Slides Microscope Containers - Petri dish size or smaller. Droppers Have organisms and freezers available. Time Frame Three consecutive class periods to begin the experiment plus additional periods for data collection and analysis. Perhaps one or two students can assume the role of class recorders. Subsequent results will be compared to these predictions.
Students can also document the discussion in their lab notebooks.
Ask the students to share their thoughts on how they think the animals they observed and drew manage to survive the Antarctic winters. Ask students to think about any cells that might be able to survive freezing. Students may think about how artificial insemination in agriculture makes use of frozen sperm cells. Decide on a controlled experiment that will investigate the survival of tartigrades and rotifers in temperature below which most organism freeze at . Let the class decide on how many questions can be explored.