discovery (exploration, description, & explanation), reasoning, analysis, decision making, problem solving, reflecting, recording, note-taking, long-term studies & narration, science study skills, habits, practices

I am including this response because it showcases decision making, problem solving, analysis, and more.

You are building your own pond on a piece of land and have received a small grant to fund the purchase of organisms to stock the pond. We’ll assume there are bacteria already present. Make a list that includes each of these headings as well as the examples of organisms you would choose to purchase: two microscopic producers; two macroscopic producers; two microscopic protist consumers; and two macroscopic animal consumers.

Microscopic producers:

1. Algae

2. Diatoms

Macroscopic producers:

1. Elodea

2. Azolla

Microscopic protist:

1. Copepods

2. Amoebas

Macroscopic animal consumers:

1. Hydras

2. Planaria

I’m also including my response about the discovery pattern. It showcases discovery, recording, note taking, and more.

The process of discovery tends to follow a 3 step pattern. It starts with actually doing something and going somewhere to explore, for example going to a new beach and looking in the surf for things. Next up, after you have found something, you need to describe what you found. This can include making drawings, taking pictures, or recording sounds, etc. If I found a shell in the water, I could take some pictures of it, record a video, or even try to draw it. Lastly, you need to explain what you saw. This can include doing research or experiments if needed to be able to prove a theory or just learn more about something. I would likely go back and look up on the internet to see if I can find info about it. I can also check if there is anyone around who might be able to help me figure out what it is. I can also make guesses at what may have lived in it based on size and shape.

Lastly, my media piece below deals with note taking, discovery, recording, long term studies, habits, and practice!

Long Term Habitat Study

Location: Ocracoke Island, The Outer Banks, North Carolina

Frequency

I visit the outer banks very frequently, at least twice a year on average. I try to spread out my visits; one early in the summer and one in late summer. I have been visiting the outer banks for over half my life and I have seen major changes even since I began visiting. I plan to continue visiting and I am always excited to visit because of how the island changes so quickly and suddenly.

Predictions

I expect to see the Ocracoke point disappearing slowly as the years pass. The outer banks are known for their extremely fast changing shapes as the tides and currents are constantly pulling very hard. I would expect within just 5 years to see dramatic reduction in the size of the beach there.

I also expect to see a rise in sea turtle nesting population. The park rangers have done an amazing job protecting the nesting sea turtles and I have seen increasing amounts of nesting areas being closed off for the public. I even got lucky enough to watch hundreds of turtles making their dash to the ocean one year!

Data

I have thousands of photos taken over the years which gives me a great start to my documentation. Being a photographer for many years, photos and videos are my go to for documenting anything. I will also start to track the amount of turtles I find when visiting from now on so I can see the trends over time.

Bonus!!

Here is one of the photos I took when I watched the turtles hatching back in 2017