Biome Storybook Project
Directions:
You and a partner are to create a children’s storybook about the biomes of the Earth.
The goal of this storybook is to teach the reader about the global factors as well as the local factors that influence a biome.
Minimum Requirements
o The storybook can be either hand drawn or produced on PowerPoint. (a combination of both is also fine)
o Must have a logical and well thought storyline with developed characters and plot.
o Your characters must visit a minimum of 10 separate biomes. (terrestrial and aquatic)
o There must be a minimum of 3 abiotic and 3 biotic factors shown in the graphic or discussed per biome.(local)
o You must explain why these factors exist from a global perspective. I.e. rain shadow effect in the Andes as a result of the direction of airflow in that section of the world.
o Must have a front cover with graphic, title and names of authors.
o Must have a back cover with a short Authors biography.
29 comments:
saweet
when is the story book project due?
What do you mean by "factors," as in "abiotic and biotic factors"? Do you mean characteristics?
For "biotic factors," do you mean the organisms that live in the biome or the things that affect them?
Does every factor, biotic and abiotic, have a global explanation (specifically, biotic factors)? Do we have to explain every single factor, even those included in the graphics? This is, after all, supposed to be a children's storybook, and no viable children's storybook includes 60 scientific explanations. With all due respect.
Also, what are we supposed to do about working on the lab when our bottles still have condensation on them? Apparently you told us that we could take out the leaf litter/compost when the bottles no longer had condensation in them.
Plus, we don't have any arthropods, so how are we supposed to work on the lab?
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Hi, this is David.
Regarding the biom project, I'm wondering if we actually have to explain each biome and include things like the temperature and vegetation. Right now all it says you need to do is visit them.
Sorry, haha.
I just found out that you have already answered my question...please have pity =D
Dear Mr. Smirk,
If I can't work alone, can I work with Maya and Megan?
--Sharon
PS:
Jake's partner, Matt, is not here either. If this is do on Monday, and Matt is still sick, shoud Jake do it alone?
And if this isn't due Monday, when is it due?
Thanks for answering all my questions,
Sharon
hey mr. smirk,
We were thinking about how we can fit 6 biotic and abiotic factors into 10 different biomes. It doesn't seem feasible, so we would would like to see an example of one individual biome.
-Dillon Reisman and David Zheng
Relax
1-lab, we will exchange data on monday. I promise everyone will have data
2- no groups of 3, if you are alone and your partner is sick you should have exchanged contact info snd you can work this out. This is one of the joys of the technology age. You don't need to be in the same room to get the assignment done.
3- Read the assignment. The issues you are asking me about are specifically addressed in the assignment. 3 abiotic and 3 biotic per biome not 6 of each. No you don't need to write about each factor that is called note taking. Be creative in how you deal with getting the information into the story. The examples given should be plenty but here is one more. Imagine your character is from the hawian islands. Use that as you starting point and have the character compare each biome accordingly. So little hawian kid is is the tundra wearing nothing but his board shorts. In the picture he is shevering and snotsickles are forming as a hungry polar bear waits for him to freeze to death. The text might be him describing how the tundra is different than hawaii and he wishies that there was more sun light to warm up the area.(global explination for the local factors)of course your description should be more complete. I'm not going to do your work for you after all.
Smirk
Dear Mr. Smirk,
Thank you, this helps with writing the biome project...however, it does not answer all the question, such as how biotic factors can exist from a global perspective. Do you mean something like, "Polar bears live in the Arctic because they thought Hawaii was too hot [and touristy]", or "Arctic polar bears like to feed on the penguins"?
Also: quote No you don't need to write about each factor that is called note taking. unquote What do you mean? We need to mention them but not write about them in detail?
Thank you,
Sharon
ATTENTION ATTENTION PLEASE READ THIS WE NEED HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dear Coach Smirk,
We never expected that you were going to do our work for us, nor do we think we implied this expectation.
We would like to reiterate David and Dillon's question: Could you please give us an example of how a biome might be fully represented in this project? We won't copy your example; we are just extremely confused. What is a biotic factor? What is an abiotic factor? In fact, what is a factor?
Also, could you please explicate the sentence, "No you don't need to write about each factor that is called note taking. "? Do we not need to write about the global explanation for each factor, or do we not need to write about the factor itself? If we don't write about it, do we still have to include it in the graphic? What do you mean by "that is called note taking."?
What are we supposed to do with the old leaf litter? What are we supposed to do with the old compost?
Thanks.
Sharon-I think you are missing one step. To explain the local biotic factors you need to look at the local abiotic factors (think about the environmental impact on evolution and adaptive radiation) and to understand the local abiotic factors you need to look at the global perspective like the influence of the wind direction or the amount of solar radiation at a specific lattitude as so on.
As for writing about each factor it is up to you to decide how to get the information out there for the public to consume. I would say a combination of graphics and text would be best. IE a childrens book
PS: Can you please confirm that the project is due, without a doubt, on Monday? Sorry for bothering you, but it is important to know. Thanks for reading.
