GK-12: The Syracuse University / Onondaga County Schools Partnership for Improvement of Science Education

Authors: Karl Baum and Mike Singer

Goal: Improve high school science curriculum through engaging, intriguing, hands on experiences.

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Elephant Conservation Genetics Unit:

     Pedigree Study:

Brief Description: This activity focuses on teaching the students Punnett Squares and Pedigree Charts.  The students learn about inheritance and how to use Punnet Squares and Pedigree Charts to predict Genotypes.  The lab concludes with the student creating a Pedigree Chart for the Asian elephants in the Rosamond Gifford Zoo.  During the lab the students also learn about breeding elephants in captivity, reasons to do so, and the Species Survival Plan.

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    Tusker Lab:

Brief Description: In the Tusker Lab the students play a sort of game and simulate the genepool of a population of elephants.  The students learn about natural and artificial selection by watching how poachers, predators, and disease affect thier elephant genepool.  The students learn about the impact poaching has on the elephant population, and in doing so see how they can impact a wildlife population.  There is both a paper version of this lab, and a computer based version.  The computer version allows the activity to be played much faster, and in an environment in which it is not practical to use the cards.  Additional advantages of this version of the lab include, optional automatic graphing, automatic or manual decision making, and optional forced rule following.

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     Project Presentation and Conclusion using Microsoft PowerPoint:

Brief Description: In this activity the students create a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation in which they discuss what they learned in the Pedigree Study and The Tusker Lab, and come up with some conclusions of their own.  This activity also provides the students with an introduction to PowerPoint.  NOTE: This activity was written for Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, and so it might require slight modifications for other versions.

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Populations Unit:

     Exponential Population Growth Activity:

Brief Description: This activity looks at population growth curves and answers the question: Why doesn't the human population have an actual growth curve? The students learn about growth curves, and then create a sample growth curve for the human population. When creating the growth curve the math can get a bit heavy, so we have created the Exponential Growth Calculator which can optionally be used to handle the math.

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     Carrying Capacity - Fruit Fly Lab:

Brief Description: During this lab the students study populations, and limiting factors. They do this by using an application that simulates the fruit fly population. The affects of factors such as food, water, oxygen, space, and reproduction rates can be seen on the population. In addition to this lab the simulator can be used to teach other topics such as the advantages of metamorphosis.

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     Quantifying Energy Intake:

Brief Description: During this lab the students look at their calorie intake. They then calculate the amount of land necessary to produce their food. After doing this they answer questions like: What if the entire human population ate like I do? Would there be enough food? This lab addresses some of the impacts the human population has on the environment, in particuliar those dealing with the destruction of the natural habitat.

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Review Tools:

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     Question Quizzer:

Brief Description: This application is designed to allow a teacher to easily review material. The material is presented in the same fashion (multiple choices) that it is on many exams, including parts of the regents. This application allows questions to be easily presented to the class, so that no class time is wasted repeating the question verbally till everyone understands or copying the question on the board. It also allows graphics to be included with the questions. This application was specifically designed to be used at the end of each class to present a couple regents like questions covering the material that was taught during the period. The questions used for this program are compatible with all the other review tools.

     Question Tic-Tac-Toe:

Brief Description: This application is designed to aid with in classroom review. The class divides up into two groups andplays the game of tic-tac-toe, earning the right to place their X or O by answering a question correctly. This application includes a question editor so that teachers can insert questions relevant to the material being reviewed. The questions used for this program are compatible with all the other review tools.

     Trivia Racer:

Brief Description: This application is designed to aid with in classroom review. The class divides up into two groups and plays a racing game. For each question a team answers correctly their car moves a little. This application includes a question editor so that teachers can insert questions relevant to the material being reviewed. The questions used for this program are compatible with all the other review tools.

     Question Organizer:

Brief Description: This application is designed to allow teachers to manage the questions they have created. This includes organizing them, editing them, and the creation of new question files using questions from any of your other question files. The questions used for this program are compatible with all the other review tools.

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