This resource consists of an extensive pre-lab tutorial, (examining the relationships between size, funtion, and morphology in selected vertebrates and invertebrates), and a manual for carrying out an associated laboratory exercise in comparative morphology. This exercise is suitable for introductory biology courses in vertebrate and invertebrate biology, and may be adapted as a supplement to any course dealing with size / structure / function relationships.
This image, from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, illustrates the approximate relative sizes of the Sun and planets and their relative locations. Although distance is not to scale, viewers can see that the small rocky planets are located close to the Sun and large gaseous planets are further away.
This is a fun online activity that introduces learners to the size and scale of objects around them, including things at the nano scale. Learners will have to arrange images based on their size from the smallest to the biggest.
In this quick activity about predicting (located on page 2 of the PDF), learners working alone or in groups will use toothpicks to probe a clay ball with a small object hidden in its center and then predict what’s inside. Learners will share their predictions and how they came to these conclusions before opening the ball to see what is inside. This exercise illustrates how nanoscientists can still make discoveries studying things too small to see, using special probes to “feel” bumps at the atomic level. Also relates to linked video, DragonflyTV Nano: Where’s Nano?
Walter Christaller, a German geographer, originally proposed the Central Place Theory (CPT) in 1933 (trans. 1966). Christaller was studying the urban settlements in Southern Germany and advanced this theory as a means of understanding how urban settlements evolve and are spaced out in relation to each other. The question Christaller posed in his landmark book was “Are there rules that determine the size, number and distribution of towns?” He attempted to answer this question through a theory of central places that incorporated nodes and links in an idealistic situation.
