# Environmental Science Class



## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

So as an educator, I often am trying to come up with various ways of getting my kids 'doing' rather than listening to or looking at and writing down only.
It's a science class after all, and that's what science is all about.

So the other day, I was looking through the interweb, trying to concoct some sort of new project for my students.

I have tried to get small aquatic projects started before, but as students do not know much about the applications of the nitrogen cycle, often many an aquatic environment is unable to get to a steady state that allows some actual quantifiable science to come from it. [some may have heard of the ecosystem in a bottle project (aka death in a bottle) where students add the basic components of an aquatic ecosystem (some using goldfish!), from scratch and hope that it will somehow miraculously come to a steady state]

I am leaning toward new ideas! 
Idea 1 - small planted 2 or 3 gal tanks growing killiefish from egg to adult 
(gonna need help here - suggestions for spp of fast growing killies, food type, water change sched, etc)
Idea 2 - the link that was posted recently regarding the planted bowls aquatic style with cherry shrimp looked interesting and could lead to studies of reproduction rates and effects of pollutants.

So I am looking for your thoughts and suggestions. what species of killie, where would I get them? what plants, and exactly what would I ask the grade 11s to quantify in their study? I can really push these kids - I have fairly high expectations of them.

Your input and ideas are most welcomed.


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## WateraDrop (Nov 16, 2008)

hello! i'm a biology/enviro.sci double major at u of t . i recall doing the death-in-a-bottle project back in gr 10. strangely enough, i don't recall anyone who had actual death-in-a-bottle for that project.

perhaps you could do something on eutrophication, so as to have 1. a Canadian link (great lakes and what happened to lake erie) and 2. relevance to current events in discussing the effects of anthropogenic pollutants on bodies of water.

this might not be all that exciting because the general timeline will be water, algal explosion and super cloudiness, followed finally by ultra clear water.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

Two words. Zebra Danio  

Will not break.

Get a tank with a school of them, plant the bottom very heavily with really thick moss or something, and you'll get babies.


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

@ water drop. I have seen these things set up in 2 liter pop bottles with goldfish in them.....ugh... makes me cringe at how wrong it can be done...
interesting ideas for the other studies though... may look into those.. thanks!

@ aquariAM interesting idea.. may look into the danio idea. think they would not need filter? Thats the idea. Remember a class of thirty in groups still means about 5 or 6 tanks. I dont know that I have that many resources.

Also original post updated. [I had to go to class!]


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

ksimdjembe said:


> @ water drop. I have seen these things set up in 2 liter pop bottles with goldfish in them.....ugh... makes me cringe at how wrong it can be done...
> interesting ideas for the other studies though... may look into those.. thanks!
> 
> @ aquariAM interesting idea.. may look into the danio idea. think they would not need filter? Thats the idea. Remember a class of thirty in groups still means about 5 or 6 tanks. I dont know that I have that many resources.
> ...


Oh.

In that case no. I don't really condone the giving of live animals to teenage 'people' to care for. Don't trust em.


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

any killie keepers out there have any ideas for me?


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## officerben (Dec 21, 2006)

I like the killiefish idea. Talk to Frank about them and maybe get some eggs to hatch out, or start with some pairs which will breed and you can get your own eggs. Also let Frank know that this is for a school project.


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

frank, like frank's aquarium?


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## officerben (Dec 21, 2006)

Sorry about that 
Yes Frank's Aquarium


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

I like the killie idea, if you can find an easy species to raise.

In Japan, many school children in grades 2 - 4 will raise medaka (Oryzias latipes - Japanese killiefish) as part of science class. They're easy to raise, the eggs are large and easy to study, and the young are easy to rear. And it's also native to Japan.

Not sure what species could be used in it's place, but if little kids can handle observing them, I'm sure some semi-responsible grade 11s could handle more of the same.


edit: According to the great wiki, apparently they were the first vertebrate species to mate in space and rear young (but probably not the first vertebrate species to mate in space...). Since they're used as model organisms in science, you may be able to procure them from a scientific supply house or even get a few from a research lab somewhere.


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## WateraDrop (Nov 16, 2008)

AquariAM said:


> Oh.
> 
> In that case no. I don't really condone the giving of live animals to teenage 'people' to care for. Don't trust em.


D:< i resent that! i got into the hobby when i was 12!..which was preteen i guess? i'm 19 now! lol


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

And raising discus to boot! Good on ya!

What do you think about housing situation... 2 to 3 gal tank per group, reg water changes, feeding, I could even encourage worm cultures and flightless fruitfly culturing... what plants you figure?


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## shrtmann (Feb 15, 2009)

in that small of a tank...moss would work nicely


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

thats what I was thinking, java moss. that and java fern.


