Cephalopodcast

“It appears to be confined to the Mediterranean Sea, where it grows, especially on the southern coast, attached to rocks at considerable depths in the sea. It is fished up from the deep by means of nets and other instruments. The manufacture of ornaments of this coral at Naples is of great extent.” — Goodrich, 1859
Source: S. G. Goodrich Animal Kingdom Illustrated Vol 2 (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1859)

It’s Deep-Sea Coral Week over at the Deep-Sea News blog, from April 27-May 3. It’s worth a look, with many interesting posts already up and many more to come each day.

Coral Clipart

The Florida Center for Instructional Technology
has made a number of antique woodcuts and engravings available online for educational use. Many of these include things zoological, including several anthozoan images.

While the license is generous, this collection could really benefit from an updated treatment with Creative Commons. Also, like most clipart collection, many of the specimens are mis-classified. For instance, larval arthropods are generously mixed in with the annelids. But those vermiform organisms were vexatious even for Linneaus (say that fast seven times).

In no particular taxonomic order

• Clipart ETC: Corals and Sea Anemone
• Clipart ETC: Sponges
• Clipart ETC: Squid and Octopus
• Clipart ETC: Worms (and caterpillars)
• Clipart ETC: Zoology A
• Clipart ETC: Sea Urchins and Sea Stars
• Clipart ETC: Sea Cucumbers
• Clipart ETC: Mollusk M - Z
• Clipart ETC: Fish S - Z
• Clipart ETC: Crustaceans

It can be a challenge for environmental non-profits and educational outfits to produce original multimedia content. On a tight budget it can be tough to produce compelling content in-house, so at some point, the question of using stock images or video comes up. This has a cost too in the form of licensing, clearances and properly managing the rights to the media. Fortunately, there are some low cost (and free) resources available.

Reef Vid

A resource of free coral reef video clips for educational use

Professor Peter Mumby from the University of Exeter has made available a number of coral reef video clips. The database has over 500 clips which are free for educational and research use. The clips on the Web site are suitable for use in a PowerPoint presentation. Full-quality footage is available on mini-DV tapes, DVD, or DVD-ROM (recorded in PAL) by contacting them.

Environmental Video from the Feds

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also maintains a library of public domain video footage. The only cost is for reproduction, there are no other licenses or clearances required. All they ask is that you credit them as the source. In particular, I’ve found the Year of the Ocean, Turtle Excluder Device (TED) and Commercial Fishing to be useful stock footage for many projects. They also have a photo library of royalty-free still images.

Quality at a Price

Finally, there are also exceptional stock libraries available for a fee. The quality of these is incredible and the staff are available to help you find just the right image for your message. Some of the more marine-themed ones are listed below.

Have you used any other video resources for ocean conservation? Let me know.

• Reef Vid
• NOAA B-Roll
• Stock Photo: Image Quest 3-D
• Stock Video: Ocean Footage
• Stock Video: BioMedia Associates. Bacteria, Protozoans and more.
• Stock Video: Al Giddings Images
• Previously: Vintage Ocean and Science Fair Footage
• Previously : Free fish pics: NOAA updates online photo library
• Previously: Free undersea images from Coral Reef Alliance

Flickr photo: dead horseshoe crab by Epsilon289
Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Horseshoe crabs are not really crabs at all, being more closely allied to spiders and scorpions. There are only four species in the world, but they have a fossil record dating back more than 400 million years. Their annual spawning along the east coast of the United States serves as a vital food resource for migrating birds.

At work we do a program on invertebrates for the little guys (K-2nd grade). When we hold up a horseshoe crab and ask them what it is, some invariably identify it as a stingray. When we flip the carapace over they are surprised to see the pinchers and legs. So presumably, the ray is a more familiar animal to many children. If you are a teacher interested in rectifying this matter, I encourage you to check out the many lesson plans and resources over at horseshoecrab.org.

InVERSEabrates

April is National Poetry Month and the oceans provide a lot of inspiration for verse. And one outlet for that creativity comes each year with the annual arts competition from Horseshoecrab.org.

[Horesehoecrab.org] invites students from around the world to submit poems, tales and images in appreciation and celebration of the remarkable horseshoe crab. Through the arts, our future environmental stewards have a voice which is heard globally.

The competition is open to all grade levels pre-K – 12. Students may enter through their school or can enter individually. Each year 30-50 student visual/language artworks are selected to appear in our annual anthology, “Horseshoe Crabs & the Arts.” Each of the young artists as well as their teacher receives a copy of this limited edition artist’s book. All selected works are posted on our web site in the “Poems, Tales and Images” category. In addition the works are reproduced for exhibit in our traveling art exhibition, which has been hosted in art and nature centers throughout the United States and Japan. International entrants are encouraged to help us identify art centers in their countries that may also be interested in hosting the exhibition. We welcome invitations for international display of these outstanding student works!

The competition begins each September and the deadline for entry is today. Selected artists are notified in the beginning of June.

