Managing Invasive Species: Engaging the Next Generation in Resource Management

Driving Question: What is the level of infestation of [target species] in our community and what is the best way to manage [target species]?

Curriculum OverviewThis curriculum is an extension of the Vital Signs Population Change Over Time Data Investigation curriculum. Both can be done independently of one another, but were created to complement one another. This curriculum extension provides the parts and pieces to enable you and your students to go further with your Vital Signs work and put an invasive species management project into action!

iMapInvasives is a different platform managed in Maine by the Maine Natural Areas Program. Vital Signs collects your observations and connects you to species experts. The iMapInvasives platform allows you to record your management activities. The instructions included in this curriculum will help guide you through using this tool with your students and will also open up opportunities for you and your students to continually monitor, assess, and treat invasives over time.

Projects can range from manually pulling some invasive plants on your school’s property, to having students organize and collaborate with town managers to implement a treatment and monitoring program. We present this curriculum assuming a Fall start, but if you are looping with a class you could start in the spring and continue through the following fall. You can also start the ball rolling with one class and have it be a continuing unit that builds year after year with different students. Just know that our time allotments and timeframes are only suggestions.

Throughout the curriculum, we prompt you with formative assessment and modification ideas. These are meant to be suggestions. The “My Vital Signs Notebook: Managing Invasive Species” (Appendix I) is a great tool for both formative and summative assessment. This notebook is organized with questions for each activity throughout this curriculum.

*This project is a collaboration between GMRI’s Vital Signs program and Maine Natural Areas Program. It is generously supported by Disney, through a Creativity Garden grant, a nationwide project of the Association of Science-Technology Centers [ASTC]. It is also supported by a grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund (MOHF). MOHF is a program through which proceeds from the sale of a dedicated instant lottery ticket (currently Maine-ah Money) are used to support outdoor recreation and natural resource conservation. For more information visit MOHF.

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Table of Contents: Part I: Initial Observations and Assessments – p. 7

Part II: Create an Invasive Species Management Project – pg. 11

Part III: iMapInvasives – Treat, Monitor, Re-Assess, and Share - pg. 26

Part IV: Post-Treatment Follow-Up – pg. 29

Appendix A: I nstructions for Entering iMapInvasives Observations and Assessments – pg. 35

Appendix B: Decision Matrix - pg. 51

Appendix C: Suggestions for Management Methods – pg. 52

Appendix D: Management Resources – pg. 53

Appendix E: iMapInvasives Mechanical Treatment Record - pg. 59

Appendix F: Survey Design Suggestions – pg.60

Appendix G: Teacher Instructions for Vital Signs/iMapsinvasvives Modified Datasheets – pg. 63

Appendix H: Instructions for Entering a Treatment Record in iMapsinvasives – pg. 65

Appendix I: My Vital Signs Notebook: Managing Invasive Species – pg. 78

Appendix J: Summative Assessment Options – pg. 95

Managing Invasive Species: Engaging the Next Generation in Resource Management Curriculum StandardsWhat follows are the standards and learning outcomes that this curriculum covers. This curriculum was designed for grades 6-8, but can be adapted up or down grade levels. This list is not exhaustive and each activity starts off with a specific list of standards that the activity aligns with. As always, the curriculum can be tailored to meet your learning targets.

This curriculum has students working towards the following... 2

NGSS performance expectations:MS-LS2-2: Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.

MS-LS2-4: Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

MS-LS2-5: Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.

MS-ESS3-3: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

MS-ETS1-1: Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

MS-ETS1-2: Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

MS-ETS1-3: Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.

Common Core Standards: MathCCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.SP.A.1: Recognize a statistical question as one that anticipates variability in the data related to the question and accounts for it in the answers.CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.A.1: Understand that statistics can be used to gain information about a population by examining a sample of the population; generalizations about a population from a sample are valid only if the sample is representative of that population. Understand that random sampling tends to produce representative samples and support valid references.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.A.2: Use data from a random sample to draw inferences about a population with an unknown characteristic of interest. Generate multiple samples (or simulated samples) of the same size to gauge the variation in estimates or predictions.

Common Core Standards: ELA3

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.1: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.2:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas clearly and efficiently.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.7: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Maine Learning ResultsA3 – Unifying Themes – Constancy and Change: Describe how patterns of change vary in physical, biological, and technological systems.

B1 – The Skills and Traits of Scientific Inquiry: Students plan, conduct, analyze data from, and communicate results of investigations, including simple experiments.

C1 – The Scientific and Technological Enterprise – Understanding of Inquiry: Describe how scientists use varied and systematic approaches to investigations that may lead to further investigations.

E2 – The Living Environment – Ecosystems: Examine how the characteristics of the physical, non-living (abiotic) environment, the types and behaviors of living (biotic) organisms, and the flow of matter and energy affect organisms and the ecosystem of which they are part.

**Time allotments and timeframes are estimates and suggestions based on 45-minute class periods, these may vary depending on the length of class period and scope of overall project**

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FALL:Part I: Initial Observations and Assessments (6 ½ - 8 ½ class periods; 3 hours and 45 mins of teacher prep)

● Teacher Prep for Part I – Setting up a project with iMapInvasives (1 hour – needs to be done at least a week before starting this unit)

● Student activities 1-6 –Choosing a Target Species (2 class periods; 1 hour of teacher prep), Defining a Question (1/2 class period; 15 mins of teacher prep), Preparing for Fieldwork (1-2 class periods; 30 mins of teacher prep), Collecting Data (1 class period; 1 hour of teacher prep), and Publishing Initial Observations in Vital Signs (1-2 class periods)

● Student Activity 7 – Entering observation and assessment data (1 class period)

Part II: Create an Invasive Species Management Project (varies based on research and management project)

● Student activity 1: Learning from other management projects (1 class period; 1 hour of teacher prep)

● Student Activity 2 – Research based on what we know – want to know – and need to learn (2-3 class periods)

● Student Activity 3 – Sharing learning and proposing projects (1 class period)● Student Activity 4 - Refining an invasive species management project (varies

depending on project)

IN BETWEEN FALL AND SPRING SEMESTERS:● Teacher prep between semesters (if permitting is necessary for the project

students have proposed)● Student Activity 1 – Writing a press release (1-2 class periods; 2 hours of teacher

prep) *You will want to do this part at least a few weeks before you do your management activity so you have time for people to plan to come if interested.

SPRING:Part III: iMapInvasives – Treat, Monitor, Re-Assess, and Share (varies depending on project)

● Student Activity 1 – Putting your invasive species management project into action (varies depending on project; 30 mins of teacher prep)

● Teacher follow up work for student activity 1 – Entering treatments into the iMap database

Part IV: Post Treatment Follow-up (4 -5 class periods; 30 mins of teacher prep) – this part should happen as late in the Spring as possible so there is time in between your treatment and post-treatment observations and assessments.

● Student Activity 1 - Get outside – iMap post-treatment observations and assessments (1 class period; 30 mins of teacher prep)

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● Student Activity 2 - Entering post-treatment observations and assessments data (1 class period)

● Student Activity 3 - View the change over time and reflect on management project (1 class period)

● Student Activity 4 – Follow up and share with your local community (1-2 class periods)

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Part I: Initial Observations and Assessments

TEACHER PREP FOR PART I: It is important to note that it may take Nancy a week to set this project up for you, so contacting her ahead of time is key.

1. Request an iMapInvasives teacher login here: http://login.imapinvasives.org/meimi/request_login_account/

2. Send Nancy Olmstead, Invasive Plant Biologist with the Maine Natural Areas Program (Nancy.Olmstead@maine.gov) the following information:

a. Team names (save this this somewhere offline for future reference):i. First part of team name (i.e., if team name is Purple Unicorns, you would

put “Purple” hereii. Last part of team name (using the example from above, this would be

“Unicorns”)iii. Organization (this will be your school name)iv. Username (this will just be letters, but you can use an underscore if need

be...to keep it simple it can be the team name, i.e. Purple_Unicorns)v. Email (if students are under 13 this will be your email – we recommend

you use your email regardless so that you can have your classes reuse these iMapInvasives accounts from year to year)

b. Project information: i. Project Name (you can have one project per class OR one project for all

classes)ii. Description of project (*you can edit this after students decide on the

scope of the project)iii. Lead Contact name (that is YOU)iv. Project Start Date (this does not have to be the exact day that you start

fieldwork, it can be an estimate) v. Project End Date (optional; if known)

vi. Partner Organizations (optional)vii. Project Members: YOU (the project leader) and team names from above

3. Once Nancy creates your project [WARNING – THIS MAY TAKE UP TO A WEEK], login to iMapInvasives (http://login.imapinvasives.org/meimi/) to complete the set-up of your project. Follow the instructions in this iMapInvasives project instructions document: http://www.imapinvasives.org/#!manualprojects/c5x4 http://imapinvasives.org/static/meimi/pdf/2011-12_iMapInvasives_Projects.pdf

4. Nancy will send you the list of student team names along with their passwords. It is likely the passwords will all be the same, this is ideal so you can use these accounts in future years as you monitor this plot in iMapInvasives.

5. Delineate at least two study areas by using flagging, wooden posts, etc. At least two study areas are necessary to evaluate the results of your project, one will be a treatment area and another will act as a control against which you can compare results.

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You will need to keep these areas marked so that you and your students will be able to locate your sites throughout your project.

a. If you gather GPS coordinates for each corner of your plot you can easily identify these points in iMapInvasives when you are entering assessment and treatment records in the future.

6. Print out modified Vital Signs/ iMapInvasives datasheets here to use for the initial observation and assessment – http://vitalsignsme.org/initial-observation-and-assessment-modified-vital-signsimapinvasives-datasheets . Note: this is a DIFFERENT data sheet than the one used in other Vital Signs investigations.

STUDENT ACTIVITIES 1-6: Choosing a Target Species, Defining a Question, Preparing for Fieldwork, Collecting Data, and Publishing Initial Observations in Vital Signs

Scientists here in Maine are concerned about invasive species, and want to know where they are and where they are not in order to learn from and manage them most effectively. As citizen scientists, you and your students will be gathering data to help you create an evidence-based management project. Before collecting this data, students will gain background knowledge about their target species, define a statistical question, and practice fieldwork skills. Students will gather baseline data against which they can compare the results of their management project. They will conduct a Vital Signs investigation and gather data that will be added to both the iMapInvasives and Vital Signs database so they can begin monitoring their study plot.

ACTIVITIES 1-6:To guide students through the process of choosing their target species, developing or refining a statistical/research question, and preparing for fieldworks, follow Part I, Student Activities 3-5 as well as all of Part II (Student Activities 1-3) in the Population Change Over Time Data Investigation curriculum.

STUDENT ACTIVITY 7: Entering observation and assessment data to iMapInvasivesIn addition to posting to the Vital Signs website, you will also want to have students post their data to iMapInvasives, which is a great tool for comparing pre-treatment and post-treatment observations. The initial iMapInvasives observations and assessments they complete in this section will set them up to monitor their plots over time to see how their management efforts affect their target species.

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Note: Students will use a modified data sheet when they collect data for their initial observation and assessment: http://vitalsignsme.org/initial-observation-and-assessment-modified-vital-signsimapinvasives-datasheets . This is a different from the data sheets used for other Vital Signs investigations. It is essential that students collect data on abundance (either percent cover or count of individuals).

Learning Outcomes for Activity 7: Students will be able to… Record detailed and accurate baseline or pre-treatment data against which they will

eventually compare post-treatment results Use technology to publish results for an authentic audience

Standards AlignmentMLR CCSS NGSS

B1 – The Skills and Traits of Scientific Inquiry: Students plan, conduct, analyze data from, and

communicate results of investigations, including simple

experiments.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6-8.6: Use technology, including the

Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between

information and ideas clearly and efficiently.

