Life Sciences Commons^™

Counting Blue Crabs In The Bay! Subjects: Life Science / Biology, Environmental Science, Marine / Ocean Science Grade Level: 6-8, Bruce W. Pfirrmann

Reports

This lesson plan invites students and teachers to ponder the question: How many blue crabs are in the Chesapeake Bay, and where do we find them? Through hands-on activities and the use of real data, students will discover the excitement and grapple with the challenges faced by marine scientists as they try to quantify the use of different habitats by marine animals and estimate the size of marine animal populations.

Microscopic Hitchhiking: Taking A Trip With Microbes And Plankton. Subjects: Life Science / Biology, Environmental Science, Marine / Ocean Science Grades: 6-8, Lucia Safi

Reports

This lesson plan develops concepts on food webs and ecological relationships, giving special attention to microorganisms and Chesapeake Bay species and dynamics. Students will conduct investigations, generate their own data and find out more about species they constantly see!

Marine Parasites And Fish: How To Sample And Analyze. Subjects: Life Science / Biology, Environmental Science, Marine / Ocean Science Grades: 6-8, Zoemma Warshafsky

Reports

This lesson plan provides a hands-on way for students to investigate the impacts of an invasive parasitic nematode which has been targeting the American eel. Students will first “infect” pipe cleaner eels with parasitic nematodes (beads), which will then be used to simulate real-life research efforts through collecting multiple random samples of “eels” and counting the amount of parasites. They will then use this data to calculate prevalence, mean intensity, and mean abundance.

Can’T Catch My Breath! A Study Of Metabolism In Fish. Subjects: Environmental Science, Marine/Ocean Science, Life Science/Biology Grades: 6-8, Gail Schweiterman

Reports

This lesson plan invites high school students to ask questions and formulate hypothesis regarding the drivers behind observed differences in metabolism in different fishes. Students will practice calculating metabolic rate, making biologically relevant inferences about the lifestyles of different fishes based on their findings, and formulate questions that would guide future studies.

Earthquakes, Glaciers, And Sediments, Oh My! Subjects: Earth Science, Environmental Science, Life Science/Biology Grades: 9-12, Elisabeth Clyne

Reports

This lesson plan is developed for 9th grade earth science classrooms, but can be scaled up or down. Students will explore how marine sediments serve as a history book for geologic activity. They will collect mock cores and developing conclusions about earth history.

The Mystery Of Ocean Acidification, Patricia Thibodeau

Reports

Grades: 9-12 Subjects: Biology | Life Science | Environmental Science | Chemistry

This lesson plan invites middle-school students to solve a mystery: what is ocean acidification and how is it affecting marine life in the Antarctic? To solve the mystery, students will participate in an ocean acidification scavenger hunt, and propose hypotheses and arrive at their own conclusions with interpretation of real-time data from the Antarctic.

Sea Turtle Csi: A Graphing Activity, Subjects: Life Science / Biology Environmental Science Marine / Ocean Science, Bianca Santos

Reports

This lesson plan invites seventh grade students to take on the role of detective to determine the time of death of the stranded turtle that washed up on shore. Students will make observations and use evidence-based reasoning to turn qualitative data into quantitative data

Seagrass Survivor. Subjects: Life Science / Biology, Environmental Science, Marine / Ocean Science Grades: 6-8, Amanda Bromilow

Reports

This role-play and decision-making game allows students to simulate predator-prey interactions between fish and blue crabs in a seagrass bed. Students will then make inferences about the influence of habitat and body size on juvenile blue crab survival.

Plastic As A Habitat For Bacteria And Human Pathogens. Subjects: Life Science / Biology Grades: 6-8, Amanda Laverty

Reports

This lesson plan invites 7th grade life science students to investigate marine plastic pollution as a habitat for bacteria and human pathogens. Students will examine the hazards of marine plastic pollution and learn about current science. They will have the opportunity to use data to create graphs and discuss patterns.

Stakeholders Of The Chesapeake: Curse Of The Eastern Oyster. Subjects: Life Science / Biology, Environmental Science, Marine/Ocean Science Grades: 6-8, Taylor Goelz

Reports

How do we decide how to manage oysters and who has a stake in that management decision? Students are placed in the role of a stakeholder group who cares about what happens to the Eastern oyster and asked to rank management priorities from the perspective of their group and others. Through viewing oyster management through a single perspective, students can begin to understand that balancing stakeholder’s views in setting policy and management is challenging.

Understanding Changes In Seagrass Communities: Impacts From Local Environmental Factors, Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve In Virginia

Reports

Grade Level: 7-12

Subjects: Life Science, Biology, and Environmental Science

Students will work in groups to determine what happened to seagrass communities during June and August in 2010 and 2011. Students will estimate percent cover visually at four locations along a mock transect and analyze trends in the data collected. Students will use water quality data to help understand the trends in seagrass cover.

