just counted all bubbles released. You may be able to measure the volume of gas being released by catching it in some sort of balloon (or something similar) and calculate the volume from there. 

I predict that the number of bubbles would increase if you increased the power of the light bulb. 

(I apologize for the alignment of my data table; Blogger would not allow me to copy the table perfectly. The chart was also complicated to copy and paste, and Blogger would not allow me to attach the cropped version of the chart.) 

Cell Tour

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. A pleasure to have you all here today as we gather on a journey through the cell of a human. We just ask you all to be mindful of the exhibit and try not to touch anything that is roped off. Other than that, we plan to have a fun day learning about the functions of a cell! If you’ll fall me right this way, we will enter into the cell through the cell membrane.

Now that we’ve all made it in side, as you can see, the cell membrane is the wall is lining that surrounds the entire perimeter of the cell. We will start the tour throughout the cell within one of the most fascinating parts of the cell. If you’ll all climb through this entrance, I will explain a little more inside.

We are now within the endoplasmic reticulum structure of this cell. This part of the cell is a network of tubes and passages used for the transportation of substances. I will now give you all time to explore the endoplasmic reticulum. Be sure to explore every passage and watch out for fluids headed your way. We’ll meet back at the entrance in twenty minutes.

Thank you everyone for meeting back up. As we’re leaving the endoplasmic reticulum, you will notice the tiny balls lining the perimeter. Those tiny balls are known as ribosomes. The areas with a lot of tiny balls is known as the rough endoplasmic reticulum. That are with barely any tiny balls is known as the smooth endoplasmic reticulum.

  Now that we’ve explored the endoplasmic reticulum, we will move on into the Golgi apparatus. As you can see, the fluids within the endoplasmic reticulum are directly transported here and converted to different substances. The Golgi apparatus is made up of flat structures stacked on top of each other.

As you can see, as we walk away from the Golgi apparatus exhibit, there are some pieces that have fallen away from the exhibit. The pieces are call Lysosomes. Lysosomes are the flat structures of the Golgi apparatus that have broken off. These lysosomes help to digest nutrients as well as break down debris such as bacteria’s.

We will now enter into the largest structure within the cell. This shiny lining surrounding the next structure is the nuclear membrane in place to hold and protect the nucleus of the cell. This structure is called the Nucleus. You will notice that a lot is stored within the nucleus being that it is a pertinent structure within the human cell. Within the nucleus, DNA is stored. The nucleus is also in charge of the reproduction of the cell. We now are entering the dark structure within the cell called the nucleolus. Watch your step, something is growing directly beneath your very feet. This is where the “tiny balls” or ribosomes are made. Do you see that tiny exit where all of the ribosomes keep leaving the nucleus? Those are called nuclear pores. If you’ll carefully follow me out of the nucleus exhibit, we are now going to make our way to the Mitochondria exhibit.

Here we are, in the mitochondria. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, this cell has several mitochondria we can explore. As you all can see, this is where all of our fuel gets broken down into energy. This is also where we find ATP because the molecule ATP is how we store the energy we just broke down.

As we leave the mitochondria, I would strongly recommend putting on your nose plugs in your tour kit. We will now be making our way past the vesicles. Vesicles tend to hold waste and digestive fluid within the cell and that is where that awful smell is coming from.

Oh my! Would you look at that? Not every day do we run into a centriole while we’re on our tour. A centriole is an organelle that forms when the cell is about to divide. I would strongly advise you all to hold on tightly to each other and your belongings. Exit your new cell via the cell membrane exit. I will meet you all there after the separation. Here it comes, HOLD ON! 

Intro to Madison

Hi! 

My name is Madison Sadler. I am a junior in the education program at Northern Michigan University. I am working towards a double minor in mathematics and integrated science, and I would someday love to teach fifth grade. 

I was born and raised in Munising Michigan, growing up with a younger and an older brother as well as two loving parents. In my opinion, I live near the most beautiful national parks there is, and how does one get that lucky? I grew up doing all things out doors-- sports, fishing, hunting, you name it. 

