Monday, July 12, 2010

Population Distance Assignment

I found the population growth rate text assignment to be quite interesting. It's a topic that I know I have covered in the past, but hadn't given it a lot of thought again until now. It really was staggering to read the statistics. When I went to the internation population applet, I did the simulation with the African country of Mali. The average birth rate was 7.3 children and the life expectancy was only 45 years old. The simulation fit with the stats presented in the text.

I am not sure that I would use the the applet except to reinforce another text. I wasn't sure exactly how changing the birth rate, for instance, affected the other stats. It was not very easy to interpret, but with more directions for the software, it might be useful.

The interpreting data worksheet was a good resource for introducing the concept of data collection and analysis. It would be a good jumping off point, but it would definitely require more information than was available on the worksheet.

I thought the random sampling activity would be the most useful for me. I could see it being used in ecology, the study of bacterial growth, hematology, etc.

I haven't used the biology corner website in the past. I am looking forward to spending a bit more time with it to see what I could apply to my students.

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