Our focus today was to become familiar with and practice responding to the Criteria and Constraints biology EOC writing prompt. The practice prompt asked students to consider the scenario of 3D-printed coral reefs, so to help students better understand the prompt and formulate some ideas, we watched short segments of three different videos:
Students then had at least 15 minutes to respond to the Criteria and Constraints example prompt. After that, we came together as a class and shared out ideas. A selection of student ideas are listed below:
- Materials could dissolve / erode / cause pollution
- Algae may not grow on the materials
- Ocean acidification is dissolving the shells of marine organisms, and the artificial reef will not prevent that process
- Intentional placement / size/ shape of reefs
- Access to skilled workforce and heavy machinery / power requirements
- Could affect the life cycles of coral reef organisms
- 3D printing process may not produce detailed enough coral
After the share-out, the remaining few minutes of class time were spent addressing some of the student-provided constraints by watching a video detailing one sculptor’s efforts to create an enormous coral reef habitat in the Bahamas.
The Art of Science 