The Home Environment And Parenting Practices: Associations With Physical Activity And Sedentary Time In Preschool-Age Children, Emily C. Huber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Preschool-age children have the potential to be influenced by their physical home environment and their parents’ physical activity (PA) practices more than older children as preschool-age children are more reliant on parents for PA opportunities. Previous research with this focus has relied predominantly on various subjective assessments of child activity, often resulting in overestimation of PA and underestimation of sedentary time (ST). Collectively, this dissertation project explored the associations among home environment factors, parent PA practices, parent satisfaction of children’s body size and children’s PA and ST by utilizing objective measures of activity and the full range of PA intensities …

Keeping Up With Sea-Level Rise: Salt Marsh Accretion. Subjects: Earth Science, Marine / Ocean Science Grades: 9-12, Bethany L. Williams

Reports

This lesson uses a hands-on demonstration to give students an understanding of how this critical ecosystem can keep pace with sea-level rise. Students will have the opportunity to make and test hypotheses about how different animals can affect salt marsh resilience, after learning about simple ecological interactions.

Maine Aquaculture Economic Impact Report, University Of Maine Aquaculture Research Institute, Avery Cole, Anne Langston, Chris Davis

General University of Maine Publications

Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms (such as finfish, shellfish or plants) in water (freshwater or marine). Aquaculture produces food fish, sport fish, bait fish, ornamental fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae, sea vegetables, research animals, and fish eggs. Aquaculture also includes the production of ornamental fish for the aquarium trade, and growing plant species used in a range of food, pharmaceutical, nutritional, and biotechnology products. Stock restoration or “enhancement” is a form of aquaculture in which hatchery fish and shellfish are released into the wild to rebuild wild populations or coastal habitats such as oyster reefs. Business entities practicing stock …

Digesting Data - Subjects: Life Science / Biology Grade Level: 6-8, Amanda Bromilow

Reports

This lesson plan encourages students to become scientific investigators to determine which fish species are important predators of juvenile blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay. Students will have the opportunity to practice using triple-beam balances and draw conclusions based on their data.

Analysis Of The Difference In Landing Between Male And Female High School Soccer Athletes, Jessica Vogt

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

Introduction: Females are consistently found to be at a higher risk of tearing their ACL. Extensive research has been completed previously to determine what causes an ACL tear and why this separation exists but a confirmed conclusion has not been found. Potential extrinsic factors such as decreased knee flexion and increased valgus have commonly been suggested as increased stressors on the ACL. The focus of this study is to determine if there is a significant difference in these two factors between males and females.

Methods: Seven healthy and highly trained subjects between the ages of 17 and 18 who do …

Measuring Bacterial Growth Using A 3d-Printable Spectrometer, Samuel R. Bunting

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Visible light spectroscopy is a commonly used technique for measuring the growth of bacterial cultures, and growth curves provide broadly important data. However, the equipment and resources required for these experiments has been restricted to higher education and industry due to high cost and sophistication. We have previously reported on an inexpensive, 3D-printable photospectrometer called the SpecPhone. This device utilizes an iPhone as the camera, along with several other, inexpensive additions to make a fully functional spectrometer. Here, the application of the SpecPhone is expanded to the quantification of actively dividing E. coli cultures. Two protocols have been developed; one …

Knowledge Of Forest Ecosystem Among Forest Guards In Southern Nigeria, Norris I. Erhabor

Journal of Bioresource Management

Undertaken study assessed the level of ecological knowledge among forest guards in southern Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was used for study. A structured questionnaire was administered to 60 respondents that are employed by forest guards system. Central question the study attempts to answer is the level of knowledge of the ecosystem among forest guards. Analysis of data revealed that forest guards have inadequate knowledge of ecosystem. Calculated mean score of respondents was 14.25. This mean score is lower than theoretical mean of 16 (80%). A binomial test revealed that fairly high number of respondents had inadequate knowledge of …

Verbal Behaviors During Employment Interviews Of College Students With And Without Asd, Dennis James Bublitz, Katherine Fitzgerald, Maria Alarcon, Joanne D'Onofrio, Kristen Gillespie-Lynch

Publications and Research

BACKGROUND: Even well-educated people with ASD struggle with obtaining employment, partially due to social difficulties during interviews. Although increasing numbers of individuals with ASD are entering college, little research focuses on this population. Particularly little is known about how to help college students with ASD obtain jobs.

OBJECTIVE: This study attempts to identify challenges with verbal communication during employment interviews that are specific to college students with ASD.

METHODS: We administered mock employment interviews to 16 college students with ASD and 14 college students without disabilities. Responses to interview questions were coded for content and timing.