MS-ESS3-3: Apply scientific principles to design a method for

monitoring and minimizing a human

impact on the environment.

TEACHER PREP FOR ACTIVITY 7:1. Gather all the login information for your iMapInvasives student teams and have those

ready to hand out to each team.2. Print (or make available electronically) the instructions for completing an observation

and assessment in iMapInvasives from Appendix A.3. Make sure students have their modified Vital Signs/iMapInvasives datasheets from their

initial observation.

ACTIVITY 7:1. Have students sit with their field work teams and make sure they have their modified

Vital Signs/iMapInvasives datasheets, ID cards, cameras, and one computer (all the same materials they needed in order to post to Vital Signs).

a. Datasheets should have all necessary information for both the iMapInvasives observation and assessment.

2. Have students login to iMapInvasives (http://login.imapinvasives.org/meimi/login/?next=/meimi/) and enter an observation and assessment following the protocol found in Appendix A (remind them that they will only need to fill in the fields that were marked ** on their modified datasheets – these are the datasheets they have used to collect their Vital Signs data):

a. Make sure students post to the project you have created so data is “tagged” and easily searchable.

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3. If you are also doing the Vital Signs Population Change Over Time Data Investigation, follow the directions in the box below.

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Vital Signs Population Change Over Time Data Investigation curriculum

Before students start planning a management project in the next section of this curriculum, you may want them to do some analysis of how their target species has or has not changed over time. If you are doing the population change over time and iMapInvasives curricula together, now is the time to continue on and complete Part III in the Population Change Over Time Data Investigation curriculum. Once you reach Student Activity 4 in Part III, students can decide if they want to move ahead with a monitoring plan (detailed in the Population Change Over Time Data Investigation) or a management project, which is explained in Part II below.

Part II: Create an Invasive Species Management Project

STUDENT ACTIVITY 1: Learning from other management projectsStudents and teachers around Maine have been engaged in effective management projects. Before embarking on your own, have students read about past invasive species management work. Students should identify what they will need to find out about for their own project.

Learning Outcomes for Activity 1: Students will be able to… Compare information from multiple texts Draw on examples from past management plans to generate questions and ideas

around their own project

Standards AlignmentMLR CCSS NGSS

C1 – The Scientific and Technological Enterprise – Understanding of Inquiry:

Describe how scientists use varied and systematic

approaches to investigations that may lead to further

investigations.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.9: Draw evidence from

literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection,

and research.

MS LS2-5: Evaluate competing design

solutions for maintaining biodiversity and

ecosystem services.

NGSS Practice 8: Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating

Information

TEACHER PREP FOR ACTIVITY 1:1. Print out the articles below or substitute these articles with your own resources.

a. http://vitalsignsme.org/blog/reclaiming-mackworth (easy reading)b. http://www.pressherald.com/2016/06/28/falmouth-leads-the-charge-against-

land-based-invasive-plants/ (moderate)c. Choose one case study from Appendix D for a difficult, advanced reading.

2. The articles vary in terms of level of difficulty, so you have the option to differentiate for your class. If you choose to do so, assign expert groups (homogenous reading levels) and home groups (heterogeneous reading levels) for each student.

3. Print out the questions for home groups and expert groups.

ACTIVITY 1: 1. Tell students that they are going to explore three different articles about management

projects. This will help them think about the what goes into a management project. 2. Have students count off, 1-3, to assign one of the three articles (or used assigned

groups).11

3. Once students have their assigned reading, give them about 15 minutes to read their article individually. While they are reading their article, ask them to try and answer the following questions and record their thoughts in their My Vital Signs Notebook, part II, Activity 1 in Appendix I:

What species was this group attempting to manage? Why did they decide to manage this species? What were they trying to achieve? What method was used to manage it? How did they get rid of the invasive species once they removed it? If disposal

was not mentioned in the article, write “not specified.” How long did the project last? What were the advantages of this plan? What were the disadvantages? Other ideas from the reading that will help us in creating our class management

project?4. After students have had time to read and take notes on their article, have them get in

expert groups (groups of students that have read the same article).5. Have these groups take 5 minutes to discuss their articles and what they learned.6. After the expert groups have shared their knowledge with one another, create home

groups that have a representative from each expert group.7. In these home groups, students with take another 15 minutes to share out about the

article they read and any reflections they have.8. Have home groups work together to answer to answer the following questions in their

My Vital Signs Notebook: a. What important information did I learn about designing a management project?b. What questions do I have about creating our own class management project?

9. Have students from the home groups share out questions and reflections. Consider posting these in the room to revisit during the project.

STUDENT ACTIVITY 2: Research based on what we know – want to know – and need to learnStudents will add to what they already know about managing invasive species and incorporate the knowledge they have gained through their Vital Signs investigation and classroom research. This exercise will leave your students with tangible tasks which will guide the next steps of their research.

Learning Outcomes for Activity 2: Students will be able to… Generate questions that will direct independent research Conduct research to answer their own questions about management of their target

species

Standards Alignment: 12

MLR CCSS NGSSC1 – The Scientific and

Technological Enterprise – Understanding of Inquiry:

Describe how scientists use varied and systematic

approaches to investigations that may lead to further

investigations.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.7: Conduct short research

projects to answer a question (including a self-generated

question), drawing on several sources and generating

additional related, focused questions that allow for

multiple avenues of exploration.

MS LS2-5: Evaluate competing design

solutions for maintaining biodiversity and

ecosystem services.

NGSS Practice 1: Asking Questions and Defining

Problems

TEACHER PREP FOR ACTIVITY 2: 1. Prepare the KWL chart that is seen in student activity 2, below.

a. You can choose to keep examples on there or not. This is meant to assess what your students already know and help them to generate their own research questions.

b. You may want to have students complete KWL charts on a shared document so that they can compile their research.

2. In the next activity, students will be using internet resources to become more knowledgeable about suitable invasive species management options. Start with student-generated questions and then fill in any remaining gaps with the following questions:

a. What are the typical management goals for your target species (control, eradication, etc.)?

b. What treatment options are recommended?c. How long does the initial treatment usually take?d. What equipment and resources are typically used?e. Is there a cost involved in this method? How much? f. When and how often should you follow-up?

3. Students will need resources to help them answer their questions. Look through Appendix C and Appendix D and choose which resources are appropriate for your students.

ACTIVITY 2: Use the KWL chart (below) to compile what students already Know about their target species, what they Want or need to know, and what students have Learned in their research. Make sure each team has a task and set them to work on their specific duties.

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Formative Assessment Opportunity #1: Use this KWL chart to see what students know. What evidence did they use to back up this knowledge? What is missing that you hope for them to know? How might you support students in that learning?

What do we think we KNOW about X species and how to manage it?

What do we WANT or need to know about X species and how to manage it?

What have we LEARNED about in our research about X species and how to manage it?

➢ Example: We know that we have a lot of purple loosestrife on our school property.

➢ Example: We want to know more about how purple loosestrife spreads.

➢ Example: We know that a local group has been managing X species by mowing.

Questions I still have…

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TEACHER NOTE: Remind students that the data they gathered from their initial Vital Signs investigation is valuable knowledge in this work. It is important for students to see that the tentative conclusions and evidence-based predictions they make during their investigations should inform their management projects.

1. Have students take some time to fill in the “K” and the “W” parts of their KWL charts in their My Vital Signs Notebooks for Part II, activity 2.

2. Split students into fieldwork teams and provide them with the resources you have selected. They can also conduct their own searches for the information that they need.

3. Tell students that the purpose of the research is to find a variety of realistic options for managing the species and that their group will be presenting their findings to the class. As they do go through these resources make sure that they are addressing the following questions:

a. What are the typical management goals for your target species (control, eradication, etc.)?

b. What treatment options are recommended?c. How long does the initial treatment usually take?d. What equipment and resources are typically used?e. Is there a cost involved in this method? How much? f. When and how often should you follow-up?

4. After they have completed their research, have each team fill out or add to the “L” column in their KWL chart in their My Vital Signs Notebook.

5. Ask students to find another person to share their KWL charts with (someone that is not in their team) or share research with their class.

6. Review important new information and/or new questions that have arisen and consider posting them somewhere in the classroom to revisit during the project. http://vitalsignsme.org/how-guide-how-post-project

STUDENT ACTIVITY 3: Sharing learning and proposing projectsOnce students have shared with the class what they’ve learned about the target species and how it might be managed, they will start moving toward a consensus on an idea for a management project. They will refine the project later so these ideas can be rough.

Learning Objectives for Activity 3: Students will be able to… Define a problem created by the target invasive species, including criteria and

constraints that must be considered in designing solutions Evaluate competing design plans considering student-identified criteria and constraints Support opinions with evidence from research

Standards Alignment: MLR CCSS NGSS

C1 – The Scientific and Technological Enterprise –

Understanding of Inquiry: Describe how scientists use varied and

systematic approaches to

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.1:

Write arguments to support claims with clear

reasons and relevant

MS-ETS1-2: Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process

to determine how well they meet the criteria and

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investigations that may lead to further investigations.

evidence. constraints of the problem.

TEACHER PREP FOR ACTIVITY 3:1. Your students will be working on developing an invasive species management project and they will need to know what their constraints are. Answer these questions:

a. What is the timeline for this project?b. Will they have access to money for this project? If not, will they be able

to fundraise? c. Should this project include an experimental control? Why or why not?d. What will be their criteria for success?

2. Re-create the table that is used in the activity below (under step 10), either on large chart paper or as a Google Doc. You can also choose to use the decision matrix in Appendix B if you prefer. Students will fill this in during the activity. Insert the criteria you have generated in the criteria column of the table in the activity below. You can also decide to have students define their own criteria and constraints (an important engineering skill).

ACTIVITY 3:1. Explain to students that you will be working together to design the most effective

management project. 2. Have students use prior learning (from their KWL charts and reading about management

projects) to generate a list of known suitable management methods for the species they are studying.

3. Review the concept of criteria and constraints. Criteria are how they will judge the success of the project, for example, “the stem count should go down to less than 10 per square meter.” Constraints are limitations that they will have to work around, like “we will only have 6 weeks to carry out the project.” Students will need to consider the criteria and constraints while choosing a solution.

4. Split your class into 4-5 groups and have each group discuss their idea(s) for the solution they think is the most promising and the one they think is second most promising on a slip of paper. Make sure they write their name.

5. Collect the papers and form groups based on their preferred ideas.6. Arrange students into their interest groups and have them brainstorm more details

around their proposed strategy. Have them record their thinking in their My Vital Signs Notebooks for Part II, activity 3. Here are the things they should consider within their groups:

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a. Why do we think the class should design a management project for this species?

b. What are the criteria, or goals that we have, for this project? How will we know if we have been successful?

c. What are our constraints, or limitations, that we will need to consider as we design the project?

d. Based on the research we have done; what management strategies do we propose to use?

e. Why did we select these management strategies?f. What equipment and resources will we use?g. What are the disadvantages to this plan? Are there any reasons that

someone might say that this is not the best plan to use? 7. After each group has developed their ideas, show the table they will use to compare

proposed projects (you can choose to show them one with the criteria filled in or have them define their criteria).

8. Have a member from each group write a brief summary (two sentences maximum) on the board or in a Google Doc (the table below is an example of what one may look like – adapted from KIDS As Planners, pg. 63).

9. Meanwhile, have other students in the group develop a 60 second or less sales pitch, detailing their plan and why they think it is the best. Have them record this in their My Vital Signs Notebook.

