Lesson Overview:

Lesson focuses on students creating a working model of an ecological concept, the River Continuum Concept and demonstrating how human impacts change insect ecology. Students design a working model that shows river flow and compares and contrasts a natural ecosystem with a human-impacted one and how that relates to insect diversity in an area.

Age Level or Subject:

• Grades: 10-12

• Subjects: Environmental Science, Digital Electronics

Lesson or Unit Objectives:

Students will be able to:

• Observe biological processes as a source of design inspiration

• Predict the outcome of changing inputs into a system

• Design and model a natural system

• Calculate a biodiversity index and correlate how that indicates the health of that ecosystem

• Interpret the River Continuum Concept text and translate to an educational model

Full Lesson Download

Resources

Video questions- project intro

Turbidity Lab

secchi disk

River_Continuum_Concept_Analyzed

River Continuum Article

Model Design Rubric

Model Design Brief

Macroinvertebrate Worksheet

Hoosier Riverwatch MacroInvertebrates Manual

Go With the Flow Design Project