1st and 2nd Period
"What is a trophic level?"
"Why are there different trophic levels?"
Are all questions created the same? Do all questions require the same amount of brain power? That is what 1st and 2nd period have spent this week figuring out. We spent this week exploring the difference between convergent questioning and divergent questioning. Higher level thinking requires more than just memorizing the answers, it requires people to differentiate, critique, evaluate, create, etc. We looked at Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy of verbs and compared the different questions to the organization of those verbs.

All of this is important because during the 2nd 9 weeks, students will take what they have learned during the 1st nine weeks, create a divergent question of their own that relates to ecosystems and then study/research that question. The students will then report their findings.

All of the details for this project (due dates, scoring rubrics, etc.) will go home on Monday.
PS A copy of the Bloom's Taxonomy can be found in the Housekeeping Files on the main web page.

5th and 6th
There are many strategies to learn the concepts taught each day in science and other classes. We have used Quizlet regularly since the beginning of the year to help understand the words we use in science. But some students learn differently - not by words but by images. These 2 classes have started to develop their own "Visual Vocabulary" words written in such a way that the definition is hidden in the word. These classes have also begun to look for examples of the topics learned about in class. Ecosystems are everywhere!

PS Copies of some of the visual vocabulary will be available in the 7-4 Ecology Folder on Monday.

These are the handouts used during the ecology unit during the first quarter.

These are handouts to help keep parents/students/teachers informed. Most are given out at the beginning of the year. These documents were saved with Word 2007. I will include the same files in an older versions of Word soon.