• Horseshoecrab.org: Horseshoe Crabs & the Arts Competition
• Horseshoecrab.org: Previous competition winners (poems, art and more)
• Horseshoecrab.org: lovely anatomy of a horseshoecrab poster (34″ x 22″, $18.00 each)
• University of Delaware Sea Grant College Program: Horseshoe crabs
• PBS Nature: Crash: A Tale of Two Species. This is a video program about the horseshoe crab and the red knot. There is also an Educator’s Guide
• Windracer: Horseshoecrab Transformers
• Andrea Koupal: Anthropomorphic Horseshoecrab
• More Ocean Art Contests: Our Ocean and Coastal Ecosystems Art Competition

The National Science Teachers Association conference is in Beantown this week (March 27-30). I have some familial priorities which kept me from even considering attendance. But I can follow along remotely via the NSTA conference blog.

I have an odd job that is a hybrid of edtech and science education. And yet, as an informal science educator, I am kind of not officially part of either. But there are still lots of talented and passionate people in both worlds and I am glad I can follow along virtually.

Anyone know of any personal blogs from NSTA attendees? I’d be curious if anyone is live blogging (or dare I hope, twittering?) these events.

UPDATE: Doh! I posted this quickly before dashing off to diner tonight. Turns out there is some new media coverage of NSTA in the form of the Lab Out Loud podcast. This looks like a great resource and is definitely going into rotation.

• NSTA Conference Blog
• Lab Out Loud

Eggcase from a skate. © J. Robertshaw

The Great Eggcase Hunt

With the coming of spring in the northern hemisphere also comes a time to hunt for eggs. But it’s not just about birds anymore. The folks over at the Shark Trust also want people to head to the beach to look out for the fecundity of fish.

Colloquially known as mermaid’s purses, eggcases are the protective capsules laid by skates and some rays**. Inside is a tiny baby skate and a big yolk sac. Typically the capsules have odd keels and horns to help them remain tangled in seaweed and camouflaged on the bottom. The young develop for several months before hatching out as miniature adults. But after hatching, the horny cases begin to breakdown and may come loose, washing up on the shore. Storms might also dislodge living ones from the bottom. If you find a lot of eggcases in an area, it may indicate that a skate nursery is located nearby. This kind of information is valuable to conservationist who are trying to protect these species.

Why does the Shark Trust want you to record eggcases? In recent decades several species of skate and ray around the…coast have dramatically declined in numbers…The identification of these critical areas will enable the Shark Trust to propose conservation measures, in order to reverse the decline of these charismatic animals.

So now’s your chance to contribute to skate and ray conservation and have a lot of fun at the same time.

They have a lot of resources for citizen scientists and for educators who want to organize a local eggcase hunt. And if you don’t live near the coast, you can still take some time this spring to create your own giant eggcases (PDF link) out of balloons and papier-mâché. Or better yet, make some chocolate ones that you can send to me!

• Great Eggcase Hunt
• A Fieldguide to Eggcases (PDF)
• **What’s the difference between a skate and a ray?

Rabbitfish Helping to Save the Reef

Continuing with my aquatic version of things vernal, there is news that rabbitfish might be helping to save the Great Barrier Reef. Many herbivorous reef fish species like parrotfish and tangs regularly graze on the fast-growing algae of the reefs. But apparently they only like to eat it when it’s young and not too weedy. This is where the rabbitfish comes in.

“Then, to our even greater surprise a fish we had never seen in this area before was observed grazing on the weed. The rabbitfish (Siganus canaliculatus), came out of nowhere and began to clear-fell the weed placed on the reef crest.”

The rabbitfish were caught on underwater videocams, in schools of up to 15 fish, grazing the crest, slopes and outer flats of the reef, and chomping away at more than ten times the rate of other weed-eaters.

• Red Orbit: Rabbitfish Helping to Save the Great Barrier Reef
• Science Daily: Rabbit Fish To The Rescue Of The Reef

sƎʇɐʞs ɹƎɥ :ɐ*

The 2007 Annual National Marine Educators Association Conference is under way in Portland, Maine. Sadly, I will not be able to attend NMEA this year. However, I did get a chance to present last year. My wife and I also took that opportunity to tour through New York City. Our last day was rather rainy, and somewhere in SoHo we serendipitously ducked into the Scholastic Retail Store to avoid the downpour. It was a pretty amazing space, with lots of primary colors and opportunities for young readers. I picked up a book on sharks to share with my co-workers.

Back at work, summer camp was still underway. During the first sessions the kids were asked to draw a picture of a scientist, which is pretty standard stuff*. Their efforts were posted up in the classroom and I had a chance to check in a couple of times to see the progress. Many of them initially drew the archetypal illustration of a white male in a lab coat doing something with test tubes. And it was also interesting to note how many of the younger Aquakids (students entering grades 1-4) had a hard time distinguishing between science and magic. Many of them conflated chemistry with potion making and mixed up the regalia of wizardry with that of the laboratory.

Which brings me back to Scholastic. They are the the American distributor for the Harry Potter series. Many people intuitively argue that Harry Potter is good because it gets young people reading. Others are not so sure. So one might also blame Scholastic for contributing to the confusion in the kids’ illustrations. But the picture isn’t that clear. Scholastic also has a remarkable partnership with the American Museum of Natural History called Science Explorations.