10. Have each group perform their sales pitch in front of the class. 11. After each presentation, ask the class to weigh the advantages and disadvantages the

other groups shared. a. See Appendix B for the decision matrix if you have chosen to use this template to

organize their thinking.b. If you are doing this in a Google Doc, students can be asked to comment on the

list advantages and disadvantages in the Google Doc all at the same time. The table can also be completed collectively as part of a whole class discussion.

Summary of proposed project A:Example: Pull all the purple loosestrife from our study site.

Summary of proposed project B:Example: Monitor one half of our site and mow the rest.

CRITERIA ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGESImpact Engage

communityPeople will be

activeHard work Doesn’t engage a

lot of peopleReduce # invasives

Immediately reduces #

May spread the plant more

Most effective method

Feasibility Completed in ½ May not get Don’t need a Need a mower

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day enough help lot of peopleLow cost Practically free Monitoring is

basically freeMower and gas

cost moneyNew

Knowledge & Skills

Learn how to manage invasive

Only one method/can’t

compare

See if method works better than nothing

12. Resolve any disagreements about advantages and disadvantages that may have surfaced.

13. Once the chart above is complete, have the class look for the project with more overall advantages. See if they can agree to this project. Once consensus is reached you can move on to refining the Invasive Species Management Project.

STUDENT ACTIVITY 4: Refining an invasive species management projectStudents will collaborate with peers to refine an Invasive Species Management Project. They will access their prior learning and collaboratively complete a template to guide their invasive species management project.

Learning Outcomes for Activity 4: Students will be able to… Design a logical management project informed by research and field work Edit and revise plan to communicate to a larger audience

Standards Alignment: MLR CCSS NGSS

E2 – The Living Environment – Ecosystems: Examine how the characteristics of the physical,

non-living (abiotic) environment, the types and behaviors of living (biotic) organisms, and the flow of

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.2

Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or

technical processes.

MS-ESS3-3: Apply scientific principles to design a method for

monitoring and minimizing a human

impact on the environment.

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TEACHER NOTE: If you are doing this with multiple classes, you may need time to compare all ideas before coming to a decision. Also, if you are doing this with multiple classes, and have a large plot, you may consider trying a few different approaches if that seems feasible.

Formative Assessment Opportunity #2: This is a great time to see how students are comparing alternative solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services and health. Are they using evidence from their research to support their opinions?

matter and energy affect organisms and the ecosystem of

which they are part.

TEACHER PREP FOR ACTIVITY 4:1. Students should have access to all of the work that

they have completed so far for this activity. Students should have both KWL charts ready to reference as they fill in the template provided in this activity. Consider looking into the Invasive Species Management Resources in Appendix D for additional resources.

2. Students will need to complete a detailed outline for their management project. If you anticipate them needing extra support in this process, consider printing out the template in step 3 of this activity for them to use.

3. Create a shared document or chart to which students can add their sections when completed.

ACTIVITY 4:1. Break class into 5 groups:

a. Group 1 – introduction and background sections b. Group 2 – management strategies and methods sectionc. Group 3 & 4 – implementation section (split this section amongst two

groups)d. Group 5 – monitor and evaluation sections

2. Groups will work on completing the information in the template below (which is in their My Vital Signs Notebooks):

Our Invasive Species Management Project: Target Species

adapted from: http://www.fws.gov/invasives/staffTrainingModule/planning/plans.html

Introduction1. What is the purpose and need for this project?

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Modification idea: Fill out the following sections before this activity - Intro, background, management goals, timeline, etc. Then, for this activity, ask students to work from what you have started and see where the gaps in knowledge are. Either assign groups to find out more, or have individuals do the work and then bring the completed product to the class.

2. What data do you have that supports this idea?

Background Information3. Describe the environment you plan to work in.4. What do you already know about the ecosystem?

Management Goals5. What are the current conditions and how do you want them to change? Include data

from your initial fieldwork.6. Describe your goal for this project.

Management strategies, and methods (include a step-by-step procedure)7. What management strategies will you use and why?8. Do we need permits for this control method?9. How will you meet the criteria?10. How do you plan to stay within the constraints?

Implementation11. What is the timeline for this project?12. Will you need money to do this? How much? How will you get it?13. Who will work on this project, what will they do, and when will they do it?14. If we involve the community, how will we engage them and how will we communicate

with them?15. What equipment and resources will you use?

Monitoring16. How often will you monitor progress?17. How will you measure success/effectiveness of your treatment(s)?18. How will you communicate results?

3. After each group feels like they have their sections complete, have them add their section(s) to the class document that you created on chart paper or Google Doc.

a. If students need more support in constructing explanations of their plan, have them use the writing frame below (this is also in their My Vital Signs Notebook):

Introduction: After reading the proposed Invasive Species Management Project I know that it is important to manage (species name ) because . We know this because (include relevant data that justifies taking action )

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. Background Information: We want to do this project in (location ) because _____________________________________________________________. We want to include (who will be a part of this effort ) in the project. Management Criteria: Our goal(s) is/are to . The current conditions at our site are ___________________________________________. We will know that we have been successful if _______________________________________________________________. Management strategies and methods: We plan on using (management strategies/method ) to achieve our goal(s). We will use the procedure detailed in the following steps:

1. ________________________________________________________________________2. _______________________________________________________________________3. ______________________________________________________________________...We will/will not need a permit to complete this work.

Implementation: We would like to complete this project over the course of (time frame ) . We think that we will need (any money needed ) to complete the project and will use (equipment to be used ) . Monitoring: We plan on monitoring our progress every (monitoring schedule ) and we will collect data in the form of . We will know we have been successful when . We will share our results by: ________________________________________________________.4. Have groups share any thoughts on how to improve the template and make those changes.5. Once you have a completed plan, work with the class to determine what roles are involved

with completing the plan, and have students volunteer or assign students to these roles.

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Formative Assessment Opportunity #3: Use the review of the proposed management projects to see evidence of students engaging in argument from evidence and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information.

6. Post roles to the timeline in the classroom so all are on the same page.7. Post the Invasive Species Management Project to the Vital Signs Project Bank. Now you are

ready to bring this project to life and share with a statewide community of land and invasive species managers with iMapInvasives.

*IN BETWEEN FALL AND SPRING SEMESTERS*

TEACHER PREP: Permits and engaging with appropriate agencies 1. If treatment of the plot in question has been decided upon, there will likely be some work

you’ll need to do in preparation of treatment implementation.a. If this project is occurring on your school property you will likely need to

gain permission to move forward with whatever project has been decided on.

b. If a permit is needed (i.e., if you will be accessing private or protected land, or working with a certified pesticide person), contact the appropriate agency in order to gain the proper permit for this project. If you are not sure who to contact, Nancy Olmstead with the Maine Natural Areas Program is a good first point of contact: Nancy.Olmstead@maine.gov

2. You will also be returning to your initial study site after the treatment. This will require the same amount of time as the initial observation and assessment, so plan to have class time set aside to complete this part (described in Part IV, activity 1).

*It is important to note that not all projects will require permitting. For example, hand pulling plants on your school’s campus or removing green crabs from the intertidal do not require permits. However, if your students find, through their research, that permits are required, make sure you start the permitting and permission process early; it can take a few months. If for some reason the permitting falls through, consider a spot on your school’s campus where you can do a similar project but maybe on a smaller scale.

STUDENT ACTIVITY 1: Writing a press releaseBefore their treatment, students will write a press release. This is a good way to drum up support, money (if needed), and/or extra hands in the field. A press release is a great way to highlight the amazing work you and your students are doing.

Learning outcomes for Activity 1: Students will be able to…

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TEACHER NOTE: Consider involving students in this process if you think you have the time and/or think students are able to participate.

Use persuasive writing along with visual and multimedia displays to engage the community

Standards AlignmentMLR CCSS NGSS

C1 – The Scientific and Technological Enterprise – Understanding of Inquiry:

Describe how scientists use varied and systematic

approaches to investigations that may lead to further

investigations

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.2: Write

informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific

procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.

NGSS Practice 8: Obtaining, Evaluating and

Communicating Information

TEACHER PREP FOR ACTIVITY 1:1. To build motivation and excitement, post the project timeline in the classroom. This

way, students can look forward to upcoming events and monitor their progress.2. Decide whether you want all students to collaborate to write a press release or if you’d

like them to form teams and work on multiple community involvement/awareness projects. All of these projects will help develop communication skills. If you think multiple projects is best for your students, see the modification box below.

3. If doing a press release, print the instructions for writing a press release found here - http://vitalsignsme.org/how-write-press-release.

a. Decide which papers you would like to submit a press release to and contact the appropriate staff members to give them a heads up about what your class is doing.

4. Print out example press releases from the Vital Signs project bank: http://vitalsignsme.org/sites/default/files/content/gmri_press_release_-_heterosiphonia.pdf , http://www.gmri.org/news/news-archive/gulf-maine-research-institute-issues-2014-citizen-scientist-challenge

ACTIVITY 1: 1. Pass out one or both of the following press release examples:

a. Red algae - http://vitalsignsme.org/sites/default/files/content/gmri_press_release_-_heterosiphonia.pdf

b. Citizen Science Challenge - http://www.gmri.org/news/news-archive/gulf-maine-research-institute-issues-2014-citizen-scientist-challenge

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2. As a class, look at the press release examples as well as the advice from GMRI’s Communications Manager here – http://vitalsignsme.org/how-write-press-release

3. Group students into teams of two or three. Have students read one of the two articles, answer the following questions, and record their answers in their My Vital Signs Notebooks under Part III, activity 1:

i. Who did it?ii. What did they do?

iii. When did they do it?iv. Where did they do it?v. Why did they do it?

vi. How did they do it? What tricks did the author use that were suggested in the “How to Write a Press Release” example?

4. Using their article as a model, have students work out an outline for their own press release. Have them record their outline in their My Vital Signs Notebooks.

5. Have students assign group members to each section and record this in their My Vital Signs Notebook.

6. Have groups combine their sections in a shared document.7. Have students use the quality checklist that is in their My Vital Signs Notebooks to check

their work. 8. Finally, have each group exchange press releases with another group to review their

work and exchange feedback.9. As a class, choose the best option for a final press release. Consider the following

options: a. select one press release that best meets criteria outlined in the quality checklistb. pick out the best sections from each press release and put them together into

onec. select multiple press releases to send to different local media outlets.

10. Be sure to share all finished products in the Vital Signs Project Bank – http://vitalsignsme.org/project-bank

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Modification Idea: Consider having teams working on multiple projects. They could do a press release, blog (pre and post treatment), PSA, poster, community survey, or a video documentary.

Here is a great example of a blog post by a group of students and their teacher - http://vitalsignsme.org/blog/messalonskee-middle-school-mission-are-crayfish-our-pond-invasive. This resource may be useful when creating a blog post - http://vitalsignsme.org/project-blog. Consider having this group do pre and post treatment posts.

The survey group would need to create and disseminate their survey (see Appendix F for some ideas). They would be expected to summarize the survey findings and communicate that out after project.

The documentary film team would be reporting out to their desired audience at the end of the project.

The press release team could write a pre or post event press release to either gain support or build awareness and future engagement.

The PSA and poster teams could generate thank you PSAs and posters following event or PSAs and posters to build community interest or awareness - http://vitalsignsme.org/project-psa or http://vitalsignsme.org/project-visual-communication

Part III: iMapInvasives – Treat, Monitor, Re-Assess, and Share

STUDENT ACTIVITY 1: Putting your invasive species management project into actionStudents will put their management projects into action. This part will be largely determined by what your Invasive Species Management Project looks like. As we mentioned in the beginning of this curriculum, we recommend having at least two treatment areas within your study site – one where you apply your management strategy and one that is a control (meaning you do not treat that area). A control is meant to minimize the effects of variables in an experiment.

