Conduct
this session in the schoolyard.
- Tell students that in this session the class will be acting out
three plays: one for each of three streams being monitored. In each
play 20 students will be needed to play the roles of the stream macroinvertebrates.
If you have more than 20 students, the extras may play the parts of
water or other stream inhabitants; if fewer, some students may take
on two roles.
- Provide each student with a
Schoolyard Stream Simulation Data
Sheet (PDF; also available in
a Word file)
and a piece of graph paper. In addition, students should
bring their
Macroinvertebrate
Fact Sheet (PDF; also
available in
a Word file). (If available, give each
student a clipboard to hold each of the items.)
- Hand out
Schoolyard
Stream
Simulation
Cards (PDF; also available in a Word file)
for Stream 1. Instruct the students that as actors they must consult their fact
sheets
to
study the character indicated on their simulation card. The fact
sheet will provide students with clues for imitating their character.
For
example, the actor portraying a crayfish might use his or her
hands as claws and make shredding motions; the leech might make sucking
noises; the mayfly might pretend to crawl out of his or her skin;
the aquatic
worm might wiggle.
- Direct the actors to start uphill, if possible,
and to move downhill, as if they were flowing, until they reach you,
who, playing
the scientist,
will collect them in your net.
- Once you catch the macroinvertebrates,
direct all the tolerant ones to get into a group. Count these, and
instruct students
to record the
number on Data Sheets.
- Next tell students to group themselves
according to the type of organism they portray. As a class, count
and record
the number
of
different organisms on the Simulation Data Sheet. This number
will indicate the
level of diversity in the stream ecosystem.
- Repeat steps 2–6
for the Stream 2 and Stream 3 Simulation Cards.
- Find a shady
spot or return to the classroom, and have students fill in the rest
of the data sheet, discussing how
the fraction
of tolerant organisms is determined and how that is converted
to the
percent tolerant.
- Instruct students to draw two graphs on
their graph paper: one showing the percentage of tolerant macroinvertebrates
in each stream,
and the
other showing the biodiversity in each stream. Use the
graphs
to compare the streams. (See Preparing
Graphs and Charts in the Project Action Guide.) Discuss
what the graphs communicate about the health of each
stream. Speculate
about what could be happening
on the land of each stream’s watershed to affect
the water quality.
Next: Classroom Assessment Suggestions
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