| Resource type | Theme | Title | Teaser | Grade Level | Name | Comments | Post date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Learning activities | Current events, Invasive species | 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. |
Middle school (grades 6-8) High school (grades 9-12) |
vitalteach | 0 | 2012-01-12 |
| Learning activities | Ecosystem health, Ecosystems, Invasive species | 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. |
Middle school (grades 6-8) High school (grades 9-12) |
gmri | 0 | 2012-01-03 |
| Tutorials, Instructional models | Invasive species, Scientific inquiry, Tutorial/ Template | Fall Webinar 2011 - Vital Signs Refresher | http://vitalsignsme.org/vs-refresher What : Learn about - Field Missions Tools and resources Data quality Publishing observations | Professional development | cvoyer | 0 | 2011-11-08 |
| Learning activities | Ecosystem health, Ecosystems, Invasive species | 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. | Middle school (grades 6-8) | ashdog | 2 | 2011-04-16 |
| Field work resources, Analysis resources | Invasive species | 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. | Middle school (grades 6-8) | kjurdak | 0 | 2010-12-15 |
| Learning activities | Invasive species | 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. | Middle school (grades 6-8) | jdrake | 0 | 2010-12-15 |
| Learning activities | Invasive species | 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. | Middle school (grades 6-8) | jdrake | 1 | 2010-12-08 |
| Learning activities, Analysis resources | Constancy & change, Invasive species | Mystery Graph and Oh Deer followup | This is the ppt presentation I used to outline my ideas after I played Oh Deer (we called it Oh Bluebird!) with my students. We started class with video highlights from the game we had played last class. Then we discussed the contents of the slideshow slowly - taking breaks on data slides for students to graph the information on mini whiteboards. I walked around directing struggling students how graph it. We ended with discussion on invasive species and the time lapse video of knotweed growth. | Middle school (grades 6-8) | brownz.ppsd | 1 | 2010-12-04 |
| Learning activities, Analysis resources | Invasive species | Oh Deer! (or Oh Bluebird!) outline/data collection template | Teacher short notes for Oh Deer activity. Data collection template for Oh Deer activity. | Middle school (grades 6-8) | brownz.ppsd | 0 | 2010-12-04 |
| Learning activities, Field work resources, Analysis resources | Invasive species | Combine with Dichotomous Keys | Use the species cards to translate and bridge the gap between them and the use of dichotomous keys in classification. Have students use the keys and cards to create mini keys that would help to identify the species that they are studying in the field. | Middle school (grades 6-8) | karenmccormick | 1 | 2010-11-20 |
