The final step for capstone has come around, presenting! Everyone was assigned a different location to present in. The location that I was assigned was the auditorium. I had just enough time for one in location practice without and audience and 1 rehearsal in front of our buddies. When the time for presenting to parents came I was SUPER nervous. After all, I only have one chance to do this. Even worse was the fact that I had to go first out of everyone. There goes learning from others mistakes. When I started out my pace was steady and I was pronouncing my words and I think that I kept that pace throughout my presentation, until the very end when I mispronounced keeping, accidentally saying kepping. Over all, I am proud of what I presented and I think you all deserve to see it.

 

ANSWERING MAIN INQUIRY QUESTION

Why are Axolotls endangered and how can we help?

1.What is an Axolotl?

An Axolotl is a neotenic salamander. That means that an Axolotl spends its entire life in its larval state while still reaching maturity. An example of this is, that Axolotls grow legs and have the ability to reproduce, yet they spend their entire life in water. Although Axolotls live in water, they still grow legs like other salamanders. They also have lungs along with their external gills! It seems like these Axolotls really want all of the attention. As if that wasn’t enough, they also have amazing regenerative properties of which allow them to regenerate their own spinal cord, limbs, tail, and eyes. An Axolotl can grow to be as long as 12 inches, and weigh as much as 8 oz while still being healthy.

2.How do natural predators come into play?

Natural predators such as herons, other large birds, and fish have been slowly but surely chipping off of the Axolotls population within the past two decades. Everything was going great when the Axolotls only harm were the birds and native river fish but then Mexico’s government noticed that the fisherman weren’t getting much food and so they introduced some non-native fish such as, carp, tilapia into the canal to feed them. This might have appeared to be a good choice, but these fish reproduced faster than they could be caught.The canal is now filled to the brim with these fish. The tilapia fed on the plants of which the Axolotls lay their eggs on. This resulted in them either eating the eggs or not leaving the plants for the Axolotls to even lay the eggs. The carp did the same and sometimes even fed on the Axolotls.

 

3.How have humans contributed to the Axolotls endangerment?

Humans have been one of the largest contributors to the endangerment of Axolotls. We have contributed by water pollution, habitat destruction, introduction of non-native animals, and capturing them to sell as pets or even human consumption! We have polluted their habitat by tossing cans and bottles (and once even spilling oil) into their habitat. This is a large problem not only for the Axolotls but for the human population in that area too because this water is also used for human consumption. We have destroyed their habitat when we drained Lake Chalco due to fear of flooding the nearby community and also when we polluted Xochimilco with human waste. The government of Mexico introduced the carp and tilapia (fish from other continents, therefore the term non-native animals) which ended up eating the Axolotls, as stated previously. We are also constantly capturing them to sell as pets or lab specimens of which are kept behind glass. These creatures are then bred in a tank with no natural threat and tend to lose their instincts over time. They have even been used for food and medicine! It’s as though we have literally been searching for ways to harm them.

 

4.What has become of their habitat?

It might sound like all these have problems started recently, but a while ago Axolotls actually had two lakes that they had inhabited, Lake Chalco and Lake Xochimilco. A while after Axolotls began to flourish in Lake Chalco, the lake was drained do to fears of flooding, which never actually occurred. Their luck didn’t get any better from there. Their other habitat Xochimilco kept them safe and sound for many years. They had built up a healthy population in the canal, but it is now filled to the brim with invasive/non-native species of fish that were brought from other continents.The water is also is extremely polluted with human waste such as cans and plastic bags. Axolotls are now completely extinct in the wild.

 

5.How are people helping?

All of the above sounds like humans as a whole are not caring about what is happening, but that is not the case. In fact the International Union for Conservation of Nature (more commonly known as IUCN) has been raising awareness about the Axolotl since 2006 when they listed them as critically endangered. The Axolotls are actually protected under the category Pr (Special Protection) by the Government of Mexico. Another point is that if they are using the water in the canal for human consumption, anything that they do to help the Axolotls would have a positive effect on the humans living in the area as well, so there are many benefits to reducing pollution and improving the quality of the water. Fortunately this species tends to thrive in captivity and so they have a healthy population behind glass and many continue to breed them so that they do not go extinct any time soon.

MAIN INQUIRY

An Axolotl is a neotenic salamander. That means that an Axolotl spends its entire life in its larval state while still reaching maturity. An example of this is, Axolotls grow legs and have the ability to reproduce, yet they spend their entire life in water. Additionally, they have amazing regenerative properties of which allow them to “rebuild” their own spinal cord, limbs, tail, and eyes. You probably think that they’re awesome, right? Well, I bet you weren’t aware that they are critically endangered. My goal is to teach you about why Axolotls are endangered and how people are helping.

