Thursday, December 18, 2008

T-Shirt Design Coming soon!!


Hellow Fellow Biology Clubbers!

The West High Biology Club in Iowa City, IA is about to go on Winter Break.

Happy Holidays to all.

We have had a fun fall and are looking forward to next year when we continue more

activities and projects.

Here is a photo shot of our T-Shirt design.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Whiting High School Bio Club Activities

The Whiting High School (Laramie, WY) chapter is in the process of getting themselves organized, and coming up with ideas for activities. We have elected officers. We meet every Tuesday at lunch time, and our numbers are growing from four students and two advisors, to ten students and two advisors. We are organizing a recycling program in the school. We have examined track casts that were provided by Wyoming Game and Fish, and learned to identify wildlife from their tracks. We will also learn about scat and furs, too. We are attempting to locate a sister school in another country. We will establish e-mail communications with that school, and possibly design some research projects that we can do together. Next time, we will post a picture!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Belleville BioClub Starts Speaker Series


Reception after Dr. Short's lecture

The Belleville East BioClub (Belleville IL) has started a Speaker Series to highlight outstanding orators in the St. Louis Area. On November 12, 2008 Dr. Philip Short gave a presentaiton titled "In the Shadow of the Shaman" See below for the Summary

Shadow of the Shaman The Loss of Traditional Ethnobotanical Knowledge in Suriname And the Implications for Education, Health, and Sustainability in the U.S. A Public Presentation by Dr. Philip C. Short An intricate knowledge of local plants is generally found in approximately 1/2 billion people living in tropical societies. Unfortunately, this traditional ethnobotanical knowledge (TEK) – so long a vital part of indigenous culture as food, shelter, and medicine – is being lost among the younger cohorts in many societies. In the culturally and biologically diverse Amazonian country of Suriname, the lure of modernization is not matched by promised benefits, and the loss of TEK creates a deficit in food and medicine. You are invited to come for a captivating experience with Dr. Short as he follows an elderly shaman, Frits, from the Saramaccan clan of Suriname’s Busi Negro rainforest culture. As an aging medicine men and native botanist, Frits is on an urgent quest to transfer his knowledge to the next generation. Explore a colorful landscape of rivers, rainforests, birds, reptiles, bats, and howler monkeys while being enlightened in the shadow of the shaman. Dr. Philip Short has a bachelors degree in biology and chemistry, a masters degree in zoology, and a Ph.D. in science and environmental education. He has taught a variety of science courses over 25 years from middle school through university graduate courses. He currently teaches wildlife biology and advanced ecology at Belleville Township High School East, conducts research and coordinates environmental education workshops at the Center for Instruction, Staff Development, and Evalutaion, and is a consulting editor for the Journal of Environmental Education. From his rural childhood exploring forested ravines and river swamps to wilderness adventures and interactions with local people in diverse settings, Dr. Short’s philosophical approach to experiential learning stimulates dialogue on the ultimate relevance of our educational systems.


Monday, December 8, 2008

EcoAction Letterboxing in PA


We're so excited! Saltsburg EcoAction finally got out to do their first letterboxing activity. It was a wonderful chance to have the group in the woods exploring the flora and fauna and we also enjoyed the whole "treasure hunt" feeling that it had. Sometimes, we forget how lucky we are to be living in such a beautiful area. Saltsburg is a canal town that straddles the Kiskimenitas River, just east of Pittsburgh. The river trails make it an ideal place for canoes, bikes and, of course, hikers like us. Enjoy the pic!


Christmas came early for us this year, as we just recieved word that we've recieved a grant from DonorsChoose for a GPS unit. This gives us the capability to geocache, in addition to letterboxing, so it really opens up our options for the next trip! If you're not familiar with letterboxing, check it out at: Letterboxing North America. For more information on geocaching, check out: The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site . Maybe we'll see you out there!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Great Plains Lutheran HS BioClub

Hello,

Glad to be involved. Our school is located in Watertown, SD, in the NE part of the state. Our school is small (120) but I have quite a few bio-interested students.
Echoing the thoughts of others, this is the only club in existence to my knowledge with a national presence, making my students interested. I will use this as the overarching group for all our science activities. We have a quiz bowl day, two science fairs, and a Roots and Shoots group, but this one can be for all members with the other groups being served from it. It makes it easier for me and better for them.
My question regards t-shirts - is there a logo for NABT BioClub or is the phrase what there is for now? Do others just put BioClub on as their identifier?
Thanks for any/all input.
Greg Diersen
GPLHS

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Greetings from Kansas

Recently I learned of a web site where students and teachers could post science videos. I had a couple of lab groups make a video and get it posted. These were students who normally barely get by in class. Finally, I found something to motivate them and make them think about science and why they were doing a lab activity. The site is www.testtoob.com. You need to sign up for a membership but it is free and easy.

They don't have very many life science videos yet. This could be a project that you could do with your BioClub members. Have fun and I'll be watching the site for new videos.

Best Regards,
Kim
Marysville High School
Marysville KS

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

York High School Bio Club

Our Bio Club at York HS is new this year. We have about 10 regular members. So far, we have done some Phagehunting and mitchondrial DNA extraction. We have some Painted Lady Butterflies that needed adopting. We also plan to do stream monitoring in the spring and have plans to celebrate Darwin's birthday.

Ware Shoals High School BioClub

The WSHS BioClub is busy planning an outreach adventure to the local primary school. The students are planning on taking a variety of reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates to share with the students. One of the activities that we are planning for Darwin Day is to work with the Spanish classes to produce posters, both in English and Spanish, to display around the school. We just acquired three new red-legged tortoises for our turtle habitat and a Sulcata has also been promised. More news will come later.