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Animal House, the Rice way
  
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By JENNIFER HEATH
Are you good at math?
Try this equation…
High school students plus an educational opportunity early Saturday morning equals:
Having trouble coming up with an answer?
For more than 50 Bellaire High School students, they were part of the solution as they attended Rice University from 9 a.m. to noon on Nov. 8 to learn about animal behavior and evolution. Students from the university’s Animal Behavior Class taught the high school students in small breakout sessions.
“This is such a great experience because I feel it not only teaches kids about animal behavior, but it also gets the kids on to a university campus,” said Prof. Joan Strassmann, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department chair. “I told my students they had to make this fun for the students because this is a Saturday these kids are giving up.”
The 22 Rice students broke into teams and developed lessons on sexual selection, mating systems, communication, altruism and parent-offspring conflict.
“I have to warn you,” Strassmann told the students, “animal behavior, by its nature, it’s a kind of racy topic. You may be asked to play the part of an animal and even pick a mate. But remember, it’s all in the name of education.”
Each short class period involved a slide show presentation and hands-on activities to reinforce the main ideas.
Bellaire seniors Deleon Le and and Oliver Huang performed a dance and created their own bower bird nests as part of the interactive learning in the sexual selection class. They were trying to woo the most females to their habitat.
“It was a fun and interesting way to embarrass myself,” Le said. “The dancing was the worst part.”
Le said he signed up to attend the weekend study session because he wanted to get a head start on animal behaviors, something he hasn’t studied before.
And that’s part of the reason this cooperation between Bellaire and Rice was created.
“Animal behavior is something I don’t always get to get to in class, just because of the time constraints,” said Bellaire AP Biology teacher Anna Loonam. “So this is a huge opportunity.”
This is the second year the two schools have teamed up, and both are hopeful the relationship continues. For the Rice students, they had a chance to share their knowledge. For the Bellaire students, they learned a little something extra and received some bonus points, too.
“It’s been more game-oriented today, and I liked that,” said Bellaire senior Isis Gaber. “But I came because of the extra credit. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be up at this time.”
Try this equation…
High school students plus an educational opportunity early Saturday morning equals:
Having trouble coming up with an answer?
For more than 50 Bellaire High School students, they were part of the solution as they attended Rice University from 9 a.m. to noon on Nov. 8 to learn about animal behavior and evolution. Students from the university’s Animal Behavior Class taught the high school students in small breakout sessions.
“This is such a great experience because I feel it not only teaches kids about animal behavior, but it also gets the kids on to a university campus,” said Prof. Joan Strassmann, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department chair. “I told my students they had to make this fun for the students because this is a Saturday these kids are giving up.”
The 22 Rice students broke into teams and developed lessons on sexual selection, mating systems, communication, altruism and parent-offspring conflict.
“I have to warn you,” Strassmann told the students, “animal behavior, by its nature, it’s a kind of racy topic. You may be asked to play the part of an animal and even pick a mate. But remember, it’s all in the name of education.”
Each short class period involved a slide show presentation and hands-on activities to reinforce the main ideas.
Bellaire seniors Deleon Le and and Oliver Huang performed a dance and created their own bower bird nests as part of the interactive learning in the sexual selection class. They were trying to woo the most females to their habitat.
“It was a fun and interesting way to embarrass myself,” Le said. “The dancing was the worst part.”
Le said he signed up to attend the weekend study session because he wanted to get a head start on animal behaviors, something he hasn’t studied before.
And that’s part of the reason this cooperation between Bellaire and Rice was created.
“Animal behavior is something I don’t always get to get to in class, just because of the time constraints,” said Bellaire AP Biology teacher Anna Loonam. “So this is a huge opportunity.”
This is the second year the two schools have teamed up, and both are hopeful the relationship continues. For the Rice students, they had a chance to share their knowledge. For the Bellaire students, they learned a little something extra and received some bonus points, too.
“It’s been more game-oriented today, and I liked that,” said Bellaire senior Isis Gaber. “But I came because of the extra credit. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be up at this time.”
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