How to get your organism into a K-12 Classroom

Introduction

One need not even look at recent studies (TIMMS) to realize that science education in the United States is less than adequate; we see it in the students we teach in our courses. Most students view science, including biology, as a collection of facts to be memorized rather than a dynamic and changing field (Linn 1992). There are a variety of factors that contribute to our society’s scientific illiteracy, including how much content is covered, how it is covered, who is teaching our children and the lack of interaction between scientists, students and educators in K-12 . We have discovered that throughout K-12 we cover a broad content area but with little depth (TIMMS). Most science lessons are taught with a mixture of lecture and demonstration with little opportunity to engage in inquiry based study. Research has shown that these methods of instruction are not effective in motivating most children (Warren and Roseberry 1993) and that if students are exposed to hands-on science frequently enough they will gain better problem solving skills, understand the dynamic nature of science and the interaction of science and society (Stohr-Hunt, 1996). We also know that students respond positively to cooperative work, hands-on activities and removing competition from science activities (Baker and Leary, 1995). Most of the educators in K-8 classrooms have minimal training in science and science pedagogy. A typical undergraduate science curriculum for education majors includes just one biology and one physical science course (Young and Kellogg, 1993; Stalheim-Smith and Scharmann, 1994). From personal experience at most universities, often the teaching of educators ranks lowest in teaching assignments. Courses for educators are taught by professors who do not want to be there in and in lecture format without opportunity for inquiry. The result is the production of K-8 science teachers who are not only turned off to science but also feel uncomfortable in their ability to teach science (Young and Kellogg, 1993).


We firmly believe that the only way to improve scientific literacy in the United States is for scientists to become actively and positively involved in K-8 education and the training of future educators. We realize that true curriculum reform is a time consuming and slow process. Meaningful curriculum reform requires that the following occur a) development of instructional materials; b) identifying the right instructional approach (group vs. individualized learning) and c) introduction of these materials in a way in which they will be practiced and sustained (Anderson, 1992). By creating materials that teachers can use, trial running them in classrooms and then placing materials in resource room that all have access to we scientists can positively affect curriculum reform. Below is our model for getting your favorite organism into the K-8 curriculum.


In this paper we will lay out steps that lead to the successful inclusion of hands- on cooperative learning activities that focus on the behavioral ecology of ghost crabs for first, fourth and seventh graders. We chose ghost crabs because one of us (Crowe) has been studying them for four years and they are found in the local environment. (Students connect best with topics that they can see and interact with in their local environment). We hope that you will follow our model to get your favorite organism into K-8 curriculum!

Methods

Creating hands-on curriculum that will be adopted and continued without your presence takes some planning. You must first identify science standards you wish to meet with your activity, develop the activity, test-run to see if it works and then make it available for educators to use with minimal input from you.

Development of instructional materials and contacting educators


Educators will not include lesson plans in their curriculum unless they can demonstrate how it helps them achieve their educational goals. To find out what their goals are, you must obtain the scientific curriculum standards for your local school district. There are national scientific standards for K-12 science education. The standards not only specify what content is important for all students, but also the science process skills that are required for a scientifically literate society. Most states and school districts have modified the standards to fit their educational goals. Coastal Carolina University is located in Horry County, S.C. Horry County School district teaches more than 20,000 students in their classrooms. We accessed the school district’s WWW site ( http://www.horrycountyschools.edu) and downloaded the curriculum standards for first, fourth and seventh graders. If your school district does not have the standards on their WWW site, contact the main office. They can send you a copy of the standards.


Once we knew what educators were expecting to cover in their curriculum we began brainstorming about activities we could do with ghost crabs to help educators achieve their standards. Give yourself some time for this part and remember that youare the expert about your organism and know it well. Obtain books of science activities and review on-line sites (http://www.lessonplanspage.com).


