Madrona K-8

Edmonds, Washington

We are the Epicenter class from Madrona K-8. Our class is studying ecosystems and we decided to examine the specimens and macroinvertebrates in our local pond. Our school pond is remote and hidden by a forest of many trees blocking much of the sunlight that will come over our pond. This pond is rather small and no running water flows through it.

May 10^th, 2006

Our question was:

Are the organisms found in pond water the same all over the world?

Our hypothesis was:

We think some organisms are the same and some are different because of different climates and water quality.

Materials:

1 jar for collection

1 hand lens

1 Identification Key

1,000 mL measuring device (each table group identified the organisms in 1,000mL making a total of 6,000 mL for the whole class)

pencil

science journal

recording chart to organize data

Pipette

Procedure:

1.      Collect water from the pond

2.    Measure out 1,000 mL of water per group to identify the organisms

3.    Use a pipette to move water to a tray for identification

4.    Keep track of organisms found on our recording sheet

Data collected:

Weather: Partly sunny and cloudy comfortable temperature around 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

Water color: brown and noticeably murky

Organism found: