Exploring Our Fluid Earth

During hypothesis testing, remind students that they need to collect temperature data over time series. Provide a maximum time limit.

The timespan does not have to be 10 minutes in part B. However, it should be shorter than the maximum time allowed during Hypothesis Testing (part A).

See in section Simulating Reptile Behavior (both Part I and Part II).
The optimal operating temperature doesn't have to be 25°C. You can change it based on your local ambient temperatures.

Examples of limitations of the student's experimental design:
- Advective cooling from wind on some treatments but not others
- No replicated design

For example, communication, predator avoidance, prey capture, etc.

Can start with these two Wikipedia entries:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthyopterygia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauropterygia

It helps me to write out the conversion from g/mL to g/L for each cup and then calculate how many grams from cup #1 go into cup #2 (and so on) for the 10ml that gets passed down from cup to cup.

Here is how I calculate it, and what my final table looks like for kool-aid drink mix packs that are 3.6 grams each.

Initiate this activity by emphasizing that a small colonial tunicate is the most closely related invertebrate to humans. It looks like a small blob, but it is closer related to humans than a crab, which has appendages and eyes and mouthparts. Be sure to have a discussion of synapomorphies… what important evolutionary adaptations that are shared between different groups of organisms.

Add information about the evolution and variation of traits and how that relates to color, shell pattern, and shape.

Provide students with information, such as: where was it found/collected, what is its natural habitat? Or have the students investigate this basic info ahead of time as homework. Try to ID to species level if possible + its sex and life stage/age.

ENGAGE - burst balloon & toilet paper trail into classroom from hallway (students will follow and ask). Or food smells (microwaved cookie dough or bacon) or trail of candy or coins. Students were unknowing participants in animal behavior experiment. Ethology - study of an organism's behaviors in an ecosystem . Can learn much about an organism by observing behavior in a natural or lab setting. Lab will involve looking at insect behavior

Squids are commonly available at fishing bait shops. Larger specimens are easier to dissect.

A study of the connectedness of scientific discovery
http://plpnemweb.ucdavis.edu/nemaplex/FerrisPublications/pdf%20files/16…

Try to avoid using terms like “primitive” or “advanced” when discussing evolutionary relationships as they raise the misconceptions that (1) some taxa are somehow superior to others, and (2) evolution has ceased in some taxa. Sponges continue to evolve and generate new species today (as do mammals and bacteria).

No, sponge species are not necessarily older than mollusc species simply because their phylum is more basal. The phylum Porifera evolved from a common ancestor (likely choanoflagellates) earlier in evolutionary time than other groups. However, evolution by natural selection continues to occur across taxa. A new sponge species might have evolved (speciated) more recently than some given mollusc species.

Both animals and fungi are eukaryotes. The molecular phylogeny presented in Fig. 3.6 shows a shared common ancestry between animals and fungi. The phyla Porifera and Cnidaria are both within the kingdom Animalia (animals). However, cnidarians are diploblasts with 2 true germ layers. Sponges do not have specialized germ layers and are not considered diploblasts (or triploblasts). Cnidarians and annelids are both animals. Cnidarians are diploblasts (2 germ layers) and annelids are triploblasts (3 germ layers). Crustaceans are a subgrouping within the phylum Arthropoda.

Provide live or preserved echinoderm specimens to aid students in completing activity; photos and online streaming videos may be useful too.

Check out Niko Tinbergen’s “Four Questions”.

The NGSS standards talk about group behavior vs. individual. This is hard to observe with most lab inverts. We suggest trying Artemia brine shrimp/sea monkeys, Planarian flatworms, or Hermit crabs.

Obtain an animal of another species that is found in the same natural environment as the first study organism. For example, do not place a terrestrial earthworm into a seawater aquarium with a live crab.