Freshman: 2019-2020

JAGS Biology Artifact and Reflection

(Personal Copy) Freshman Year - Biology GPS Reflection and Artifact: Natalie Bruss

Biome Project

Biome Project

March 2020

George Preston

Gathers and analyzes relevant background information from a variety of primary and secondary sources representing domestic or international perspectives. Evidence is directly related to a global issue and the hypothesis or research thesis.

Analyzes patterns and relationships in the research claims or data using appropriate grade level application of mathematical or statistical techniques and draws plausible conclusions about the scientific question, hypothesis or research thesis. Analyzes and interprets the impact of inconsistencies or error in the data or research.

Presents data with multiple visual representations that clearly support explanation of the global issue and engages the audience.

For this project, my group and I created a presentation on Deciduous Biomes. The United States is a deciduous biome, so it was credibly interesting to research about the environment that I live in. Looking into extinct and invasive species within the United States and Canada was also educational. Before this project, I hadn’t thought much about the extinction of the animals that surrounded me. I generally thought about animals in the Amazon forest when learning about extinction. I also enjoyed learning about the differences in the food chain. In our presentation, we talked about what would happen when certain populations were increased or decreased. I found this to be very interesting to visualize how many species can change with the increase of another group of animals.

This project also included a fun jeopardy game for the end of our presentation. The winner won some candy. This presentation felt less formal due to the jeopardy game, but it did help my presentation skills. It continued to reinforce those ideas and the ability to communicate my ideas with an audience. Creating and running a jeopardy game with a class full of freshmen was also an educational experience.