A Survey of Recent Science Web Sites for Teachers and Researchers

During Christmas break I had time to survey a number of science websites for educators and research.  Here are the best of the best:

http://www.earthscienceweek.org/?forteachers/index.html
http://www.fws.gov/letsgooutside/
http://www.ncsu.edu/labwrite/
http://som.ou.edu/
http://www.ags.ou.edu/
http://web.vims.edu/bridge/?svr=www

Content includes weather, wildlife, oceanography, and laboratory contant, but I am lazy right now, so I will let you explore these as I do and I will add some comments later.

Wynona High School Science Dept. Wins 2nd Year's Funding From Oklahoma Dept. of Environmental Quality

This project will provide our students with an appreciation of grassland ecosystems and the importance of their conservation. Students will visit The Nature Conservancy’s Tall Grass Prairie Preserve in Osage County, Oklahoma. Students will learn how to collect data using the scientific method and establishing sample plots and will compare species diversity among disturbed and relatively pristine sites.

This project is designed to educate and motivate students and to instill in them an intrinsic appreciation for grassland ecosystems. We hope this field experience will help shape our future leaders to be citizens of the global environment.

We will apply conservation issues to personal experiences in order to build positive student attitudes toward the natural environment. We aim to guide the development of student’s problem solving and critical thinking skills while exploring relationships among: biodiversity, ecosystem processes, and societal issues.

In 2009 we received this grant that allowed our school to the same field experience to forty five 6-12th grade students. This year we will collect data for comparison to our 1st sampling at our established sites. Last season this field trip was the highlight of our science lessons allowing students to apply what they had learned in classroom exercises. Our field trip also facilitated parents and community leaders to get involved. As a direct result of last year’s funding we now offer Zoology as a junior/senior level class at our school. The organisms we collected in the field were preserved for long-term use in our teaching collection. We intend to further expand the collection this year in addition to data that will compare to last season. This year we want to expand the field curriculum to include 4th and 5th grade students as well.

Students will be directed in the use of standardized methods for sampling plants and aquatic animals and basic experimental design. The number of species and their relative abundance will be compared among sites using elementary statistics and basic graphing techniques. We will apply appropriate experimental design and statistical analyses to data collected in the field. Basic statistical procedures will include measures of central tendency, dispersion, and variability. Additionally, tables and graphs will be used to analyze trends in the data we collect.


Several studies over the past two decades have shown that aquatic animals, especially invertebrates, are excellent indicators of water quality. These procedures are commonly used by municipalities and state and federal agencies to assess the biological integrity of streams. The basic underlying assumption is that aquatic organisms and their presence/absence are useful indicators of environmental health. For this reason, students can easily relate these field and laboratory activities to real-world applications such as water quality assessment, drinking water standards, and environmental protection policies.  To learn more abouty the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality and it's education programs visit their web site at: http://www.deq.state.ok.us/mainlinks/eepage.htm

White Christmas in Osage County

This photo taken atop Mt. Sequoia in Fayetteville, Arkansas January 2007 is nothing compared to the blizzard we endured in northeast Oklahoma this Christmas eve. Governor Brad Henry declared a statewide emergency as blizzard conditions existed over much of the state. I drove to Pawhuska at about 6:30 pm to try and pull out a friend's vehicle. Little did we know that this would turn into a four-hour ordeal. According to the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, parts of Osage county received between 3-5" of snow on top of sleet and winds sustained at 40 mph gusting to 60 mph. We experienced whiteout conditions with visibility of less than 100 feet. The winds built snow drifts at least three feet deep. My Nissan Frontier was no match for the conditions in spite of its 6-cylinder supercharged motor and 4-wheel drive. I was buried in a ditch off State Highway 99 in no time at all. Three full size 4-wheel drive trucks attempted to pull us out and two of them soon became stuck as well. After digging for two hours, the outlook was bleak to say the least. By 9:00 pm it was 18 degrees Fahrenheit with a north wind of gusting up to 50 mph and wind chill indices as low as -10 degrees Fahrenheit. After more than two hours of digging and pulling, we had gone nearly 1/4 mile in the ditch. I was soaking wet and experiencing the first signs of hypothermia when our vehicle finally emerged from the 3' snow drift. By this time, parts of HWY 99 south of Pawhuska were beginning to drift shut. We passed numerous abandon vehicles on the return trip to Wynona. By the morning of Sunday, December 27th many roads in town remained virtually impassable. For weather data and statistics from around the state visit the Oklahoma Mesonet web site at http://mesonet.org/

Texas Horned Lizard

Another lizard that is more common than I expected here in Osage County is the Texas Horned Lizard, Phrynosoma cornutum. This species, sometimes called a "horney toad" is in decline over much of it's range. Their primary prey is the Red Harvester Ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus. The Horned Lizard prefers open grassland or pasture.

Legless Lizards?

Legless lizards or the Western Slender Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus attenuatus) seem to be fairly common here in Osage County. I have run across several in the past year. I finally did get a reasonably good photo of one this past summer.

