Adirondack
Curriculum
Project - www.adkcurriculum.org 
NYS Content Area Standard
MST: Science—General skills: 7-sequence of events; 8-identify
cause-and-effect relationships
Standard 4: The
Living Environment
Key idea 7: Human decisions and activities have had a profound impact
on the physical and living environment.
Performance indicator 7.2: Describe the effects of environmental
changes on humans and other populations
NATIONAL STANDARDS
- Science: Earth & Space Sciences
- Life
Skills: Thinking & Reasoning; Working with Others
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Title: The Bugs Will Tell You:
Macroinvertebrates Spill the Beans
Grade Level: 4-7
Author: Valerie Valla,
Marion Shorey, Ballston Spa C.S.
Email: vvalla@bscsd.org mshorey@bscsd.org
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Adirondack Curriculum Content Area
_X_ Natural History
_X_ Human History
___ Culture & the Arts
___ Government & Civics
___ Economy
___ Health, Recreation &
Life Skills |
Investigative Question or Issue: How might resource
managers use macroinvertebrate
populations to assess the health of a stream or river?
Challenge:
Conduct
a macroinvertebrate survey of the local waterway to which you have been
assigned. Create a poster suitable for use in a presentation in which
you communicate your findings to others.
Context for this Challenge:
This challenge may require a high degree of “coaching” from the
teacher. It may be necessary to assist students in the processes of
taking a valid macroinvertebrate
population sample, collecting and interpreting data, and comparing data
to that collected by other researchers so as to draw some general
conclusions regarding the Investigative Question above. Refer
to references on the next page to find help with procedures.
Directions: Put
students into groups of 2 or 3 to perform a macroinvertebrate survey of
a local waterway. Provide Student
Handout and Macroinvertebrate
Count Form.
Posters should include the following items:
- The name of the waterway investigated
- A map of the waterway locating it accurately
in your region
<>A bar or pie graph of findings that shows the
relative presence of each of the following categories of invertebrate
in your waterway: sensitive, somewhat sensitive, and tolerant- A
Tally Sheet that shows the raw data from the research<>
- <>A concluding statement (paragraph) which
explains the findings and draws a conclusion about the health of the
waterway based on the data collected.
Students should be prepared to use their posters to
support a short presentation to the class in which
they share their findings and conclusions based on those findings. All
members of the group should be
prepared to answer questions about the study and defend the accuracy of
the data and final conclusions.
All work should satisfy the Quality Standards identified below and in
the Product Quality Checklist that
follows.
SAMPLE WATERWAY • STUDENT POSTERS • STUDENT DATA
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Quality Standards:
Bar/Pie
graph & Map (group activity):
- Different color for each bar/wedge
- Neat
- Accurate
- Graph should fill the page
- Axes & bars/wedges/ clearly labeled
- Appropriate increments
- Title
- Waterway highlighted on map
- Student name, teacher name, and section in upper left
corner on poster
Presentation (group activity)
- Informative
- Accurate
- Well-designed and thought out
- Clear
- Interesting
References:
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Adapted for the Adirondack
Curriculum Project from
the work of Education By Design TM and Leading EDGE, LLC
©ACP 2002
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Differentiate
the assignment of waterways. Lower ability students should be
assigned to polluted rivers where they would count as many
macroinvertebrates but a fewer categories. The higher ability
students are assigned to the cleaner waterways so they need to do more
sorting.