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

I've got some Nothobranchius foerschi, an annual killifish. Hatched on December 30, they're now about an inch long, the largest males have intense fluorescent colors, and they are starting to lay eggs! I raised them in a gallon jar, but I have 8 of them in a 2 gallon tank now. I bought the eggs on aquabid for $10. I used java moss in the jar and ramshorn snails to eat any excess food -- it's hard not to overfeed fry when they are small. No filtration, but I'd change half the water weekly or more often as they got bigger.

I don't know how you'd work this into a lesson on environmental issues, but annualism is an interesting adaptation to climate conditions.

Medakas have large eggs that develop reasonably fast, IIRC. Most non-annual killies hatch in about two weeks. If you can get a fairly prolific species you could do something with the effect of pollutants or other conditions on development of the embryos. Zebra fish might be a good source of eggs for this sort of project.

Can you get gallon glass jars from the school cafeteria? It would save you a lot of money to use them instead of tanks.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

WateraDrop said:


> D:< i resent that! i got into the hobby when i was 12!..which was preteen i guess? i'm 19 now! lol


I'm sure you're an excellent fishkeeper! 

You have to admit though most young kids are horrible with this stuff.


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

1. For a nano life-in-bottle experiment, I would suggest you forget about fish, and use inverts. I can give you over 500+ malaysian trumpet snails, if you want to come collect them. Combined with cycled aquarium water, and a magnifying glass, you have some chance of observing a longer life before the inevitable death sets in. Other suitable invert life include brine shrimp, ghost shrimp, or any small shrimp. If you must go with fish, perhaps a cold-water tolerant cast-iron species like white cloud minnows. I think even a pair of danios are too big for a 1 gallon bottle. Killies are remarkably adapted to small bits of water in nature, and you can start them from eggs. 

2. Use a microscope to examine pond water, and aquarium water. Get students to identify the microscopic life. You'd be amazed how Fast and how intricate some of the little pond critters are. 

3. Using a filter sponge from your home aquarium that is fully cycled, cut it up into cubes. Get your students to add a small weighed amount of fish food, to cycled aquarium water that is in the bottle without any fish. Get them to observe the nitrogen cycle by using test kits to plot Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate.


4. Tell them the reason they aren't using fish is because it's inhumane to put a fish in a bottle. The MTS snails have such small bioloads and are so hardy, that you will find they are unkillable. And they're around and out there free. Having what some people consider a nuisance (MTS in my tank! kill them with copper! snail be gone!) be worthy of your time, and interest, as a junior scientist, can be a moment of enlightenment for your students.


5. With 20x and 40x magnification, even a boring bucket of slop from an aquarium is alive with interest. You can learn a lot from examining the surfaces of plants at high magnification, and at 20x or 40x you can see a lot of cool stuff. Nuisance plants (ha!?) like duckweed and frogbit are fascinating members of their respective scientific genus. Get your students to look beyond the surface and the everyday world, into a world that most of us pretend does not exist.

I always wondered if the plot of the Matrix would have had to be massively different if there was even one scientist, even one guy with a microscope and a sense of whimsy, around inside the matrix. Did you ever notice how unaware of the real world we are, even while living in it?


W


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## officerben (Dec 21, 2006)

I also like the Brine Shrimp or ghost shrimp idea. I am currently doing both for myself right now.
In the past I've always hatched out Brine Shrimp and fed them to my fry, this time I am trying to grow them out.
Ghost Shrimp I always bought for feeders, I got about a dozen right now hoping to breed them...


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## overthetop2009 (Jan 18, 2010)

*Idea for science class*

I'm from an Environmental Science, land, water etc management background.

What I can never get out of my mind when choosing fish for my community aquarium is the effect of temperature and water hardness on the ability of fish to live, and support their lifecycle. Why can't you mix this species with that one. etc.

If you raise or lower the temperature and the teenagers see the fish respond by breeding (not to the point of living or dying of course) they will understand the importance of a 1-2 degree temperature change to the lifecycle of various species.

Now one guess what the context is behind this?.... I am from an applied science background after all.

Climate change and global warming of course! What would happen if the amazon basin had an average annual two degree temperature increase? how would that effect species composition? What species would survive and which ones would not? What would the effect of a loss of a crucial species have on larger fish/animals?

I wrote a paper when I was an undergrad on the effect of a 1-2 degree temperature change on the range of a species of tree (forget which one now but Douglas fir comes to mind) with germination requirements that were very sensitive to temperature change back in 94. You could literally show the change over time of the species' distribution on a map! What effect will that have on industry? Very cool and something that i use when arguing with Global Warming impact minimalizers and deniers! It has stuck with me ever since...


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