Challenge Activity

Kingdom:	Animilia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Suidae
Genus:	Sus
Species:	S. scrofa

Animalia means it is an animal. Chordata means it has a back bone. Mammalia means its nurses the young. Artiodactyla meant is an order of mammals that comprises the even-toed ungulates. Suidae means that it is in the pig, boar, hog family. Sus means it is a genus of the Suidae. Lastly S. Scrofa which is a wild boar. 

The other members of my group chose a chicken, cicada, and. They are similar to the pig because they are all in the animalia kingdom. 

The Wild Boar is the "wild" ancestor of the tamable pig. The wild boar, also known as the Sus Scrofa, is the "wild" ancestor of the pig. It is commonly found  in woodlands across much of Central Europe, the Mediterranean Region and much of Asia and has reached down lower to Indonesia. Wild Board can weigh as much as 900 lb and can be up to 9 ft long. Wild boars can be highly dangerous and aggressive. When it comes to eating they eat both meat and plants making them omnivores. They prey on reptiles, eggs, and amphibians. They also enjoy eating fruits.

Cricket Investigation

Question: Does the cricket prefer a light or dark environment?
Hypothesis: If the cricket spends more time in the light then the cricket prefers the light because it is more attracted to it.
Background Research: They are approximately 900 types of crickets. Crickets have good vision and good hearing. Crickets have compound eyes which means that they are able to see in many directions at once. When it comes to chirping crickets chirp more when the temperature is hotter. They chirp by rubbing parts of their body together. When the temperature is 52 Fahrenheit, crickets chirp about 60 times a minute. The reason crickets chirp is to attract female crickets. Only male crickets chirp. Crickets diet consist of fresh fruits, tomatoes, fresh seedlings, fungi, alfalfa, apples, bananas, grapes, and etc.

Behavior         15 sec.                  30 sec.                  45 sec.                 1 min

Walking:                     
Standing:              |                             |                           |                             |             Trial 1
Jumping:

Dark/light:        Dark                     Dark                      Dark                  Dark
                 
Behavior         15 sec.                  30 sec.                  45 sec.                 1 min

Walking:                           
Standing:              |                            |                              |                            |             Trail 2
Jumping:

Dark/light:        Light                    Light                      Light                    Light

Behavior         15 sec.                  30 sec.                  45 sec.                  1 min

Walking:                                                                          |
Standing:            |                              |                                                                        Trail 3
Jumping:                                                                                                     |

Dark/light:        Dark                      Dark                     Light                 Light

Behavior          15 sec.                  30 sec.                  45 sec.                  1 min

Walking:              |                 
Standing:                                            |                              |                           |             Trail 4
Jumping:

Dark/light:        Light                    Light                     Light                  Light

Behavior          15 sec.                  30 sec.                  45 sec.                    1 min

Walking:                                    
Standing:             |                            |                              |                           |               Trail 5
Jumping:

Dark/light:        Light                    Light                     Light                  Light

Explanation: In my data table what I did to collect my data I did 5 trials. I collected data by observing what the crickets were doing in the tank every 15 seconds. If they were walking I would put a tally mark next to it and if it was simply standing I'd put a tally mark next to that and the same thing with jumping. Along with seeing where they were every 15 seconds I wrote down if they were in the light or in the dark.

Conclusion: Based on my data table the cricket liked to spend more time in the light. At first the cricket was just in the tube which is the dark part of the environment it is in. Then it began to jump onto the tube which is considered as the light  part. My data supports my hypothesis because my hypothesis states that the cricket would spend more time in the light because it is attracted to it. When I started recording data the cricket was mostly in the tube but then it spend the rest of the time in the light.

This Week in Science #6

1. This week in science we did our cricket investigation. We researched about crickets. We  researched about their diet, and what type of environment they live in. We also came up with some ideas for investigation questions. Another thing we did in science this week was observe some crickets. We tried to collect data about whether the cricket like a wet environment more than a dry one. We used charts to collect our data. On Wednesday we classified jelly beans by their appearance. To me the word classify means to separate a group things by their appearance. We classified them by whether or not they had dots, or a specific color of dots. We made a dichotomous key for our jelly beans. The dichotomous key made it easier for us to understand and track which jelly bean was which.

2. This week in science I learned about crickets. On Monday I researched about crickets. I learned that they have good vision and hearing. Crickets have compound eye which means that they are able to see in many directions at once.  I learned about crickets diet which consists of tomatoes, garden fresh fruits, fresh seedlings, fungi, alfalfa, apples, bananas, grapes, and etc. I also found out the reason why and how crickets make music. The way that the crickets are able to make music is by rubbing their body parts together. They do this to mate with the female crickets. I learned how to make and use a dichotomous key. I used the dichotomous key to help me classify the jelly beans David gave me.

This week in science #5

1. This week in science we completed our rocket investigation. We all worked on our individual conclusion. We finished our rocket investigation and we are currently working on our next investigation which involves animal behavior. We watched some videos on youtube of animals and we wrote down some of their behaviors. We observed how they acted whether they were aggressive or friendly. We saw how one bird tried to mate with a human being. We also observed some crickets that David had in the room.

2. This week in science I learned how to write a better conclusion than last time. We learned how our independent variable affected our rockets distance. In my group the size of the fins did affect the distance of the rocket. That is because our rocket with the smallest fins flew the farthest and the one with the biggest fins few the least farthest. We learned about what were some of the behaviors of the animals we watched on youtube.

1. This week in science we did our write-up. Each member of our team contributed something to put our write-up together. I had to do the team members, background paragraph, experimental set-up and outcome for dark. Right now my group member and conclusion and after that we are done with everthing. Everything went pretty good.

2. This week in science I learned how to get a good grade by following everything on the rubric David gave us. I learned how to work even more cooperativly with people. I also learned how to do some tricks on Google Docs. Learning some tricks on the laptop made it more easier to work with the laptop.

This week in science #3

1) This week in science we our driving question was "How can we as scientist, conduct and publish a plant investigation that satisfies all the NDHS requirements and get us an A?" We did a list of things we needed to know about being graded. My groups testable question is "How doe the amount of light affect the Brassica Rapa's height? Our hypothesis is "If the amount of light changes then Cup B and C will not have any color because of the lack of sunlight. Throughout we did some observations and drawings from our plants.

2) This week in science David gave us a rubric. I learned about the requirements I need to fulfill in order to get a good grade in this investigation project. On Tuesday we learned more about hypothesis and procedures. I learned that our procedure has to be thoroughly written in order for everyone to be able to follow it. As for our hypothesis it is suppose to be written in the if-then-because format.

This Week In Science #2

1) This week in science we played with poppers and began our second plant investigation. On Tuesday we played with the poppers and did some observations. Some of the poppers were small and some of them were really big. We talked about dependent and independent variables. Then the next day, Wednesday, we planted brassica rapa in three cups. My groups question for this plant investigation is "How does the amount of light affect the brassica rapa's height?" Our independent variable is light and our dependent variable is the height of the brassica rapa.

2) This week in science I learned about the brassica rapa. The brassica rapa is a dicot. It has several different names it can be identified as. The brassica rapa grows better in moist areas and well fertilized areas. The brassica rapa is also used as a remedy, folk medicine. People believe it helps in curing breast, and skin cancer. To be used to help you have to boil the roots with lard. It is also occasionally suspected for poising pigs and sheep. I also learned a few things about the poppers. You can change the independent variable and that will affect and change the result of your experiment.