Lily of the Pad Part II

Okay, the image finally loaded solving the minor mystery...twas the website that struggled with the photos.




These photos are, of course, lily pads found in the Arboretum on Lake Washington. Our task as inquisitive scientists was to scrape the underside of the pad for "life" of which we found plenty. My favorite micro-organism was the "voxvol" ... a round transluscent sphere with four green dots (much like a beach ball). The sphere is made up of thousands of individual cells with tiny flaggelates for swimmers. They all work together to make the sphere literally roll along like a beach ball rolling on the ground. Of course, they aren't on the ground, they are in the water.

Also interesting are the teachers with whom I am taking the class. The course is billed as "science for non-science teachers" but after introductions, I realized I am the only non-science teacher in the classroom. Having attended most workshops with humanities types, it's strange to be in a room of science teachers. There is far less talking going on and the conversations are about science kits, the dreaded state test (called the WASL), and lack of funding. At one point, I had to leave the lunch conversation because the complaining was reaching a frenzy.

Not that I don't think public school teachers don't have anything to complain about, but I'd rather be a student looking at lily pads and beaver dams (see below) than a teacher who has to teach to a test.