Home
Curriculum Overview
Lessons
Poster Contest
Project Wet

[ Lesson 1 ] [ Lesson 2 ] [ Lesson 3 ] [ Lesson 4 ] [ Lesson 5 ] [ Lesson 6 ]

Lesson 4: Aquatic macro-invertebrate collection and sorting

* A lesson on stream life and the animal organisms forming a part of the food chain

Geared toward 2^nd through 7^th grade (targeted at 4^th grade)

• Materials
• Kick nets for collecting organisms
• Buckets with lids or coolers for transporting organisms
• Shoulder length gloves for working in the stream
• Waders for individuals collecting macro-invertebrates
• Copy of Streamkeeper’s Field Guide for extension activities
• Macro-invertebrate kit from WSWCD for sorting, counting and identifying “macros”

• Activities
• Collect macro-invertebrates from a “riffle” section of a nearby stream using ENRI’s procedure established at UAA (WSWCD staff will direct)
• Either return to classroom or if weather and time permit set up sorting stations on site
• Put ½ inch of water in a white shallow water pan
• Use a small fish net to “ladle” insects, mud, vegetation collected at the stream site into the shallow water pan
• Have students spend twenty minutes working in pairs using tweezers and small pipettes to collect macros, sorting them by body characteristics into an ice cube tray (different insects into different cubes so as to sort)
• After twenty minutes have students spend 5 minutes looking through the shallow water tray to locate and sort only macro types/species they have not yet sorted
• Use the classification keys in the macro-invertebrate kits to identify the macros in the ice cube trays.
• Count the number of organisms in each ice cube tray and make a list of the total number of each kind of organism
• Emphasize the mayflies, stoneflies and caddis flies as they tend to be more sensitive than many other aquatic organisms and therefore good indicators of stream health.
• Return all organisms to the cooler or bucket for return to the stream where they were collected

• Mat-Su district 4^th Grade Science Standards addressed with this activity

1.      A1.1 Asking questions, predicting, observing, describing, measuring, classifying, making generalizations, inferring and communicating.

2.      A1.1a Working collaboratively, carrying out investigations

3.      A1.1b Differentiating observation from inference and knowing scientists’ explanations come partly from what they observe and how they interpret their observations

4.      A1.1c Working with an increasing variety of models and tools

5.      A1 Recording data to communicate results through charts and graphs

6.      A1.2 Observing, measuring and collecting data from explorations and using this information to classify, predict and communicate.

7.      A1.2a Formulating and justifying predictions based on cause and effect relationships

• Time required
• 40 minutes minimum at a stream site to discuss the stream, hydrology, need for D.O. and nutrients for insects, potential insect hiding places and their place in the food chain. Collect samples
• 1 hour in the classroom to set up, sort/identify insects, record numbers of each insect
• 15 minutes for clean-up in class
• Time for extensions can vary greatly