Project Blog

This week we finished our biodiversity project. I have chosen the invasive species. We had to choose an invasive organism who is not native to where they live and explain why they are such a problem. We created an infographic about them. My invasive species is the cane toad. I learned that these toads are very large, about the size of a teacup and weigh about 2.5 lbs. They will eat anything that fits in their mouths, and pose a serious threat of endangerment or extinction to larger predators.


In class we needed to present our projects, and I learned a lot from them. One group did the beluga whale, which was being threatened by trash and oil spills in the ocean. They decided that they best way to save the belugas was to throw all of your trash away in the trash can, and to make sure that none of your pipes are leaky so that no spilled oil ends up in the ocean. One group did the markhor, which is a very interesting looking animal with curly horns. It faces extinction because people hunt it for trophies and for its horns. They decided that making it illegal to own a markhor horn or to hunt markhor would be a good way to save them. Another group taught us about the bumblebee bat, which got its name because it was so tiny. People are chopping down the forests where they live and human pollution is making them endangered. Listening to these presentations really help you to understand what other kids are learning and gives people a chance to present their findings.


Backward-Looking


What resources did you use while working on this piece? Which ones were especially helpful? Which ones would you use again?

I used a website called easel.ly to make my infographic, and I would definitely use that again. I also found a word art website that was fun and useful to make a frog shaped piece of art. I would so totally use those again.


Inward-Looking


How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?

I am very proud about the infographic that my partnership made. I really liked the researching stage where we got to learn all about our organism. I also like the beginning part where we started to make the infographic. I didn’t like that my partner didn’t help me a lot. He just gave me his information and played typing games while I made the entire infographic. I did like how neat our product turned out, even though my partner didn’t help. I really enjoyed this project.


Outward-Looking


Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? In what ways did you do it differently? In what ways was your work or process similar?

I was one of the very few kids in the class that chose invasive species. There were five other people who had chosen it. One group made a diorama, so my infographic was pretty different from theirs. The other group made an infographic as well, but theirs was different from ours. The rest of the class made websites and timelines instead, so I was pretty different from everyone else.



Forward-Looking


What would you change if you had a chance to do this piece over again?

I would get my partner to help me. He spent the whole time talking to other groups and playing games online instead of helping me. We could’ve made a better infographic if he had helped, so next time I would get him to participate instead of playing useless games.