Let's create continuous conversations about climate change education: Spreading the Sediment of Science!

Aquatic Invasive Species Enrichment Activities

Provided by: Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Activity - Outdoors Grades 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

Synopsis

This resource contains six activities to teach students about invasive and non-native species in Michigan's waterways.
Students will simulate the life cycle of a salmon, learn about the impacts of sea lamprey on lake trout, role-play as stakeholders dealing with resource problems, research animal habitats, model the invasion of zebra mussels, and brainstorm solutions for keeping invasive carp from overtaking Michigan waters.

Subjects: Science, Biology

Authors: Michigan Department of Natural Resources, EGLE, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Great Lakes Restoration

Region: Michigan

Languages: English

Positives

The use of movement in many of the activities is fun and engaging for students.
The stakeholder conversation in Social Carrying Capacity will help students with perspective-taking and advanced discussions.

Prerequisites

In The Great Swim activity, the link to the Chinook salmon lifecycle video is broken. The video can be found HERE. Please note that in this video, there are clips of fish being dissected. Additionally, the page for salmon in Lake Michigan no longer exists.
For The Invisible Migration, the link to the Great Lakes Basin map is broken. A similar map can be found HERE.
Many of the links citing sources or providing additional information are broken.

Differentiation & Implementation

Language arts teachers can use the vocabulary list for The Great Swim to do word work.
To contextualize the Social Carrying Capacity activity, teachers can invite community members who fit the description of the different stakeholders and have them weigh in as a panel on the issues students discussed.
During It's Your Niche, students can practice persuasive tactics and demonstrate what they know about the habitats by creating advertisements for the habitats they learned about.
Students can discuss the impact climate change may have on the prevalence of invasive species or how it also may alter existing ecosystems.

Scientist Notes

Teaching Tips

Standards

Resource Type and Format