Ecological Metaphor Notes by David

Questions to Answer

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 02:31:19 UTC

What is the hierarchy of species, in other words, the food chain? What feeds on what?

Are roles at the same hierarchical level in my food chain? They are not, because I can quantify the number of roles in a school. But they could be because they are competing for same food source

Who are the competitors, predators, carnivores, herbivores? Which are invasive, i.e. introduced, and which are emergent? Which species bears the brunt of the invasion?

What are the endangered species? Why should some species be preserved and not others? What can be done to preserve them? Bans. Reserves. Policies (to limit space, for instance in mosquitos, banning standing water, or in PTs case, curriculum change). Reduction. Slowing and hastening. Generally, do I as a researcher, or others, have some responsibility towards the ecology?

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 02:33:30 UTC

Students

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 02:33:36 UTC

Teachers

Where do PTs fit in?

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 02:33:47 UTC

Pedagogical Technologists (PTs), their origin stories are important as we can determine whether they were introduced (invasive) or emergent (evolved) within the ecological system. Furthermore, we can determine what species and environmental factors changed alongside the species emergence, or what changed as a result of the introduction. But first, if technology changes, and curriculum, and professional development and performance appraisal and hiring practices change, are these species or environmental factors? As an invasive species (of one, I note), was there extinction or exponential growth per ecological carrying capacity?

Food

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 02:34:36 UTC

Beliefs about roles, amongst other things

Ecological System Rules

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 02:38:54 UTC

The number of a species cannot increase forever.
The number of a species is fewer the higher the species is on the food chain (i.e. pyramid of number).
Invasive species create imbalance in the ecology. The lower the species, the greater the imbalance. Generally, sudden changes (whether by species or environmental factor) create imbalance in the ecology. Extinction is an extreme form of imbalance.
Ecological equivalency (see below)

Organisms undergo the same life-cycle
Organisms in a particular stage of the life-cycle are involved in the same set of ecological processes
The rates of these processes (or the probabilities of ecological events) are basically the same if organisms are put into the same environment (however some individual variation may be allowed).

Competitive exclusion principle: two species with the same niche -- in same habitat with same food requirements, for instance --cannot continue indefinitely (Gause, 1934)
Complexity theory: not all elements in the ecology need intervention for the entire ecology to change.

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 02:43:59 UTC

Administrators

Key terms

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 02:48:32 UTC

Pyramid of number
Food supply

Food chain
Balance
Foreign (i.e. invasive) species
Fecundity (i.e. fertility) (e.g. speed and longevity) -- how many offspring can an individual have in a lifetime? Maybe one PT in several years. It seems low fecundity overall in species; so what are the (environmental or limiting) factors that enable a PT to reproduce successfully? We need to build cases to answer that. Furthermore, are other species in the same ecology the same?
Extinction versus longevity -- how does a PT die?
Dispersion -- where is the PT species in the school? Even or uneven distribution in ecology?

Curriculum (Living Space)

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 03:27:40 UTC

Grade-levels, streams, subjects

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 03:37:57 UTC

Professional development

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 03:38:06 UTC

Performance appraisal

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 03:38:14 UTC

Hiring practices

Infrastructure (Living space)

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 04:05:01 UTC

Classrooms; electrical outlets; chairs; desks; iPads; Macbooks; iMovie software; Apple Tvs

Food

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 04:05:26 UTC

Time

Food

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 04:06:30 UTC

Finances

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 04:08:03 UTC

Pedagogical technologists

Environmental Factors and Limiting Factors

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 04:36:30 UTC

Limiting factors keep populations in check. Without limiting factors, a species number would grow exponentially. What are the environmental factors (e.g. time of year; physical location; access to water; soil)? Which are density dependent (e.g. predators and disease -- more of one species leads to more of another (predator; disease) species which leads to less of the first species) and others density independent, such as disasters and temperature and weather?

Food supply!
Mate supply -- but do PTs mate?
Temperature and weather -- but is there a temperature in the school; there may be seasons; but how do I metaphorically incorporate temperature? Perhaps I don't need to. In addition, I don't understand how weather fits into my metaphor.
Space, for laying eggs or giving birth -- This might mean that curriculum is an environmental factor because the number of grade-levels impacted Sean's reproduction; and having a Chinese section impacted Scarlett's reproduction.

Environmental factors are an important consideration because although an ecology may be balanced or normalized, that doesn't mean that the ecology is static; ecologies fluctuate, per season, for instance. So species numbers also fluctuate and are seasonal: and this is a limit of my research and ecology: capturing longitude and dynamics. Population ecology research is also often quantitative to develop carrying capacity models. Yet I could develop a year-on-year graph of number of PTs in a school ecology

Competition and Cooperation

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 04:42:11 UTC

Like fisherman and cuttlefish competing for fish, who are competing for the same things? People for finances? Students for iPads and outlets?

Members compete for food, space and mates. Degrees of competition impact degrees of fecundity in a species.

Competition dynamic may influence the upper limit of species population in an ecology and determines co-existence of species within an ecology. Competition may only exist when resources (food) become limited: this is scrambling for resources and competitive exclusion principle: positive correlation between decrease in (intra-species) population growth rate and decrease in resources. Similarly, if different species compete for the same resource -- competitive exclusion principle -- or in other words, occupy the same niche, inter-species competition becomes a grander intra-species competition -- perfect competition. This competition effect could lead to extinction of a species, particularly if one species is stronger than the other in a way, specifically in carrying capacity so one species (Teachers) can endure greater crowding than the other (PTs). However, intra-species competition is stronger than inter-species competition if the species are significantly different. Aspects of competition include aggression, territoriality and cannibalism.