For first graders we created a lesson plan featuring adaptations of ghost crabs to help meet the following standard: Discuss basic structures and functions of the human body and describe how certain adaptations allow plants and animals to survive in nature. We started off by introducing the word adaptation and talked about adaptations that humans had. We then showed a short videotape of ghost crabs and asked students to describe the adaptations crabs had for living on the beach. Students used Styrofoam balls, miniature clothes pins and pipe cleaners to construct ghost crabs. We also included physical education in the plan by conducting relay races where students performed the crab walk (see appendix A).


We had a greater challenge developing a lesson for fourth graders. We modified a Project Wild lesson on food webs to meet the following standard: Describe relationships among organisms through the use of food chains and food webs.We collected material off beaches, downloaded pictures of beach organisms off the WWW and created cards with information on an organism for every student in the class (see appendix B).

We made a point of stressing math in our seventh grade activity that addressed the standard of investigate the relationships between living and nonliving components in ecosystems and communities.Middle school is a critical time to either turning on or off students to math so our activity focused on geometry to estimate the volume of ghost crab burrows. We brought in plaster Paris castes of ghost crab burrows and had students determine whether there was a relationship between burrow diameter and volume of the burrow (see appendix C).


For each grade we created a self-contained lesson, complete with a short videotape of ghost crabs on the beach and an introductory article on the biology of ghost crabs (Loraamm 1990). We placed all materials in a container and then began looking for classes to try out our materials on.


Not all educators are willing to have someone come into their classroom so the first step is to identify those that are. One contact method is to ask your children’s teachers if you can come into their classroom. A second way is to contact the school district main office which can provide you with a list of educators in your areas.

Making materials available


CCU is the home to the SSI Waccamaw Math and Science HUB which is a liaison between the university and local school districts. In addition to providing in-service training, the HUB also maintains a room filled with instructional materials available for check-out. We placed our “kits” stocked with back-up materials in this room. Any educator in Horry or Georgetown County can use our activity in their classroom. We developed the kits Spring 1999 and already this Fall, four first grade and two fourth grade teachers have used our kits.

Results

While we were in the classroom students were overwhelmingly positive about our presence and learning about ghost crabs. Most of the first grade students had trouble saying adaptation but knew what the word meant by the end of the activity. The teacher said that in the past she used elephants to talk about adaptations. She never thought about using an organism that the students might actually touch and catch to stress adaptations.


The fourth grade students had fun feeling the material collected from the beach and learning about the importance of ghost crabs in the ecosystem. They began to understand the impact that humans could have on an ecosystem when the food web collapse at the end of the activity.


The seventh grade students were initially frustrated with all the math but once they realized we were just applying what they already knew, they became very interested. Theyseemed impressed that the math they were learning in class was helping us do our research.


We received follow up cards and notes from the educators and students from the classrooms we visited. Most of the students wanted us to come back again while the educators indicated that they would use the materials the following year in their classes.

Discussion

To promote scientific literacy we urge faculty in science departments to seek out collaborations with their colleagues the university’s department of education, as well as local school districts. We believe that scientists have an obligation to share their research with the general public, not just with their peers in specialized journals and books. Classroom visits and the development of curriculum materials are a powerful tool to disseminate our research with the general public. Scientific literacy is a problem that can be partially solved by a community of scientists and educators working together to train future citizens.

Literature Cited

Anderson, R.D. 1992. Perspectives on complexity: an essay on curricular reform. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 29: 861-876.

Baker, D. and Leary, R. 1995. Letting girls speak out about science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 32: 3-28.

Linn, M. 1992. Science education reform: building on the research base. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 29: 821-840.

Loraamm, L. 1990. The shy crustacean: development mirrors evolution in the secret lives of ghost crabs. SeaFrontiers 53-55.

Stalheim-Smith, A. and Scharmann, L. 1994. General biology: creating a positive learning environment for elementary education majors. American Biology Teacher 56: 216-220.

Stohr-Hunt, P.M. 1996. An analysis of frequency of hands-on experience and science achievement. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 33: 101-109.

Warren, B. and Rosebery, A. 1993. Equity in the future tense: redefining relationships among teachers, students and science in linguistic minority classrooms. Madison, WI: National Center for Research in Mathematical Sciences Education.

