Category: Educator Innovations

Swimming to Flying - A new guide to Macroinvertebrate development

6/17/2023

Macroinvertebrates from Larvae to Adults

Penn State student Celia Graef used images from Macroinvertebrates.org in a teaching tool/guide to connect larval and adult stages of macroinvertebrates. The guide aims to help early elementary students (K-3 recommendation) associate the larval stages of aquatic insects with their free-flying adult form.

Check out this nice work that links the underwater larval stage to the flying adults, something often missing in guide books and teaching tools.

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Educator Innovations - Watershed Education Lab on Wheels

4/12/2022

To reach communities not able to easily access watersheds learning experiences. Stroud launched its Mobile Watershed Education Lab kitted out and ready to come to learners where they are. The brightly festooned trailer truck features images and resources from the Macroinvertebrates.org.

In addition to reaching underserved schools and communities, the mobile lab expands public engagement at parks and festivals. It’s outfitted with a full set of instructional materials, such as microscopes and equipment for monitoring water quality to create hands-on experiences that build awareness and connections to local waterways.

Read more at
https://stroudcenter.org/press/watershed-on-wheels-makes-a-splash-world-water-day/

Read more at https://stroudcenter.org/press/watershed-on-wheels-makes-a-splash-world-water-day/

Educator Innovations - Stream Restoration Signage Support

8/30/2021

Tammy Piper, Watershed Specialist and an Act 38 Technician with the Franklin County Conservation District in Chambersburg, PA requested Macroinverbrates.org imagery for use in their outdoor signage highlighting stream restoration projects.

We're thrilled for NSF supported work to be used in permanent educational signage highlighting the care and stewardship of watershed ecosystems. Conservation districts are unsung heros in environmental education and long term attention on our waterways.

Educator Innovations - Amazonian Educational Booklet features Macroinvertebrates.org Images

9/19/2020

Giovanna Ferreira, a student of biological sciences at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), located in Belém-Pará- Brazil is creating an educational booklet about fish and insects in Amazonian streams to be printed and distributed in schools in the region. The booklet will include source images Macroinvertebrates.org showing genus Helicopsyche and Calopteryx.

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For more information on the publication contact:
Giovanna Teixeira Ferreira
Graduanda de Licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas- Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA)
Instituto de Ciências Biológica (ICB)
Bolsista de Iniciação Científica pelo Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação (LABECO)
https://comunicalabeco.wixsite.com/labecoufpa
ID Lattes: 5784910442761295
ID ORCID: 0000-0002-8432-1092

Educator Innovations in Use - ID Video & Quiz Tutorials

7/16/2020

by Stephen Bucklin, Environmental Educator
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy

Responding to the COVID-19 situation Stephen and his colleagues at the Pittsburgh Parks Conversancy are creating materials for remote engagement and learning about urban streams and ecosytstems. Here are some of the materials they are creating, like a stream food webs activity to publish on the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy website for students and teachers to use.

This video outlines the Macorinvertebrates.org quiz feature and encourages students to draw each organism and observe their features before using the ID key to identify them.

This video highlights the ID key and walks students through how to use it to identify living organisms and then highlights the Ephemeroptera page. (featured at ~11:03)

We also created a zoomable Stream food web diagram with high resolution images from the site with an associated Ecosystems Investigator worksheet

Educator's Innovations in Use — Drawing to Notice & Learn

7/16/2020

By Carol Fischer, Weave Lake Elementary School

Weaver Lake Elementary a STEM school in Maple Grove, Minnesota is using the Macroinvertebrates.org web as part of their course curriculum. The school is located near a lake adjacent and for our value added project, we study the macros that live in our lake. We also take the temperature, clarity readings as well as the pH. Not only do they identify macros, they draw them referencing Macroinvertebrates.org photographs, and then they make a clay creation of a macro they have designed. Then we write a science fiction story about their macroinvertebrates."

In November we have a STEM in Action night for our parents to come and see what our students are doing.

—Carol Fischer, STEM Teacher
Grade 4

Drawing to Notice - 4th Graders Illustration