One contributor to the endangerment of the Axolotls are natural predators. Natural predators such as herons, other large birds, and fish have been slowly but surely chipping off of the Axolotls population within the past two decades. Although, they still held a healthy population, 2006 is when the big change came. A couple years before, the mexican government had introduced non-native fish such as carp and tilapia. These fish were meant to feed the community around them, but they reproduced faster than the fishermen could catch them and soon enough the canal was filled to the brim with these invasive fish. Even worse was that the diet of these fish included the plants of which Axolotls lay their eggs on and occasionally even Axolotls! In the year of 2006 IUCN (the international union for the conservation of nature) listed Axolotls as critically endangered.

Believe it or not, people were actually one of the largest reasons for Axolotls endangerment. We have done this in many ways. Some of these are pollution, habitat destruction, introduction of non-native animals, and capturing them to sell as pets or even human consumption.  We have polluted their habitat by tossing cans and bottles (and once even spilling oil) into their habitat. This is a large problem not only for the Axolotls but for the human population in that area too because this water is also what the people drink. We have destroyed their habitat when we drained Lake Chalco due to fear of flooding the nearby community and also when we polluted Xochimilco with human waste. A while ago Axolotls actually had two lakes that they had inhabited, Lake Chalco and Lake Xochimilco. A while after Axolotls began to flourish in Lake Chalco, the lake was drained do to fears of flooding, which never actually occurred. Their luck didn’t get any better from there. Their other habitat Xochimilco kept them safe and sound for many years. They had built up a healthy population in the canal, but it is now filled to the brim with invasive/non-native species of fish that were brought from other continents.The water is also is extremely polluted with human waste such as cans and plastic bags. The government of Mexico introduced the carp and tilapia which ended up eating the Axolotls. We are also constantly capturing them to sell as pets or lab specimens of which are kept behind glass. These creatures are then bred in a tank with no natural threat and tend to lose their instincts over time. Axolotls have even been used for food and medicine! It’s as though we have literally been searching for ways to harm them. Axolotls are now completely extinct in the wild.

All of the above sounds like humans as a whole are not caring about what is happening, but that is not the case. In fact the International Union for Conservation of Nature (more commonly known as IUCN) has been raising awareness about the Axolotl since 2006 when they listed them as critically endangered. The Axolotls are actually protected under the category Pr (Special Protection) by the Government of Mexico. Another point is that if they are using the water in the canal for human consumption, anything that they do to help the Axolotls would have a positive effect on the humans living in the area as well, so there are many benefits to reducing pollution and improving the quality of the water. Fortunately this species tends to thrive in captivity and so they have a healthy population behind glass and many continue to breed them so that they do not go extinct any time soon.

One of the requirements for capstone is to do a site visit. I just finished up my interview with the Dallas World Aquarium Zoo, but was not able to do my site visit their because of the fact that it is in Dallas. Due to this, my parents took me to the Maritime Aquarium! You might remember from my previous post that this is where I was originally planning to do my interview. Even though it didn’t end up working out, they were still available for my site visit and nearby. The way that I found out about this is because I was trying to find out who to interview by typing keywords into the search bar and I came across the Maritime Aquarium. I was curious as to where this aquarium was so I looked it up and found out that it is only a half hour away. I then took a mental note (and a literal one) that this place could be good for my site visit, even if they weren’t available for the interview.

Some of the biggest attractions are the seals, touch pool, jelly fish, and sharks. But we weren’t here to see any of those. I was drawn to the Maritime Aquarium was because of their experience with the axolotls. Now of course I couldn’t help but attend the other exhibits, and it was worth it! II watched the seals get fed, went to the touch pool where I pet the sharks and stingrays, checked out the dragons, and felt the jelly fish! The aquarium was amazing and full of a lot of extremely interesting information.

This aquarium was also extremely organized. Because of this it didn’t take long to locate the axolotls among the rest of the amphibians. The axolotls in the tank weren’t fully grown but were still very large for a salamander large. They were about seven inches in length. That’s longer than a teaspoon! They also swam exceptionally fast. I wasn’t sure as to exactly how fast they went and I found out that they are able to swim at a speed of up to ten miles per hour! That’s faster than a walking child, and keep in mind how much smaller the axolotls are!