I am currently still living in Munising with my parents and younger brother. I commute to classes five days a week and work for public safety on campus as well as at 387 Restaurant in Munising. Some of my favorite hobbies include reading, hammocking, relaxing, and slowly chipping away at items on my bucket list with my boyfriend. 

My plan for after college include teaching. I hope to find myself located in the Grand Rapids or Alma areas of Michigan. I look forward to getting to know everyone in MSED this semester. 

My family at my oldest brothers wedding in May of 2016.

My puppy, Sugar Rae, and I. 

My boyfriend and I on our road trip to North Carolina two weeks ago.

If I had $100

If I had $100, how would the money be divided within our solar systems?

Sun: $99.9
Mercury: $0.00025
Venus: $0.00025
Earth: $0.00025
Mars: $0.00025
Jupiter: $0.05
Saturn: $0.04
Uranus $0.005
Neptune: $0.004
Moon/Satellites:$0.00001




ACTUAL:

Sun: $97.50
Mercury: $0.003
Venus: $0.02
Earth: $0.02
Mars: $0.004
Jupiter: $1.25
Saturn: $1.00
Uranus: $0.10
Neptune: $0.10
Moon/ Satellites: $0.003

What causes the seasons?

-The seasons are caused by the sun being farther from the certain areas of the earth. For example, it is winter on the side of the earth that is not facing the sun. The side of the earth facing the sun is experiencing summer. The side of the earth heading away from direct sunlight is experiencing fall, and the side of the earth heading toward direct sunlight is experiencing spring.


What causes the the phases of the moon?

- Moon phases are caused when the moon orbits the earth. You see a full moon when it is directly in front of earth, and you don't see the moon when it is directly in front of the sun.

Plate Tectonics

My pre-knowledge of plate tectonics before this chapter was very little. I understood that plates move by certain natural occurrences on earth's surface, but anything beyond that I had really no understanding of.  

After discussing plate tectonics, I understand that there are four different types of plate boundaries. As a teacher, I think that one of the best ways to explain or model plate tectonics is by using graham crackers and frosting as we did in class. For example, this is a perfect model  of divergent plate boundaries using graham crackers and frosting.

This is a perfect example of a divergent plate boundary when two plates move away from each other.

If I had $100

If I had $100 to represent earths water, $95 would be in the earth's ocean. Ninety-five dollars would be in the earth's ocean's because 95% of earths water is comprised of oceans. This leaves only 5% (or $5) representing all of the rest of earth's water. The five dollars left over is comprised of fresh water and a very small portion of our $5 represents "other saline waters. The fresh water can be broke down mainly into groundwater and glacier water.

Understanding Models of Earth's Surface

Sadly, this was my initial understanding of how to model Earth's surface in a 3D model. I drew this model of the Marquette area, more specifically, Lake Superior and Marquette Mountain. Obviously, my interpretation is inaccurate and even a bit naive. 

After our class activity, I have a much better idea of to draw as well as interpret a 3D model of Earth's surface. 

This picture very accurately represents a 3D model of a crater on Earth's surface.

Also, this picture very accurately represents a 3D model of mountain on Earth's surface. 

Rock Cycle Model

This is the first model I had of the rock cycle. In reality, my first model is actually pretty accurate without the specific details. My first model has an understanding that rocks can start in a melted state and after several years of cooling, the melted state turns into a solid state. Through weathering and erosion, rocks can be broken apart into smaller pieces. The smaller pieces can eventually be melted down and form back into lava. 

After today's class, it was a quite obvious that I don't know much in detail about the rock cycle. There are three types of rocks within the rock cycles. Igneous rocks are rocks in their melted state. Due to the cooling of igneous rocks, two types of igneous rocks can be formed such as, extrusive and intrusive. Intrusive are coarse grained igneous rocks and extrusive are fine grained igneous rocks. Through erosion and lithification on igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks are formed. The two types of sedimentary rocks are detrital and chemical. Detrital sedimentary rocks consist of bits and pieces of inclusions. Chemical rocks form by chemical changes to the sedimentary rocks. Once sedimentary rocks are exposed to heat and pressure, they form into metamorphic rocks. Their are two classifications to metamorphic rocks as well. There are foliated metamorphic rocks that show bands or layers, and there are nonfoliated rocks that don't show bands. If metamorphic rocks are exposed to enough heat, they eventually melt, forming back into igneous rocks. The rock cycle isn't bound by a particular clockwise rotation. At any given time, a rock can go backwards in the cycle as well as skip  a step. 