Learning Outcomes for Activity 1: Students will be able to… Implement a logical management plan informed by research and field work Reflect on effectiveness of implementation and monitoring plans

Standards AlignmentMLR CCSS NGSS

B1 – The Skills and Traits of Scientific Inquiry: Students plan, conduct, analyze data

from, and communicate results of investigations,

including simple experiments.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.A.1: Understand that statistics can be used to gain information

about a population by examining a sample of the population; generalizations about a population from a sample are valid only if the

sample is representative of that population. Understand that

random sampling tends to produce representative samples

and support valid references.

MS-ETS1-3: Analyze data from tests to determine

similarities and differences among several design

solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet

the criteria for success.

TEACHER PREP FOR ACTIVITY 1:1. Complete as much of the iMapInvasives (modified) Mechanical Treatment Record, from

Appendix E appE , as you can before students do their initial treatment. a. You can also assign a small group of students to be responsible for filling out and

entering treatment records, but in order to enter treatment records into the iMapsInvasives database, they will need to request a level 6 user profile for their accounts. To request level 6 user accounts for students, contact Nancy Olmstead, Nancy.Olmstead@maine.gov

2. Print out the “Our Invasive Species Management Project: Target Species” plan that was agreed upon in Part II, activity 4 (enough for each group to have a copy).

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3. Depending on the plan for the project, you may need to prep the treatment area, i.e, use stakes and flagging to highlight where they will do their treatment.

4. If students have decided to involve community members, make sure all those people have been contacted. Things to communicate to participants:

a. What time to show upb. How long the event will lastc. Where the event will take placed. What they need to bring with theme. Who to call if something comes up

5. Make that each student has a clear role in the treatment process so everyone knows what they should be doing when they are out in the field.

6. Bring first aid kits, sun screen, water, and other critical items.7. Post the project timeline somewhere that is visible to the whole class. You will all refer

to this throughout the project. Plan to check in regularly on this timeline and celebrate small milestones.

ACTIVITY 1:1. Following the project plan that your students have in front of them, head out to your

site and complete the initial treatment process. This process will vary for each classroom based on the Invasive Species Management Project they created.

a. Make sure each student has a specific role, is keeping track of necessary equipment, and make sure someone is taking pictures.

b. Remember to bring surveys if giving them to community members at the event.2. Refer regularly to the project timeline. Point out a few key dates that students can look

forward to (i.e., date of initial treatment, date of post-treatment assessment, date of final reports). If community members are involved, make sure to share the plans with them to keep them interested and involved.

3. Make sure that students are documenting the treatment process, taking photos, written observations, and recording all data as outlined in the management plan.

4. After each round of treatment, have students record reflections on the treatment process in their My Vital Signs notebooks.

5. Once they have recorded their own reflections, have students share in a whole class discussion. You may want to keep a running record of their reflections in a shared document or on a class poster. Information on the treatment process will be useful in analyzing the post treatment data.

TEACHER FOLLOW UP WORK FOR ACTIVITY 1: Entering treatments into the iMapInvasives database

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In order to make iMapInvasives as easy to use for your students as possible, they are only Level 3 users. This means that you, the teacher, are the only one that will be able to log treatments. If you have done a control treatment in addition to your other treatment, you will need to create two treatment polygons. You can choose to have students involved in this process, however they will need to request level 6 user profiles. To do this, you will need to contact Nancy Olmstead and Nacy.Olmseatd@Maine.gov.

1. Make sure you have completed the end of the iMapInvasives (modified) Mechanical Treatment Record (Appendix E).

2. Follow the instructions for treatment data entry that are outlined in Appendix H.3. Have your iMapInvasives (modified) Mechanical Treatment Record in front of you so all

the necessary information is at your fingertips.

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Part IV: Post-Treatment Follow-Up

STUDENT ACTIVITY 1: iMap post-treatment observations and assessmentsIn order to visualize how their patches have or have not changed over time, students will head back outside to measure/monitor how their plots have responded to their treatment. They will collect data in the same way they did with the initial observations and assessments and post to the iMapInvasives site.

Learning Outcomes for Activity 1: Students will be able to… Make predictions, supported evidence, about how changes in a habitat affect local

populations Collect accurate data, following student-created procedures

Standards AlignmentMLR CCSS NGSS

B1 – The Skills and Traits of Scientific Inquiry: Students plan, conduct, analyze data

from, and communicate results of investigations,

including simple experiments.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.A.2: Use data from a random sample

to draw inferences about a population with an unknown

characteristic of interest. Generate multiple samples (or

simulated samples) of the same size to gauge the variation in

estimates or predictions.

NGSS Practice 3: Planning and Carrying Out

Investigations

TEACHER PREP FOR ACTIVITY 1:The procedure here is the same as when you collected data in the field for the initial observations and assessments except you will be using the post-treatment datasheets found here - http://vitalsignsme.org/post-treatment-observation-and-assessment-modified-vital-signsimapinvasives-datasheets (teacher instructions for the datasheets are in Appendix G).

1. Print the post-treatment datasheets for the appropriate habitat (found here - http://vitalsignsme.org/post-treatment-observation-and-assessment-modified-vital-signsimapinvasives-datasheets)

2. Assemble your fieldwork kits (datasheets, clipboards, GPS, camera (iPad/iPhone)) just as you did in Part I.

3. Be sure to have easy access to each team’s original coordinates – you may even choose to record team names and coordinates into datasheets in advance.

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ACTIVITY 1:1. Before heading outside, have students form evidence-based predictions of what they

think they will see in their My Vital Signs Notebooks under Part IV, activity 1. Have them also record these predictions in the field notes section of their post treatment datasheets http://vitalsignsme.org/post-treatment-observation-and-assessment-modified-vital-signsimapinvasives-datasheets.

2. Review the data collection procedures from pre-treatment. Remind students that their methods should not change.

3. Students will head back out to their treatment locations in the same teams they’ve been working in all along. They will need to make new observations and assessments for the exact same locations they observed initially in order to see how their patches have responded to the treatment.

a. When outside, note that they are performing post-treatment observations and assessments on the same patches from their initial observations and assessments. They will likely need their original GPS coordinates.

4. Once students are back in the classroom, have them record their reflections in their My Vital Signs notebook.

5. Invite students to share out immediate impressions and observations of their management plan.

STUDENT ACTIVITY 2: Entering post-treatment observations and assessments dataAfter students have gathered their post-treatment data they will now add these data to both the iMapInvasives and Vital Signs databases so they can compare their study plots, before and after treatment.

Learning Outcomes for Activity 2: Students will be able to… Record detailed and accurate post-treatment data against which to compare pre-

treatment results Use technology to publish results for an authentic audience

Standards AlignmentMLR CCSS NGSS

B1 – The Skills and Traits of Scientific Inquiry: Students plan, conduct, analyze data

from, and communicate results of investigations,

including simple experiments.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6-8.6: Use technology, including the

Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between

information and ideas clearly and efficiently.

MS-ETS1-3: Analyze data from tests to determine similarities

and differences among several design solutions to

identify the best characteristics of each that

can be combined into a new solution to better meet the

criteria for success.

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ACTIVITY 2:1. Follow the same directions used to post data to Vital Signs and iMapInvasives from their

initial observation and assessments from Part I of this curriculum. a. Be sure to remind students to indicate that this is post-treatment data. On the

Vital Signs site, this can be a note in their field notes. On the iMapInvasives site, they will select the “post-treatment” option when they get to the evaluation type section of data entry.

STUDENT ACTIVITY 3: View the change over time and reflect on management projectNow that your class has gone through the cycle of documenting, treating, and re-assessing, it is time to visualize the change over time in their patches and reflect on their Invasive Species Management Project.

Learning Outcomes for Activity 3: Students will be able to… Use technology to describe changes in an ecosystem over time Analyze and interpret data to assess the effectiveness of a student-designed

management plan

Standards AlignmentMLR CCSS NGSS

A3 – Unifying Themes – Constancy and Change:

Describe how patterns of change vary in physical,

biological, and technological systems.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.SP.A.2: Use data from a random sample

to draw inferences about a population with an unknown

characteristic of interest. Generate multiple samples (or

simulated samples) of the same size to gauge the variation in

estimates or predictions.

MS-LS2-4: Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect

populations.

E2 – The Living Environment – Ecosystems: Examine how the characteristics of the physical,

non-living (abiotic) environment, the types and behaviors of living (biotic) organisms, and the flow of matter and energy affect

organisms and the ecosystem of which they are part.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6-8.6: Use technology, including the

Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between

information and ideas clearly and efficiently.

MS-LS2-5: Evaluate competing design

solutions for maintaining

biodiversity and ecosystem services.

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TEACHER PREP FOR ACTIVITY 3:1. Login to your iMap account and follow the instructions in this short video:

https://youtu.be/onZI8jMeZVg 2. This video takes you to the point where you have opened a tab with the assessment

polygon. Here you can see the area that the polygon represents as well as what type of assessment this is, etc.

3. Now that you have a map view of all your data from this project, you should see all the assessment polygons that were created

4. You can now click on each polygon and open that specific record to see the detail of percent cover, evaluation type, etc.

5. As you open each record, be sure to open a tab for each pre-treatment and post-treatment observation assessment (you will have to look at the evaluation type that was selected under the assessment information section of the assessment record).

a. If you have observed and treated multiple species, you may want to just show one example of each first in order to focus on change on a smaller scale.

6. You can also choose to print the full assessment pages in order for students to compare pre and post treatment assessments or you can show them as a full class and allow them to ask questions of each record on the live screen. This will allow you to look at pre and post assessments to see if anything has changed over time.

a. To print straight from the map view in iMapInvasives you can click on the printer icon in the top right of the map screen

b. If you do choose to print this way, you can also add text to the view you are printing. This will only print what you see on the map, not the full assessment records.

ACTIVITY 3:1. Start by projecting a pre-treatment view of

an assessment. 2. Ask students to turn to a neighbor and

discuss what they notice about the abundance of their species, pre-treatment.

3. Now project the post-treatment assessment view of that same point.

4. Ask students to turn to their neighbor and discuss what they notice about the evolution of their treatment plots.

a. Did the abundance seem to change?32

Formative Assessment Opportunity #4: During the small discussions and class discussion, listen for students using evidence/data to back up their claims. Look for evidence that they are evaluating their solutions/designs as well as considering the change over time data they have collected and visualized.

b. Was there any change in the percent cover?c. Do they see results that align with their management goals?

5. If you want students to view their specific pre and post assessments, consider preparing each group’s assessment records at different points in the room.

a. You can have each team start at their assessments and have them reflect on the same questions you used when showing assessments to the whole class:

i. Did the abundance seem to change?ii. Was there any change in the percent cover?

iii. Do they see results that align with their management goals?b. After teams have reviewed their own assessments, have them rotate and reflect

on other assessments until they have reviewed them all.

6. After they have had a chance to share their initial thoughts, have groups share their reflections with the entire class. Here are some ideas for questions to help drive this conversation:

a. Has the abundance of the invasive changed? Increased? Decreased? Stayed the same? Why do you think that?

b. How accurate is the data? How can you find out?

c. How does the data from your treatment area compare to the control?

d. Do you think we achieved our goal(s)? Why? Why not?e. What could have been improved? What is left to do?f. What do you think will happen as time goes on? Why?