There were also signs next to all of the tanks that explained about the animals and about all of the threats to that species, if there were any. The signs that were positioned next to the axolotls taught me about how pollution and reservoir drainage had affected the axolotls over time. They also informed me about what some of the axolotls many properties were and even how some of them worked! It was like capstone wonderland, even though I’m realizing that sounds a bit creepy…

I believe that making these site visits essential to the final product of capstone is a terrific choice on the teacher’s part. It was both informative and really fun! I am really looking forward to the road ahead and presenting this project! This has been a fun experience so far and I’m ready for the next step.

Now that I’ve picked out my topic, it’s time to decide what my inquiry question should be. An inquiry question is like the main question for your topic so that it isn’t like you’re writing an all about book. This question should be one of interest that still allows you to research more than just that one thing. For example, I can’t make my inquiry question “What is an axolotl” because that restricts me to researching just that. But at the same time, you can’t research any thing random that isn’t related to your inquiry question. You also don’t want your question to be too broad or to be an opinion. So as you can see there are a lot of rules when creating an inquiry question.

Now that you have the main idea of an inquiry question, it’s time to choose! In my opinion this is easier than picking out a topic but still hard. I am interested in researching the regenerative properties of the axolotl but I think that might creep people out a bit. Now it might be a difficult topic to research but I would like to know more about why they are endangered. I could find some really good sources for this and there are many interview options. The only obstacle that I might have is my site visit. On the other hand, I could visit an aquarium that holds axolotls and interview them on the topic. They should know a lot about because axolotls currently only survive in captivity. If they didn’t know about it then that would be quite embarrassing for them. And all because of peer pressure. That’s going to be interesting. Otherwise, it seems like clear sailing from here, I have my inquiry question!

Now that I think about it, I can’t really just type that into a search engine, and how will I come up with subtitles? The answer is clear, sub-questions! These will help me narrow down my research and get better (and much more) information and sources while still sticking to my topic, perfect! Just in case you are unclear as to what a sub-question is, they are like mini questions that fit under the large umbrella of your inquiry question. The best amount of sub-questions to have seems to be somewhere around 5 or 6. This is the easy part for me…

I take it back! This is not easy at all! 🙁 How do they expect me to come up with 5 more questions, let alone questions that all fit under this tiny umbrella! And I used to think the umbrella was large! Ugh. It’s like at the time that I needed my brain the most it just up and left me. I’ve been sitting in front of the computer for at least a half hour and the single idea I had was “What is an axolotl” I mean, seriously!? Even though that question is very informative to the audience, how is that supposed to help me narrow down my research? Exactly, it doesn’t! I think that I might get an idea of what to to by seeing what others are doing. I have decided that it would be smart to type my inquiry question into the search engine and see what comes up, what harm could it do?

That was so helpful! I wish that I thought of that in the beginning! Of course a lot of random things came up but the one or two thing that I found could have saved me a half hour of my life that I will never get back! I think that I my have my sub-questions!

1. What is an axolotl?
2. How do natural predators come into play?
3. How have humans contributed?
4. What about their habitat?
5. How can we help?

I think that I am ready for the next step in the capstone process! 🙂

Choosing a Topic

An exciting research project that many 5th graders look forward to has finally arrived…

Capstone! But along with fun comes responsibility. It’s time to choose my topic. This might sound like an easy task but it really isn’t. A lot of effort goes into finding a topic that you know enough about but you still have room to expand your knowledge. You also might want to choose a topic that not a lot of others know about so that more people come to see your project. Now even with these guidelines there is a wide range of topics to choose from. To help with this choice (since it effects literally everything about your project!) Mrs.Cooper offered a questionnaire to help us narrow down our choices. After filling out this pamphlet we have to decide on our topic. No turning back now!

Some of the questions that were asked were:

• What are some things you’re interested in?
• What do you collect?
• If you made an invention, what would it be?
• If you went on a field trip where would you go?

My answers were:

• Axolotls, cells, neurology, marine biology, archeology, chemistry, and paleontology
• Gemstones
• Magnet powered hovering roller blades
• The Franklin Institute

In the end it actually wasn’t as hard as it was in the beginning. All that I had to do was review my choices, see what choice was recurring, and use it to guide me to my topic. This is the moment of truth. I would either do my Capstone on axolotls or cells. It is my greatest dilemma. The choice of the century. I choose…

Axolotls! I feel that I made a good choice because even though I have one as a pet and I know a lot about them I still have plenty of room to expand my knowledge. I also believe that this choice perfectly reflects my personality and will attract many viewers to my project. Overall, I’m satisfied. 🙂