What role do Arthropods play in our local environment?
Global Citizenship
Students will practice global citizenship as environmental stewards. Students will learn about a particular phylum of life on our planet and why it is important to protect them.
What is an Arthropod?
How do I collect and preserve arthropod specimens in order to study them?
What characteristics do different arthropods have so that I can accurately identify them based on their taxonomic order?
Students should be able to accurately identify local arthropods in their environment by using a dichotomous key and other tools.
Students should be able to collect and appropriately pin their specimens in order to study them more closely.
Written and Oral Discourse - Students will communicate characteristics of different orders of Arthropods in order to identify them
Identification - Students will use dichotomous keys and natural guides in order to accurately identify specimens
Use of Scientific tools - Students will practice using insect pinning tools, Ecosystem collection tools such as soil probes, pH meters, temperature probes, and humidity meters. Presentation Skills - Students will present their ideas through speech
Note taking - Students write key ideas in their lab notebooks so that they may use the resource on labs and other assessments.
Differentiation:
Explicit instruction of expectations for answering questions in complete sentences (TTQA) on formative and summative assessments.
Explicit instruction on lab notebook setup and maintenance throughout the course.
Explicit instruction on reading articles, lab activity instructions, and textbook passages (Bold Words, Headings, Interpreting Diagrams and Charts).
Providing a variety of tools to help students identify different specimens
HS-LS2-7. Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.*
Textbook - Living in the Environment G.Tyler Miller and Scott Spoolman
National Geographic Pocket Guide to Insects of North America
https://www.insectidentification.org/
bugguide.net
University of Wisconsin Insect ID
Squam Lakes Natural Science Center
[Our Hidden Google Drive Resource link]