7. After the conversation, have students write a summary of their results in their science notebook. This summary can be used as evidence of their learning or as a preliminary draft of a final product for this unit.

STUDENT ACTIVITY 4: Follow up and share with your local communityHopefully you were able to engage your community in their work. Don’t forget to update your community and be sure to thank them for their involvement. And, don’t forget, the Vital Signs Community would love to know what you and your students have done, so share with us too!

Learning Outcomes for Activity 4: Students will be able to… Communicate their results to an authentic audience Use evidence-based decisions to implement changes in an ecosystem

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Modification Idea: At this point, students have had a lot of practice supporting claims with evidence. To assess these skills, consider changing the discussion prompts so that they are just answering the question, “Was this project successful?” and see if they are able to support their claim with evidence on their own.

Standards AlignmentMLR CCSS NGSS

A3 – Unifying Themes – Constancy and Change: Describe how patterns of change

vary in physical, biological, and technological systems.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.1:

Write arguments to support claims with clear

reasons and relevant evidence.

MS-LS2-4: Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or

biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

E2 – The Living Environment – Ecosystems: Examine how the

characteristics of the physical, non-living (abiotic) environment, the types and

behaviors of living (biotic) organisms, and the flow of matter and energy affect

organisms and the ecosystem of which they are part.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6-8.6: Use technology,

including the Internet, to produce and publish

writing and present the relationships between information and ideas clearly and efficiently.

MS-LS2-5: Evaluate competing design solutions for

maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.

ACTIVITY 4:1. Have students come up with a few summary statements that they think community

members would like to know. List these on the board.a. If surveys were given, make sure time is set aside in class to analyze the results.

Consider sending out a post-survey. i. See Appendix F for survey creation activities or see the full Vital

Communities curriculum here - http://vitalsignsme.org/vital-communities-curriculum.

2. Have students talk to their classmates about what the best way is to send their summaries and post-surveys.

3. Have each pair share their ideas with the class. Record these ideas and consider allowing each student to come up to the board with a sticker or post-it to vote for their top 2 favorite ideas.

4. Depending on what they choose (i.e., email, school website, after-school meeting, ice-cream social), assign roles to make sure the information gets circulated.

5. Make time for students to reflect on project implementation. a. Did the project go as planned? b. What was surprising about this project? c. What do you predict to see for results in the future?

6. Share a summary of your project with your community, and celebrate the great work you have all done! See Appendix J for a list of options for summative assessments to showcase student work.

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Modification Idea: The questions listed in the activity to the left may warrant more time and discussion. Before students' communication in the next activity, you might want to do some consensus building around next steps.

APPENDIX AInstructions for Entering iMapInvasives Observations and Assessments

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APPENDIX B

Name: __________________________

Decision MatrixDirections- For each category, answer 2 for YES, 1 for MAYBE, and 0 for NO.

Criteria

Management Options

Resources/ Cost Do we have the resources that we need? Will we be able to get them?

TimeDo we have enough time to implement the plan?

Impact on the ecosystemWill this plan help to maintain biodiversity in the ecosystem?

Impact on the population of target species Will this plan stop the invasive species population from growing?

Additional Criteria Add your own criteria here:

Totals

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APPENDIX C

Nancy at the Maine Natural Areas Program has a list of general invasive plant control methods:➢ In general, a simple approach to dealing with woody species (plants like honeysuckle, barberry, Norway maple, etc.) is the following: For small to medium plants, when soil is moist (and ideally early enough in the year that

no flowers/fruit are present), pull the plant out, getting as much of the roots as possible. If plants are too large to simply pull out, cut at about 1-2 feet above ground (this may be a lot of cutting if it’s a very branched shrub like multiflora rose etc.), then you may be able to lever the stump back and forth/dig it out, if you have the time/people-power.

Dispose of plant parts correctly. If there ARE flowers or fruits, bag the plants and dispose of in trash. Pieces of roots also should go in the trash. Do not compost or leave on ground! If there ARE NO flowers or fruits (and it is not Japanese knotweed), hang stems/large root pieces in crooks of trees, or pile in a discrete pile where you will monitor for any sprouting. Brush piles can be good for wildlife if users do not mind seeing them.

Tamp the soil back down and cover with duff, etc. so as not to allow invasive plant seeds to germinate/seed in/take advantage of the disturbance you just created!! Ideally re-plant with native species.

Flag the location where the plant was so that you can monitor it for re-sprouting!! **Very important** noting the species with a sharpie on the flagging helps have a search image for monitoring. Also flag any brush piles you make and clear space around them so if something does re-root it is obvious.

For large bittersweet vines, you can follow the same guidelines but you just need to cut a “window” or 2-3 foot section out of the vine at from about knee to shoulder height (so new vines can’t climb up the old dead one). It will re-sprout but this will set it back a lot. Leave the top part in the tree unless it is very small – pulling may damage the native plant. If you have the people-power you can dig up/pull out the roots.

➢ For herbaceous species (garlic mustard, purple loosestrife, etc.) and small vines: When soil is moist (and ideally early enough in the year that no flowers/fruit are

present), pull the plant out, getting as much of the roots as possible. If necessary, dig up the roots a bit before trying to pull, so as to get more of the roots out.

See next steps b-d above.

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APPENDIX D

Invasive Species Management Resources

Maine Natural Areas Program Invasive Plant Fact Sheets – Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry - http://www.maine.gov/dacf/mnap/features/invasive_plants/invsheets.htm

Managing Japanese Knotweed and Giant Knotweed on Roadsides – Penn State - http://plantscience.psu.edu/research/projects/vegetative-management/publications/roadside-vegetative-mangement-factsheets/5managing-knotweed-on-roadsides

Brush Management – Invasive Plant Control – Barberries – NRCS - http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs144p2_015219.pdf

What you can do to control purple loosestrife! – Minnesota Department of Natural Resources - http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/aquaticplants/purpleloosestrife/control.html

Getting eastern white pine to thrive: Species thrives when invasive glossy buckthorn shrub is actively managed - https://www.morningagclips.com/getting-eastern-white-pine-to-thrive/?utm_content=articles&utm_campaign=NLCampaign&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_term=newsletteredition&utm_medium=email

Maine Invasive Species Network – http://umaine.edu/invasivespecies/

CASE STUDIES(These were both part of collaborative efforts that had funding support. Don’t feel like your projects have to or will be this extensive. These are here to give you an idea of the scope or management projects, methods used, etc. It is also important to note than some methods [chemical] will require proper permitting)

Hutchinson Pond Conservation Area, Kennebec Land Trust Herbicide and Mechanical Control of Common and Glossy Buckthorn Case Study Completed by Maine Natural Areas Program

Target Invasive Plant Species: Common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) and Glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus)

Overview of Site and Infestation: Hutchinson Pond Conservation Area (HPCA) is an 81 acre conserved area in Manchester, Maine that includes wooded areas, open fields, wetlands, and

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frontage on Hutchinson Pond. Kennebec Land Trust (KLT) acquired the HPCA in 2011 as part of a wetland mitigation project. At the time of acquisition, the property, particularly three open and/or reverting fields (~12-13 acres total), had significant populations of both common buckthorn and glossy buckthorn. Plants were mature, averaging 8-10 feet. The fields had the densest and most mature populations, but field edges and woods also had scattered individual buckthorn plants. A property brochure with detailed map can be found at: http://www.tklt.org/hutchinson/

Land Management Goals: The primary management goals for KLT's Hutchinson Pond Conservation Area are to: maintain the ecological integrity of the wetlands and vernal pools within the property; restore field habitat; and create opportunities for recreation and conservation education. Specific land management goals include maintaining two fields as habitat for field birds, and providing recreational trails and water access. If left unmanaged, the fields will likely become dominated by non-native plants. This would negatively impact the conservation value of the property. Eradication of the two buckthorn species is unlikely due to the presence of seed banks and seed sources from adjacent properties, but suppression can help to give native plants a head start, benefiting insects, songbirds, and other wildlife.

Management Strategies: The main approach to maintaining two fields as open space and bird habitat will be annual mechanical mowing with a brush hog during the fall. An intense burst of invasive plant control work was provided post-acquisition to “knock back” (suppress) the populations of common and glossy buckthorn.

Year One (2011): A four person team from the Asplundh Tree Company worked for four days during June to treat the open and reverting fields. Both buckthorn species were cut using chainsaws, and then Garlon 4 herbicide was applied by licensed pesticide applicators to the fresh stumps. A crew returned to the site later in the summer to spot-treat missed plants. The buckthorn cuttings were piled in the central field and burned by volunteers from the Manchester Fire Department in 2012.

Year Two (2012): Monitoring revealed limited buckthorn re-sprouting from the treated buckthorn stumps. Overall buckthorn density in the central field was greatly reduced aside from a few remnant taller shrubs and seedlings that were presumably missed during Year One. Additional mature buckthorn plants were found on the shores of Hutchinson Pond and manually cut or pulled. The reverting easternmost field showed more persistence of buckthorn, perhaps due to dense populations of sapling white pine and deciduous trees, which may have hampered the crews’ ability to detect the buckthorn in Year One. Contractors returned in the fall for a limited treatment of buckthorn along the road frontage and on the access trail linking the parking lot to the central field.

Year Three (2013): In June, a five person team from Asplundh visited the central and easternmost fields, treating remaining and re-sprouting buckthorn over three days. During this

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treatment, stumps were cut higher than the previous year, and herbicide was applied to the root collar and flares in order to ensure sufficient chemical contact with the smaller individual plants. Any cuttings were left on site.

Year Four (2014): Contractors returned in 2014 to suppress any buckthorn regeneration with manual pulling and additional herbicide application. Future Management: Continued work will include a check for invasive plants throughout the entire property during KLT staff’s annual monitoring visit(s). Buckthorn plants that remain will be flagged by KLT staff, volunteer stewards, and interns, and will be manually removed. Each fall, woody species will be cleared from the open fields with a brush hog. The reverting field will have to be more carefully scrutinized since it will not be brush-hogged.

Costs: The cost of these treatments was borne by the mitigation agreement. Exact figures are not available, but a rough idea for 30 person hours of combination mechanical work and herbicide application was obtained from an unrelated contractor and totaled about $15,000.

Evaluation and concluding thoughts: The effort to suppress common and glossy buckthorn at HPCA has been mostly productive – few plants are now found in the open fields and their edges. The reverting field may have more remnant buckthorn due to the thicker density of surrounding vegetation. Continued suppression during annual (or more frequent), long-term monitoring will allow the fields to remain populated with native vegetation, benefitting birds and other wildlife. Common and glossy buckthorn seeds can remain viable for about three to six years. This implies that about five years of vigilance and sprout-pulling will be needed to effectively knock back the seed bank. If further trained, a volunteer steward who frequents the property could become a valuable resource by searching out and removing buckthorn seedlings and re-sprouts.

Coastal Mountains Land Trust - Mechanical Control of Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica) Prepared by Janet Gorman, Maine Natural Areas Program, 2015.

Target Invasive Plant Species: Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) Japanese knotweed is especially pernicious in floodplain and riparian habitats (Stone 2010).1

Overview of Site and History of Infestation This section of the Ducktrap River in Lincolnville, ME is owned and preserved by the Coastal Mountains Land Trust. The edges of the Ducktrap have been heavily infested with F. japonica, and individual sites along the river are at varying stages of treatment. Approximately 1.25 miles of river have been surveyed and treated, and an estimate for how much fabric has been used/ area has been treated fall within the range of two to seven acres. There is no known development or agricultural land use history, and the river and surrounding forest is considered a precious habitat for native flora and fauna. The area is rarely visited by hikers, although hunters will occasionally use small access trails along the river.

