Description
Your students are going to love this courtroom lesson on invasive species. Students must examine case notes on the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone and the subsequent changes to the ecosystem both biological and physical. This is perfect as a group activity for science stations. Each group must study the evidence at each station to build and prepare their case in order to answer the question “was the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone successful?” This packet is specially designed to align with the NGSS standards MS-LS2-4.
Included in the Invasive Species packet are:
- Exhibit A: Reintroduction of Wolves
Students will read about the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone and then answer questions in their case notes
- Exhibit B USDA Evidence
Students will analyse USDA data on the damage to livestock caused by predators and non-predators and use this as part of their research
- Exhibit C: Elk Evidence
Students will look at elk population data and read about the effects of declining elk numbers on the ecosystem
- Exhibit D: Beaver Evidence
Students will watch a short video outlining the growth of the beaver population and its effects since wolves were introduced
- Exhibit E Domino Effect / Trophic Cascade
The students read about the domino effect (trophic cascade) that followed the reintroduction of wolves.
- Conclusion
Finally the students will be asked to conclude whether the reintroduction of wolves was successful. This would be an excellent homework/consolidation assessment section. You could ask them to present this as part of their assessment.
NGSS and Next Generation Science Standards are a registered trademark of Achieve. Neither Achieve nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards was involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product.
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