Tag: biology

Classroom Project, Education, Outdoor & Environmental, TechnologyLeave a comment

Technology in Education: The Digital STEM Fair

woodshopcowboy

You’ve been to a science fair, right?  Tri-fold boards, volcanoes and blue ribbons.  This month, my colleagues and I shepherded the “STEM Fair” into existence.  The STEM Fair is a showcase for any Science, Technology, Engineering or Math project our students produced over the course of a month.  My school produced forty to fifty blog posts, hundreds of digital pictures, a dozen two minute videos, thirty presentations and about ten individual physical showcases.  I have a room filled with Japanese art-chemistry, rocket cars, rockets of various propulsion methods, a small robot, a Lego-Branded robot, paper gliders, a seesaw and more.  … Continue reading Technology in Education: The Digital STEM Fair

Classroom Project2 Comments

How To Re-Plant Galveston Bay Saltgrass (Wetland Project)

woodshopcowboy

My students and I took a little trip down to Baytown to participate in the harvesting of saltgrass for replanting in the Galveston Bay. The students learned a little about the destruction/erosion of coastal wetlands, such as bays and estuaries.  They learned about the wildlife which depends on coastal wetlands to survive and grow.  We learned how to replant saltgrass into containment pools.  We will husband theses plants to health for another two months, then plant’m come May. Salt grass is grown in muddy, brakish water – in our case, these ponds in a power plant.  We ripped them from … Continue reading How To Re-Plant Galveston Bay Saltgrass (Wetland Project)

Education, This Week In the Classroom2 Comments

This Week in the Classroom: What Do Plants Eat? And How Does It Grow Leaves? And Other Teaching Errors

woodshopcowboy

What exactly, is a plant’s food?  And where do the raw elements that make up a tree trunk come from?  Take a moment and think up two answers. I had a student ask these questions on a recent field trip.  The answer given by the speaking biologist to the second question was wrong.  In fact, I’m willing to bet your second answer was wrong too.  Plants convert sunlight into energy, which is analogous to an animal eating sugar.  Then where do the raw elements for cellulose (the stuff in a plant’s cell wall) come from?  Not the soil, as you … Continue reading This Week in the Classroom: What Do Plants Eat? And How Does It Grow Leaves? And Other Teaching Errors