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The Ducktrap meanders immensely, moving and depositing sediment along the banks each year. The banks are erosion prone, and this movement of water and sediment has exacerbated the spread of F. japonica along the river. The origin of the knotweed is thought to be a privately owned parcel upstream. 1 Stone, Katherine R. 2010. Polygonum sachalinense, P. cuspidatum, P.xbohemicum. In: Fire Effects Information Systems, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/ [2015, June 12] Special Features of Conservation Value: The property is a stable hardwood river terrace forest located along a floodplain with a plethora of native ferns, shrubs, and groundcover. The Ducktrap itself is part of an Atlantic salmon migration route. These fish have never been stocked, and are considered wild.

Land Management Goals: The land trust would like to eradicate F. japonica along the Ducktrap and maintain species diversity for local wildlife. Continued expansion of F. japonica, augmented by the likelihood of erosion along the river banks, would compromise the migration route of Atlantic salmon. The land trust hopes to ensure an uninhibited route for this species for continued spawning success. By managing F. japonica along the river banks, available preferred habitat for the invasive is reduced, and populations are unable to maintain themselves further down the river into a coniferous, deeply shaded area. The goal is to continue managing the sites that lead up to this area in order to stop the expansion. The land trust hopes to develop continued interest in the project and the long term management along the Ducktrap. In order to maintain the incredible labor demands of the manual management, a constant influx of volunteers will be needed to carry the project into the future.

Management Strategy Type: Manual/ mechanical exclusively After the infested stretch of the river was assessed, the manual treatment of Japanese knotweed commenced. It began with knocking back the F. japonica stands with weed whackers or stomping infested patches to the ground (on this site, there have been patches over 100 feet long, while others are less than 10 feet; observed F. japonica had expanded 10 to 25 feet away from the river and into the floodplain in most areas). Pulling the plants would cause too much soil disturbance, and the area is already prone to erosion. If native tree species, namely speckled alder (Alnus incana), have survived on the site, managers must decide if and how many stems to cut back in order to lay the geotextile fabric evenly over the flattened invasives. In most cases, insignificant amounts of alder needed to be removed. After the more substantial woody debris has been removed from the site, geotextile fabric is laid out over the flattened F. japonica patch, and stakes are used to secure it into the ground. Stakes are pounded in at about a 45 degree angle towards the fabric in order to keep the fabric down during flooding events. If needed, staff will stomp on the fabric to damage the root reserves of the invasive. This can happen upon the initial fabric installment and also during subsequent assessments. The black fabric smothers the root system and shades out potential regeneration. The site is monitored every two weeks during the summer season, as rhizomes seeking sunlight will sneak out from underneath the fabric’s edges. These seedlings are pulled on site using trowels to get as much

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of the root system as possible and deposited in a trash bag that is kept on site. While the literature recommends leaving the fabric down for at least three years (NRSC 20072; Soll 20043; Anderson 20124) the land trust has had to modify this methodology due to the frequency of flooding in the area. Any fabric is removed each fall and laid down again in the spring. In the spring when sites are visited, staff can assess whether or not to put the fabric back down, or to allow native vegetation to regenerate. This decision is site specific; some fabric patches have been down for the entire seven years of the project, while others have only been down for two or three, or have only remnant patches of fabric remaining on the more resilient sections of F. japonica.

Treatment Timeline: A majority of the plots were laid out seven years ago. A substantial decrease in F. japonica stems was noticed within the first two years. As new sections of the infestation were identified along the river, the project expanded. Surveys start in May, and are assessed to determine if and how much fabric should be used. If deemed necessary, this is also

when staff will ideally lay the fabric down. Sites are monitored through September, about nine or more visits to all sites throughout the season occur. Monitoring involves counting and pulling any F. japonica stems that may have emerged around the fabric or, in areas where the fabric has been removed, counting and pulling stems that reside within the regenerated native vegetation. For the latter, monitoring becomes slightly more difficult after June, as much of the native vegetation has grown up and identifying tiny F. japonica seedlings can be difficult. However, if stems are pulled thoroughly, removing as substantial a portion of the root system as possible, there will be less pulling required throughout the season. To avoid dispersing plant fragments, anything taken off site is bagged tightly and disposed of responsibly. Weather depending, the fabric is removed in October, folded up, and left on site. Determining when to remove the fabric “permanently” is site specific. Approximately two or three years of suppressing F. japonica with fabric and manual pulling should result in removing the fabric and allowing native vegetation to return. Project will ultimately take over 10 years.

Tools: Geotextile fabric, hammers, landscape stakes or staples (wooden or plastic), trowels, loppers, saws, sturdy trash bags, gloves, weed whackers

Labor: This management method is incredibly labor intensive and dependent on an influx of land trust staff and volunteers. Trainings for the project are offered every spring. The current project leader had commented on the “botanical competence” of many of the past and current volunteers. This is useful (but not mandatory) for identifying the smaller F. japonica stems, in addition to judging the native vegetation that begins to emerge after the invasives have been suppressed and the fabric removed. Sites are monitored every two weeks from May to September, and removing the heavy fabric in October in addition to laying it back down in May requires intensive labor. Camp goers at the local Tanglewood Camp also get involved in the project. Local youth attendees of this camp hike the watershed every summer as part of their program, and the land trust uses these extra helping hands to remove trash bags of F. japonica

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seedlings, or to relocate swatches of fabric to different sites.

Costs Total Budget: Funding was initially $18,000

Funding Sources: Money came primarily from donations, and also from a grant.

General Itemization: Most of the money went to staff labor. In addition, funds were spent on tools and subsequent site upkeep. If more money was available, staff commented that they would like to allocate it to planting native woody vegetation at the more erosion prone sites.

Evaluation Success of Initial Treatment: Treatment was started about seven years ago, and progress was noticed within the first two years, with a decrease in F. japonica stems at the sites that had been covered. There have been some substantial treatment patches, ranging from 10 x 10 feet to 100 x 25 feet. While sites are at varying stages of treatment, the management seems to be quite successful thanks to the strong efforts of land trust staff and volunteers.

Follow-up Treatment Needed: Sites will need to be constantly monitored due to the aggressive nature of F. japonica regeneration. Management has been successful in suppressing the infestation, with bi-weekly assessments from May to September every year. In honoring the goal of eliminating F. japonica upstream of the more coniferous habitat, the area will have to be consistently monitored to assure that the invasive has, indeed, ceased expansion. Although this project was started about seven years ago, it will be monitored for many years to come. The project is dependent on an influx of volunteers, so continued cooperation of community members and neighbors will be required for the project’s longevity. Another land trust goal is to replicate this management on another smaller parcel of land trust owned property. This site begins at a popular trailhead; this frequented trail cuts right through a patch of Japanese knotweed. By using this trailhead as a project springboard, staff hopes that it will get the word out about identifying and mitigating the invasives.

2 Natural Resource Conservation Service. 2007. Pest Management-Invasive Plant Control, Japanese Knotweed: Conservation Practice Job Sheet MN-797. United State Department of Agriculture (Producer). Available: http://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/references/public/mn/797japaneseknotweed.pdf [2015, May 30] 3 Soll, Jonathon. 2004. Controlling Knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum, P. sachalinense, P. polystachyum and hybrids) in the Pacific Northwest. The Nature Conservancy (Producer). Available: http://www.invasive.org/gist/moredocs/polspp01.pdf [2015, May 30] 4 Anderson, Hayley. 2012. Invasive Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica (Hoult.)) Best Management Practices in Ontario. Ontario Invasive Plant Council, Petersborough, ON.

APPENDIX E

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iMapInvasives (modified) Mechanical Treatment Record

o Goals (choose one)▪ Eradication▪ Containment▪ Suppression▪ Multiple goals ▪ Control plot▪ Other

o Who▪ Lead contact (your teacher): ▪ Project: ▪ Lead organization (your school):

o What▪ Target species: ▪ Observation(s) affected (your iMap observation ID#):

o When ▪ Start date: / / ▪ End date: / /

o Permissions▪ Permit needed (YES/NO)

1. This information should be completed on the day of the treatment:o Treatment comments (any additional information you want to add about this

treatment; why you chose it, how often you will do it, etc.):

o Treatment type (most likely this will be mechanical/manual): o Mechanical method used (choose one)

▪ Cutting▪ Digging▪ Girdle/frill▪ Mowing▪ Plowing▪ Hand-pulling▪ Shade-cloth▪ Other

o Disposal method: o Equipment used: o Total days (how long did this take you?): o Comments (how did it go, where will you go from here?):

o Disposal site (if applicable): 59

APPENDIX F

Activity 1: Survey Question Design Note: Consider using something like Survey Monkey or Google Forms. Survey Monkey is especially good because it is free, has survey templates, and creates graphs automatically for some questions! Google Forms is also great, and has a function in the responses form that will summarize your data (Go to the response form → Form → Show Summary of Responses).

1. Tell students that as a class you want to learn more about what community members already know about invasive species, what invasive species they might be interested in or concerned about, and what they are interested in learning more about. You might also be interested in how much different groups of community members know about invasives. To learn more about this, you are going to create a survey for our community.

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Sample survey questions

Demographics Are you male or female?

What is your age?

How many people are in your family?

What is your highest level of education?

Species of Interest

How familiar are you with these species?

Rank the importance of the following species.

What ME species are you most concerned with?

How critical do you think the following species are to ME’s environment?

How people get information?

What is your preferred method of receiving information?

Which method of communication do you always ignore?

What kind of activity/initiative/event would people be interested in?

How likely would you be to attend/participate in the following things?

On a scale of 0-10, how much do you enjoy the following activities?

2. Depending on the age of the students and their experience with surveys, you may need to spend a little more time talking about surveys. Give students a few minutes to draft a question for the survey on their own (you can choose to use the sample questions above to get them started, add your own, or just see what they come up with). After they have had some time to think on their own, have them work with a buddy. Compare questions and offer one another feedback. If their questions are similar, can they pick one that does the trick?

3. Have a shared document (e.g. a Google doc) ready, or use chart paper, and capture all of the drafted questions.

4. As a class, think about how many questions you might want to have as a maximum. Narrow down your questions to that number or fewer and weed out repetition.

o "How many questions will someone want to answer? o How many do we want to analyze? o How many do we need to get the information we are looking

for?"5. Next, have your students consider things like rating scales, multiple choice, and

fill in the blanks as methods that would both make the surveys easier to complete and easier to analyze. You could have them work in small groups to refine the questions using these ideas. Perhaps give one question per group to hone to a final version.

Activity 2: Survey Sampling Method Design - Sample Size, Plan and Testing1. Have the class think about whom they should survey and how they should get the data. Get students to consider that they are interested in engaging people from across the whole community, but don't have time to survey every member of the community.

o Who do they have easy access to survey? Maybe this is parents, neighbors, librarians, crossing guards, bus drivers, etc.

o Push students to think about how the sample might be biased if they just survey parents or teachers.

2. How many people should we try to survey? Students might want to consider how big the community is, how many kids are going to help distribute and collect surveys, how much time they have, or other means you might have to distribute and collect data.

o Do you have access to a school website, Facebook, or twitter account that might allow you to get more participation in your survey?

o Town offices are a great resource, many have email lists and a website with which you can post announcements.

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Note – You could divide the class in to a group that is finalizing the survey and a group that is planning out who to survey. Have each group report out on their work.

3. Test the survey - Have the students or another class take the survey to test it out. Make sure questions make sense and are easy to answer. Allow them to record feedback to give to the class on their survey questions and sampling plan.

