Taking Action, Together

AIM teachers were challenged to quickly digest the week's concepts and translate their learning to standards-aligned lesson plans for their local freshwater, marine, or wetland system. Plans were developed collaboratively and easily shared using the takeAIM wiki.

On the final afternoon of the Institute, teams presented an impressive suite of 7 lesson plans, each with its own twist. The diversity, creativity, sophistication, and energy behind these plans proved to us all that invasive species ecology can provide a rich and relevant context for teaching and learning fundamental science concepts.











Will these native songbirds survive the introduction of sparrows to their "MnM" habitat?

So, let's think ahead 3 months. To September. To the time when these 14 AIM teachers will give these ambitious plans some wings in classrooms across Maine. Students will be peering through the lens of invasive species to learn about biodiversity, geologic history, ecological changes through time, interspecies competition, shipping routes and methods, local food webs, cultural connections, current events, service learning,.... They will think like scientists. They will be connected to their local communities. They will have dirt under their fingernails and important stories to tell. Just like us.

Zooming In

A rather unexpected treat this week has been sharing the stunning photographs taken during our field excursions. Teachers proved themselves expert at both "zooming past" with their online technology tools, and "zooming in" to carefully document their observations of the natural world.

Invasives On the Rocks

In the morning....
Dr. Judith Pederson (Judy), Director of the MIT Sea Grant Center for Coastal Resources, started us off this morning with an overview of marine invasive species issues in the Gulf of Maine. She gave us some biological background, invasion histories, some of the ecological and economic impacts of a group of particularly pernicious invaders, and key characteristics to watch out for during our observation activity and intertidal investigation.


We learned about the marine invasive rapid assessment surveys that Judy has been organizing for the past several years throughout New England, and she showed us the MIT Sea Grant Marine Invasive Species Web Pages where we can post information and photos of our observations to help scientists track the presence of marine invaders in Maine.

Next, we used the Look More Closely Activity to investigate our classroom tank of marine critters. They’d been waiting patiently all week for some attention, and we gave them a thorough examination! We did a gallery walk after we finished our individual observations to learn from each others’ hypotheses, drawings, and microscopy investigations.

At high noon....
....we visited the floating dock, and Judy led us in a mini rapid assessment of the fouling communities on the side. We found tons of critters (plant, animal, and in-between) after just a couple minutes of searching! We looked quickly at UNH Professor Dr. Larry Harris’ fouling plates, without disturbing them, just to see an example of something we could try with our students.









The Intertidal Quadrat Surveys were the culminating activity of the day. We tested our hypotheses about the marine intertidal communities next to the Darling Center dock, by searching for three animal and plant specimens in low, mid, and high intertidal quadrats. Several members of the Apple, StudyWiz, and the MLTI teams joined us to learn about how we were using their software to enter our data into the Apple Noteshare program.

Wetlandia

Botany guru Don Cameron of the Maine Natural Areas Program familiarized the group with Maine's natural communities. He introduced us to the native and rare species in forest and wetland systems, and to the invasive plants that threaten the diversity of these communities. Notes from his lecture, including a discussion of vectors, impacts, and biological control are posted to the AIM wiki.

Then, to the vans for a fascinating whirlwind tour of wetland and upland systems that are either currently experiencing the affects of a species invasion, or that are vulnerable to future invasions. We experienced first-hand the disturbed, the stressed, the out-competed, and the ever-changing.

"Behold, the sedges with edges!"


We stopped in an upland meadow system to meet some of Maine's native wildflowers. Wild geranium, field hawkweed, and the mysterious wood betany challenged our newly acquired plant identification skills.

"Okay... regular flowers... alterate leaves...."

All Aboard the Aquatic Ecosystem Express

Gayle has logged our daily adventure sites on an AIM Google My Map. It took her 10 minutes. That means your tech-savvy students can probably do it in 3.

Say "Specieeees"

The AIM team posed for photographs at Pemaquid Point. The posing had to be quick and efficient - we still had a river bank, tidal marsh, and former lake to explore and scope for invasive species.

Freshly Invaded

Roberta and Jackie of the Maine Center for Invasive Aquatic Plants put us through our paces identifying Maine's 11 "most wanted" invasive aquatic plants and their native "look-alikes." By morning's end, our minds were swimming with visions of leaded glass windows in ruffly frames, exploding swords, fox tails, rocket ships, and tacos.


