Digital Pond
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The goal of this project is to develop and emphasize the importance of ecology. One of the central themes in science is the interdependence of organisms. In this project students strengthen their understanding that organisms live within ecological communities and interact between each other, as well as with their environmental surroundings. Students will be creating a Digital Pond Field Guide.  In addition, all organisms compete for limited resources, and the survival of a species depends upon how successfully the organisms acquire nutrients, water and gases. An ecological balance must exist for the community to thrive.  Students will be exploring these concepts through classroom labs, experiments and field trips to a pond site.  Students will then research and create a Multimedia presentation using PowerPoint on a selected pond organism.

Videos about the wonders of life found in a pond.  World of Protozoa (29.40) and Life in a Drop of Pond Water (23.33)

Student Handout w/ questions to answer and Powerpoint Slide directions (Brianne McConnell - Franklin Middle School)
Objectives for the students for content, technology, and process skills:
  1. To categorize environmental factors as either biotic or abiotic,
2. To determine which of these factors cause the dissolved oxygen content in an aquatic ecosystem to increase or decrease,
3. To practice classifying organisms into their correct biological kingdoms, families, genus, and species,
4. To improve their skills in designing, conducting and analyzing experimental investigations,
5. To learn simple techniques (cropping, contrasting, resizing, and brightness) that can be used to enhance digital photographs,
6. To develop skills in using search engines and the Internet as a resource tool, and
7. To gain experience in using a digital camera and transferring files onto computers 
8.  Create a multimedia presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint. 

Save your presentation as digpondpres.ppt in your folder on the H drive. 

Click here to view a sample presentation.
The PowerPoint presentation must address the the following topics for the students organism:
  Common Name, Scientific Name, Description, Method of Movement, Method of Reproduction, Habitat, Food Sources, Role in the Food Web, Life Cycle Diagram, Other Interesting Information, Special Adaptations, Impact on Humans, Sources Cited.