Young, B. and Kellogg, T. 1993. Science attitudes and preparation of preservice elementary teachers. Science Education 77: 279-291.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Cynthia Brown, Ginny Ferguson and Karen Johnson for allowing us to come into their classroom and share our ideas and ourselves. K. Lewis was supported by NSF AIRE 98-73758.

Appendix A


©“Adaptations----Featuring Ghost Crabs”


Lesson Plan for First Grade


Kellie M. Lewis and Mary Crowe


Coastal Carolina University


Crowe@coastal.edu


843 349 2236

Objectives •Understand adaptations •Be able to decipher what and why adaptations are important to animals and humans

Materials •12-14 dried ghost crabs •30(varies with class size) styrofoam eggs, approximately 3 inches long •30 pairs of oval-shaped beady eyes •30 pairs of 1 inch tiny spring clothes pins •2 bags of12 inch brown pipe cleaners •Tan paint •Scissors •Glue •Ghost crab video •Invertebrate poster •Ziploc bags

Prior preparations •Paint the styrofoam eggs tan •Cut the pipe cleaners(1 student needs..)(See diagram1 for assistance)
-2, 1.5 inch pieces for eye stalks(A)
-8, 4 inch pieces for legs(B)
-2, 5 inch pieces for claw appendages(C) •Glue beady eyes onto top of eye stalks •Glue clothes pin onto end of 5 inch pipe cleaner •Place all supplies in individual ziploc bags

Procedure 1.Define adaptations-a modification of an organism or its parts that make it fit for existence under the
conditions of its environment. Explain why they are useful to humans and animals. Start by having
the students try to explain the reason for our human body parts(arms, legs, eyes). Then discuss how
adaptations are important to animals as well. Show invertebrate poster and allow students to pick out
animal features and explain why they might be adaptable. 2.Pass out the dried ghost crabs, ideally 2 students per 1 crab. Give general information about the crabs
such as: they live on the beach in the hole you see burrowed in the dry sand, they like to eat clams,
mole crabs, other small creatures,they breathe air through their gills, and do not swim. Let the
students pick out some of the crabs features and guess at why they have them(example 4 legs, 2
pinchers, etc...) 3.Place the ghost crabs to the side, but in view of the students. Give every student their prepared ziploc
bag(as mentioned above)full of their craft materials to construct the ghost crab. Let the child try to
construct it without the instructors help. After approximately 10 minutes, check the progress and
make sure the are constructing it properly(See diagram 1 for assistance).
To construct-Use the styrofoam eggs as the body(D). Place the 8 legs/pipe cleaners(B)-4 on each


side of the body. Bend the legs/pipe cleaners to have 3 sections or 2 joints=longer top-portion,
smaller mid-portion, smallest bottom-portion. Add longer appendage with claw/clothes pin(C) on
towards the front of the crab with the claws extending forward. Add eye stalks(A) with the beady eyes
to the top of the body. 4.Show a short video on ghost crabs displaying their speed. Explain that they can travel 1 meter per 1
second. Hold up a meter stick for a tangible display. Explain that the crabs can move forwards,
backwards, and sideways. 5.Take the students to a large space(cafeteria, hallway, gym, or playground). Split the students up into
groups of 4. Explain that these groups of 4 will be a relay team. They will be participating in the
“crab walk relay”. Demonstrate how to do the crab walk(on all fours with you stomach facing the
sky). Assign each student in the group a particular fashion to travel, 1-forwards,2-backwards, 3-
sideways to the left, 4-sideways to the right. Place 2 students at a stationary place and their other 2
members directly across from them about 20 ft. away. Have each group align like this. When the

instructor yells, “ go”, the students will have to travel in their given fashion to their teammates 20 ft. across the way, slap hands with their next teammate in line and sit down. This continues until all students have completed. The team sitting down first is the winner. Small prices may be given to the winning team.

