Week 5

As far as the zoo's involvement in my classroom, the zoo has a successful education program. There are some animals that aren't on display at the zoo, but they are taken to schools for various education purposes. If I found the time or place in my curriculum, I would love to have the zoo's education employees visit my classroom, or even have my students visit the zoo as an "invitation to inquiry" at the beginning of my "physics of animals" project.

On a side note, Dan and I took a "field trip" to Adam's Aquatics, which is a locally run aquarium shop. We had to pick up some things for the zoo, but Dan also wanted to see his new store. It has been interesting to meet many of the different players in the "aquarium game" in Des Moines. From Dan at the zoo, Kirk, the aquarium science teacher at Central Campus, Adam of Adam's Aquatics, there are several very knowledgeable people in Des Moines when it comes to aquariums. I've learned that there are some people in the area that clean aquariums for businesses like doctors offices. As I've met some and talked to them, I've been picking up a lot about employability skills. Kirk explained to me that in his aquarium science class, he teaches students how to breed brine shrimp for feeding, and that is a skill that can be used to get a job. Adam has been successful at running his own business, both his store and his aquarium cleaning business. The way that he runs his business even has me thinking about starting my own part time business for future summers, although that is just an idea at this point. I'm a person that has had several jobs in different industries, from fast food to retail, lifeguarding to my current job as an educator, but I still was able to learn more about employability skills, one of the Iowa Core's 21st century skills, and the importance of teaching them to my students.