Lesson Plan 2:
Ecology and Ecosystem

Ascending Levels of Intellectual Demand/ Station Activity Suggestions

The Plant Anatomy and Identification group could create a plant press and collect some samples of local grasses and plants. They could also include a plant dissection at their station.

The Rangeland Facts about Montana group could create a trivia game which their classmates could play after learning the information from that group.

The Stream Dynamics group could create a scale model of a stream and its components.

The Erosion: Causes and Prevention group could seek examples in the community or on the school grounds of erosion, including areas where erosion is a problem and their ideas of how it could be reduced in that location, and areas where erosion is not a problem and why or where erosion is currently being managed well and prevented.

The Land Use & Sustainability group could create a panel of community experts on various aspects of land use. For example, the panel might contain a game warden/wildlife expert, a rancher, an ecologist, a hunter, a fisheries expert, a geologist, a forest fire fighter, and miner.The panel could then be present for a question & answer discussion with the class.

The Ecosystem group could build a mini ecosystem, similar to a museum display, complete with explanation cards describing each part, its functions, and how it interacts with other parts of the ecosystem.