Excellent inquiry activity

The author describes an excellent inquiry lab that uses live crustaceans (isopods). I appreciate that a colony of isopods can be easily maintained. The space these model organisms would re... See More

The author describes an excellent inquiry lab that uses live crustaceans (isopods). I appreciate that a colony of isopods can be easily maintained. The space these model organisms would require in a classroom would be minimal. This would be an unique way to study food preference and extensions could be made using Data Nugget data from other organismal studies. The suggested extension of a statistical analysis would be a welcome addition in my College Biology course. However, my high school biology students would also enjoy this type of ecological study. I plan to use it this year with my students.

Great way to bring animals into the classroom

This article is on how to use isopods to teach students how to do lab procedures with animals, in this case for food preferences (although it could easily be extended to things like habitats... See More

This article is on how to use isopods to teach students how to do lab procedures with animals, in this case for food preferences (although it could easily be extended to things like habitats). The directions start out teacher directed, but evolve into an inquiry activity where the class develops a set of procedures. I like the statistical analysis at the end for high school, and if middle school students are up to it, they would learn a lot to, if they are not, it would not hurt for the teacher to run the analysis and then ask students to review and comment on the results.