Monday, March 28, 2011

Humpback Whale Observation Lab continued...

This graph displays my lab results. The results showed that there were more whales in the beginning of the season than the end. Conclusion: (Look back to the last blog entry for the question, hypothesis, and earlier lab information.) The data I was able to collect told me that I either had too many sources of error to get accurate results or that my hypothesis was incorrect. There turned out to be less calves spotted the second time, but only by one count. Possible Sources of Error:

  • There were times when we could not see the whales we spotted well enough to know their actions or the type of pod.

  • Since some of the pod types were unclear, there could have been more calves that were not counted.

  • Collecting the two sets of data at different times might have effected the results because the whales may have a certain “schedule”.
My Experience on the Whale Watch: The whale watch I went on for my second data collection was great. I hadn't been on a boat in a long time before that. We spent the first half hour of the watch collecting data, because that's about how long our first data collection was. I collected the data and my partner took pictures. After that, we had the rest of the time to enjoy the boat. There was nice sunny weather with some clouds, lots of whales, and a snack bar. I'm very glad I brought my sunglasses along. I would have had a harder time looking for whales without them. I was disappointed that I didn't see any turtles (I usually do), but one of the whales coming close up to the boat made up for it. This may have been the last school outing I will have before my high school graduation. I'm glad it turned out really good. :)