ENS and ESY Classes

In the next weeks the classes will be learning about nature journaling to aid their skills of observation and reflection. Here is an example from a biology nature journal.

ESY 12 at the Pond

The ESY 12 students have completed the data collection parts of their individual labs. The topics of investigation include: measuring primary productivity of the pond, investigating the trophlytic and trophogenic zones of the ecosystem, and estimating the population of a consumer population using removal sampling methods.

ESY Field Trip Turtle Tale

Our ESY 12 field trip to Halfway River, was a great outdoor experience. I never thought that 'running' around and searching for animals could be so much fun! Especially when you find a baby snapping turtle. It was amazing how small the turtle was and yet it was out on its own defending for itself; I never knew turtles had such long tails! He did become tense as we continued to handle him, but this was probably due to the fact that he had never seen a human before and thought we were going to eat him. - a student

ESY Trip Field Work

I felt the fieldtrip to the pond gave the class a “hands-on” experience to real nature. We’ve been learning a huge amount of information on ponds, rivers, biotic and the abiotic factors for these ecosystems. However, being able to experience all of this at a real stream and getting to test real factors is very different. The scenery around the pond was beautiful and very fresh with the colours of autumn. The trip made me feel like I was a professional investigator working on a serious case. The “hands-on” work made me realize how interested I am in this field of work. - a student.

ESY Eco-Jeopardy

Today the ESY classes played a Jeopardy style game as part of a review for Thursday's test.

Scores
0 SR, HM, MM, WR, LD 1
0 KF, RG, JC, MS 3
1700 CF, RL, AS, LN 2

Scores
2050 JC, JM, CN, MT, MR, OM
800 RP, WE, RZ, JF, KM
0 GL, SC, JF, SW, KM

ESY Field Trip and the Spider

This water spider was one of my favourite finds during our trip to the Halfway River. I chose this picture to write about because when I had first found this spider it was on a little island surrounded by water. This amazed me because it looked liked a normal spider, and we all know that spiders hate water, but soon I realized that some of its legs were resting on the water while the others were holding onto the rock.

I was also surprised at how fast the spider could move on top of the water. The legs of a water spider create so much surface tension that they barely touch the water. But because the spider weighs something, its legs make an “indent” in the water where their legs contact the water. To move, the spider puts force on the indents of water under their legs. The indent creates a drag or resistance on the water, which allows the spider to push away from the water and push it behind. This allows the spider to move forwards very fast.

If you look at the picture of the spider on top of the water, then you can see the indents underneath each one of its eight legs, and you can also see that its body is resting on the water because of the “shadow” figure underneath it. (Click on picture for larger image.)

I thought a spider like this might be darker so it would be able blend in more easily with the water’s bottom. But instead it blends in with leaves and sticks which may indicate that it spends most of its time on the land and only goes to the water for food, or to escape from land predators. - a student

ESY Field Trip Highlight

I really enjoyed the entire trip. After sitting in class, and learning how to test these different factors, it was a treat to actually go out and test them ourselves. My favourite jobs were measuring the cross-section of the river and collecting the biotic factors in the kick-net. This involved getting right in the river, overturning rocks in the freezing cold water and walking across the length of the stream with water in your boots.

There was a large water spider in the stream, which could skitter across the surface quite quickly. It gave me quite a fright when it swam directly towards me. When it hovered on the water, it held its legs out in perfect symmetry, and when the ripples around it became still, it looked like a “snowflake” on the water.

The stream and surrounding area was beautiful this time of year, with all the leaves changing colours and falling softly to the ground. What an awesome trip to remember!! - a student

ESY 12 at the Halfway River

The ESY 12 class spent the day on the Halfway River investigating the environmental gradient and possible human impacts upon the ecosystem.

Look at the newer posts to see the posts written and the pictures taken by the students in the boots above about their most memorable moments in the river that day.

ESY and ENS at the Ponds

The ESY and ENS classes have been visiting the local aquatic ecosystems to sample the biotic and the physical factors as part of their field work