Presented by: Carol Baird (Bbairdclan@aol.com)
                        John Hopkins Elementary School
                        170 John Hopkins Ave
                        Jackson, MS 39209
                        601-924-5409 (H), 601-923-2540 (W)

Educational obiective: Develop a K-12 education curriculum for students to evaluate the effects of environmental factors on native fishes.

Project Rationale: K-12 classroom teachers as well as homeschool educators consistently promote hands-on learning activities over rote memorization of information. Scientific inquiry mandates this format for lessons, however, educators of all levels need readily available curriculums to use and adapt to their classroom setting. Due to increasing demands on an educator’s time and limited budget, these hands-on curriculums or lessons must be easy to implement, versatile among grades and learning abilities, adaptable to a variety of classroom settings, and reasonably low in costs. As a result, the internet has become a primary curriculum resource for most educators. Many organizations find that their K-12 education section becomes the #1 hit section of their entire website.

Project Description and Target Audience: This project will develop a hands-on curriculum for K-12 students to scientifically evaluate the effects of environmental factors on native fishes. The product will be an internet-based curriculum that can be easily accessed via the NANFA homepage. The following steps will be done to develop this curriculum:

(1) A series of simple experiments will be developed to illustrate effects of changes in environmental factors such as pH, salinity, temperature, light, plant cover, and substrate. These experiments can then be related to real world environmental issues impacting native fishes: (a) pH = acid rain, (b) salinity = intrusion of estuarine habitat or impoundments which isolate estuarine populations, and (c) submerged aquatic vegetation = aquatic plant management issues.

(2) Commonly available and low cost materials and equipment for these experiments will be selected, gathered, and evaluated. Evaluations will include costs, ease of use, space requirements, durability, and minimal and optimal equipment needs.

(3) A selection of easily obtainable, small, live-bearing, native fishes with different habitat requirements will be tested with each experimental design to determine the needed recommendations for each species. Anticipated species to be tested include:

(a) western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis), a generalist that is ubiquitous and environmentally tolerant, (b) least killifish (Heterandriaformosa), an inhabitant of vegetated, mostly freshwater, (3) sailfin molly (Poecilia latipinna), an inhabitant of fresh, brackish, and marine waters.

(4) Lessons will be designed to promote scientific inquiry and develop an appreciation of the environmental requirements of North American native fishes.

(5) Lessons will also be developed to accommodate multiple skill levels (K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12) while utilizing the same experiments and materials.

(6) Additional reading and resource materials will also be compiled as appropriate for the grade level.

(7) The curriculum developed will be classroom tested with K-S students at John Hopkins Elementary School in Jackson, Mississippi.

(8) A short descriptive article and photo essay will be written for American Currents.

Benefits of this Approach — Developing an internet-based educational resource produces the most cost-effective method to disseminate information to the widest audience possible. This format is also dynamic and easily accessed for future expansion of ideas and inclusion of additional curriculums. Hands-on methods of learning allow wider flexibility for developing lessons to multiple grade levels and learning abilities. It is also well known by educators and parents that students of all ages are inherently interested in using living organisms (especially species that are prolific and give live birth) for scientific observation.

Benefits to Students — The students should gain a basic understanding of how small changes in environmental factors can possibly produce large effects on organisms. They also should gain an appreciation of the sensitivity of changing the environment for North American native fishes. This hands-on approach will provide the students numerous opportunities to develop their skills in scientific inquiry and the scientific method.

Benefits to Teachers — Developing this curriculum will help fill a gap in available K- 12 resources about environmental requirements for North American native fishes. It also will provide a tested hands-on curriculum that utilizes easily acquired equipment and materials. Educators are most likely to use simple, cookbook style curriculums available from the internet given the opportunity. This saves the teacher both time and money, therefore, the curriculum and lessons are more likely to actually get used in the classroom. Although this project is primarily targeting K-12 educators, this same curriculum can easily be adapted for environmental educators at Nature Centers and for public outreach by NANFA members.

Benefits to School — The equipment and materials purchased will not only be used to develop the described curriculum but will be used as part of the annual curriculum for many teachers in our school. This same equipment can be used for similar studies with insects and amphibians.

Benefits to NANFA — Developing this internet-based product for the NANFA homepage will provide the widest distribution of an educational resource for the money spent. This curriculum allows NANFA to promote conservation of North American native fishes to a frequently overlooked audience. It also uses NANFA’s conservation mission to encourage educational discovery and inquiry. This curriculum will provide a valuable resource to K- 12 educators in all NANFA regions instead of focusing on a single facility or region. This project will create a win-win product for all parties involved. NANFA will receive an educational product for their homepage, the author will gain recognition in curriculum development, and the John Hopkins Elementary School will acquire reusable equipment and materials for many teachers to use.

See the attached descriptions of the experimental design to be further developed and evaluated. Part 1 demonstrates the effect of plant cover and light. Part 2 demonstrates the effect of changes in pH and temperature. Part 3 demonstrates the effect of changes in salinity and substrate. The attached sample data sheets illustrate examples of data to be collected during the course of the lessons. Utilizing live-bearers for this type of study provides easy quantitative measures for students.

Milestones:               -- Outline instructional experiments.                               
                                -- Purchase materials and equipment for experiments.

All experimental manipulations for Parts 1 through 3 must be conducted simultaneously and completed during the summer months. Therefore, this phase requires purchasing more equipment than would be necessary when actually implementing Parts 1 through 3 in the classroom.

Milestones:        -- Conduct preliminary evaluations of materials, equipment, and species for use with experiments. 
                         -- Purchase additional materials and equipment for experiments as needed.

Milestones:        -- Compile supportive reading and resource materials as available. 
                         -- Write K-3 and 4-6 curriculum lessons.

Milestones:         --Implement lessons into selected classes to provide classroom testing of the curriculum developed
                                    and to fine-tune the lessons as needed.

Milestones:          -- Finalize writing of K-3 and 4-6 curriculum lessons.
                           -- Expand lessons to include 7-9 and 10-12 levels. (These levels will not be classroom tested
                                     under this proposal.)

Milestones:            -- (May 2004) Present NANFA with the curriculum product to be included on the NANFA
                                    website.
                             -- (Jun 2004) Provide NANFA with a descriptive article and photo essay about the K- 12
                                    curriculum for American Currents.

Part 1: Experimental Evaluation
Part 2: Experimental Evaluation
Part 3: Experimental Evaluation
Budget and Funding request
C.V.