| 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 | Biodiversity, Scientific inquiry | Plant Discovery | Students take on the role of naturalist discovering a plant for the first time. They look closely, name the plant, collect detailed information about it, and sketch it. As a fun extension, have the students exchange their work with another class, and see if they can identify the mystery plants. |
Middle school (grades 6-8) High school (grades 9-12) |
gmri | 0 | 2012-01-05 |
| 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 |
| Learning activities, Field work resources | Scientific inquiry | Data Quality Hunt | Vital Signs data is used by students, the public, and professional scientists to better understand invasive and native species in Maine. For that reason, observations need to be of a certain quality to ensure their usefulness. Before students do their own data collection, they take time to explore and decide what good quality data looks like. |
Middle school (grades 6-8) High school (grades 9-12) |
cvoyer | 0 | 2011-09-21 |
| Learning activities, Instructional models | Scientific inquiry | Prediction Jigsaw | Students break into expert groups to help them make a prediction about what they expect to find in the field. |
Middle school (grades 6-8) High school (grades 9-12) |
christinev | 0 | 2011-08-26 |
| Learning activities, Instructional models | Scientific inquiry | Talk Moves Card Game | Use talk moves cards to scaffold productive talk and argument. | Middle school (grades 6-8) | christinev | 0 | 2011-08-26 |
| Learning activities | Ecosystem health | A Picture of Health: Human Health Continuum | Use A Picture of Health to prime students to think about what it means to be healthy. Before they tackle ecosystem health, students consider human health – a topic more familiar that they all have personal experience with. Students look at a set of photographs of people that show a range of health. They work together to arrange them along a continuum from healthy to unhealthy. They practice backing up their decisions with reasons and evidence, a skill they will use when assessing ecosystem health. |
Middle school (grades 6-8) High school (grades 9-12) |
vitalteach | 0 | 2011-05-06 |
| Learning activities, Field work resources | Scientific inquiry | Vital Signs Fieldwork Skills Stations | Doctors and nurses routinely check “vital signs” (temperature, pulse, blood pressure, breathing, etc.) to get a sense of a person’s health. Similarly, scientists use tools to check an ecosystem’s “vital signs” and assess health. Students practice the Vital Signs Fieldwork Skills that will ultimately help them collect high quality data to determine the health of their own local ecosystem. |
Middle school (grades 6-8) High school (grades 9-12) |
vitalteach | 0 | 2011-05-06 |
| Learning activities | Scientific inquiry | Make Public Service Announcements! | Public Service Announcements are short videos that try to convince people to pay attention to something, think differently, or behave a certain way. Students create a series of 30- or 60-second Public Service Announcements that explain, raise awareness, generate support, change behavior, or motivate action! |
Middle school (grades 6-8) High school (grades 9-12) |
vitalteach | 0 | 2011-05-06 |
| 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 |
