Invasive species
Invasive Invertebrates Where are they? Where aren't they?
Eight day starter plan for high school biodiversity and invasive species.
What I Should Have Done The First Time If I Would Have Listened
Suggestions and observations from someone who learns the hard way. What I should have done with my first VS investigation.
A Modified 10-day curriculum: Change over Time
This document was created for a Vital Signs spring institute by a teacher leader. It contains a modified 10 day curriculum for beginning in the program as well as reflections on beginning with the program and a "wish-list" of future projects with the program.
The Original 10-day curriculum:
http://vitalsignsme.org/10-day-curriculum-population-change-over-time
Invasive species & climate change in one delicious truffle story
(resource from pparent, Massabesic Middle School)
Sunday night (1/8/12) 60 Minutes aired a story on truffles, the most expensive food in the world. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7394222n
The story connects this lowly fungus to climate change - the harvest is down significantly, so prices are soaring. It also mentions that spores from imported Chinese truffles have infected some of the truffle sites in Europe - invasive species! I showed the clip to my classes with this document of guiding questions (download it below). They put it all together pretty quickly.
Aquatic Ecosystem Presentation Rubric
Students choose an aquatic ecosystem in the state of Maine. After in depth research into the health of that ecosystem, students share their findings. This rubric and instruction sheet guide students as they work independently on their research.
Fall Webinar 2011 - Vital Signs Refresher
http://vitalsignsme.org/vs-refresher
What : Learn about -
Field Missions
Tools and resources
Data quality
Publishing observations
Nesting Bird Game
This is a fun game where participants explore habitat and nesting bird sites with regard to invasive species. Specifically, it addresses the competition between native birds and invasive bird species when it comes to habitat resources and predators.
Student Teams Self Assessment
Here is an assessment that I used for my classes after they finished their Vital Signs Investigations. They evaluate how well their team cooperated and shared the responsibilities for this project. I also ask them to evaluate the program and to give suggestions to make this better for them.
VS Skils Round Robin
> This is a sheet to record going through the process of rotating through a brief introduction of the skills. It has 8 skills on there; however, we did 2 rounds of 4 and 4. This is a brief summary and insight of what one of the rounds looked like for us.
In essence: in a 2 hour period, we each saw 150-200 students for a skill session. (Guy: GPS, Joan: Quadrat/Species Cards, Sandy: Observation Sketches, Joelle: Camera) Now, it wasn't pretty; but, we did it again the following
Friday, with the other 4 skills! :) And, certainly, armed with more strategies.
Comic Life Invasive Species Project Rubric
This is a rubric to help guide students when creating a culminating activity for the Vital Signs invasive species Comic Life project and help teachers score it.