Cooperation impacts small-group size population -- intra-species cooperation results in increased reproduction and survival (fecundity) of species as whole, compared to a species member operating alone. Apparently, species with intra-specific cooperation face greater extinction threat below a specific population threshhold.

Cooperation between different species is relatively rare. This is symbiosis. So my research has a place to demonstrate this in the school ecology.

Curiously, direct competition between (many) species (PTs; teachers) may also be rare because species rarely occupy the same niche; species may tend to minimize competition, such as resource partitioning, for instance, by time sharing a space, and thus creating different (realized) niches. Competition minimalization through other (cooperative) interactions such as mutualism and commensalism

Carrying Capacity

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 04:56:52 UTC

A limit to the number of individuals any area can support. Environmental factors, food supply, competition, predation and intervention impact that number for an ecology. How does food supply impact carrying capacity? Food supply first is a density dependent factor that impacts density and ultimately carrying capacity: more food may lead to more of a species but ultimately to less food and less species. Is carrying capacity always changing as environmental factors and ecology are always changing? Does this mean evolution is inevitable?

Causality and Correlation in Ecology

wootang01 — 2013-10-29 04:58:48 UTC

The ecological metaphor is appropriate to represent phenomenon in school as biological ecologies are dynamic and complex in a similar way that the social world is dynamic and complex. The metaphor, as it represents complexity, is best at showing inter-relatedness and correlation, not necessarily causality; causality could be established with one intervention, invasion or environmental factor change (i.e. introduction of PT)

Why an Ecological Metaphor?

wootang01 — 2013-11-09 13:01:53 UTC

The metaphor (or model) is an abstraction of real phenomenon for interpretation of the real phenomenon -- dialogical? Real social phenomenon is complex, and while the metaphor can capture some of that complexity, it also narrows that complexity into the most important elements. Indeed, not every detail can fit into a metaphor; besides, even if a metaphor is not absolutely accurate, like an old map, it can still be useful for guiding and advancing practice.

If there are several ecological disciplines, what kind of ecology is my model? It seems my model incorporates the disciplines of population, physiology, community and systems.

Why select the school as

wootang01 — 2013-11-09 13:09:36 UTC

This is not only for my own management but also a reference to existing work; and the possibility to create comparison points between ecological metaphors in the education literature. In reference to the ecological metaphor, at the school level we find the local population and can clearly calculate the population DENSITY of PT species; ultimately, we can only speculate on the meta population and density of the PT species from the local, for instance, international schools in Hong Kong and Singapore, and in Asia.

Ecological Niche

wootang01 — 2013-11-11 05:36:15 UTC

Several definitions, including a species's function or role in its member community (Elton, 1920s).

Maybe the sum of abiotic and biotic resources a species uses in its environment. This niche enables species to sidestep direct competition. The niche is the competitive advantage. It is the antithesis of competitive exclusion.

A realized niche is not the ideal niche. A bit but not total, sustainable winning.

wootang01 — 2013-11-11 05:42:12 UTC

Parents

Community Ecology

wootang01 — 2013-11-12 07:02:20 UTC

“Why are there so many kinds of animals?”

How do species interact with each other?
What are the patterns of species numbers and relative abundances? (diversity)
What controls number and relative abundance of species?
How are species in a community linked via trophic interactions?

Modes of Interaction Between Species

Competition

Predation

Herbivory

Parasitism

Disease

Mutualism

I do examine intra-species behavior -- population ecology -- perhaps through cross-case analysis of PT species in international schools. However, since my main ecological level is the school, I focus not only on community ecology but also ecosystem ecology, interactions between the living and non-living in a school ecology. I note that this primer on community ecology uses many of my key ecological metaphor terms.

Population Ecology

wootang01 — 2013-11-12 07:02:56 UTC

In population ecology a population is a group of individuals of the same species inhabiting the same area.

Scientists of population ecology face the same difficulty as social scientists of metaphorical ecology, the ability to make statistical generalizations of population (species) characteristics and processes from knowledge of individual characteristics and processes within the population or species.

wootang01 — 2013-11-13 04:58:17 UTC

Teaching and learning practices

Inter- and Intra-species interactions

wootang01 — 2013-11-17 09:09:10 UTC

The genus of roles consists of several species such as pedagogical technologists, principals, parents, teachers, technicians, and students. This genus exists at one trophic level in the ecology. Directly beneath is another trophic level consisting of time, space, money, and beliefs.
Species generally do not compete with each other for time, money, space and beliefs. Instead, role species have created niches whereby each species and members of species can receive sufficient time, money, beliefs and space to survive. While there is interaction, rarely is there direct competition and certainly not predation at tho strophic level. When they do compete, this competition tends to be seasonal. The seasonal competition within and between role species produces for time, timetables; for money, budgets and contracts; for space, classrooms and offices and desks; for beliefs, curriculum, including grade levels and content areas. Through this competition, role species realize niches.

wootang01 — 2013-11-17 09:15:07 UTC

Other roles