Lesson Plan:

Invasion of the spongy moth and what to do about it

Overview

This is a lesson I developed for LIFE 320 for a community ecology or human-ecology impacts unit. This lesson gets the students interested in the topic by framing it as a socio-scientific issue, or an issue for which both scientific, social context, and personal values are needed to make a decision. This is formatted as a jigsaw with specialist and home groups, where each student learns a specialty and then shares that information with their home group in order to work together to create a plan to deal with the invasion of the spongy moth in Colorado.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

Demonstrate the following skills:

Work in small groups to explain the spongy moth invasion
Describe the issue from different perspectives within specialist and home groups
Evaluate the issue and write an opinion for what should be done about the issue

Demonstrate knowledge of:

The human and ecological impact of the spongy moth, through the writing assignment and group work

Instructional Planning

This is a cooperative jigsaw activity with specialists and homegroups. Print out information for each specialist group, Wanted Poster, and prepare short presentation of distribution maps.

Procedure

Engage

Student does: Whole class discusses why a moth would be wanted. Look at distribution maps and observe that the moth is approaching Colorado and other western states. Begin thinking about how they would approach the problem statement: “What should the Colorado Legislature do about the coming spongy moth invasion?” Take notes during the introduction, for reference later. (Discussion saved for later, after they have more info from groups.)
Teacher does: Introduce the spongy moth invasion with “Spongy Moth Wanted Poster” and distribution map. Explain why the spongy moth had its name changed from gypsy moth and racists/culturally insensitive history of ecology and what we’re doing about it.

Explore

Student does: Meet with home group and get specialist roles. Then specialist groups meet (all entomologists, all forest ecologists, etc.) and discuss the information they are given. Each group member works to understand their group’s perspective on the issue and their knowledge. Students work together to make sure each person understands well enough to be able to teach other students
Teacher does: Randomly assign students to home groups (5 students each), then assign specialist roles to each group member.

Explain

Student does: Students return to home group and explain their specialist knowledge to the group. The entomologists will start and as information is presented, the others discuss how the information relates to their own specialist group. Discussion should last 10-15 minutes, until they are all familiar with the problem.
Teacher does: Facilitate discussions in the groups. Make sure all home groups are sharing information and discussing together.

Elaborate

Student does: Students will begin to work together to make a plan for what Colorado should do about the spongy moth invasion. Each person should take on their specialist role and advocate for what would be important for their role. The group should come up with a plan. Groups write up a short version of their plan (not graded) and include what other information they would need to know to make a good plan.
Teacher does: Guide groups as they discuss the different facets of the issue and how they will address it. Facilitate short discussion on the origins of the word ‘invasion’ in biology. Ask if insects are purposefully invading parts of the US.

Evaluate

Student does: Whole class discussion on what plans the groups came up with to deal with the problem. Discuss how there are multiple perspectives from which to view the issue. Discuss if any perspectives particularly resonated with students and why. Discuss what other perspectives or information they should consider. Individually, students write a 1-page essay (due later) on their own perspective on the issue and what they think we should do about the spongy moth invasion. (Written from their own perspective, not the perspective of their specialist group.)
Teacher does: Facilitate whole class discussions. Explain the components of the written assignment and share how it will be assessed. Grade written assignment.

Assessment

Formative:

Whole class discussions in the “Engage” and “Evaluate” sections of the lesson.
Specialists explain their information to the home group.
Home group discussion and written plan on their proposed solution.

Summative:

Written perspective essay/reflection on the student's view on the impacts of the spongy moth/ invasive species and what we should do about them as a society.