A Picture of Health: Ecosystem Health Continuum

The Ecosystem Health Continuum gets students playing and experimenting with their own understanding of and assessment criteria for determining ecosystem health. Students look at a series of photographs of ecosystems that show a range of health. They arrange them along a continuum from healthy to unhealthy, and practice backing up the claims they make using evidence.

*This activity is part of the unit of study called "Ecosystem Health: Checking the Vital Signs of Maine Ecosystems."
Find it here: http://vitalsignsme.org/ecosystem-health-checking-vital-signs-maine-wate...
And here: http://vitalventure.gmri.org/watershed-experiences/ecosystem-health/

Project Information
Grade Level: 
Middle school (grades 6-8)
High school (grades 9-12)
Resources I used: 
Human resources! *Photos are from the great Ruth Maclean of Portland's King Middle School! *The fun slide-moving idea is from the great Laura Seaver of Old Orchard Beach's Loranger Middle School
How should others reference your work?: 
vitalteach, "Ecosystem Health Continuum," Vital Signs Program, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, April 2011
Documents