How can I share what I’ve learned about my species beyond classroom walls with others in my watershed community?
Overview
Students organize in-person and virtual Species Summits to present what they learned during their All My Watershed Neighbors Watershed Experience. They engage their community in discussions around the species they share their watershed with, raise awareness of their collective needs for space and resources, and unveil the species cards they created (These Are the Species in My Watershed).
Standards (MLR)
Social Studies
Grades 3-5
A3. Taking Action Using Social Studies Knowledge & Skills. Students select, plan, and participate in a civic action or service-learning project based on a classroom, school or local community asset or need, and describe evidence of the project’s effectiveness and civic contribution.
Grades 6-8
A3. Taking Action Using Social Studies Knowledge & Skills. Students select, plan, and implement a civic action or service-learning project based on a school community, or State asset or need, and analyze the project’s effectiveness and civic contribution.
Learning Objectives
Students share with their community what they learned through their species investigation
Students engage others in species-related discussions
Students raise community awareness of the species with which they share their watershed and its resources
Materials
Materials will vary depending on the type of Summit (in-person or virtual) and the content presented.
One 40-minute class period to prepare and practice for the Summit
20 minutes to deliver each Summit
Activity Procedure
1. Ask students to think about who in their school community or town/city they would like to meet with to share their Species Cards and discuss what they learned. Who would really benefit from knowing about these species? Ideas include:
“Species Buddies” in younger or older grades (similar to “Book Buddy” mentoring programs across grade levels)
Administrators
Relatives & friends
Owners of the property where they did their species explorations
Local environmental & conservation groups (Land Trusts)
Local city officials & town planners
General public
2. Ask students to think about who in their larger watershed they would like to meet with to share their Species Cards and discuss what they learned. Ideas include:
Students, teachers, administrators from other schools
Environmental & conservation groups (Soil & Water Conservation Districts, “Friends Of” organizations, Audubon)
Those living in similar habitats who may have similar species
Those living directly upstream or downstream
3. Choose 1-2 local audiences to invite to your in-person Species Summit. Choose 1-2 watershed audiences to invite to an online Species Summit via Skype or other online communication forum.
4. Create an invitation that includes a brief outline of what will happen at the Summit. An outline of Summit events may include:
Species Card displays and sharing sessions
Watershed food web group presentation
Habitat resources paired discussions
Human-species interactions small group discussions
Action planning for a collaborative project facilitated by students
Feedback form
5. Carefully plan out the Summit.
Assign roles: Give each student a special role to play during the Summit. Roles may include:
Set up staff (chairs, computers, species card displays, etc.)
Hosts and hostesses to greet, welcome, and orient guests
Master of ceremonies to keep the Summit on time and on topic
Presenters to share investigation results
Presenters to share species information
Discussion facilitators (this role may be difficult for students to do alone; pair with a teacher or adult volunteer)
Evaluators to distribute and collect evaluation forms
Technologists (online Summits) to set up computers and to troubleshoot issues as they arise
Practice roles: Have each student prepare and practice his/her role.
Set up staff plans how they will organize the space to make each part (presentations, displays, discussions) flow nicely
Hosts and hostesses practice shaking hands, proper & exciting welcomes, and decide what their guests need to know when they arrive (bathrooms, schedule of events, etc.)
Master of ceremonies reviews the schedule with everyone to make sure they know how much time they have, who they need to introduce next, etc.
Presenters write and practice saying their presentations aloud, and give one another feedback and suggestions for improving their talks and presentation style
Discussion facilitators familiarize themselves with the Summit discussion topics, and come up with questions to start of the discussions and to keep them going
Evaluators create the evaluation forms, and make a plan for how they will distribute and collect them quickly and efficiently
Technologists set up and do test runs with the computers to make sure everything is working properly
6. Host your Species Summits!
7. If the Summit discussions turn toward students and community members taking action together, have students follow up with interested community members to start planning what actions to take and when. Action ideas may include:
Displaying Species Cards in a public space to raise broader community awareness
Distributing Species Card books to other organizations, town officials, landholders, etc.
Putting a permanent Species Card book in the local library
Improving or creating habitat for species
Observing certain key habitats in town to see what species live there
Collecting data about habitats, habitat resources, and/or species that is of interest to town planners, local monitoring groups, etc.
Reflection/Formative Assessment Ideas
Feedback Forms
Ask each participant (including students) to reflect on the Summit and fill out a short feedback form.
Review the feedback forms that your Species Summit participants filled out.
Ask each student to choose the one piece of positive feedback and one piece of constructive feedback they think are most important
Have students propose revisions and improvements to their Summit approach. What would they do differently next time?
Extension Ideas
Have a neat way to extend this type of learning and sharing? Please share it with the VitalVenture community in the comments section below.
Resources
Have a great resource? Share it with us. Leave a comment below.
References
Have a great idea to share? Please leave a comment below.
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Species Summit
Author(s):
Sarah Morrisseau, Vital Signs Program, Gulf of Maine Research Institute
Table of Contents
Question(s)
How can I share what I’ve learned about my species beyond classroom walls with others in my watershed community?
Overview
Students organize in-person and virtual Species Summits to present what they learned during their All My Watershed Neighbors Watershed Experience. They engage their community in discussions around the species they share their watershed with, raise awareness of their collective needs for space and resources, and unveil the species cards they created (These Are the Species in My Watershed).
Standards (MLR)
Social Studies
Grades 3-5
A3. Taking Action Using Social Studies Knowledge & Skills. Students select, plan, and participate in a civic action or service-learning project based on a classroom, school or local community asset or need, and describe evidence of the project’s effectiveness and civic contribution.
Grades 6-8
A3. Taking Action Using Social Studies Knowledge & Skills. Students select, plan, and implement a civic action or service-learning project based on a school community, or State asset or need, and analyze the project’s effectiveness and civic contribution.
Learning Objectives
Materials
Materials will vary depending on the type of Summit (in-person or virtual) and the content presented.
Time Needed
Activity Procedure
1. Ask students to think about who in their school community or town/city they would like to meet with to share their Species Cards and discuss what they learned. Who would really benefit from knowing about these species? Ideas include:
2. Ask students to think about who in their larger watershed they would like to meet with to share their Species Cards and discuss what they learned. Ideas include:
3. Choose 1-2 local audiences to invite to your in-person Species Summit. Choose 1-2 watershed audiences to invite to an online Species Summit via Skype or other online communication forum.
4. Create an invitation that includes a brief outline of what will happen at the Summit. An outline of Summit events may include:
5. Carefully plan out the Summit.
Assign roles: Give each student a special role to play during the Summit. Roles may include:
Practice roles: Have each student prepare and practice his/her role.
6. Host your Species Summits!
7. If the Summit discussions turn toward students and community members taking action together, have students follow up with interested community members to start planning what actions to take and when. Action ideas may include:
Reflection/Formative Assessment Ideas
Feedback Forms
Extension Ideas
Have a neat way to extend this type of learning and sharing? Please share it with the VitalVenture community in the comments section below.
Resources
Have a great resource? Share it with us. Leave a comment below.
References
Have a great idea to share? Please leave a comment below.