Note – If you have multiple sections of students working on this, you might consider having each class vote on which final survey is best, and which final survey plan is best. In this way they can combine all their data across classes. Or have each section of students follow their own plan.

4. Share your survey(s) with the rest of the Vital Signs Community in the Curriculum Resources Bank.

Activity 3: Survey Analysis ▪ Depending on the survey, there may be opportunities for math topics from

probability to graphing. Survey Monkey is an easy and free tool that does a lot of the graphing for you.

▪ Consider teaming up with the math teacher. [Note: Survey Monkey's guide to analysis of surveys: http://help.surveymonkey.com/articles/en_US/kb/How-to-analyze-results?sv=b].

▪ Depending on timeframe and learning goals, you can have students enter data into a spreadsheet, graph, or graph by hand. You can divvy up the questions across pairs or teams of students and have them share their graphical analysis. Or you can generate data visualizations for students to work with for interpretation and discussion.

▪ Divide the class into groups to dig into and draw conclusions about each of the starting questions. In their group have them draw conclusions using survey data as their evidence, and explaining their reasoning

Starting Questions:“What do community members already know about invasive species? What invasive species are they interested in or concerned about? Do your ideas for solutions (in journals) relate to the needs of your community? What are they interested in learning more about?”

Have groups share their conclusions, evidence, and reasoning using talk moves to scaffold feedback and discussion. Challenge students to consider how the survey data influence their plan as they move forward? Did they get any surprising results that really shift their thinking? How did it change? Why did it change?

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APPENDIX G

Vital Signs/iMapInvasives Modified Observation & Assessment Datasheets(Initial & Post-Treatment)

*Teacher Instructions*

Before taking students out into the field to gather data for their iMap observations and assessments, you may want to run through how they will use the datasheets. These datasheets have been modified from the original iMapInvasives datasheets look here for the full iMap versions.

The modified observation datasheet was created to look very similar to the Vital Signs datasheets so after doing a Vital Signs investigation, students will be familiar with the format and can easily transfer their knowledge to an iMapInvasives observation. You will notice that when students log in to iMap to record these observations there will be many more fields than are included on this datasheet. The hardest part to this will be having them not feel like they need to have an answer for every field when entering this data.

Initial Observation: When collecting their observation data, they will want to use the GPS location for the center of their “patch” or quadrat. Students will get an observation ID once they have created their iMap observation, this is not on the datasheet, but they will want to save that ID somewhere.

Initial Assessment:Because assessments can only be made at the time after the observation is created, these two steps have to occur at the same time. The goal of this project is to document, assess, research, treat, monitor, and re-assess a patch of invasives. In order to do this with iMap you will need to have an initial and then a post-treatment assessment.

The evaluation type and follow up selections are already highlighted and checked, so this should be the same for all students.

It is important to note that the “Landscape and Location Comments and Sketch” section should have written notes about data collection methods, anything interesting about the site, etc, but it should also have a sketch of where they surveyed. It is important for students to sketch their assessment plot and include landmark features. When the enter their assessments into iMap they will not be able to upload this sketch but will have to create a polygon that encompasses the area they assessed, this is why the sketch is important. These sketches will help them make these as accurate as possible and the text they have written will help explain their location and anything important to note.

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Post-Treatment Observation and Assessment:After the treatment has been done, students will need to do post-treatment observations and assessments (time interval between the treatment and post-treatment assessment will be determined by their research and eventually what they decide on in the Invasive Species Management Project).

You may wonder why they need to create new observations and assessments. Why not just edit their initial assessments? While in theory that makes sense, when the initial assessments are edited they lose that vital data. Making new observation and assessments will allow you to see the change over time for your survey plot.

The process of collecting the data and entering it is the same as the first time around. There is a different datasheet for the post-treatment assessment because it has “post-treatment” selected as the evaluation type and follow-up has not been filled in because they will likely have more to go on here with all the research they have done.

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APPENDIX HInstructions for Entering a Treatment Record in iMapInvasives

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APPENDIX IMy Vital Signs Notebook: Managing Invasive Species

Team Name:

Your First Name and Last Initial:

Target Species: __________________________

Activities 1-7: See previous Vital Signs Notebook

Part II: Create an Invasive Species Management Project

Activity 1: Learning from other management projects

Key Question: What is a management project? What will I need to think about when I plan my management project?

Suggested vocabulary: monitoring, management, eradication, disposal

By the end of this activity I will be able to…MS LS2-5 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Tell what one class did to manage an invasive species

Use the examples of management projects to generate ideas for our own class project

Weigh the advantages and disadvantages of different types of management plans and use the new information to refine some of my initial ideas.

Use the examples to generate questions that I have about our own target species and management project

Part A: Read and learn. As you read through the description of the management project, answer the questions below:

What species was this group attempting to manage?

Why did they decide to manage this species? What were they trying to achieve?

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What method was used to manage it?

How did they get rid of the invasive species once they removed it? If disposal was not mentioned in the article, write “not specified.”

How long did the project last?

What were the advantages of this plan? What were the disadvantages?

Other ideas from the reading that will help us in creating our class management project:

Part B: Share and learn. Listen to the information that your classmates gathered. Once each person in the group has shared, work together to answer the questions below:

What important information did we learn about designing a management project?

What questions do we have about creating our own class management project?

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Activity 2: Research based on what we know – want to know – and need to learn

Key questions: What do I already know about the target species and designing a management project? What do I want to know? Where can I find new information?

By the end of this activity I will be able to…MS LS2-5 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Use information given to me to answer a question about managing my target species.

Conduct independent research to answer a question about managing my target species.

Generate questions that I need to answer to create a strong management plan and use multiple credible sources to answer those questions

Generate new questions based on the information that I learn from my research

KWL: Managing our Target Species

What do we think we KNOW about X species and how to manage it?

What do we WANT or need to know about X species and how to manage it?

What have we LEARNED about in our research about X species and how to manage it?

➢ Example: We know that we have a lot of purple loosestrife on our school property.

➢ Example: We want to know more about how purple loosestrife spreads.

➢ Example: We know that a local group has been managing X species by mowing.

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Questions I still have…

Activity 3: Sharing learning and proposing projects

Key questions: What is the best idea for managing our target species? How do I know which idea is best?

Suggested vocabulary: criteria, constraints, decision matrix, consensus

By the end of this activity I will be able to…MS-ETS1-2 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic

Explain multiple plans for managing the target species

Choose one plan that is best for managing the target species and explain my

Use the criteria and constraints of our project to justify my choice for the best

Find ways to improve the plans presented so that they better meet the

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process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

choice with two to three details of the plan.

management plan. criteria and constraints of the situation.

Initial Planning Time: work with your group to create a rough idea for your management project. As you plan, answer the questions below. a. Why do we think the class should design a management project for this species?

b. What are the criteria, or goals that we have, for this project? How will we know if we have been successful?

c. What are our constraints, or limitations, that we will need to consider as we design the project?

d. Based on the research we have done; what management strategies do we propose to use?

e. Why did we select these management strategies?82

f. What equipment and resources will we use?

g. What are the disadvantages to this plan? Are there any reasons that someone might say that this is not the best plan to use?

Write out a summary of the group’s proposal OR a script for a 60 second sales pitch to convince the class that this is the best option for a management plan:

Use the decision matrix below to rate each plan that you hear about. You will need decide on the criteria that you will use to judge each plan before you hear the presentations. As you listen to each presentation, fill in what you think are the advantages and disadvantages of each:

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Summary of proposed project A: Summary of proposed project B:

CRITERIA ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

Based on the advantages and disadvantages listed above, what do you think is the best plan for your management project? Explain your choice.

STUDENT ACTIVITY 4: Refining an invasive species management project

Key questions: What are the details of our management project? By whom /with what/when/where/why/how will the plan be completed?

By the end of this activity I will be able to…

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MS LS 2-5 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Provide answers to some of the questions in my section.

Answer each of the questions in my section accurately.

Answer each of the questions with supporting evidence from research, data from previous investigations, and/or prior knowledge of my target species.

Include additional relevant information to my section that will make the explanation of the management project more clear.

In the outline below, circle the sections that you will be responsible for completing.

Our Invasive Species Management Project: Target Speciesadapted from: http://www.fws.gov/invasives/staffTrainingModule/planning/plans.html

Introduction1. What is the purpose and need for this project?2. What data do you have that supports this idea?

Background Information3. Describe the environment you plan to work in.4. What do you already know about the ecosystem?

Management Goals5. What are the current conditions and how do you want them to change? Include data

from your initial fieldwork.6. Describe your goal for this project.

Management strategies, and methods (include a step-by-step procedure)7. What management strategies will you use and why?8. Do we need permits for this control method?9. How will you meet the criteria?10. How do you plan to stay within the constraints?

Implementation11. What is the timeline for this project?12. Will you need money to do this? How much? How will you get it?13. Who will work on this project, what will they do, and when will they do it?14. If we involve the community, how will we engage them and how will we communicate

with them?15. What equipment and resources will you use?

Monitoring16. How often will you monitor progress?17. How will you measure success/effectiveness of your treatment(s)?18. How will you communicate results?

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Use all the notes that you have gathered on your invasive species and on other management projects to complete your section. If needed, you may also conduct additional research. If you are having trouble with writing out your section, you may use the writing template below:

Introduction: After reading the proposed Invasive Species Management Project I know that it is important to

manage (species name ) because

. We know this because (include relevant data that

justifies taking action )

.

Background Information:

We want to do this project in (location )

because _____________________________________________________________. We

want to include (who will be a part of this effort )

in the project.

Management Criteria:

Our goal(s) is/are to

. The current conditions at our site

are ___________________________________________. We will know that we have been

successful if _______________________________________________________________.

Management strategies and methods:

We plan on using (management strategies/method )

to achieve our goal(s). We will use the procedure detailed in the

following steps:

4. ________________________________________________________________________

5. _______________________________________________________________________

6. ________________________________________________________________________

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7. ________________________________________________________________________

We will/will not need a permit to complete this work.

Implementation:

We would like to complete this project over the course of (time frame )

. We think that we will need (any money needed )

to complete the project and will use (equipment to be used )

.

Monitoring:

We plan on monitoring our progress every (monitoring schedule )

and we will collect data in the form of

. We will know we have been successful when

. We will share our results by:

_________________________________________________________

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In Between Fall and Spring

Activity 1: Writing a Press Release

Key questions: How can I get my community interested in our class project?

Suggested vocabulary: hook,

By the end of this activity I will be able to…NGSS Practice 8 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4Obtaining, evaluating and communicating information

Write an explanation of our class management project

Include the 5 W’s and the H in my explanation

Use style tricks to make readers interested in my explanation

Improve my work by creating multiple drafts.

Read over your press release. Find and fill in the information below:

Who did it?

What did they do?

When did they do it?

Where did they do it?

Why did they do it?

How did they do it?

Now, look over the “How to write a press release” tips from GMRI’s communications manager. What tricks did the author of the press release use that were suggested by GMRI’s communications manager? List at least two.

Write your own press release!88

Work with your group to create an outline for your press release. Decide which important information will go in which section. Draw your outline in the space below:

Circle the section that you will write. In the space below, write a rough draft of your section:

Once your group has put together your press release, use the checklist to make sure that you have followed all the guidelines from GMRI’s communications manager:

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Quality Assurance check for a press release:

Communicates essential management project information Yes No Don’t KnowWho did it?What did they do?When did they do it?Where did they do it?Why did they do it?How did they do it?