Horry County School Science Achievement Standards Applied

•Standard 1:Understand and practice scientific inquiry.
- Describe, explain, and make
predictions based on observations. •Standard 2:Achieve conceptual understanding of scientific principles, laws, theories, and processes of
science.
- Discuss basic structures and functions
of the human body.
- Describe how certain adaptations
allow plants and animals to survive in
nature.

Links to other subjects 1.Math-counting number of body parts 2.Art-constructing ghost crabs 3.Physical Education-Crab walk relays

Appendix B

©Ecosystems-Featuring Ghost Crabs
4^th grade curriculum


Kellie M. Lewis and Mary Crowe


Coastal Carolina University


Crowe@coastal.edu


843 349 2236

Objectives •To understand an ecosystem •To understand the role of organisms in an ecosystem and their importance.

Materials •Kit from Waccamaw Math and Science Club titled Ghost Crab-4^thgrade including:
25 photo cards with organism name, fact, and role in the ecosystem.
Ball of yarn
Beach organism samples in ziploc bags: sand dollar, clam shell, beach grass, etc....

Procedure

1.Initiate a short discussion to see what the students know about ecosystems. 2.Inform students with information they need to know about ecosystems. Ecosystems interacting systems of
groups of species and their non-living physical environment. Ecosystems include plants, animals, physical
environments, and ecological processes. Explain why ecosystems are important. 3.Have a student pick out a wild organism and then have thestudents pick out a few other things that would
interact with that one thing and help make up an ecosystem. 4.Specify that the ghost crab is the organism onwhich the class will be focusing. 5.Show a short video on ghost crabs in their natural habitat. 6.Ask students to discuss what they saw in the video pertainingto the ghost crabs’s ecosystem. What
environment do they live in? What do you think they like to eat? What other thing help make up the
ecosystem around and pertaining them? 7.Give a short background on ghost crabs. They live in the sand on the back beach in burrow that they dig
themselves. These animals have 4 legs, 2 pinchers, 2 eyes, and little hairs covering their leg which allow them
to feel vibrations when they are under the sand. They like eat mole crabs and coquina clams. They scavenge
on dead animals such as birds and other crabs. These invertebrates do not swim and rarely need to go to the
water. They are very fast and can run about a meter in 1 second. They can travel forwards, backwards, and
sideways. 8.Start the ecosystem web activity:Have all the desk moved out of the way so that everyone can sit in a circle.
Pass out photo cards(1to every student). Pass out collected organisms to the students who have
corresponding photo cards. Tell the student that they are to hold the card in front of them withthepicture
facing the center of the circle. Explain the rules and how the activity works(The student holding the ghost crab
will start the activity by reading the back of his/her card. That person will be holding the ball of string. They
will ask who interacts with their organism. Students thinking they do will then raise their hand. The “ghost
crab” component will then (still holding on to their end of the string toss the ball to another student. The new
student will then read the back of their card and the activity continues.) Note: Tell the students it is important
to always hold on to their string. 9.At the end of the activity,ask the students observe the web in front of them. Let them know that this is how
an ecosystem works. Propose the idea that what if one of the organisms weren’t existent in the web, what
would happen to the ecosystem. 10.Tell the students that for some reason the ghost crab is being removed from the ecosystem(The ghost crab lets
go of their string). That would mean that anyone connected to the ghost crab would then have to let go of their
string and so on. Eventually, you want the students to see that the web is falling apart without the presence of
an organism. 11.Have the students pass around their organism.

Horry County School Science Achievement Standards Applied 1.Predictions of results based on observations and experiences. 2.Describe how animals behave and interact within groups 3.Describe relationships among organisms through the use of food chains and food webs.

Links to other subjects 1.Reading-having to read the other cards 2.Speech-having to speak in front of classmates

Appendix C
©How much sand does a ghost crab have to move to construct a
burrow?
Lesson plan for 7^thgrade

Kellie M. Lewis and Mary Crowe
Coastal Carolina University
Crowe@coastal.edu
843 349 2236
__________________________________________________________
____

Objectives •Students will learn about ghost crabs and the role that they play on the beach.
Students will see how living and nonliving components of the ecosystem interact •Students will determine whether the diameter of a ghost burrow is correlated
with the volume of sand removed to construct the burrow.

