Making Connections. Investigating Invertebrates - Sponges and Jellyfish

From 1990-1996 I worked on with the "100 Schools Project." It was California's implementation of the National Science Foundations grant to integrate science content in a new breed of courses. Monte Vista High School was a leader in curriculum development. I was the editor and primary author of a four textbook series. Titled "Making Connections...", it was published from 1996-2001 by the Grossmont Union High School District. The series is now out of print. 

More often than not over the coming months, I'll be reviving this labor of love. I hope you enjoy learning about science in the way I think makes the most sense. Minor editing has been done to the original text. Additions are in highlighted in this color. My titles for the section of the chapter are this color. Most of the diagrams were retrieved in full color from the Internet since the original books were two-colors only. Content in this series is from Volume 4: Making Connections - Integrating the Science of Energy.

Invertebrate organisms have something supporting their bodies besides bones or bony material. They range in complexity from simple multicellular organisms, like sponges, to animals with complex structures and functions, the crustaceans and arthropods.

Many scientists accept a classification system with five kingdoms.

•          Kingdom Monera consists of bacteria and blue-green algae (also known as photosynthetic bacteria).

•          Kingdom Protista includes algae and single-celled organisms (protozoa).

•          Kingdom Fungi includes only the fungi.

•          Kingdom Plantae consists of multicellular land and water plants.

•          Kingdom Animalia is made up of all animals, both with and without vertebrae. Every living thing is classified in one of these kingdoms.

The purplish rectangles were added to highlight the content of this blog. The two colors in this volume are black and brownish-yellow. 

Week #1

It's Simple

The least complex invertebrate phylum is Porifera. Phylum Porifera includes the sponges. Sponges are multicellular animals. They have specialized cells. Sponges also have cells which remain unspecialized throughout the life of the animal.

The basic body plan of a sponge is very simple. It consists of a series of holes known as incurrent pores. Water enters the body of the sponge through these pores. Everything the sponge eats and breathes must be in the water that enters through the incurrent pores. The only way out of a sponge is through larger openings known as excurrent pores. Some of the specialized cells in the sponge make up the edges of the openings, others are involved in moving water through the sponge. Other specialized cells, known as spicules, make up the supporting "skeleton" of a sponge.

There are no cells used to move the sponge. Sponges do not move from the spot where they first attach. Animals living attached to a single location are called sessile, or non-moving

A Sponge. A typical sponge has all the parts labeled in this diagram. Note the lack of structures used for movement.

The non-specialized cells in the sponge are of extreme importance to the life of the animal. These amebocytes, as the cells are known, function in reproduction, repair of damaged parts, general growth, and in the protection of freshwater sponges from drying out. The amebocytes have the ability to "become" any type of cell needed by the sponge.

Amebocytes are of interest to scientists as well. If humans had "amebocyte-like" cells, people with heart or kidney problems might be able to grow new organs to replace the diseased or damaged ones. If a finger or arm was cut off in an accident, a new one might be grown from these unspecialized cells. Scientists want to find out why amebocytes do not become specialized until they are needed. Humans begin life as a single unspecialized cell. If some way could be discovered to keep some cells from specializing, a simple sponge might lead to a major breakthrough in human medicine some day.

You might use a sponge while showering. Because the spicules are made of hard material--spongin or a calcium/silicate product, they remove dead skin cells as you rub the sponge on your body. However, you will regret using the same sponge on your brand new Corvette. The spicules will scratch the expensive candy-apple red paint!

This Jelly Ain't For Sandwiches

Phylum Cnidaria (formally classified as Coelenterata) contains animals with two distinct cell layers. An ectoderm which makes up the outer covering of the animal and an endoderm which covers the inside. Between the two layers is a jelly-like material, mesoglea, which separates them. Examples of animals in this phylum include sea anemones, coral, and jellyfish. Jellyfish have a very thick layer mesoglea ("jelly"). That layer gives those animals their name.

The Two Cell Layers of Cnidarians. The endoderm contains cells used in the digestive process. Ectoderm cells include the stinging cells with their trigger hairs. A nerve network is embedded in the "jelly-like" mesoglea. Without the primitive nervous system, medusas would not be able to coordinate its swimming motion.

All cnidarians have tentacles which they use to bring captured food into their mouths. They capture food through the use of stinging cells in the ectoderm. The stinging cells act like tiny hypodermic needles. They inject a sharp point into the victim. Paralyzing poison is pumped into the hole. When the victim stops struggling, it is pulled through the mouth into the body cavity, the coelom, where it is digested.

The coelom is a bag-like body cavity with a single opening. Lining the inside of the coelom is the endoderm. The endoderm contains digestive cells which secrete enzymes to digest food. Undigested waste pieces exit the coelom through the same opening in which the food entered.

Cnidarians come in two styles. Some live their lives attached to one spot.   All sessile cnidarians are known as polyps. The polyp form of cnidarians includes sea anemones and corals. Other cnidarians are not permanently attached to a surface. These animals have the ability to swim through the water. Free-swimming cnidarians are called medusas. Medusas, like jellyfish, swim by pumping water out of the folds of their bodies—medusas are jet-propelled.

