In addition to my intense love of animals and nature, I also enjoy art, poetry, things gothic, victorian and of the romantic era, classical music & literature, and nature photography.

This particular experiment would be terrific to tie into the living environment curriculum which is currently being piloted in many NYC high schools.   It is said that this curriculum will eventually replace the existing traditional biology syllabus.

Major understanding 5.2 in the living environment curriculum deals with pathogens and immunity.  This laboratory would go wonderfully following a lesson (lessons) on infectious agents and antibiotics.  Students can conduct experiments first hand using spices of their choice as antibiotic agents!  This is both easy to do and immensely interesting!

Additionally, the concept of biodiversity can be illustrated using microbial life in addition to macrobiological specimens which traditionally many tend to focus upon for this unit.

The second week of the institute was spent studying biodiversity at the American Museum of Natural History.  What a collection of the most extraordinary exhibits, wealth of information and tremendous array of resources the museum has to offer!  At the museum, we were given behind the scenes tours of various halls in addition to learning extensively about how the hall of biodiversity came to be.  In addition to learning of the many ways in which the hall can be used for teaching, (it is just amazing how extensive the exhibit is and how much one can take away from it!) we were also given ample  resources such as handouts, books, pamphlets and a video in which to inform us as educators and  ultimately enhance the teaching of biodiversity.

Participants were also lead on a second field trip, this time to central park.  Various insect and spider specimens (many of which all too often go unnoticed) were collected through a variety of methods for later examination and classification.  Once classified, we then learned about individual roles that these organisms play in their ecosystem.  This trip would be an excellent lab for students, relevant to so many areas in biology from ecology and interdependence to biodiversity and environmental issues.

Participants in the institute constructed a biodiversity teaching curriculum based on resources and experiences we had been exposed to - both at Pace and at the museum.  These directly tie into the major understandings and concepts expected to be taught to students from the Living Environment Curriculum.  Please peruse these lesson plans, labs and ideas which we developed for both our own use and for anyone else who may be interested in using them.  You can connect to this page of  our lesson plans through the Woodrow Wilson Institute website.

In short, the museum is a MUST for any school teacher that can reach it.  I just cannot even put into words how valuable a resource it is for us as NYC school teacher!!!!!!!!!