1. Narragansett High School
What’s Growing On?(EARTH2015)
How do Nitrogen and Phosphorus travel through the environment?
A new way to examine these nutrient cycles
Kathy Couchon
Narragansett High School
Narragansett, RI

2. Unit Summary
This unit focuses on the importance of Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorous (P) in the environment, cycling of these elements in ecosystems, limiting factors for growth, population growth and carrying capacity.
Students will explore how N and P move through the environment, calculate growth rates from data provided from authentic science conducted at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), predict how these nutrients will impact marine environments, and conduct algal growth experiments including observations and data collection

3. Scientist
Amy E. Zimmerman, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)
Summary of “Ecology of marine pico- phytoplankton” presentation at EARTH 2015

4. Research
Worden Lab at MBARI - to better understand the ecology and evolution of the Picophytoplankton (smallest of the photosynthetic plankton, 2 μm or less in cell diameter) in Monterey Bay

5. Used with Honors Biology 1 - Goals
To use Amy’s research data to introduce students to population dynamics of a planktonic population
Growing algae(Chlorella) to determine growth rates and carrying capacity
Prepare students for a later unit - student designed experimental research

6. Where do the Nutrients go Making Air out of Oceans
Sequence
Where do the Nutrients go
Making Air out of Oceans
Student Lab Experiment: What is the Effect of Nitrogen and Phosphorus on Algal Populations? ?

7. Getting Started Where do the Nutrients go?
Examining nutrient cycles - review format - we had covered this earlier in the year
Introductory Educanon video - introduce in flipped format - worked OK
Did not use the fill in the blank activity

8. Next - Making Air Out of Oceans
How limiting nutrients paint the world we breath
Students investigate limiting factors for phytoplankton
Relate to earlier activity (good polar connection) - Being Productive in the Arctic Ocean

9. Making Air out of Oceans
What worked well:
Used Amy’s data on Ostreococcus (under different concentrations of N and P) to graph carrying capacity
Predicted where N and P would be found in world’s oceans - then examining NOAA maps of nutrient distribution

11. Making Air out of Oceans
What did not work well:
We were not successful at examining growth rates - most did not have the math experience

14. Student Lab Experiment: What is the Effect of Nitrogen and Phosphorus on Algal Populations?
Chlorella

15. Chlorella expt.
Students choose their own independent variable related to the presence of plant fertilizer (nitrogen/phosphorus) in order to predict, measure, and analyze the effect on algal density and growth rate

17. Chlorella expt. What did not work well:
Difficulty in quantifying algal growth at first
Only spectrophotometer available we had no experience with - kids were frustrated
Light meter was not successful

18. Chlorella expt.
What worked well: Students were sufficiently frustrated and challenged in researching and deciding on independent variables
Students found this Likert scale to determine algal growth
Two students worked out a mathematical procedure - flawed, but interested

19. Summary
This is a very comprehensive & detailed lesson overall - maybe 10 authors in several lesson components
Use what you want
Happy to incorporate a polar lesson I already used

20. Summary...
Great intro to student research - gave kids a good heads-up on what to expect
They remarked upon this in their reflections
Hope that other Bio teachers will use and add comments