Activities can be designed using sites listed in the resources section to help students relate interdisciplinary concepts. Students can visit the pages and choose a project that meets their strengths and individual interests. At this time, this listing of activities is just a brainstorm and sample of possible activities.

Activity 1: WHALE WEIGHT

Preparing the Investigation
1. Reproduce a copy of the Activity Sheet, "Whale Weight,"for each student.

Structuring the Investigation
1. Review the directions, encouraging students to study the information given.

2. Give students time to complete the chart and make a generalization.

3. Discuss answers and lead students to the conclusion that a gray whale's estimated weight is about 1,000 pounds, or a half ton, for every foot of its length.

Extensions
1. Express all table lengths in feet and all weights in tons.

2. Rank the whales by weight from the heaviest to the lightest (note that whales 6 and 8 have equal weights).

Answers for Whale Weight

Activity 2: Why does a ticket cost so much?

To bring music to our ears, we need to have a complete support system. This consists of people who put together the concerts, represent the artists, set up the stages, sell the tickets, and provide support in various other ways. The business of music is where we can continually answer the question "Why did my ticket cost this much?"

This basic subject will be used to create several small lessons. Each will examine the budgets of various arts organizations to show how the income from the ticket sales is divided for each musical style. Use tickets from symphonies, operas, or country, rock, or folk concerts.

Classical: Ask a symphony orchestra manager about ticket prices. Typically, ticket sales generate no more that one third of the operating costs of an orchestra. Corporate donations can amount to half the budget, with individual donors contributing the balance. Given the need for fiscal prudence in a non-profit organization, the use of figures to predict future budgetary needs would also be effective in this lesson.

Opera: Tied in with the classical examples could be a look at the Metropolitan Opera in New York to get an understanding of the expense of this art.

Rock: Interview one or two concert managers and musicians' agents about the popular music business. Contrast the high income from recording and concert ticket sales to the budget of a non-profit musical organization.

Folk: Look at the less popular side of things with a couple of road musicians like Robin Williams or Claudia Schmidt. How does their income and expenses compare with more commercial music.

If you are not able to do any of these interviews, you can research information on the World Wide Web under the key words: American Symphony Orchestra, Columbia Artists, music agents, etc.

In all cases, the discussion will begin with a typical concert ticket to one of the organization's concerts.

Purpose
To determine how the money spent on a concert ticket is distributed.

Background
Most music consumers buy a number of concert tickets every year to see their favorite groups. These tickets can vary greatly in price, depending on the popularity of the music, the location of the seats and any number of other factors. But how is the ticket cost divided up? Who are all the individuals that get paid?

Materials
Paper and pencil

Activity Procedure
Have the students plan a research assignment to contact and interview local music providers. Look for concert promoters, orchestra managers, artist agents, the musicians' union and the like. If a concert is about to be given nearby that the students are interested in, see if the promoter can be contacted.

In the interview, ask questions that include the following:

What is the price range of the tickets?
Who is paid from ticket revenues?
Are the artists guaranteed a certain amount of money?
Percentage-wise, how is each ticket dollar divided?
What other sources of revenue are present in the concert?
Consider using a spreadsheet program so that students can construct graphs to display their data.

Activity 3: Biomes

Have the students research discuss the types of animals that they would find in an ocean Biome.

Activity 4: Surrealism

Have the students research and discuss the surrealist art movement.