A Sand County Almanac

I want to recommend a book for all you who love the outdoors and believe in the ethical treatment of our environment. Aldo Leopold- father of wildlife management and author of A Sand County Almanac 1949. Author of “The Land Ethic” and first appointee to the United Nations Council on the Environment. This is an inspiring read.

Rain Shadow Illustration

Here is a diagram showing the rainshadow effect of mountains such as the Eastern (front range) of the Rock Mountains.

Coriolis Effect

Here is an illustration of the Coriolis Effect.

Guest Astronomy/Earth Science Lecturer

Today the Wynona Science Laboratory hosted a guest lecturer Mr. William "Willy" St. John. The High School and Middle School Students discussed solar flares and their effect on Earth's magnetic field, weather radar and forecasting, storm chasing, and much more. St. John introduced us to his web site where students can find educational tools and data including the very impressive " Weather and Disaster Monitoring Page". You can explore a variety of weather tools and much more at http://www.williamstjohn.net/

Science Chapter Exams This Week

Don't forget Chapter Exams this week.

Biology I- Tuesday, November 10th: Cell Structure and Function
Earth Science- Tuesday, November 10th: Weathering, Erosion, and Hydrologic Cycle
Zoology- Thursday, November 12th: Mollusca, Annelida Lab Practical
6th Grade Science- Tuesday, November 10th: Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanoes, Plate Tectonics.
7/8th Grade Science- Monday, November 9th: Rock and Mineral Practical

Wynona High School Takes 12th at State Robotics Competition

Wynona's Robotics Team competed against 21 schools from around the state at last Saturday's competition at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, Oklahoma. The competition was tough, but Wynona certainly held their own against schools 10 times our size. Way to go team!

Robotics Practice Run is a Success

Joseph S., Kailey P., and Dhawn S., robotics team members, traveled to NWOSU in Alva on Saturday for our robot's trial run on the practice course. There were a variety of interesting designs at the field trial (right- a competitor's entry).


The Wynona robot (left) performed up to par with everyone else, but will require some minor modifications before this Saturday's competition. The robots will have to run through a timed obstical course where they must gather various items for points.

Voki Avatar, Viscious Rex

Get a Voki now!

Wynona Robotics Team to Attend Practice in Alva

The Wynona Robotics team will travel to Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva this Saturday to participate in a practice run on the obstacle course. There are 21 teams competing this year. Mr. Powell and the team have been working on the robot for several weeks now. Eleven of our high school students have participated in constructing the robot.

Grade Inflation and Academic Standards

Readers might be interested in some information about grade inflation and academic standards. As one student recently commented in class, "grades are more than just a mark on a paper". How true that is. This is an ongoing discussion/debate in my classes. As former Chairman of the Academic Standards Committee, St. Gregory's University I was deeply involved in this discussion starting over a decade ago. Currently, I am a member of the Master Teacher Project administered by The Oklahoma Department of Education's Office of Standards and Curriculum. Wynona School is participating by conduction a book review/ discussion of student literacy and developing recommendations to improve student performance.

I believe that students should understand the long term ramifications of grade inflation and diluted academic standards. This issue not only has consequences for the individual student, but for American society as a whole. I want to share some thoughts on this topic in the days and weeks to come. Keep an eye on Zooblog to follow this issue. First of all however, we need to understand the definition of "grade inflation". Here is a good definition:

According to Random House Dictionary 2009, Grade Inflation is:

-noun- the awarding of higher grades than students deserve either to maintain a school's academic reputation or as a result of diminished teacher expectations.

-origin- 1980-85

Oklahoma Academy of Science Field Meeting at Osage Hills

Fall Break is fast approaching and ALL science classes will have tests next week. We will review today and Monday. I will also collect note books before break. The Oklahoma Academy of Science annual Fall Field Meeting starts this afternoon and runs through Sunday morning at Osage Hills State Park. There will be a variety of field excursions including botany, herpetology, ichthyology, mammalogy, ornithology, malocology, geography, astronomy, geology, and aquatic invertebrates. Photo insert of Mr. Jimmie Pigg and Dr. Vernon Powders at the 1990 Fall Field Meeting.

6th Graders Study Laws of Motion

The 6th Grade Science Class has been studying motion and just finished a series of pendulum experiments this week. This activity required students to use metric and english units, and measuring instruments (rulers, balances, and digital timers). The whole idea was to study the effects of pendulum length and weight on periodicity.

Wynona Natural History Collection

Time is flying by really fast and cold weather is just around the corner; at least that is what the house flies think. I bet I have killed 100 house flies that have sought shelter in my trailer over the past two days. We have been overrun with specimens in the science lab. Students have been bringing in all manner of critters; garter snakes (Thamnophis sp.), Copperheads (Agkistrodon contortrix), praying mantis, tarantulas, oak borers, GIANT slugs! 18-20cm (total length), Golden Orb Spiders, and a multitude of arthropods I have not even begun to sort through yet. Mostly, we observe specimens for a day or two and the find a safe habitat outside of town to release them. Some animals and botanical specimens will become permanent residents in our small, but growing natural history collection. One specimen we are particularly proud of is the 1.09m long Timber Rattle Snake (Crotalus horridus) my neighbors brought me a couple of weeks ago. The snake had been run over, but was in excellent condition. We skinned the snake and preserved the hide.