Crystal Growth Activity

Our crystal mixture consisted 2 tablespoons of salt, 2 tablespoons of water, 2 tables spoons of blueing, and 2 tablespoons of ammonia. We also added a little bit of red food coloring to our mixture. We then cut our crystal absorbent material to make it into a structure to hold the crystals. The next two pictures are what our mixture and absorbent structure looked like when we left them on Tuesday.

This is a picture of what our cup looked like when we returned to class on Thursday.

Something about our structure must have been optimal for crystal growing because ours appeared to have the most crystals as well as the most over flow. 

What is a fossil?

A fossil is the preserved remains of any living thing. These remains can be carbonized, petrified, cast and mold, etc. It can be any type of remain from a living thing such as poop, hair, tracks, and much more.

Our 50/50 recipe consisted of 40 mL of sand, 40 mL of plaster, and 20 mL of water. The 75% sand/ 25% plaster consisted of 60 mL of sand, 20 mL of plaster, and 20 mL of water. Lastly, our 75% plaster/ 25% sand consisted of 60 mL of plaster, 20 mL of sand, and 20 mL of water.

Before we started, we predicted that the 75% plaster/ 25% sand mixture would produce the best fossil. After seeing the mixtures, we predict that the 50/50 mixture will produce the best fossil. We also think that we would have had better results if we had done our water to plaster and sand ratio differently. Hindsight, we would have done our 50/50 mixture as 20 mL of sand, 20 mL of plaster, and 20 mL of water. We felt as though more water to our mixture would have produced better results.

The 75% sand mixture was our least successful of the three trails. The mixture was extremely grainy and fell apart without out much work. There was no mold present in the hardened mixture. 

The 75% plaster mixture took a little bit more work to get the fossil out. It took about two minutes to extract with hammer and a chisel. There was a mold left in the hardened mixture. 

The 50% mixture was fairly easy to extracted the shell. It took about a minute with the chisel and hammer before the shells came loose. The shells left a pretty good mold. 

Hindsight, we would have not put the shells more in the middle of the liquid mixture. We also would have made sure the shells were the right way to leave a cool mold. 

What is Science?

What is the definition of science? If you had asked me this question two days ago, I would have given you any text book definition such as "the observation and exploration of all natural things" because that is what has consistently repeated to me through grade school. After being challenged to think deeper on the actual definition of what science is, I realized I knew a lot more about the definition and concept of what science is.

I believe that an accurate definition of science must encompass three aspects; "how to science", "what to use", and "what you'll find." By "how to science," I mean one way to very accurately define science is how you go about doing it. You must go about science in a methodical and structured way. You must experiment and keep an opened mind to all ideas. You must you scientific methods and reasoning to form an accurate and educated conclusion. What you use in science is also an accurate depiction of science. The tools you use for science are very accurate and precise, such as scales measuring down to the thousandth of a pound or microscopes that can show moving blood vessels in a fish tale. Without the tools used in science, science wouldn't be known for what it is today. Lastly, another aspect of science that can be used to define what science actually is, is what you will find in science. You can open up an entirely knew would, yet just scratch the surface with just an intro chemistry course. There is so much to be learned about elements, and what they're made of, and how many electrons are in its outer shell. In science, we can learn about the most complex of dinosaurs that we've never personally seen, and we can date how long ago it was that they roamed this earth, We have so much to learn from the vast amount of information we discover from science daily.

The only accurate way to truly define science is to define the components within it. Science can be defined by how you approach doing science, what tools you use to aid in your discoveries, and what it is that you find in this research.