Currently 29 of Maine's waterbodies have a documented invasive. AIM teachers are enthused to work with their students to screen their local freshwater systems for invasives, document natives, and send their findings to the MCIAP.




Rex and Phil of the Maine Lakes Conservancy Institute joined us at Damariscotta Lake with a fleet of kayaks and canoes. A head wind and "wavelets" couldn't keep us from exploring the flora and fauna of Davis Stream. No invasives. Plenty of fun.


Some useful links mentioned throughout the day:

MCIAP Virtual Herbarium - "Maine's online resource for freshwater invasive aquatic plants...."
PEARL - "The source for environmental information in Maine...."
Maine Lakes Conservancy Institute - "A nonprofit educational organization dedicated to understanding, protecting and sustaining the health and values of Maine's lakes and the communities dependent upon them...."

Duly Noted

The keynote presentations on Monday and Tuesday evenings were given by Dr Bob Steneck of the Darling Marine Center and by Dr George Jacobson of the University of Maine Climate Change Institute.

Post salmon-feast, Bob Steneck provided a nice overview of the biodiversity of the Gulf of Maine. If you're interested in his talk, Sarah Kirn played scribe for the evening, taking copious notes that are now accessible on the AIM wiki. Related links:
An Inconvenient Truth
Turner Farm
Tethered Lobster on Cashes Ledge

Following burritos and strawberry short cake (with piles of whipped cream), George Jacobson showed us how to use the ice cycles of the past to understand the present and future of our global climate and regional ecosystems. In regard to the implications of the changing climate, he presented a list of "indisputable facts" that he believes the public needs to hear and understand:

• Humans are adding CO2 to the atmosphere in large quantities, primarily from the combustion of fossil fuels
• These additions will almost certainly increase pre-industrial atmospheric levels by 200% to 300% by the next century
• CO2 and other greenhouse gasses trap heat
• The result is likely to be a warmer Earth

George's one wish for change that would reduce global CO2 levels is to redesign communities to be more self-sufficient and locally-focused.

Digesting thousands of years of change

Last night's keynote presentation by Bob Steneck stimulated a healthy early morning discussion among participants. The question taking center stage: "How can we give our students a sense of what Maine was like thousands of years ago, and how the flora and fauna have changed through time?" Participants' ideas included capturing local, oral histories, using on-line environment simulations, and using a popular geologic time diagram....


CAPTURING LOCAL HISTORIES
"Ted Ames a long-term, Maine lobster and ground fisherman, has fused the roles of fisherman and applied scientist.... His studies, reinforced by a rigorous methodology, draw distinctively from the anecdotal experiences of aging fishermen to map historical patterns and chart the evolution of current conditions...."

Islands in Time: A Natural and Cultural History of the Islands in the Gulf of Maine Phillip W. Conkling


SIMULATIONS
"Net Logo is a cross-platform multi-agent programmable modeling environment...."

University of Maine Climate Change Institute
Research & reconstruction resources


GEOLOGIC TIME ANALOGIES
"When geologic time is compressed to the scale of a calendar year, 1 second equals about 146 years. At this scale, World War II began about 0.4 second before midnight on December 31....

• First fossil evidence of cells with a nucleus 7/17/04 9:54 PM
• First multi-celled organisms (seaweed and algae) 9/3/04 3:39 PM
• Oldest marine worms and jellyfish 11/8/04 4:35 PM
• 505 First fish 11/21/04 7:40 PM
• 470 First fossil evidence of land plants 11/24/04 2:30 PM
• 430 First vascular land plants 11/27/04 6:53 PM
• 414 Oldest lung fish fossils 11/29/04 1:26 AM
• 408 Oldest fossil evidence of mosses 11/29/04 12:53 PM
• 385 First insects (beetles), scorpions, and centipedes 12/1/04 8:49 AM
• ...."

[Link: Google "Geologic Time Scale" and download first entry]

Ready...AIM....

14 teachers and citizen scientists from 8 Maine counties are gearing up to spend 4 days at the Darling Marine Center in Walpole, Maine, exploring freshwater and coastal ecosystems, scanning habitats for native and invasive species, investigating authentic research questions, and creating hands-on, inquiry-based activities for students in grades 7-12.

This blog will track the week's presentations, laboratory work, field experiences, and curriculum discussions, and will provide links to additional materials and resources.