Education Standards
Bug Biodiversity Lab Notebook Entry
Bug Biodiversity Lab Rubric
Bug Biodiversity- Student Pre-Work and Experiment Set-Up
Bug Biodiversity Lab: Sampling Ground Invertebrates
Overview
Students will utilize previously gained knowledge about the impact of land management practices on ecosystems to design, conduct and analyze an experiment to measure biodiversity and/or invertebrate ecosystem role in a field community. They will identify ecosystems that have been heavily and lightly impacted by human activities and make predictions about biodiversity in the area. They will then test and analyze the information gathered and apply what this means about the biodiversity in these ecosystems and the implications this may have on the region.
Lesson Title: Bug Biodiversity - Sampling Ground Invertebrates
Course: Environmental and Natural Resources
Lesson Topic: The Impact of Land Use on Ecological Biodiversity
Lesson Description:
Students will utilize previously gained knowledge about the impact of land management practices on ecosystems to design, conduct and analyze an experiment to measure biodiversity and/or invertebrate ecosystem role in a field community. They will identify ecosystems that have been heavily and lightly impacted by human activities and make predictions about biodiversity in the area. They will then test and analyze the information gathered and apply what this means about the biodiversity in these ecosystems and the implications this may have on the region.
Learning Goals/Outcomes - Students will be able to:
- Design, conduct and analyze an experiment to measure biodiversity and/or invertebrate ecosystem role in a field community.
- Describe the role of insects and other invertebrates in a field ecosystem.
- Explain how land management practices (tilling, fertilization, etc) and different plants (prairie, grass, etc) have an effect on invertebrate activity levels and biodiversity.
Nebraska Standards:
AFNR.HS.3.3.a Identify the components that comprise ecosystems.
AFNR.HS.3.2.e Associate farming (management) methods with different environmental conditions.
AFNR.HS.CR.5.a Research, examine and discuss issues and trends that impact AFNR systems on local, state, national and global levels
Technology Use: Minimal
Lesson Activities
Activity #1 - Bell Ringer - Time Required for Activity: 5-10 Minutes
Watch the video on biodiversity on Edpuzzle. Answer the questions as they are presented.
Other: Materials/Resources needed: Edpuzzle video on biodiversity - https://edpuzzle.com/media/5f285d5d61744a3f1ce0010a
Activity #2 - Anticipatory Set - Time Required for Activity: 10 Minutes
Discuss Objectives. Students read through Essential Questions.
Read through essential questions; record answers to 1 in your lab notebook. (#2-3 will be answered later in the lab.)
Essential Questions:
- What roles do insects play in an ecosystem? What might you expect to see in an imbalanced ecosystem?
- What land management practices are occurring on the sites you have chosen to observe?
- How might specific practices impact the areas?
Activity #3 - The Lab: Exploration Time Required: 50 Minutes in class (You will need to allow two days to two weeks to analyze data)
Materials
- Copies of Worksheets and Lab Notebook Rubric for each student
• Spade, post-hole digger, or small shovel (one per group)
• Small plastic cups or pint jars for pitfall traps
• One gallon soapy water (1 tbsp unscented dishwashing soap/gallon)
• Board to cover each trap/ fist sized rocks (optional)
• Strainer or cheesecloth (one per group)
• Marker flags.
Put students in groups of 3-4. Follow lab description
General notes on procedure: Pitfall traps can be left in the field for two days to two weeks. For short sampling periods, soapy water is an adequate capture solution. If rain is expected, the traps can be covered with a board – a square piece of wood, plastic, or metal that is propped up with rocks or wood chips over the cup so that they allow insects to pass underneath but do not allow rain to fall in.
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Print the attached worksheet for student lab notebooks: See "Student Pre-Work and Experiment Set-Up". Complete the pre-work worksheet and follow the directions to set-up the experiment.
Activity #4 - Activity: Assess the Data Time Required for Activity: 15-20 Minutes
Collect the traps and use the "Assess the Data" worksheet to complete the lab experiment.
Activity #5 - Product or assessment: Time Required for Activity: 20-25 Minutes
Students: please complete the Bug Biodiversity Lab Notebook Worksheet and submit for a grade. Please consult the Rubric to ensure that you are meeting the requirements of a high quality submission.
Summary of Assessments
Formative Assessments:
- Teacher-made Test: The lesson begins with a formative assessment on biodiversity through the use of edpuzzle. This should be used to confirm that students understand the importance of biodiversity. This prior understanding is foundational to this hands-on activity.
- Interactive Discussion: The use of the essential questions begin as a formative assessment. The instructor or student peers should read over student answers and confirm or adjust areas of confusion.
- Projects: The instructor will use the “Student Pre-Work and Experiment Set-Up” worksheet to further assess student understanding. The sites which students choose will show whether or not they are taking land use into consideration.
- Observations: The “Assess the Data” worksheet helps students process and evaluate the results of their experiment.
Summative Assessment
- Journals: Students will use the Student Pre-Work and Experiment Set-Up and Assess the Data worksheet to complete the Lab Notebook (journal) Entry. - See attached resources
Enrichment: After the specimens are collected, students can report on the life cycle of specific invertebrates, their role in an ecosystem and how they are impacted or how they impact an imbalanced ecosystem. Identify any indicator species.