12.1.2008 classroom reflection

[Sean Nash]

Post your reflections from tonight's class here. There should be done as soon as possible and are due the Sunday night following class.

Describe major "aha's" from our discussion, outline ways in which your prior assumptions changed as a result of our talk, summarize the main points of our lesson, etc.

Four things to remember for next period:
-tonight's reflection is due before midnight on sunday, december 7th
-blog post connected to chapter 13 of Enchanted Braid
-quiz in two parts: 1. fish ID 2. coral reef ecology

[Dillon Brewer]

I don't think i've been the first to post something before, I like the fact that at last class was interesting like always. I remember learning about some of reef ecology from zoology last year. It was a good refresher but also some of that stuff I never heard of. I was glad in replace of the question project we have to comment on Nicole Rhore's blog. I havn't read it, but I saw that 6 people already did there comments on it. It must be pretty interesting for mr.nash want to comment on it. I also like the fact that in 4 more months we are going to the bahammas, I think I spelled that wrong.

[Nick Straton]

Something I took away from our last class was how incredibly efficient coral reefs really are. The fact that such creatures set up something so intricate is crazy. I didn't realize that the back reef was barren either. When adding polyp extract to zooxanthellae the algae will release three times as much sugar was interesting to think about when comparing something like that to how humans would be affected if we could do the same.

[Chris Puett]

I enjoyed the last class we had. I had learned most of the information on the corals from my zoology class i took last year. But even reviewing it triggered a little bit in my mind on the zooxanthellae and the sharing of their food to keep the whole coral alive and not just the side with the oncoming current. Even having that information, i found it very interesting when you shared the story of adding coral extract to the zooxanthellae that it produces 3 times as much sugar. Thats outrageous! I also enjoyed talking about the outcomes if we could somehow figure out how to use zooxanthellae to our benefit by injecting it into our bodies. That would be a phenomenal discovery. Iv'e got to start studying the fish for the upcoming id quiz next class period, i'm a bit behind on a few things and i plan on getting caught up soon.

[Terra Younger]

As Chris said, going over the corals was kind of review from Zoology, infact he was in my very same class :)! But going over them again was a good refresher... One thing that really hit home for me from last class period was the whole "going into space." I never really took the time to consider why we've never traveled further. But the way Nash explained it, how we need food (wierd I know) and then the shuttle needs to be bigger then more fuel... & it keeps going on and on... It was pretty cool how he compaired us to the corals, how we'd be able to travel further if we had single-celled algae living under our skin like the zooxanthellae... Last class period was really informative. I seriously learn more in one night of Marine then I do in a whole week of regular school, pretty sad, but true.
--- Oh Nash, I had a freaking NIGHTMARE thanks to our discussion!!!... I had a dream that we were all GREEN people.. Ok, so it wasn't that scary, but I didn't like it! :)

[Korby Trautman]

I think a lot of the stuff we went over tickled my memory and brought up some questions i had from Zoo last year. The coolest thing i remember is the Zooxanthellae. It is sooo cool to see an animal being born with living things in it. I mean, we have bacteria lining our digestive track (remember farts, Nash), but our bacteria literally don't supply a large supply of our bodies energy. Another thing i like about Coral is the fact that they are the "creatures that lurk in your nightmares." They are disgusting little boogers, with tentacles and "manus"'s they are pretty much the freaks architects of the coral reefs. Thank God they are small, otherwise we would be swarmed with the monsters. These Corals are truly the archetypes of the reefs, like i said before. Without them and they're hard exoskeletons, much of the fish in the ocean would not be there. They're "skeletons" literally is the safe haven for millions, BILLIONS, of fish, and is an important ecosystem in the world.

[Lacie Thompson]

I definitely liked this class because it was like a mini review from my Zoology class. I also thought the class was very relaxing we just kind of took it easy and it kept my attention span a lot more. I loved the little pictures to think of in our mind, it makes things a lot easier.