Axolotl lesson plan

[megan]

Hello, all! I was just writing because I am doing a project for a college Biology class and I was looking for a little help. I'm an education major at Indiana University and our assignment was to pick a classroom pet and research it and write a lesson plan that we could use in our elementary school classroom with it. I chose the axolotl as my classroom pet and was hoping that maybe someone online here might be able to give me an idea for a lesson plan to use with kids. I know that they're used in a lot of regeneration experiments, but I can't imagine that cutting off the axolotl's tail and watching it grow back would be considered very humane! If anyone has any ideas at all, I would really appreciate it! Thanks so much!

 

[shaun]

If I were you I would observe the life-cycle of the axolotl from egg to adult, and compare the development to frogs, mice and other animals. That would give you a good opportunity to discuss neoteny (remaining in a larval form) in axolotls, and comparing it to the progress of other salamander species. You could also throw a bit of social studies into the mix and look at the axolotl in Aztec mythology.

 

[megan]

Wow! That is an excellent idea! Are you a teacher? That's wonderful and integrating another subject is a definite plus as well. Thank you so much for your help!

 

[dot]

Megan --

Here's a link for online educational materials regarding axolotls and amphibians.
http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/sgilber1/DB_lab/Frog/frog_adv.html

The Indiana University Axolotl Colony website (Research Links) page has a whole section of links dedicated to education.
http://www.indiana.edu/~axolotl

There was a website done by a professor at IU (I think) who did a ton of research on axolotl regeneration, but I can't seem to find the link and I forget his name. The stuff there would be over the heads of children, probably, but very informative on regeneration.

Hope that helps.

 

[shaun]

I'm not a teacher, but like many English and History majors, I stand a very good chance of ending up in what is ofted dubbed "the faculty of broken dreams".

 

[pollywog]

There is a lesson plan on the grow-a-frog website maybe you could adapt that for an axolotl, I have not read the plan but it may be worth a look.

 

[megan]

Thank you all, so much, for your help. This sounds excellent. I'm also in contact now with someone who works with the IU Axolotl Colony and she works specifically with educators on this kind of thing, so hopefully I will be able to develop a really cool and interesting lesson for my students! Thanks so much for your help, again!