Human Impacts—Invasive Species Impacts

Summary: The Oregon Sea Grant Extension WISE Program (Watershed and Invasive Species Education) provides teacher resources for teaching about invasive species in Oregon. WISE teachers have created, tested and posted their lesson plans online, and we highlight some of those projects in this focus area.

Concepts to teach: Invasive species

Goals: Students learn to recognize examples of aquatic invasive species and understand the impact these invaders have on the health of the environment.

Standards:
H.2L.2

Specific Objectives:

1. Identify several invasive species in the local community.
2. Explain the ecological and financial impact invasive species have in Oregon.

Activity Links and Resources:

• Teachers as Watershed Educators Curriculum Map—WISE teacher Brian Vollmer-Buhl outlines the lessons he used to help his 6-8th graders learn about an invasive brackish water snail and other local invasive species.
• Oregon State University’s Marine Bioinvasion Lab—Lessons and background material for studies of estuarine burrowing mud shrimp and the invasive marine isopod species that parasitizes them. Guided field and lab experiences are offered by Oregon Sea Grant’s Marine Education programs at Hatfield Marine Science Center.
• Resources from Oregon Sea Grant’s Watershed Invasive Species Education (WISE) Program
  • Professional development and curriculum focused on aquatic invasive species in Oregon
  • Invasive Species 101—Classroom projects conducted by WISE teachers and students
    • For example: Teachers as Watershed Educators Curriculum Map—WISE teacher Brian Vollmer-Buhl outlines the lessons he used to help his 6-8th graders learn about an invasive brackish water snail and other local invasive species.
• Nab the Aquatic Invader—Website for invasive species learning
• Early Detection & Distribution mapping system—Lists invasive species by state and county, lots of information about plants
• Oregon Coast Quests
  • Students can make a Quest or other interpretive guide that features local invasive species.  For example, the D River Invasive Species Quest (now retired) is an example of a self-guided place-based activity that tells the story of aquatic invasive species found at Devils Lake in Lincoln City.

Assessment:

• Use or develop formative assessment probes to gauge student understanding about the water cycle. The following probes from Uncovering Student Ideas in Science, vol. 2 could be applied or modified (to obtain Uncovering Student Ideas in Science publications or access sample chapters, visit the NSTA website):
  • Habitat Change—explores student understanding of how animal populations are affected when habitats are changed. Consider modifying this instrument to address student understanding of how competition from invasive species can affect native populations.
• Example of assessment questions prior to a field trip: Field Trip Preassessment
• Research and describe the impact an invasive species has on the local environment.
• Search for examples of student work samples on the right side of the Invasive Species 101 website.

Coastal Ecology—Kelp Forests

Summary: It’s difficult for a class of students to actually swim under the sea and truly experience the wonder of kelp forest ecosystems. In this lesson from OIMB, students explore kelp forests through video. Furthermore, they gain experience collecting data and summarizing a scientific investigation.

Concepts to teach: Kelp forest ecology, diversity, scientific processes

Goals:

• Learn to make predictions and interpret results
• Record scientific observations to come up with a conclusion
• Visually experience the kelp forest ecosystem

Standards:
4.1, 4.2L.1, 4.3, 4.3S.1, 4.3S.2, 4.3S.3

Specific Objectives:

1. Students will make observations on a virtual field trip of a kelp forest
2. Students will go through the steps of scientific process by making and testing hypotheses.
3. Students will collect data, make conclusions and communicate findings with others.

Activity Links and Resources:

• The Virtual Kelp Forest Field Trip is one of many Kelp Forest lessons available for fourth graders from the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology.
• Collection of kelp videos from the BBC
• Take a field trip to see kelp forest exhibits and inhabitants at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.
• View a live web cam of the famous Kelp Forest exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Assessment:

• “The worksheets and student explanations. For this lesson, it is not critical that the conclusions are correct; it is more important that the students give good reasons for their conclusions based on what they observed and know and about the kelp forest. In their presentations, do they articulate the different steps of the scientific method?”

Human Use of Resources—Land Plan Challenge

Summary: Community planning can balance human needs and the health of natural resources. In this classroom modeling activity from Windows to the Universe, “students use simplified maps to plan towns, being conscious of water resources, and then learn how their town fits into the larger community.”

Concepts to teach: Maps, land planning, water resources

Goals: Students will work together to learn what services and resources a town needs, and how to meet those needs while protecting water resources.