Fall Science Update

Our trip to the Wildlife Expo in Guthrie was a success. Quite a feat considering we took two busses with about 45 students (grades 6-12), 10 parent sponsors, and 6 teachers. Thanks to all the staff and families who helped pull it off!

Five-week progress reports went out last week and parents should schedule an appointment to visit if they are concerned with their student’s progress.

Here is this week’s schedule:

Biology I- Cell Structure and Function
Earth Science- Minerals
Zoology- Phylum Platyhelminthes (flatworms), lab practical Tuesday
6th Grade Science- Motion and Newton’s Laws
7/8th Grade Science- Rocks (igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic)

This is real "authentic" Science

The buzz among science educators is "authentic science". For an old school zoologist, authentic science opens the door for lots of fun. The only trick is to meet our state standards and objectives in the process. This is really not all that tough. For example, Oklahoma science objectives ask students to "observe, measure, and classify". Perfect! We can use inexpensive natural resources around us to make this exciting and fun. Our students are inherently curious and this is where we can take advantage of that. In this photo, one of our students dissects a bunch of snake eggs that were discovered by a local resident and brought to our classroom. The students will measure and classify these specimens for future study.

Opportunistic Herpetology in the Classroom

Another really neat thing about autumn in Oklahoma is that we have an abundance of herpetological activity. Herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians; that is what I specialize in. The cooler, more moist conditions trigger animals to move in preparation for winter. They are feeding and migrating; some salamanders and toads are even breeding this time of year. This week we have observed several reptiles and amphibians including: American Toad (Bufo americanus), Green Tree Frog (Hyla cineria), Common Snapping Turtle (Celidra srpentina), Ornate Box Turtle (Terapene ornata), Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus), Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix), and Water Snakes (Nerodia) eggs.

Many of these animals can be easily observed in the classroom with some basic training and safety precautions. Animals can often then be released back at the point of capture. There are certain permits that are required to hold these animals in captivity. If you would like more information on Oklahoma Herpetology you may contact me. I will try to post some more tidbits in ZooBlog along the way- time permitting.

12 Words Commonly Used in Test Questions

These 12 words are very often part of the instructions on tests. Students do better if you know what to do when they see one of these words on a test. Spend a little time familiarizing yourself with these words and their meaning.

Trace- follow, track, find clues, list steps, outline, to make a graphic record
Analyze- break up the problem, explain each part, determine the relationship of each part
Infer- assume, imply, read between the lines, derive a conclusion from facts and evidence
Evaluate- math=solve or determine the value, rate, judge, look at both sides
Formulate- create, build, plan
Describe- who, what, when, how, why, supporting statements, give an account
Support- provide evidence, back it up, examples, details, reasons why
Explain- who, what, when, how, why, supporting statements
Summarize- short version, low down, brief, state the main idea
Compare- tell how things are alike
Contrast- tell how things are different
Predict- forecast, foretell, what is going to happen

2009 Wildlife Expo

YES, the rumors are true! We ARE going to the 2009 Wildlife Expo School Day on Friday, September 25th. If you want more information visit the website at: http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/wildlifeexpo.htm You may also view a video from last year showing some of the events. The video also gives instructions on what to bring, appropriate clothing, etc. View the video at: http://www.wynona.k12.ok.us/Site/Featured_Student_Project.html

Science Tests This Week

There will be exams in all WPS science classes this Friday. One exception, Earth Science, will be on Thursday. Notebooks in each class will be due the day of the exam.

September Science Update

Cooler fall temperatures at night and warm "Indian Summer" days are accompanied by animals and plants carrying out their annual life cycles or preparing for the winter.

Students, as you head into the autumn season here are some upcoming events to remember:

Oklahoma Wildlife Expo 2009

Wynona 6-12th grade science students will travel to the Lazy-E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma to attend the Wildlife Expo School Day Event on Friday, September 25th. This special school day event is hosted by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and will feature over 100 wildlife and outdoor related exhibits. We will be traveling by bus and will most certainly need parent sponsors. If you are interested in helping out, contact me through our school office. This is a free event, but in order to participate students must be eligible under school guidelines, the same as any other extra curricular activity.

Oklahoma Academy of Science- Fall Field Meeting

OAS will hold this year's field meeting at Osage Hills State Park the weekend of October 9-11th. Field trips will include Aquatic Invertebrates, Botany, Entomology, Geography, Geology, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Malacology, Mammalogy, Mycology, and Ornithology.

Friday evening's program (8-9:00 pm) will feature Calos Cordova from Oklahoma State University who will speak about Paleoecology of Bison, Grasses, and Fire in the Great Plains.

There will be astronomical viewing (weather permitting) from 9:30-11:30 pm)

Saturday evening, Steve Hallgren from Oklahoma State University will speak about Fire Ecology in the Cross Timbers. For more information go to the website: http://oas.uco.edu/