The program promises to, “engage students and teachers with authentic, hands-on science investigations with real scientists, primary documents, genuine artifacts, and standards-based science inquiries based on the Museum’s resources.” In additon to print publications, engagement currently seems to consist of a half-dozen interactive, Flash-based websites. These include exhibits on bats, bugs, space, reptiles and Charles Darwin. But naturally enough, my favorite one is Investigating The Giant Squid: Mysterious Cephalopods of the Sea. The exploration includes a virtual dissections and an interview/slideshow with Dr. Neil Landman from the AMNH. I am planning on posting this bit to TONMO (if it is not there already) because they recently started a new K-12 forum devoted to using cephalopods in education.

Science Explorations also has a section called Writing with Scientists. It offers teachers and students, “step-by-step support to transform a collection of notes, observations, research, and experiments into a well-organized, thorough, and thoughtful science report.” You can read examples of how students use the resource over here.

• *DAST: Draw A Scientist Test
• Science Explorations Teacher Guide to Investigate the Giant Squid
• TONMO K-12 Education: Cephalopod resources and information for teachers and students.
• My NMEA 2006 Flickr album
• Previously: Squidology

In my college biology club I met a woman who taught her budgie how to speak. But the only thing it could say was, “Kiss the Virus.” This made slightly more sense when you realized that she named the parakeet Virus. Needless to say, they were both odd birds. However, I think they would both be delighted to know that there are now budgie-sized toy viruses available for purchase.

The TEDCO toy company makes miniature biological and anatomical models. These include the virus, but also bacteria, animal cell and plant cell models too. They range in size from 3.5 to 5.5 inches (9-14 cm) and cost $10 each. In addition to macro-sized microbes, TEDCO makes miniature-sized human anatomy models like the Brain and Skull, the Eye and the iconic Human Torso. They all have removable parts, as if you were dissecting them, and would make great novelty gifts for bio/med students or a favorite science teacher. Why isn’t Think Geek selling these things?

Even more interesting is that TEDCO is a family-owned, American company. And as best as I can tell, they actually manufacture their toys in the United States. From their about page:

TEDCO was first established as a research & development company by the late Ralph Teetor. Mr. Teetor was a well-known and highly respected inventor who started TEDCO (Teetor Engineering Development Company) as a vehicle to foster his inventions. His most renowned accomplishment is the “cruise control” on your automobile. Mr. Teetor was blinded at an early age, yet he did not allow his lack of sight to hinder his creative genius. He was president of the former Perfect Circle Corporation and was inducted posthumously into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

Now, if you are interested in more traditional, life-sized (and larger) biology models (and have a couple hundred dollars), you might want to check out the Somso models available from Holt Anatomical. These are museum-quality, German made models for the classroom. Products include the human torsos with head (and interchangeable genitalia), block models of the skin, fern prothallium, brains of the honey bee (with transparent head capsules) and much more.

For those who are more budget conscious, there are some free microbial activities available from the Rodale Institute. Check out the papercraft Bacteria from their Paper Garden Project.

• See also, plush Giant Microbes
• And Miniature anatomical toys from Japan

The Delaware Sea Grant program has a neat resource for educators. I mentioned it in the latest podcast, but wanted to bump it up to its own post too. Here’s the description from their annual report:

Learn all about the smooth dogfish shark as you put together your very own 3-D paper model! This eight-page, full-color project meets the National Science Education Standards. It includes background on sharks, the model parts to cut out with scissors and tape together, and a crossword puzzle to test your knowledge. Cost: $1. Contact: Marine Public Education, (302) 831-8083.

Unfortunately, there is no further Internet-based info that I could find, so you will have to call to find out more. Or listen to the SeaTalk Radio PSA about the model [mp3].

(Tip of the tentacle to Elizabeth and Kimberly for the resource.)

UPDATE: I notice that a lot of people searching for dogfish dissections end up finding this post. If you need illustrations of a Squalus acanthias dissection, check out BIODIDAC. They have photos and line drawings to help you. Keyword search: dogfish. Available in English and French.

The Exploratorium is a museum in San Francisco, CA and was founded in 1969 by noted physicist and educator Dr. Frank Oppenheimer. They have an extensive website with many, many pages exploring hundreds of different topics. They also have competition called the Iron Science Teacher which is webcast live. The next event is on August 11, 2006 at 12:00pm PST/3:00pm EST/7:00pm GMT.

Parodying the cult Japanese TV program, Iron Chef, the Exploratorium’s Iron Science Teacher competition showcases Bay Area science teachers as they devise demonstrations around a particular ingredient—an everyday item such as a plastic bag, a milk carton, or a nail. In a fast-paced atmosphere where showmanship and creativity reign, science teachers are given ten minutes to concoct a science activity that can be used in the classroom.

Unfortunately, you need RealPlayer in order to see the webcast.

• Iron Science Teacher competition
• Iron Science Teacher competitions are archived here according to where their secret ingredient was found. After watching the Webcasts, cook up some activities of your own.
• See also: The Exploratorium eclipse exhibit in Second Life