Monday, October 27, 2008

EcoAction at Saltsburg

Hi, All!

Here at Saltsburg High School (PA), we have less than 400 students (7-12) and 20+ of them belong to EcoAction. If you're keeping score at home, that's 5% of our student body that participates actively in our club! We are the ONLY club in existence at our school. When I started here, three years ago, students approached me to start a biology/ecology based club and EcoAction was born. Our club is completely student managed. The president starts the meetings and committees take over from there. I'm proud to be their sponsor.

In the past years, we have started a very successful recycling program at our school, brought in speakers and activities for Earth Week, participated in the Environthon, and more. During our meetings, we do activities and experiments of the students's choosing. We also produce the school's talent show as a fundraiser on the side.

We are currently trying to put together the funding to build a greenhouse facility as part of our school's upcoming building project, so keep your fingers crossed. Also, this year, we hope to get out to do some letter boxing/geocaching in our area and have the chace to place a letterbox of our own. At the end of the year, we're taking a canoe trip down the river (Saltsburg is on the Kiskiminetas) to a place where we're going to camp overnight; it should be great fun!

We're happy to be a BioClub and look forward to working with all of you to develop our club further. Check out our website at: http://www.geocities.com/xedra77/EcoAction.html.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Live Club Interactions

Hello everyone! I ran this idea via email yesterday. With the wonders of the web these days, how many of you would be interested in doing some live club interactions? I think this could really have some potential. I realize that time may be an issue due to time differences but it can be managed. We would need to have webcams (very cheap these days) and I suggest using scype which is a free program and allows for this type of interaction.

Let me know what all of you think and lets run with it! One way to make our club experience even better! :-)

West High Biology Club

Hello everyone. We are the Biology Club from West High School in Iowa City, IA. Our club has been in existence for 9 years. We participate in the Biology Olympics, Envirothon, and support our Ecology Club and Geocaching Club. Many of our students participate in local science fairs and also volunteer at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Some students also spend time working and volunteering in research labs at the university. We have ongoing projects in our school like local water monitoring of streams and we raise Xenopus frogs and study their development. We will send pictures of our group soon. We are all excited to be a part of NABT BioClubs and look forward to exchanging ideas with everyone.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

UoC Lab Aquarium Project.


This is the star of our aquarium project. We have several Polypterus senegalus individuals that voraciously hunt and eat anything they can fit into their mouths, including small Jack Dempsey cichlids. This one is a large female at about 11" long.

These fish have been an enormous aid in class. I've used them primarily to help with the teaching of cladograms but, they've proven indispensable when teaching behavior too. It is the excited caused by these fish that my student started an aquarium club, this absorbed as the BioClub.

Daniel

University of Chicago Lab Schools Aquarium Project


This is our 350 gallon, only filled to 180, in class swamp. We grow mangroves, not always successfully though, tropic latitude fish, crustaceans, etc. My students built the stand and refinished the aquarium. The person from whom we purchased the tank (thank you ebay), used it for tortoises and had drilled several holes in the bottom. Over a year later and so far no flooding on the first floor beneath me!

An in-class environment goes a long long way to attract would-be members of a club and win some hard fought battles with students who might not otherwise be motivated in biology class.

Daniel

University of Chicago Laboratory Schools

Hello from Chicago!

Anyone else planning a celebration of Darwin's 200th birthday? Our club at LAB is planning for speakers and activities for Feb 12 and we are interested in suggestions, ideas, etc.

Daniel
UoC LAB

Sunday, October 12, 2008

East Chapel Hill High School Science Club

At East Chapel Hill High School in Chapel Hill, NC, we have an extremely active Science Club of about 80 members. We particpate in the National Science Bowl, Science Olympiad and other fun competitions. We also do service work. The students will do science shows at various elementary schools and help with snake shows - also at elementary schools.

Because this club was already extremely active and included some passionate "biologists" we are incorportating our NABT Biology Club under the umbrella of our existing club. This section of the club is working hard with younger members of the club to help them with the biology events in Science Olympiad since that is our first big activity.

We also have Dr. Oliver Smithies (Nobel Prize Winner) coming to speak to some classes in February. Biology Club students will be invited to join in this exciting event.

Judy Jones
Biology Teacher and Science Club Advisor
ECHHS

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

WARE SHOALS BIOCLUB


The Ware Shoals BioClub is located at Ware Shoals High School in Ware Shoals, SC. Our school was one of the places where the movie Leatherheads was filmed a couple of years ago, but that is another story! Our chapter is off to a great and enthusiastic start. The officers were elected at the first meeting, and the students were ready to get to work. In fact, I had to convince them that scheduling a meeting every day was a little bit excessive, so we finally agreed to meet on the first and third Mondays of every month.

There are several projects that the group is working on during the year. One is working with the Art Club to construct tortoise and aquatic turtle habitats on campus that will be used by local schools and the community. The group is also attempting to breed poison dart frogs to help promote the Year of the Frog. Additionally, they will visit a couple of local elementary/primary schools later in the year to show/explain several snakes, lizards, spiders, etc. that they are maintaining in the classroom.

These students are very excited about the entire BioClub concept, and they think that it is very neat to be part of a national organization. Check back later to see how things are going with our outdoor habitats construction project.

Skyline High School Biology Club

Hello to all!

Here in the pacific northwest in Sammamish, Washington (a suburb of Seattle) we have a strong biology club foundation. Our club was founded 4 years ago and has grown each year. This year we are proud to be an official NABT bio club!

We hold meetings monthly. Our first meeting was primarily logistics at which students sign up for the club, order t-shirts, and plan the years activities. Our second meeting, held yesterday, was a sheep brain dissection. Based on the enthusiasm in the room, we may have a solid new crop of neurosurgeons in the future!

In November we will be preforming an ELISA test. For December, we will be taking a trip to the local science center to view the Lucy fossil. In January we participate in the Biology Olympiad and have a guest speaker from a local bio-research firm. Beyond that, our activities not planned.

best to you, and remember... Biology for Life!

Cheers,
Gretel von Bargen
www.biologyforlife.com

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Lake Highland BioClub

Hello from Orlando, Florida!
The BioClub at LHP has made some big plans for the inaugural year! We have elected officers and will complete our first community service project on October 18th by participating in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk. Members have formed committees to work on a school-wide (Pre-K through 12) DNA Day, possible field trips and guest speakers, and participation in USA Bio Olympiad. We are also considering ways to renaturalize different areas of our campus. We have ambitous plans and hope to accomplish them all :-)
We hope to hear about the activities of more clubs and look forward to sharing our experiences throughout the year.

NABT BioClub

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to send a quick note to introduce myself. My name is Jacki and I'm the Director of Development for NABT. I've been working with George to promote the BioClub within the association, and I encourage all of you send me your comments and suggestions.

Thanks for all your hard work getting the NABT BioClub off the ground.

-J