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Aquatic Illinois Pre-trip Activities

• Aquatic Exotic Species Fact Cards

Aquatic Exotic Species Fact Cards

The Illinois-specific Aquatic Exotic Species Fact Cards can be used to support lessons in aquatics. They can also be used independently for students to learn more about these species and to encourage further research.

• Aquatic History: Follow the River - Activity

Aquatic History: Follow the River - Activity

Students will: 1) identify some major events that occurred along Illinois waterways; and 2) describe the relationship of each event to other historical events.

• Aquatic History: Follow the River - Teacher's Guide

Aquatic History: Follow the River - Teacher's Guide

• Aquatic Invertebrates in Still and Flowing Water - Activity

Aquatic Invertebrates in Still and Flowing Water - Activity

Students will: 1) learn to use a dichotomous key; and 2) be aware of and recognize aquatic adaptations of macroinvertebrates.

• Aquatic Invertebrates in Still and Flowing Water - Teacher's Guide

Aquatic Invertebrates in Still and Flowing Water - Teacher's Guide

• Aquatic Species Fact Cards - Activity

Aquatic Species Fact Cards - Activity

The Illinois-specific Aquatic Species Fact Cards can be used to support lessons in aquatics. They can also be used independently for students to learn more about these species and to encourage further research.

• Aquatic Species Fact Cards - Teacher's Guide

Aquatic Species Fact Cards - Teacher's Guide

• Boating Safety

Boating Safety

Students will: 1) increase their awareness of the need for boating safety education; and 2) learn the main causes of fatal boating accidents and how they could have been prevented

• Colonial Nesting Birds - Activity

Colonial Nesting Birds - Activity

Students will: 1) become familiar with the practice of colonial nesting, its advantages and disadvantages; 2) recognize some Illinois wetland colonial nesting birds; and 3) analyze trends in a graph.

• Colonial Nesting Birds - Teacher's Guide

Colonial Nesting Birds - Teacher's Guide

• Don't Stop for Hitchhikers

Don't Stop for Hitchhikers

Students will: 1) be able to identify exotic species and ways they are transported; 2) learn about several exotics that affect aquatic habitats; 3) identify effects of exotic species on native animals; and 4) learn how people can stop the spread of exotic species.

• Exploring the History of the Illinois and Michigan Canal - Activity

Exploring the History of the Illinois and Michigan Canal - Activity

Students will research and report on the lives of individuals who played a key role in the development of the Illinois and Michigan (I and M) Canal.

• Exploring the History of the Illinois and Michigan Canal - Teacher's Guide

Exploring the History of the Illinois and Michigan Canal - Teacher's Guide

• Frog Chorus - Activity

Frog Chorus - Activity

Students will: 1) identify frog and toad species by their call; and 2) describe the adaptive advantages of frog and toad calls.

• Frog Chorus - Teacher's Guide

Frog Chorus - Teacher's Guide

• Great Lakes Grief Lesson

Great Lakes Grief Lesson

The Illinois-specific Aquatic Exotic Species Fact Cards can be used to support lessons in aquatics. They can also be used independently for students to learn more about these species and to encourage further research.

• Great Lakes Grief Newspaper

Great Lakes Grief Newspaper

Students create a flyer about aquatic invasive species for distribution at local supermarkets. The focus on an environmental concern gives students the opportunity to experience a community action and awareness campaign.

• Illinois Rivers and Lakes Fact Sheets - Activity

Illinois Rivers and Lakes Fact Sheets - Activity

The Illinois-specific Illinois Rivers and Lakes Fact Sheets can be used to support lessons in aquatics. They can also be used independently for students to learn more about these water bodies and to encourage further research.

• Illinois Rivers and Lakes Fact Sheets - Teacher's Guide

Illinois Rivers and Lakes Fact Sheets - Teacher's Guide

• Leach Out and Touch Someone

Leach Out and Touch Someone

Students will demonstrate how surface and groundwater may become contaminated from point and nonpoint pollution sources.