Materials Plaster-paris molds of various-sized ghost crab burrows

Prior preparation Obtain the plaster molds of various ghost crab burrows (either from the Waccamaw HUB or by going out on the beach and pouring holes on your own. The best place to find ghost crab burrows is Huntington Beach State Park).

Procedure 1. Ask students to tell you all that they know about ghost crabs.

2. After getting input from students, fill in background about ghost crab ecology and behavior (see videotape and article in kit). The videotape was shot Summer 1998 at Waites Island and shows unplugging behavior around burrow.

3. Pull out one burrow cast and ask students if they know what it is. Go over why ghost crabs have burrows (place to escape the hot sun, escape from predators, they mate inside of them)

4. Pass out burrow casts, one per pair of students. Have students estimate the volume of sand that was displaced in creating the burrow (see attached worksheet)

5. After students plot their data on the board, discuss whether burrow diameter is a good predicator of burrow volume. _________________________________________________________ Horry County School Science Achievement Standards Applied Area I. Living things
Strand 2 Interactions
A. investigate the relationships between living and nonliving
components in ecosystems and communities Area IV. Application
Stand 3-change
A. investigate and describe the types of limiting factors affecting the
maintenance of populations and communities

Links to other subjects 1. Math-
using suitable methods of approximation to find areas and volumes of
irregular figures
use measurements and formulas to solve real-world and mathematical
problems
connect measurements to other disciplines (science)

2. Physical education: crab walk relays 3. Reading/ English Language arts
have students each write a paragraph about a ghost crab. Have students
pass their paragraph onto the next person to add to the story. Do this 3
times and have students read stories out loud.

Procedure for determining the volume of sand removed in the construction of a ghost crab burrow

In front of you is a cast of a ghost crab burrow made out of plaster-paris. We want to figure out whether there is any relationship between the diameter of a ghost crab hole and the volume of sand moved to create the burrow. In order to answer the question, we must determine the volume of the burrow. How? Ghost crab holes are cylinder-like in form so we will use the following formula:

volume = surface area Xdepth
__________________________________________________________
____

How do we get the values for surface area and depth?

1. Getting depth is easy-it is the length of the burrow. Measure the length of the burrow starting from as close to the top as possible and finishing as close to the end as possible. Record your measurement in the place below (remember to record in cm)

DEPTH=________________________ cm

2. Getting the surface area will be a little trickier. Surface Area = Πr². (remember Π= 3.1417) and r is the radius. So we need to get the radius of the burrow. However, if you look closely at your burrow cast you will see that we can't get accurately measure the radius, but we can measure the circumference and we then can compute the radius from the circumference.

Because the circumference varies along the burrow depth, we will need to use an average. To do so, measure the circumference of the cast in 5 different places and divide by 5.

Measurement 1 2 3 4 5 Total Average circumference (=total/5)

Circumference (cm)

Now you must figure out the radius based on circumference. To do so, remember that
Circumference= 2 Πr

Circumference= 2 (3.1417) r

We need to get the equation so that r is all alone, so we must divide by 2 (3.1417)

r= circumference/2(3.1417)

So, plug in your average circumference into the equation below

r=____________/2(3.1417)

radius= __________________________

Now we can compute the surface area. Remember that

Surface Area = Πr²

Compute surface area of your burrow below:

Surface area= __________________________

Now just plug in the numbers into the formula below

Volume=surface area * depth

Volume=

Now to determine if the volume of sand displaced is related to burrow diameter do the following.

1. Measure the diameter of the ghost crab burrow as close to the top as possible. Record your measurement in the place below (remember to record in cm)

diameter=_______________

2. What was the volume?

Volume= _______________

3. Go to the board and plot your data point on the graph. Diameter is plotted on the x-axis and volume is plotted on the y-axis.

4. After every group puts their dot on the board we will discuss what the data looks like.

.