LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) - Lima Central Catholic students had the task of putting the scientific method to the test while including an animal of their choice from the Toledo Zoo.
The idea was to create a hypothesis around an animal's behavior and use live cams to observe that animal in a zoo environment. Eventually, they put together all of their findings into a paper and then a presentation, which they made in front of the class.
From sea animals to bears, the students say it was a lot of fun to pick an animal that they liked and to learn more about:
"My topic was on the cownose stingrays and how they like to interact with human beings to boost their mood," said LCC junior Anna Davisson. "I found it a lot of fun just kind of watching them in my free time and seeing what they're up to, because they were always swimming around or interacting at the surface, and so it's kind of cool just seeing what they're up to."
"I did my research on the blacktip reef shark and how a captive environment affects their behaviors compared to their natural environment," said Bractyn Jones, a junior at LCC. "I always thought it was so bad for them to be in these captive environments, and why would they they take them from this great big body of water and put them in this captive farm; it was really kind of relieving to figure out that actually helps benefit them and the conservation of that organism."
Their teacher says that the year long project came with a few ups and downs for a few students, and they had to pivot some of their hypotheses. But she adds, that's just part of the scientific method itself. The class will come full circle with a trip to the Toledo Zoo, and the hope is that these research papers will help the students have a closer connection with the animals that they see from the other side of the class.
"One of my main goals was to have them go through that scientific process, but also have them form a connection to these animals, and take researching one particular animal throughout the whole year and then going to the zoo and interacting with that animal, they'll have a stronger connection with the animals," said Deborah Huber, science teacher at LCC. "Then as they share with their classmates, they're also going to encourage them to have a stronger connection with the animals that they saw in the presentations."
