Q. What do biodiversity and the digestive system have in common?

A.  They are both subjects that we have recently been discussing in Science!

  In Science so far this year, students have been studying either biodiversity or the human body, depending on their grade and whether they have already studied a particular subject before.
  By pretending to be bears gathering food for hibernation, we have learned why it is an advantage for individuals of the same species to be different from each other.  We also learned how different species use the same habitat in different ways, by discussing coywolves, a recent hybrid of coyotes and the eastern wolf.  In a game in which students were different species of "insects", we learned about the advantages of different species when it comes to fighting disease.  Finally, we looked at some of the great variety of products that come from different species of trees.
  The students studying biodiversity are presently researching what structural characteristics are used to classify animals with vertebrates (i.e. mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds).  They will apply this information when they "create" a new species of vertebrate to present to the class in the near future.
  Meanwhile, we have been focusing on the homo sapiens species with the other group of students, who have been studying the human body.  Using red and blue balls, skipping ropes and pails, we simulated the path that blood takes as it travels from the lungs to the heart to the body and back again.  The students inhaled knowledge related to the parts of the respiratory system and digested information related to the digestive system.  Upcoming will be a quiz about organs of the human body and a 3D model project.  Stay tuned!

Below is a photo of "Sheena", our life-sized diagram of the human body.  Students have been adding organ systems to the diagram as our knowledge increases.