Modeling and Macroinvertebrates
Students will be able to determine the health of a stream by analyzing macroinvertebrates. Students will be able to design a model to demonstrate a healthy watershed.
Overview
Students record what they notice and wonder about macroinvertebrate pictures, then use a dichotomous key to identify the organisms in a sample drawn from a 2020 Army Corps of Engineers survey of Luxapalila Creek. A video, a reading, and a math worksheet on the Mississippi watershed show why macroinvertebrates indicate stream health, and students predict their sample's water quality. They then complete a biomonitoring data form, determine the water quality level, and assess their predictions. In the elaboration, groups design, build, test, and retest a model restoring a Mississippi area after a visitor center is built, so their organisms can survive. Students finish with a video reflection featuring the model. The plan allots one 40-minute period each to engage, explore, explain, and evaluate, and six 40-minute periods to elaborate.
Lesson Objectives
- Determine the health of a stream by analyzing macroinvertebrates. Design a model to demonstrate a healthy watershed.
Standards
NGSS · 5
- MS-LS2-4
- MS-LS2-5
- MS-ETS1-1
- MS-ETS1-2
- MS-ETS1-3
CCSS Math · 4
- 7.RP.A.1Analyze proportional relationships and use them to solve real-world and mathematical problems
- 7.RP.A.3Use proportional relationships to solve multistep ratio and percent problems.
- 7.NS.A.1Apply and extend previous understandings of operations with fractions, decimals and percents.
- 7.EE.B.3Solve real-life and mathematical problems using numerical and algebraic expressions and equations.
CCSS ELA · 2
- RST.6-8.9Compare and contrast the information gained from experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia sources with that gained from reading a text on the same topic.
- RI.6.10By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.