--Sharon
PS: Can you please confirm that the project is due, without a doubt, on Monday? Sorry for bothering you, but it is important to know. Thanks for reading.
--Sharon
PS- Seriously, when you say "factor" do you mean something that affects something else, as in "density-dependent factor", or just a thing, as in an animal or weather condition?
Project due monday when you walk in the door
Abiotic and biotic are directly defined in your text.
The biome graphs you complted show 2 abiotic factors. There are lots more than just those two. I told you when you were assigned the graphs that they could be used to help you look at abiotic factors. Biotic factors would be the organisms living in the area as a direct result of the abiotic factors. IE cactus in desert. It can survivr there because of th ewaxy cuticle that allows it to retain water even in severe drought conditions. THe kangaroo rat who doesn't drink any water so it can survive off only eating the insects it eats.
There is a desert found on the west coast of peru because at that lattitude the wind blows from east to west and the air coming off of the atlantic is so moisture rich that it can't make it over the andes mountains. THis means it rains in brasil and the coast of peru is a desert. THis is called the rain shadow effect.
I woiuld have completed this information by having my character travel over the andes and spent time in brasil where it rained then over the andes to peru where there isn't and shown pictures of how dry it is and how wet brasil is and the characters could talk about how much fun it was in brasil swimming with the anacondas. Then in peu talking about how it's just as hot as brasil but much drier. so on and so forth.
"You must explain why these factors exist from a global perspective."
"no you don't need to write about each factor that is called note taking."
What do you mean by "note taking"?
So you're saying that we have to explain only the abiotic factors, or all of the factors? You're contradicting yourself - first you say that we have to explain all of them, then you say that we don't. What exactly do you want us to do?
This is going around in circles... you haven't been answering our questions; you've only been creating more.
do the biomes have to have different factors, or can we use the same factors for each biome?
As far as we can see, abiotic and biotic are not "directly defined in the text." They were in neither the glossary nor the index.
That is right you need to create a functional definition for abiotic and biotic factor. You could also cunsult other resources for this. Such as the campbell texts teh internet...
the biomes can have different factors you do not need to have a direct comparison fro biome to biome it would be fine to talk about temperature for one and rainfall for another
As for not answering your questions I'm very sorry that you are having difficulty interpreting the assignment. I have given this specific assignment to my classes for several years now and even the introductory level classes are able to read, interpret and produce a stiry for this project. Maybe you should try to do the assignment. Actually create something verses just trying to have it be perfect the first time around. THis assignment is about your creativity, your ability to go beyond what the book has written in text form, your ability to search for other resources, among other things.
Oh and do me a favor and sign your posts so I can write to you directly. It seems to be a much more effective manner of communication.
Ok, just checking:
First you said that "abiotic and biotic are directly defined in [the] text." Then when we said "abiotic and biotic are not 'directly defined in the text'", you replied, "that is right".
What are the campbell texts?
Aaron was asking whether we are allowed to use the same factors in different biomes, not whether we are allowed to use different factors for different biomes and not compare. He already knows that.
Please clarify! Thank you!
As for the definition. I belive at the start of the chapter the terms are used in the text. I don't have the book in front of me so I can't tell you the page. What I can tell you is that sasank had the same question and when he looked in the book he found teh information by reading the chapter. He showed me where it was in the text. So since teh term is used in the text it is defined.
As to Aaron's question yes you may use the same abiotic factors in each biome .
Ok one last coment on this abiotic biotic issue. On page 704 that is chapter 34 section 1 the introductory paragraph specifically addresses both biotic and abiotic factors. Although the terms are not italicized or in bold it still specifically defines each term and give plenty of examples for each.
for anyone who needs it,
blueplanetbiomes.org is a great source of information.
Mr.Smirk, if you could look at it and say if it seems good, that would be great
All it says for biotic factors is that they are the various populations of the organisms??
I don't really understand how we are supposed to portray biotic factors in our story. Would it be like saying polar bears can survive in cold weatehr because they have a lot of fur that keeps them warm??
would photsynthesis be biotic or abiotic?
and what about decomposition?
Mr. Smirk-
if we aren't doing the storybook on Powerpoint, can we use pictures from the Internet or do we have to draw them??
- Megan and Maya
Hi Mr Smirk,
I was looking over the posts, I kind of have the same question as dillon..So, my question is for the abiotic/biotic factors should we be very specific!? I'm very confused, because at this point the writing in mine is almost sounding kind of generic (i.e it's an aerage tmpe. of blah blah, etc.)
And, for climate, can we count different aspects of it sperate points..?
thanks!
-elektra
maya and megan pics from teh internet are fine
Electra yes you can count seperate points from teh climate.
The polar bear example is fine. You should be able to use that definition of biotic factors. it's any living thing within the biome. so decomposers are a fine example of biotic factors. Plants carrying out photosynthesis is also acceptable
Our group
(Meg Reilly, Will Johnson, Katie Manning)
pd 8
We Found:
2 Araneae (spider)
2 Hymenoptera (ant)
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