Polyp and Medusa. The two basic body plans of Cnidarians are shown here. Polyps are sessile. The medusa is free-swimming.   

Next Making Connections: Investigating Invertebrates. Worms: Flat, Round, and Segmented

Follow me on Twitter: @CRDowningAuthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAuthor

My website is: www.crdowning.com

I'd appreciate your feedback on Blogger!

Almanac. Dissecting Conference Attendance

This is the final post of the series on the topic of attending and presenting at conferences. 

Spousal Support

The first conference I remember attending was in Washington, D.C. It was the week before Christmas Vacation in my district. I used some special project money to pay for my trip. I decided to take my wife, Leanne along.

That precedence was repeated several times over the twenty-plus years I presented sessions. Leanne and I traveled to New Orleans, Boston and environs, Seattle, and Honolulu. She spent her time sightseeing on every trip. She’s seen plantations outside NOLA, Fenway Park, and the White House at Christmas. Together, we experienced a variety of cuisine while having fun together.

Meeting relatives and friends

Several conferences were in or near cities where former colleagues or students or friends lived or worked. As a result of that

• I stayed for free with a friend in at least two cities.
• I ate dinners with both relatives and friends.
• I went with a friend to a diner that was featured on Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.
• Had a guided tour of Indiana Wesleyan University by my friend, Dr. Keith Newman, one of the VP’s there.
• I shared a table with teachers I’d never met for lunch or dinner on occasion. I know this is an outlier for the category, but it did happen.

This is me at a conference at the vendor's booth for the lab manual I co-authored. It has to be around 2010. As cool as that was, publishing the book did not keep the publisher from going out of business. They still owe me a couple hundred dollars in royalties.

Nights

I do not drink alcohol. Ever. As a result, my extra-curricular activities revolved around working on projects I had in the hopper.

More than once, I had my way paid by a supplier of biology materials or a project I was associated with. In those cases, one night was always dinner in a place that was more expensive than I was used to . . . gratis!

One of those gratis meals occurred in Boston at

The Union Oyster House, located on the Freedom Trail, near Faneuil Hall, enjoys the unique distinction of being America's oldest restaurant. This Boston fixture, housed in a building dating back to Pre-Revolutionary days, started serving food in 1826 and has continued ever since with the stalls and oyster bar, where Daniel Webster was a constant customer, in their original positions.

Lobster was the menu item of choice that evening. Of course, the company I worked with provided oysters on the half-shell, too. I don’t like oysters. I’ll eat lobster, but it’s not my go-to seafood.

Leanne and I make it a point to eat at places we don’t have in San Diego when we travel. We also try the local version of Mexican food frequently.

I ordered Nachos Grande as my entrée after the server raved about the size and taste. The item is not on the current menu. I’ll try to describe it.

Imagine an entire family size bag of high-quality tortilla chips layered with shredded cheese, hamburger, sliced jalapeño peppers, onions, olives, and salsa. It was over twelve-inches tall and had a dinner plate as the base.

I shared some with the others at the table.

Would I do it again?

Yes!

There’s something in watching the faces in an audience light up when they realize that they can do what I’m describing with their students. I can’t adequately describe it, but it lifts my spirits every time. As a speaker, I made sure to talk with every person that stayed after the session to ask questions, give an example of their own, or thank me. That meant that many of those people missed getting a seat in another session.

How can anyone not appreciate that kind of effort?

 

GREAT group of people attended my "Tricks from an Old Dog" session 12/5/14 at the NSTA/CSTA conference in Long Beach, CA. Seating for 50. SRO with a dozen in the doorway as well. All 100 handouts and over that many business cards handed out. I'm very thankful for the graciousness of my fellow teachers. Thanks to my colleague, Ryan Garcia for this shot. He was a door-stuffer! This is the only photo I have of me during one of my presentations.

Final comments

Once, while attending a session that sounded intriguing, I received a printed packet of materials. As I thumbed through them, to my surprise, I found one of my handout pages from a session with similar content. I always put my name and contact information in the footer of all my handout pages. That footer was gone.

I stayed behind and talked with the speaker. She was shocked to learn that it wasn’t original to the speaker that handed it out. 

If you are asked to speak, and you want to use another speaker’s materials, please ask for permission to use those materials question form. Then give credit where credit is due!

While with student teachers, I encouraged all of them to go to a conference if it’s within driving distance. Once there, find one idea and work on implementing it.

Two comments by attendees of my sessions will end this blog post and the series.

“I’ve taught for over twenty years and never knew why my students were so bad at answering open-ended questions. Now I know why and what to do about it. Thank you.”

Community College Teacher after the session Open-ended Questions are Fine for Some Students, but Mine Can’t Do Them.

“As soon as you started talking, I recognized your voice, but I knew I’d never seen you until today. Then it dawned on me. You’re the voice of Kinesthetic Protein Synthesis! I use it every year to ensure that my students understand the process.”

High School Teacher at a session on the importance of including whole body movement to learning steps in a process.