Standards:
S6.2L.2, S6.4D.1, S7.2E.1, S7.2E.4, S7.4D.1, S8.4D.1,
SS.08.GE.07, SS.08.GE.08

Specific Objectives:

1. Learn what services and resources a town needs, and that land planning to protect water resources is important.
2. Discover that planning a town requires group decision-making, and is most effective if done over a large area and with the cooperation of many communities.

Activity Links and Resources:

• The Geography of Land Planning (previously entitled Land Plan Challenge)—This lesson plan from the National Earth Science Teachers Association includes worksheets, standards, and suggestions for assessment. Students use simplified maps to plan towns, being conscious of water resources, and then learn how their town fits into the larger community.
• After mapping, discuss the effects of various types of land use might have on the nearby streams and other waterways. This concept will be further explored in the Human Impact section of the Land and Water Use focus area.
• Compare and contrast the fictional towns created by students to real maps of the local area.

Assessment:

• From the Land Plan Challenge lesson plan: “Have student groups write a proposal letter to readers of neighboring towns about what they would like to see changed and why.”

Human Use of Resources—Land Use and Land Cover

Summary: Students use Google Earth to make land use maps, and compare current and historic land uses.

Concepts to teach: Land use, land cover, Google Earth, historical changes in land use

Goals: Students become familiar with using Google Earth mapping software to learn more about and identify land use practices in the local community.

Standards:
SS.HS.GE.02, SS.HS.GE.07

Specific Objectives:

1. Define land use and land cover and provide examples of land cover classes.
2. Understand how to create a simple land cover map using Google Earth.
3. Compare current and historical land use for a local area.

Activity Links and Resources:

• Understanding Land Use and Land Cover—This lesson plan from AmericaView gives detailed instruction about how to use Google Earth to make land use and land cover maps for the local area. Student computer access required.
• Discuss how local land use impacts the environment locally, regionally, and globally.
• To find current maps of your local area, contact your local:
  • City Planning Department
  • School District (keyword search: facility plan)
• Identify changes in land use that have occurred over the past 100 years.
  • Use historic maps, photographs, and interviews with community elders and other experts to find out what the area was like in the past.
    • Contact your local historical society for help
    • Portland Historical Land Use maps
    • Oregon Archives
  • Illustrate the changes by making timelines and comparative maps.
• Oregon Coast Quests
  • Yaquina Head Tale of Two Hills Quest—This self-guided place-based activity located in Newport tells the story of land use changes at Yaquina Head over 100 years. Featured human impacts include burning, livestock grazing, rock quarrying, golfing, residential development, and modern electrical towers.
  • Make a Quest or other interpretive guide that features the human impacts that students have identified in their local field site.

Assessment:

• Worksheet and map from Understanding Land Use and Land Cover lesson plan.

Stewardship—Landscaping Projects

Summary: In the previous topic guides, students learned about the human impacts affecting land and water ecosystems. In this topic guide, students take action to improve or restore a local area to improve the health of the ecosystem.

Concepts to teach: Ecosystem, habitat, stewardship, sustainability, invasive species, erosion

Goals: Students plan improvements to a local outdoor area that will improve the health of the ecosystem by reducing erosion, turbidity, water waste, the spread of invasive species, or other similar impacts. Students carry out the project and plan for its sustainability over time.

Standards:
H.4D.1, H4D.4

Specific Objectives:

1. Work with school and/or local officials to identify a restoration/enhancement project that will improve the health of the ecosystem.
2. Devise a budget and work plan for the activity.
3. Assess and report impacts from the project to the community.

Activity Links and Resources:

• Identify and remove invasive species
  • WISE project examples
  • The SOLVE Invasive Plants page links to current volunteer projects available and guidance for starting new projects
• For rainy areas in Oregon: Create a Rain Garden
  • OSU Extension Rain Garden guide
  • Detailed resources from Portland Bureau of Environmental Services
• For dry areas of Oregon: Plant drought-resistant plant species and practice water conservation at home
  • Landscape design and rain garden resources from the City of Bend
• Become a NOAA Ocean Guardian classroom by conducting a stewardship project in your local watershed. See examples of school-based conservation projects for ideas.
• Oregon Coast Quests

Assessment:

• Identify a local restoration/enhancement project and describe how its implementation will improve the health of the ecosystem.
• Present a budget and work plan for the restoration/enhancement project.