| Description | For 8000 years, 250 million acres of the midwest were covered with prairie. Eighty percent of Iowa was covered with tall grasses. Very few acres of this unique ecosystem remain. Two years ago, the 6th grade science classes began a project to turn some of the school grounds back into native prairie. This past spring was the first time that enough grasses and forbs grew to make studying the prairie beneficial. Besides the usual maintenance activities (digging out unwanted plants), we used our time in the prairie to learn how to identify the grasses and forbs that were growing and identify animal populations.Bugscope would be a wonderful addition to our lessons. Besides learning to use the state-of-the-art technology involved, students could observe the insects and spiders that inhabit our prairie. By doing this, students observe the characteristics of these animals that make them suited to the prairie ecosystem. Outdoor education captures the imagination and interest of students. Many students prefer to learn by doing hands-on activities. Bugscope will allow these students the opportunity to participate in an activity that begins with something they are interested in but is expanded upon by the use of the microscope and computers. What a wonderful way to learn about the capabilities of technology . Bugscope would fit into our curriculum by helping the students achieve the following benchmarks: 1. Knows that all organisms must be able to obtain and use resources, grow, reproduce and maintain a relatively stable internal environment while living in a constantly changing external environment. 2. Knows that living t hings of the same kind vary among individuals and sometimes the differences give individuals an important advantage in survival. 3. Knows that scientists develop explanations using observations and what they already know about the work; good explanations are based on evidence from investigations. 4. Use telecomputing hardware and software to communicate with a distant computer or an on-line service. Our participation in this project is not necessarily limited to the fall semester. We could also work on this in the spring. Thank you for your consideration of my proposal. Another newspaper besides the local one listed below would be the Sioux City Journal,515 Pavonia, Sioux City, IA 51101, 712- |
