We used CODAP (the Collaborative Online Data Analysis Platform) to allow students to easily explore patterns in protist abundance and diversity in Dry Valleys lakes. Dr. Morgan-Kiss and MCM PhD student Anna Wright uploaded data for one year of samples from Lake Fryxell and Lake Bonney. This included the concentration of Chrlorophyta, Cryptophyta, Ciliophora, Chrystophtes and Fungi, the depth at which samples were taken, and the amount of light measured at those depths. Using those variables, students looked for patterns and explanations for which species are found where and how and why that might differ between the two lakes.
we created. We introduced students to the protists and lake ecosystems using these "trading cards". And we used to help the students learn how to graph and ask questions in CODAP. Students received physical copies of the materials for the course in a series of packets that they opened before each class (pictured here).