Follows style guidelines Yes No Don’t KnowHas a catchy headline that will hook readersHeadline gives an idea of what the project is about but does not give away the whole storyIs limited to one pageIs not too wordy (Here’s a test: go through the article and try to cut out ten words. If you can’t find ten words to cut out, they you can check, ‘Yes’)Includes quotes from classmates, teachers, or community membersQuotes add new information to the articleIncludes a clear photoPhoto is an “action shot” from the project, showing what you have been doingNames of each person in the photo are listedEach student in the photo has parental permission for the photo to be publishedContact information is included so the reporter will be able to reach someone in the class for more information (probably the teacher).

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Part III: iMapInvasives – Treat, Monitor, Re-Assess, and Share

Activity 1: Putting your invasive species management project into action

Key question: What do we notice as we implement our treatment plan?

By the end of this activity I will be able to…MS-ETS1-3 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success

Implement a plan to manage an invasive species

Follow my plan exactly how my class specified it should be done

Notice what is working and what isn’t and make adjustments to the plan if needed.

Identify uncontrolled factors that may be affecting the results of our management project

After each treatment on your study area, answer the questions below:

What is going well in your management project?

What challenges have come up?

What have you encountered that is interesting or unexpected?

Have you noticed anything that might affect the outcome of your data? Explain.

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Part IV: Post-Treatment Follow-Up

Activity 1: Get outside – iMap post-treatment observations and assessments

Key question: How do we know if our management project was successful?

Suggested vocabulary: assessment, treatment, control

By the end of this activity I will be able to…MS-ETS1-3 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success

Make observations to determine whether our management was effective.

Gather accurate data that I can compare to the pre-assessment data determine whether the plan was effective.

Gather accurate data from both a treatment area and a control area that I can compare to the pre-assessment data determine whether the plan was effective.

Identify uncontrolled factors that may have affected the results of our management project

Before heading out for your post-treatment observation, make a prediction: Do you think your management was successful?

What evidence do you have to support this prediction?

How will you know whether it was successful? What evidence will you look for?

Once you have completed your post-treatment observation, record your initial thoughts:92

Was it easy to tell whether your treatment was successful? Why or why not?

Do you think your hypothesis was supported? What is your evidence?

Did you notice anything that might have affected your results?

Activity 2: Entering post-treatment observations and assessments data!

Key question: Why is it important to share your post treatment observations?

Post your data! No response in your notebook is required.

Activity 3: View the change over time and reflect on management project

Key questions: Was our project successful? How do we know? How sure are we of our results?

By the end of this activity I will be able to…MS LS 2-4 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Make a claim about whether our project impacted the abundance of the target species.

Support my claim with visual evidence, written explanation, and quantitative data.

Determine how sure I can be about my results and identify possible sources of variability or error.

Suggest possible next steps that would lead to a more reliable investigation.

MS LS 2-5 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

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Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Make a claim about whether we met the goals of our project.

Support my claim with visual evidence, written explanation, and quantitative data.

Explain how our results show whether we met the criteria we defined for the project.

Suggest possible next steps to improve the management project.

Use the data from your pre-treatment and post-treatment observations to answer the questions below with your team.

Did the abundance of the target species seem to change?

How do you know? What is your evidence?

Do your results that meet the goals of your management project? Explain your answer.

After discussing the results of your project, write a summary of your results. Be thorough in your response! This information will form the basis of your final project. In your summary, include the following information:

a. Has the abundance of the invasive changed? Increased? Decreased? Stayed the same? Why do you think that?

b. How does the data from your treatment area compare to the control?c. How accurate is the data? What are some unexpected factors that might have

affected our results? d. How could we improve the accuracy of our data? e. Do you think we achieved our goal(s)? Compare our results to the criteria that

we set for the project. f. What could have been improved? What is left to do?g. What do you think will happen as time goes on? Why?

APPENDIX J94

Final Project Options to Showcase Your Work

STEP ONE: Choose and a create a final project

Choose ONE of the options on the following pages to create an artifact that shows what you have learned.

When designing your project, go back to the summary of your results that you wrote on the last page of your Vital Signs notebook. Be sure to include this essential information in any project that you create!

STEP 2: Review your work

1. Use the Final Project Review Tool on the last page to make sure that you have completed all necessary steps to submit your final project.

2. Once you have answered “Yes” in each row, you are ready to share your project!

STEP 3: Post to the Vital Signs Project Bank

1. Go to: http://vitalsignsme.org/project-bank 2. Go to “Share your projects” and click on “Post my project”3. Give your project a strong title. A strong title:

gives an idea of what your project is about does not give away your results is understandable to readers (don’t put inside jokes in your title)

Example: The Impact of Oriental Bittersweet on Species Diversity4. Write a short (one paragraph) summary of your project, including:

what you were trying to accomplish background information that lead you to your particular project what you did to implement your project (one sentence) what you will be posting (for example, graphs, conclusions, etc)

5. Fill in the necessary information about your school and your species. Note: Do NOT post your full name anywhere in the project bank. First names only!

6. Under “Documents” upload your final project and any additional pages you want to display, like data sheets, charts, graphs, and conclusions. If you created any of these by hand, you can take a photo your work, and upload the photo to the project bank.

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Option 1: Devise an improved management plan:

Rubric for Option 1: Through this project, I can…MS LS 2-5 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Devise a new plan to manage and monitor a target species

Define reasonable criteria and constraints for my new project.

Create new procedures for treatment and monitoring that will meet the criteria and constraints of the project and explain how these procedures improve upon the work that we did as a class.

Predict the outcome of my project and support my predictions with evidence from my past project.

Use the results of the class management project to develop an idea for an improved management plan. Design a follow up project and write out your plan in the same format as the plan written for class management project, but with your improvements. Write out your plan in full paragraph form. Use the outline below to help you:

Our Invasive Species Management Project: Target Speciesadapted from: http://www.fws.gov/invasives/staffTrainingModule/planning/plans.html

Introduction

1. What is the purpose and need for this project? Why does the current plan need improvement?

2. What data from the previous management plan do you have that supports this idea?

Background Information

3. Describe what has already been done in your management area.

Management Goals

4. What are the current conditions and how do you want them to change? Include data from your initial fieldwork.

5. Describe your goal for this project.

Management strategies, and methods (include a step-by-step procedure)

6. What management strategies will you use and why?

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7. Do we need permits for this control method?8. How will you meet the criteria?9. How do you plan to stay within the constraints?

Implementation

10. What is the timeline for this project?11. Will you need money to do this? How much? How will you get it?12. Who will work on this project, what will they do, and when will they do it?13. If we involve the community, how will we engage them and how will we communicate

with them?14. What equipment and resources will you use?

Monitoring

15. How often will you monitor progress?16. How will you measure success/effectiveness of your treatment(s)?17. How will you communicate results?

Predicted Results

18.What results do you think you would you observe if you made these changes?19.What evidence do you have to support this claim?

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Option 2: Create a Public Service Announcement

Rubric for Option 2: Through this project, I can…MS LS 2-4 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Show how our species affects ecosystems

Show how the changes from our treatment impacted the abundance of our species

Use data from our project to convince others to become involved in management of our species.

Use data from our project to predict how further management projects might affect the abundance of our species

A public service announcement (PSA) is designed to inform the public about an important issue and is meant to influence their behavior in some way.

For this project, create a poster, video, or comic strip that will encourage others to get involved in the management of your species.

On your diagram, show in pictures and/or words: How your species is connected to other living and non-living factors of the

ecosystem. Think about the following questions when creating your diagram:o What does your target species need to survive? Where does it get those

things?o Why does your species need controlling? How does impact over living

things in the ecosystem? the control area and the treatment area the treatment that you used on your treatment area results from the pre-treatment and post-treatment areas (show specific data) any factors other than the treatment that might have impacted your area next steps for your management project what you want community members to do to get involved

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Option 3: Create a formal report.

Rubric for Option 2: Through this project, I can…MS LS 2-4 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Use my observations to make a claim about whether our management project affected our target species.

Compare pre- and post-treatment data to provide evidence to support my claim.

Compare pre-and post treatment data from both the control and treatment areas to support explain how I know our project was/ was not successful

Communicate multiple possible explanations of the data, including limitations in the data and pose questions for future study to help me investigate further

The best way for a scientist to research the other researchers is by writing a formal scientific report that would then be published in a science journal. Use this outline to organize your conclusion before you create your project:

Question: Clearly state the research question you were investigating. Prediction/Hypothesis: Explain what you expected your research to show

and your conclusions to be. Why did you think that? Investigation Design: Provide specific steps somebody could follow to

replicate your investigation. Reflect on your investigation: Did the process go as you expected it

would? Were there any specific or surprising observations you made while out in the field? Were there any errors that may influence your results? Describe them.

Results & Analysis: Display your results. Include a data table, a graph, and/or a map.

Conclusion: Make a clear claim about what the data shows (or does not show). Use evidence from your data to support your claim. Include explanations what you think caused these results and what you still might be unsure about or further questions you may have.

Find a partner to check your work. Have the partner check your work using the scientific conclusion review tool.

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SCIENTIFIC CONCLUSION PEER REVIEW TOOLCommunicating findings and drawing conclusions involves making scientific arguments.

Scientific arguments include claims, evidence, and reasoning. Review the claims, evidence and reasoning with these questions:

The conclusion claims are clear Yes No Not Sure

The conclusion claims are supported by evidence

Yes No Not Sure

The data and observations are used as evidence to support claims

Yes No Not Sure

The explanations for how the evidence support the claims are clear

Yes No Not Sure

Give suggestions for improving the claims, evidence, and reasoning:

Scientific arguments are tentative and probabilistic. This means that arguments include how certain or uncertain they are, possible sources of error, possible alternative sources of variability, and possible alternative explanations.

The certainty or uncertainty of the conclusion claims is clear.

Yes No Not Sure

Possible sources of error and alternative explanations are shared

Yes No Not Sure

Reasons why the alternative explanations are less likely to explain the results are clear

Yes No Not Sure

Areas for future study, next steps, and new questions are included

Yes No Not Sure

Give suggestions for improving the tentative nature of the scientific argument:

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Option 4: Choose your own creative product to share your results.

Compile all the great work that you did through this project and display it: Illustrated children’s book Podcast Video Song Tri-fold board Public Service Announcement Brochure/informational pamphlet Comic strip Mural School Assembly Newspaper or magazine article Press release to a local news organization

Get creative and have fun! Make your investigation exciting for people to learn more! Here are some ideas: http://vitalsignsme.org/projects

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Final Project Review Tool

YES NO Can’t TellMS LS 2-4: Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to biological or physical components to an ecosystem affect populations Claim is made about whether the management project affected the abundance of the target speciesClaim is supported by comparisons of pre- and post-treatment observationsClaim is supported by comparisons of data from treatment and control areasClaim is supported by textual evidence or learning from classLimitations of data are addressed, including unexpected factors that may have impacted the resultsPlan is explained for how to improve the quality of the data

Yes No Can’t TellMS LS 2-5: Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.Claim is made about whether the project was successfulResults are compared against the criteria defined at the beginning of the projectPlan is explained for how to improve the results of the management projectIdeas for improvement are supported by evidence from the class management project

Yes No Can’t TellProject Structure and MechanicsGoals of the project are clearly identifiedImportance of the topic is explainedBackground information is presented so readers/viewers can understand the topicResearch methods are explained, including any changes to the proceduresGraphs and charts include accurate titles, labels, and units of measurementWriting is checked for spelling and grammatical errorsAll information connects to the management projectA variety of resources are used to present information (photos, graphs, maps, etc.)Choice of final product makes sense for the projectProject is neat, clear, and easy to read/understandAt least three sources cited accurately

*When all of the answers above are “Yes,” you have met the review requirements to publish your project

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