Little Field as Science Lab

With our science classrooms overlooking the Little Field, it is not unusual on a beautiful day to find a teacher heading there for outdoor experiments and projects.

This week, seniors in Mr. Errett’s AP Environmental Science class, who are studying the effects of parental care on lifespan and survivorship of offspring, had fun trying to keep bubbles alive (representing parental care), then comparing the results from that trial with the lifespan of bubbles in a random, careless universe. Good news: The boys discovered that parental care decreases infant mortality of bubbles by 30% and increases average bubble lifespan by 30%-50%. Enjoy the photos!

In a lesson on the evolution of prey populations, incoming Form II science teacher Mr. Belsky scattered dried beans—of various shades of color—onto the fields, and the boys scrambled to pick them up using various utensils to simulate predator variation. Although Mr. Belsky dropped equal amounts of each shade of bean, the boys were far more likely to pick up the beans that contrasted most in color from the green turf of Little Field. Enjoy the video!

And the video is hard to see – but the sound of the bullwhip is clear. At our recent Back-to-School night, Mr. Segal and several excited parents (clamoring “Our sons are seniors! It’s our last chance!”) ran out to the field in the dark to hear him crack his bullwhip—part of his noisy annual lesson on the conservation of momentum. Enjoy the video!