General Aquaria Discussion • School Project (Speech) | Please HELP!

[inaryu]

Hey,

Im doing a Speech at school about Cichlids and I need some help with some facts!

If you have any good info/tips Please post them here. Your help will be appreciated.

Thanks alot!
Inaryu

[naegling23]

how old are you and what grade level is this going to be?

Depending on the topic, you might want to go broad and cover all cichlids, or specific and cover either 1 region ie. south american, or even 1 genus like apistogramma. You may even go so far as to cover just 1 species. And there is a lot to cover other than the fish themselves, food, spawning, housing, evolution, etc.

The library section here is a good place to start looking for information, but im not too sure how schools handle information from the internet, in my days, those were not considered valid sources. Let us know more specifically what you need to talk about, and im sure we can help point you in the right direction.

[inaryu]

Im in grade 8 and the any internet site is a valid source.
No one at school uses books anymore...

But in not sure what region i want to do, or i might cover as many cichlids i can in about 3-6 minutes!

Mostly is 5 mins of chatter about Cichlids and some species of Cichlids...

Oh yeah, also, Cichlid is spelt messed xD, Just typing Cichlid in my speech is gonna be chalenging enough! xD

[lotsofish]

I taught a speech class and found that the most interesting speeches were personalized to the audience in such a way that would captured attention. You might name your speech, "What Cichlid Would You Want to Own?" Since your classmates may not even know what cichlids are you will capture their attention because you will get them in the mind-frame of figuring out what cichlids they would like to have. You can then cover some of the most popular cichlids or your personal favorites. You can say where they are from, interesting information about them and how big an aquarium they would need.

By the time your speech is done. The class should be ready to go home and tell their parents they want a cichlid, what type and the size aquarium they'll need.

[inaryu]

Thanks for your help, is there a way to bump this post?

[Fogelhund]

We have a large library section here with many articles that you might find helpful.

https://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/

Perhaps you might like to do something on conservation?

https://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/c ... n_list.php

[trimac]

I think everyone has given you great options. I myself am a 5th grade teacher-Personally I would first introduce the two main regions of cichlids-That being African and American-then cover the basic needs of each two types of regional cichlids (that didn't sound right ) Then get more in depth and pick 2-3 cichlids per region Example
SA/CA Oscar
I. Habitat
A.
1.
2.
II. Diet
A.
1.
2.
III. Behavior/Chacteristics
A.
1.
2.
That way each Roman Numeral would be a parargraph-you could also use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast African Cichlids and American Cichlids. I suggest to always start with a Graphic Organizer be it an Outline or Venn Diagram, then compose a 1st draft, and finally Edit your paper. You could also do a Roman Numeral IV which would deal with care in the Aquarium. Hopefully this helps a little!

[trimac]

One more thing I don't know how kids are in your area but when I mention to my students that my Umbee tries to bite my hand off-they become very intrigued and start to ask a lot of questions-so you might want to hook your audience right away by mentioning the aggression of cichlids! Try a power-point or even download video of aggressive cichlid behavior-flaring, eating feeders, biting at owners hands-though it is a speech you have to help by visualising what you are talking about-often times with kids they need to see it because it hard for them to visualize what is going on-as a matter of fact my students are currently working on research papers-I gave them each a cichlid and they have 3 weeks to research and give me an essay on that paper-they love it!

[inaryu]

"as a matter of fact my students are currently working on research papers-I gave them each a cichlid and they have 3 weeks to research and give me an essay on that paper-they love it!"

Dude, can you give me a Cichlid for free?

Also, "Hopefully this helps a little!" That doesnt help a little, that helps alot xD

[trimac]

Funny you mention that, I have a 55 gallon set up with Firemouths, Convicts and other smaller fish in my classroom-if my students do well and have an adequate tank I give them the fish-I had a student that had a large pond and I gave him a small Black Belt and Buttikefori-I teach his brother now and he still has the fish. Anything to get the students motivated I will do-I have even when as far and purchased 30-55 gallon set ups for those who really want to get in the hobby but can't afford it.

[inaryu]

Funny you mention that, I have a 55 gallon set up with Firemouths, Convicts and other smaller fish in my classroom-if my students do well and have an adequate tank I give them the fish-I had a student that had a large pond and I gave him a small Black Belt and Buttikefori-I teach his brother now and he still has the fish. Anything to get the students motivated I will do-I have even when as far and purchased 30-55 gallon set ups for those who really want to get in the hobby but can't afford it.

Lmao, You should send me some fish, well, somthing agressive.
I have an Electric Blue and he is very violant and likes to kill anything i put in the tank with him...
Should I put an Oscar in with him? (just kidding)

[kornphlake]

Im in grade 8 and the any internet site is a valid source.
No one at school uses books anymore...

That's great for 8th grade, but I wouldn't get into a habit of referencing the internet for everything. Even Wikipedia isn't the most accurate source of information. Peer reviewed text, like in an academic journal, is a great source of information, but only when the peers who review the text are actually competent in the field. On the internet everyone is an expert at any topic. Heck I'm an expert in reliable literature at the moment, give me a few minutes and I'll be a master mechanic then a MD.

[naegling23]

Im in grade 8 and the any internet site is a valid source.
No one at school uses books anymore...

That's great for 8th grade, but I wouldn't get into a habit of referencing the internet for everything. Even Wikipedia isn't the most accurate source of information. Peer reviewed text, like in an academic journal, is a great source of information, but only when the peers who review the text are actually competent in the field. On the internet everyone is an expert at any topic. Heck I'm an expert in reliable literature at the moment, give me a few minutes and I'll be a master mechanic then a MD.

not exactly true, im currently working on my masters degree. You use the internet to search, however, you need to search journal articles insted of websites. Instead of google, you go to pubmed, or jstor, or google scholor. Most jounals have online versions, but at least you can get an abstract this way. The search for information is exactly the same, and in fact, the internet is a great teaching tool on how to search because you often trace information back to previous sources and links. The only difference is that your sources switch from websites to journals, but thats really a minor difference.

[kornphlake]

I didn't mean to come across as saying the internet isn't useful, like you say there are some great databases for really good references. One needs to be selective though, really a database like pubmed or jstor is not much different than the card catalog I used years ago, it's just easier to use and you don't have to go pull the book off the shelf. An online forum or a website created by Joe Blow shouldn't be used as a reference unless the information can be verified. There are a lot of good academic websites you can find with google, from class websites for college courses to reference sheets published by equipment manufacturers to hobbyst sites, you really need to learn to distinguish the difference between a website with valid information and one that was created based on incomplete or inaccurate information.

Take a look at http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2
The site looks totally legit, heck blinker juice is so popular it's even sold out, if you used the above site as reference before walking into an interview for a position as an auto mechanic I have a feeling you'd get laughed out of the shop.