Kinesthetic Element – Interactive Experiment or Demonstration
For the kinesthetic element of my assignment, I planned and executed a small experiment related to my topic: how climate change is affecting marine ecosystems. I chose to experiment in order to determine the consequences of ocean acidification on the shells of marine organisms. The shells of clams, oysters, and snails were the ones that I gathered from the sea and arranged in containers that had varying levels of acidity. Then, I kept an eye on shells to see how they reacted to a low pH environment. Furthermore, I take the measurements of their shell to figure out if there are any changes in their size or shape (Worm et al., 2021).
In addition to that, I wrote a reflective essay proposing the significance of the experiment and its role in revealing the effect of climate change on marine ecosystems. In general, I was in a position to grasp the material more fruitfully because I was directly involved in the experiments. It offered an experience for seeing how ocean acidification affects the structures and habitats of marine organisms and the need to take action against climate change to protect marine ecosystems. Furthermore, by using a video and a written reflection, I could relay my results with life and energy, which then makes it more exciting to present my learning to other people.
Research Questions and Discoveries:
How do safety precautions affect kids’ ability to explore and interact with their surroundings freely?
Safety measures can greatly affect the way children use their surroundings for playing and relationships with the environment. While safety measures are important for protecting children from harm, too much restriction can effectively trim your children’s chance for exploration and learning. For example, if a playground is designed with fewer shields or toys, children can practice their physical skills and prevent themselves from taking harmless risks. On the contrary, a well-regulated and monitored environment complete with necessary safety features will allow kids the opportunity to explore and learn yet minimize the risk of injury (Camba et al., 2021).
What part do teachers play in putting safety rules into practice and making sure they are followed when playing outside?
Teachers have a key responsibility in making sure that safety rules are implemented and followed when children play outdoors. They are in charge of ensuring a controlled and safe atmosphere, setting out guidelines, and educating kids about risks and how to avoid them. Teachers can demonstrate safe behavior and, in addition, can help and guide kids while they are tackling the issues in their surrounding environment. Time for outdoor recess can be made safer for children when teachers ensure that children are guided and obey the safety rules.
In what ways does a well-thought-out safety strategy help kids achieve their developmental goals?
A well-conceptualized safety plan can favorably impact children’s developmental journey. First, there is an opportunity for children to take the first step into a new world, experience, and learn what is safe and what is not, which is the initial phase in building their physical competence, problem-solving skills, and resilience. Furthermore, it enhances children’s feeling of safety and then eases their emotional challenges and confidence. Another one is that it can help children learn useful life skills, for example, how to evaluate dangers, make decisions safely, and react to emergencies. Available overall, such a safety plan can develop an environment that is conducive to the well-being and achieving of the objectives for development.
Introduction:
The expedition of climate change and its influence on marine ecosystems has been a multifaceted journey that is completed through using either traditional research methods or the participatory approach that improves my comprehension. This paper will explore the use of creative and kinesthetic activities in teaching the concept, the difficulties experienced, and the discoveries and understanding that provide a holistic understanding using this multi-dimensional approach.
Creative Element – Visual Representation:
Through a digital mind map, I found the activity of creating a visual representation of the topic to be both challenging and rewarding. Distilling complicated information into concise and visually appealing forms was what I was forced to do. Colors, figures, and images that I see helped me to form images that were helpful in understanding the relationships between different ideas; they also made visible the connectedness of climate change and marine ecosystems. However, the issue was more in choosing the meaningful bits than it was in the arrangement of the presented information in a coherent way. The concept of key components and the interdependence between them had to be considered through this. Making the mind map helped me to comprehend the main ideas of the topic better by discovering the overall structure and areas that needed more details (Melzner et al., 2020).
Kinesthetic Element – Interactive Experiment:
Carrying out a realistic experiment to determine how marine plants and animals are affected by ocean acidification was an active session that brought out the topic for all the students. It was a unique opportunity to observe the consequences of climate change and how vital the role of mitigating this problem is. The challenge set here was to come up with an experiment that would have meaning and be a source of valuable information. I needed to think about the species of marine organisms of my choice, the acidity degree, and the time of the experiment. However, the experiment nevertheless brought forth important clues as to the effects of ocean acidification on marine organisms, underlining the necessity to act quickly on climate change.
Challenges Encountered:
A crucial obstacle that I was faced with during this (research) assignment was the complexity of the topic. The changing climate and the resultant impacts on marine ecosystems are multi-faceted issues that involve a wide range of factors and variables (Tittensor et al., 2021). This caused a problem in refining the content into condensed and structured information. The creative and kinesthetic nature of the assignment, which was not part of my regular learning approach, added to the project. On the other hand, these obstacles at times provided chances for getting better and learning.
Discoveries and Insights Gained:
This assignment enabled me to acquire a clearer perception of the correlation between climate change and marine ecosystems through the use of the artistic and physical sides. The visual representation helped me to see how the whole situation played out, which allowed me to know the specific areas that needed further investigation. I gained a great deal of knowledge from the practical experiment about how ocean acidification influences marine species, the ultimate message being for us to tackle climate change as a top priority. Thus, applying this holistic approach made me consider and analyze the topic in a more multifaceted and comprehensive way.
Conclusion:
In this assignment, with the creative and kinesthetic learning aids, the topic of climate change and its effect on marine ecosystems has become more understandable to me. They have opened up the topic for me to pursue a multidimensional exploration of the issue, which has helped me increase my comprehension and gain truly useful insights. While there were a few obstacles at different stages, they were for personal and professional growth. This project has taught me the importance of creativity and other active learning tools in helping us unravel the essence of complex matters like climate change.
References
Tittensor, D. P., Novaglio, C., Harrison, C. S., Heneghan, R. F., Barrier, N., Bianchi, D., … & Blanchard, J. L. (2021). Next-generation ensemble projections reveal higher climate risks for marine ecosystems. Nature Climate Change, 11(11), 973-981.
Melzner, F., Mark, F. C., Seibel, B. A., & Tomanek, L. (2020). Ocean acidification and coastal marine invertebrates: tracking CO2 effects from seawater to the cell. Annual Review of Marine Science, 12, 499-523.
Camba, C., Mier, J. L., Carral, L., Lamas, M. I., Álvarez, J. C., Díaz-Díaz, A. M., & Tarrío-Saavedra, J. (2021). Erosive degradation study of concrete augmented by mussel shells for marine construction. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 9(10), 1087.
Worm, B., & Lotze, H. K. (2021). Marine biodiversity and climate change. In Climate change (pp. 445-464). Elsevier.