Earth System Science Project

Dr. Sandra Rutherford

Eastern Michigan University

I use it in my College level Teaching Earth Science Methods course so teachers can learn how to build and use this project in their classrooms. It can also be used in a grade 8-12 Earth Science, Environmental, Ecology class.

Should know how to use testing papers for determining pH, what a food chain and a simple food web are. Also what the role of a decomposer, consumer, etc is.

I would describe it as part of a unit that is going on on one level while other parts of the unit are also going on. It is a culminating project but it is not done at the end of the unit but throughout the unit.

The Earth System Science Project addresses the following National Science Education Standards (1995):

• the ability and understanding of scientific inquiry
• the structure of the earth system (grades 5-8)
• energy in the earth system (grades 9-12)
• geochemical cycles (grades 9-12)

To collect data on a pond ecosystem and see how the different parts of ecosystem interact.

The students must hypothesis about how each chamber will do after 3-4 weeks. they must collect data and use the data to answer questions about their ecosystem. They must also write their own procedure so someone else can duplicate their column.

They do need to work in groups but individually answer a series of questions which must be written in paragraph form.

Using bottles to explore biological concepts is several decades old. Och and Brock (1975) first described a model terrarium enclosed in a glass bottle. Since that time, there have been numerous adaptations of the "bottle biology" idea. Evolving from the need to recycle plastic drink bottles, science educators have enticed teachers to explore decomposition, fermentation, food chains, and ecosystems using inexpensive and easily accessible materials (Wisconsin Fast Plants, 1991; Ingram, 1993; Jager, 1993; Taylor, et al., 1995). Despite the excellent diagrams and detailed explanations available in these publications, many earth science teachers may have thought of bottle biology as only biological in nature, overlooking the ability of these projects to engage students in earth science topics.

The students were so excited to build the columns and collect the data that they would run into the classroom to see how their columns were doing. Of course, the principal couldn't wait to show this project off to any visitors. The Although this project is reminiscent of those in other bottle biology publications, the Earth System Science Project serves to highlight earth science concepts and describe incorporation of the project into an earth science curriculum. In addition, instructions for project construction and handouts to guide students through a full laboratory write-up are presented.

I grade their answers to the questions listed.