al-mofhariz

Hmmm...when I see that title I think of one random activity that isn't really connected to a big idea.  Maybe it's because I spent many years teaching science that way...finding cookie cutter activities that were "cute" or "fun".  Things that kept the kids attention, but maybe didn't truly build their knowledge or understanding.  As I become more of an inquiry teacher, I am trying very hard to get away from this idea.

So instead...I'll talk about my next investigation that we will start on Monday.  We will be building terrariums to bring a school yard ecosystem into the classroom.  It will be a model of what happens outside.  On Monday the teachers will bring in:

4 glad ware containers (approx 6"x4")
grass seeds
potting soil
rocks
worms

Each table group will build a terrarium with rocks, soil, and grass seeds.  Then we will put in a few worms.  Over the next few days we will watch it grow as a team and notice the changes in our terrariums.  We …

So far, our blog has been rather human-centric. Today, I want to change that by starting a discussion about the intersections of Animal Studies and the American Science. Since I just got back from a little trip to Florida, I'm calling this post "Hemingway's Cats" in honor of the polydactyl felines that have colonized the author's old estate in Key West. The image of exceptional, proliferating non-human bodies in human built-environments is evocative (at least to me) for thinking about the ways in which animals inspire, populate, and transmit technical knowledge.

I'm particularly interested in animals that resist standardization (unlike Kohler's flies or Rader's mice), but which nonetheless become enrolled in scientific projects. One obvious area in which this has occurred is the realm of conservation biology. Here, the privileged animal body is one in danger of being manipulated or obliterated by unfettered human activity. The non-human animal th…