In "Food Webs & Their Impact on Ecosystems", we introduced the ideas of food chains, food webs, and trophic levels, which we discussed through several examples and activities. One of these activities involved assigning each student a role in the food web and then using string to create a food web between the various students; this helped emphasize the interconnectivity of different parts of an ecosystem. To drive home the importance of food webs, we then talked about an example relating to the extreme decline of the wolf population in North America over the past few centuries and how that has impacted the ecosystem. By playing a game similar to “Heads-up 7-up”, the students were able to use their critical-thinking skills to understand how a declining wolf population would have impacts extending far beyond the single species, such as causing the population of deer to explode, which in turn would reduce the amount of vegetation available as habitat to other animals.
Going into the week, I was somewhat nervous about how effectively I would be able to teach this lesson, since my practice run-throughs did not go as smoothly as I expected. Estimating the timing of the lesson was also challenging, since it was difficult to predict how long certain activities would take for the students. However, while I was initially worried about running out of time, I actually almost ended up facing the opposite problem of not having enough to talk about, and in some cases near the end I had to do some quick thinking to recall additional discussion topics. Overall, I learned that a lot of preparation has to go into teaching even a single lesson, especially with anticipating unexpected circumstances. For example, it turned out that many students had the misconception that wolves frequently ate humans, and trying to modify their perspective was an interesting experience. Nevertheless, all of the preparation certainly paid off, as teaching this lesson was a very rewarding experience, and ultimately I felt that I was able to communicate the concepts effectively. For example, I was very gratified to see that many students were able to use their critical thinking skills to predict how the removal of wolves might affect other organisms in the food web.
First of all, I was extremely impressed by the hospitality and kindness of almost everyone we interacted with, including my host family. Although Castle Rock is a rural community that differs significantly from the suburban environment where I grew up, everyone was very kind and welcoming, and I greatly enjoyed interacting with different members of the community. In particular, I enjoyed having the opportunity to feed our host family’s horses and cows, which gave me an appreciation of a rural lifestyle. In addition, spending some time in some of the town’s coffee shops and antique stores was a fun way to get more immersed into the community. One thing I learned about the community was how popular hunting and fishing were among the students; this gave me another useful perspective on various environmental issues and how to best present them to students who have had different experiences growing up than what I was used to.
-Joshua Fan
Going into the week, I was somewhat nervous about how effectively I would be able to teach this lesson, since my practice run-throughs did not go as smoothly as I expected. Estimating the timing of the lesson was also challenging, since it was difficult to predict how long certain activities would take for the students. However, while I was initially worried about running out of time, I actually almost ended up facing the opposite problem of not having enough to talk about, and in some cases near the end I had to do some quick thinking to recall additional discussion topics. Overall, I learned that a lot of preparation has to go into teaching even a single lesson, especially with anticipating unexpected circumstances. For example, it turned out that many students had the misconception that wolves frequently ate humans, and trying to modify their perspective was an interesting experience. Nevertheless, all of the preparation certainly paid off, as teaching this lesson was a very rewarding experience, and ultimately I felt that I was able to communicate the concepts effectively. For example, I was very gratified to see that many students were able to use their critical thinking skills to predict how the removal of wolves might affect other organisms in the food web.
First of all, I was extremely impressed by the hospitality and kindness of almost everyone we interacted with, including my host family. Although Castle Rock is a rural community that differs significantly from the suburban environment where I grew up, everyone was very kind and welcoming, and I greatly enjoyed interacting with different members of the community. In particular, I enjoyed having the opportunity to feed our host family’s horses and cows, which gave me an appreciation of a rural lifestyle. In addition, spending some time in some of the town’s coffee shops and antique stores was a fun way to get more immersed into the community. One thing I learned about the community was how popular hunting and fishing were among the students; this gave me another useful perspective on various environmental issues and how to best present them to students who have had different experiences growing up than what I was used to.
-Joshua Fan