Follow me on Twitter: @CRDowningAuthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAuthor

My website is: www.crdowning.com

I'd appreciate your feedback on Blogger!

The Observers - A Science Fiction Odyssey C.R.Downing's Book Tour 2018. Book #3

My publisher is having a sale the e-book version of The Observers.

https://www.amazon.com/Observers-C-R-Downing-ebook/dp/B00P288OOY/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

It's only $1.00.

Laughter guaranteed!

Book #3:

The Observers - A Science Fiction Odyssey

There is a link to Amazon for the title book in the line above this. Additional links are provided to original short stories involved in the development of the title book in the description of each story below.

Elevator Speech

Observers are expected to perform only that role for the Glieseian Ministry of Observation, Investigation, and Intervention (MOII). However, observers Mxpan and Zerpall are imprisoned twice, banished from two solar systems, threatened with selective destruction by targeting their DNA, trapped in android bodies after a faulty brain essence transfer, and forced into an ethically convoluted situation. The Observers is a comic sci-fi trip across the solar system that will keep you thinking and laughing.

Background Information

This story that triggered this book was written in the 1980s. However, it was not a novel. Neither was it science fiction.

It was a short romance story titled Magnetic Attraction.

There were no aliens. There were KGB agents.

The story morphed into what is the fourth mission by Zerpall and Mxpan.

As luck would have it, I found copies of the original story and an intermediate version, which includes Zerpall and Mxpan. However, in the intermediate version, the two observers were from the planet Rigel, not the planet Gleise.

Both versions are included in the PDF for this book. Here’s the link.

Given the fact that I had fewer than 20 legitimate dates before I met the fifth girl that I ever dated, why I thought I could write a romance story is a mystery. The romance story was mediocre, however, the story’s main plotline had potential as a science fiction piece.

By the way, I married the fifth girl 47-years ago this August 7.

June 1970. Grad Night at Disneyland. 
Leanne and I were married 13-months later.

I admit to rushing the publishing process with this book. Thankfully, the editor I worked with at KoehlerBooks saw the potential of the four missions described in the story.

The manuscript I submitted was complete, but it lacked the internal structure linking the missions together. His idea of making converting a couple of them to read as flashbacks saved the day . . . at one level.

Here’s a sample of the communication between one editor and me. The editor’s comment is the black print. My response is the red print.

4) Unless I missed something, Mxpan and Zerpall never had memories restored of their third, most uneventful mission. It'd be fairly easy to insert a sentence that makes it clear they rebuilt their memories there, too. It might seem insignificant, but if the third mission is kept hidden from them, the reader might come to think it was unimportant.

The restored memories are for how they met and their first two missions: Rigal and Epsilon-Eridani. They were “lost” during the BET process—they were not transferred into the android AI matrix, but were stored in the BET storage on the ship and degraded over time.

Memories of the Tau Ceti mission were not degraded because Mxpan selected those memories as being necessary (probably based on recency of production) during BET in their ship. Remember the colored lines on the machine?

Alpha Centauri memories were formed during the BET procedures and also never left the brains of either Glieseian. In both these cases, no reconstruction was necessary.

I should have taken the time and put in the effort to revamp the plot points like into a cohesive linear storyline. Instead, I justified my writing without due consideration of what a reader could experience. 

This review by Nebula Books that follows describes the final product as an incompletely developed story with the potential for greatness. In the end, the missions were linked into a positive flow. Still missing was detail about the civilizations being observed.
The complete review is here. ttps://nebulabooks.wordpress.com/page/4/   You might have to scroll through other reviews until you travel back in time to May 30, 2016.

The Observers explores complex scientific themes; should science and technology advance simply for the sake of progress? Who should be in control? Who does ownership of information really belong to? These themes are explored through our two main characters, Mxpan and Zerpall. Mollusc-like telepathic beings, Glieseians have made themselves technological overseers that monitor species technological development and intervene as necessary. The Observers is a comedic buddy-cop novel about two investigators, one being the by-the-book professional, and the other being a fun-loving take-it-as-it-comes kind of guy…

Different alien worlds and civilizations are treated almost indifferently – despite well developed characters downing has forgotten to characterize the worlds or environments, and with the vague story this lends to the feeling of staleness throughout the book.

However, this is a comedy book and the humour is well written: timing is everything in comedy, and Downing delivers witty punch-lines and well-paced gags that carry the reader through an often drawn-out experience. The banter between Mxpan and Zerpall is delightful and Zerpall’s child-like innocence is often laugh-out-loud material. If Downing had given even a fraction of the attention he gave his characters to the settings and plot, this book could have been a monumental entry to the genre, placing him with the likes of Heinlein or Asprin. 

What I learned from this painful experience is

• Don’t rush the process.
• Look more at the plotline.
• Have a larger beta-reader team.
• Keep characterization true to life.

The conclusion of this “book look” will focus on the science and characters.

Follow me on Twitter: @CRDowningAuthor and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRDowningAuthor

My website is: www.crdowning.com

I'd appreciate your feedback as a comment on Blogger!