• Lead Shot Consequences: Environmental Issue Changes Legislation - Activity

Lead Shot Consequences: Environmental Issue Changes Legislation - Activity

Students will: 1) understand that changes occur in waterfowl population numbers; and 2) comprehend how an environmental contaminant, lead shot, may have contributed to a decline in waterfowl population numbers.

• Lead Shot Consequences: Environmental Issue Changes Legislation - Teacher's Guide

Lead Shot Consequences: Environmental Issue Changes Legislation - Teacher's Guide

• Living in Water - Activity

Living in Water - Activity

Students will be able to: 1) identify and describe the advantages of adaptations to an aquatic environment; 2) evaluate the importance of adaptations to a variety of organisms; and 3) describe some environmental conditions that may result in adaptations.

• Living in Water - Teacher's Guide

Living in Water - Teacher's Guide

• Migration Activation - Activity

Migration Activation - Activity

Students will simulate migration (a periodic movement from one place to another and back again) and relate habitat events and migration hazards to population size.

• Migration Activation - Teacher's Guide

Migration Activation - Teacher's Guide

• Nature Rules in the Great Flood of 1993 - Activity

Nature Rules in the Great Flood of 1993 - Activity

Students will realize the economic, social and ecological impacts of the Great Flood of 1993.

• Nature Rules in the Great Flood of 1993 - Teacher's Guide

Nature Rules in the Great Flood of 1993 - Teacher's Guide

• Rival for Survival Game Board

Rival for Survival Game Board

This activity presents real-life choices involving exotic species found in the Great Lakes, such as zebra mussels and purple loosestrife. Students are to analyze a situation related to ecology and make an environmentally sound decision. Students then organize what they learned into a concept map.

• Rival for Survival Lesson

Rival for Survival Lesson

This activity presents real-life choices involving exotic species found in the Great Lakes, such as zebra mussels and purple loosestrife. Students are to analyze a situation related to ecology and make an environmentally sound decision. Students then organize what they learned into a concept map.

• River Navigation Today: Locks, Dams and Barges

River Navigation Today: Locks, Dams and Barges

Students will: 1) learn why locks and dams are built and how they work; 2) understand why locks, dams and barges are vital to river trade and navigation; 3) realize some of the environmental impacts of the locks, dams and barges in the Great Rivers region; and 4) improve mapping skills.

• River-created and River-related Careers

River-created and River-related Careers

Students will: 1) discover careers related to the Mississippi River region; 2) investigate their career aptitudes; and 3) realize the importance of education in obtaining a career.

• Rivers of Riches

Rivers of Riches

Students will: 1) realize the economic impact of travel on the local community; 2) perform mapping skills; 3) understand how the Great Rivers are related to travel; and 4) determine how the Great Rivers influence the surrounding communities.

• Wandering in a Wetland - Activity

Wandering in a Wetland - Activity

Students will experience a wetland community.

• Wandering in a Wetland - Teacher's Guide

Wandering in a Wetland - Teacher's Guide

• Which Watershed are You In?

Which Watershed are You In?

Students will: 1) become familiar with watersheds and the importance of water quality; and 2) be able to determine which watershed they live in and what bodies of water originate or feed into that watershed.

• Wild Math: How Many Fish are in this Lake?

Wild Math: How Many Fish are in this Lake?

Students will: 1) identify the value of stocking, a commonly used fisheries management technique; and 2) analyze the results of a fish-stocking project.

• Wild Math: How Many Fish are in this Lake? Instructional Video Podcast

Wild Math: How Many Fish are in this Lake? Instructional Video Podcast

The podcast provides step-by-step instructions for completing the calculations in this activity in which students use a real-life example to explore the reasons that fishes are stocked in lakes and ponds. Students are also posed questions on the topic.

• Wild Math: How Many Fish are in this Lake? Video Podcast Discussion Answers

Wild Math: How Many Fish are in this Lake? Video Podcast Discussion Answers

This Web page provides answers to the discussion questions posed in the video podcast for this activity in which students use a real-life example to explore the reasons that fishes are stocked in lakes and ponds.

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