RESULTS: Students with ASD …

Hexapod Herald - Vol. 29, No. 1, January 2017

Hexapod Herald and Other Entomology Department Newsletters

Content: Welcome - Faculty News - Grants - Congratulations - Student News - Blast from the Past - Publications - Condolences (Dr. Kenneth P. Pruess)

Using Extremophile Bacteriophage Discovery In A Stem Education Professional Development Partnership To Explore Model Classroom Research Experiences Integrating The Three Dimentions Of The Next Generation Science Standards, Carrie L. Boudreau Ms

All Student Scholarship

The National Research Council’s (NRC) A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas describes a vision of what it means to be proficient in science. The project discussed in this thesis was developed with a NIH SEPA Grant 8R25OD010937 to the Virology and Electron Microscopy Laboratory at the University of Southern Maine (USM) under the direction of Dr. S. Monroe Duboise. The goal of the project was to explore using discovery of extreme environment bacteria and their bacteriophages as a model for using the three dimensions of learning to teach Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Specifically, …

Cultivating Ecological Literacy And Rethinking Our Connections To Nature, Sean Fretwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I explore the complex, often contested, relationships between humankind and nature. I consider the changing state of these relationships as they are influenced by factors rooted in science, technology, and economics. I also examine these relationships as they relate to human activities with agriculture. Considering the present state of environmental crisis and the abundance of evidence indicating the deleterious activities of humankind as primary causes for the many global calamities, I argue for revising industrially-driven ideologies; particularly those driven by the economic paradigm of capitalism and self-interest. Additionally, I submit that a return to kinship with nature …

Evaluación Del Impacto De La Desnutrición Por Exceso E Interacción Social En Escolares Del Segundo Ciclo Del Nivel Básico, Ysabel Noemí Tejeda Díaz

Theses and Dissertations

Esta investigación consistió en la evaluación del impacto de la desnutrición por exceso e interacción social en los escolares del segundo ciclo del nivel básico en una escuela pública en Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana. Se estudiaron (a) los tipos de interacciones que se producen entre los participantes y (b) las interrelaciones sociales desarrolladas en el entorno escolar. Así como el impacto en los niveles de popularidad e influencia de acuerdo a las teorías de Herrera (2008) y Rizo (2007) en el ámbito escolar.

Se realizó una investigación mixta, a partir del abordaje del problema desde los aspectos cualitativo y cuantitativo, …

Education And The Development Of On-Farm Identity: Dairy Farm Women's Experiences, Amy Leigh Spangenberg

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Women throughout the world have found emancipation through education. Yet, there has been no research on the role that education plays in dairy farm women's primary, on-farm identity development and how farm women's identities develop. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine dairy farm women's perceptions of previous learning (education) and its influence on their primary, on-farm identity development. The feminist standpoint theory provided the framework for this study. A homogeneous, purposeful sample of 10 active dairy farm women were interviewed using individual, face to face, semistructured questions to answer the question: What are dairy farm women's perceptions …

Instructional Strategies That Promote Cultural Competence In Nutrition And Dietetics Education, Cecile Adkins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Changing demographics in the United States to a minority-majority culture require health care professionals who are culturally competent to provide appropriate care to patients. In a university in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, a gap existed between student education and the culturally competent professional practice of entry-level registered dietitians. Using Freire's notion of social justice and Vygotsky's constructivist theory as the conceptual frameworks, the purpose of this study was to explore educators' instructional strategies that promoted cultural competence in nutrition and dietetics education. The research questions examined how educators described the instructional practices they employed to promote cultural …

More Than Food: An Analysis Of Multidimensional Relationships In Our Food System, Jessica Erin Newnan

Honors Theses and Capstones

Food is an integral part of everyday life for human beings, thus meriting particular attention from research and education. Looking further in depth at the factors that influence food, it becomes apparent that this is a complex topic that is related to several systems within the constructs of society. Here, the food system is approached with the understanding that several systems influence food consumption options and decisions including the agricultural, economic, education, energy, health, and political systems. To identify the relationships more closely, a three-dimensional model was built to represent the food system and depict several key factors, their relationships, …

Benefits Of Movement For Academic Achievement And Classroom Behaviors, Alison A. Waltz

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this review is to discuss the benefits of using movement throughout the daily routine of an early childhood classroom. The research focused on using movement to increase literacy and mathematics knowledge, teach self-regulation skills and increase attention. and have different seating options that would allow for consistent movement. Findings of this review show that movement does have academic and behavioral benefits in the early childhood classroom. Limitations are recognized for the research presented and recommendations are given for ways to incorporate movement into the classroom. To conclude this review of literature. educational policies and future research are …