Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Bamboo and Kelp


Oh man, some stuff got made over the "break of the delicious family meal". Presents got wrapped, stickers got used, wooden Oaxacan figurines got repaired and two projects came to fruition.

Project 1: All this thinking about Bohr put me in the mood to make a felt ornament of the Bohr model of the atom. I did a quick google image search to see if such a thing had been created and could therefore be referenced/copied. Alas, it had not. I made several failed prototypes until I finally found one that was acceptable (glitter, pompoms, stuffing):



Project 2: We are studying soil in APES. I ordered some soil corers (not sure why the school didn't have any) and they haven't come in. Instead, I made edible soil profiles to introduce them to soil horizons. Gummy worms and dyed green coconut are the O horizon. Butterscotch chips are the parent material.


Today we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where I learned that kelp are the fastest growing producers on the planet, behind bamboo. They can grow 10-12 inches a day! Can you imagine? A foot/day of growth. The sun's energy being turned into sugar before our eyes (literally while you watch it for 1/2 an hour)? Nature is amazing.

2 comments:

Kristen/Bob said...

Love the soil horizons. Bet your students did, too. BTW, I'm going to have to flake on AGU - I can only go on Wed. Let's chat.

Aurelia said...

Hmm, I bet mushrooms aren't too far behind bamboo and kelp. I've seen them go from zero to huge in a day (we have a mushroom problem in our new backyard).