Help me give my students a Carolina Touch Tank, Fantail Goldfish, Mosquito Fish, and other aquatic items to support our hands on learning with ecosytems.
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Project
My students attend school in a large urban district in Ohio, where 100% of the student body receives free breakfast and lunch. Many of our students walk to school through neighborhoods characterized by boarded-up abandoned buildings and overgrown empty lots. Despite this, my students manage to come to school daily with a passion for education and especially love rising to the task of project-based, inquiry learning.
These materials will make a difference in my students' learning because they especially enjoy learning opportunities that allow them to have hands-on experiences and different learning modalities.
Having resources for constructing and investigating an actual ecosystem will make a huge difference in my students' learning.
My students will get to extend learning beyond the textbook by participating in a STEM activity in which we construct a pop bottle ecosystem complete with live mosquito fish, snails, pillbugs, and aquatic producers. We would first start out by using our available technology to research each of the main organisms that we will handle.
Next, students will contribute by donating/recycling empty 2-liter pop bottles. Students will build the terrarium by utilizing one of the bottles. Inside the terrarium, students will grow grass, mustard, and radish seeds. They will use daily journals to record observations and measurements, as insects and abiotic materials are slowly introduced to the environment. They will use the other pop bottle to make the aquarium portion of the ecosystem. Aquatic plants and organisms will be added and observed as well. Finally, the students will connect the land and water containers to make a complete ecosystem.
We will use the touch tank organisms and goldfish to make predictions, test theories, and further extend our knowledge. This project will significantly help my students understand how all organisms (big or small) are connected within an ecosystem.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Saxon and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.