Statistics, Rivers, and Bugs! Oh My!

Dear Parents

This semester your child(ren) will be participating in an exciting project based learning environment. Project based classrooms use projects to answer driving questions proposed by the teacher at the beginning of the semester. The question chosen this semester is “Which river in Austin is the cleanest?”  

In the process of answering this question, students will experience several inspiring learning environments. In order to answer this question, your child will be collecting insects from the groups Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, and Plecoptera. The abundance or lack of insects at the creeks will be the data used to address the question. Since the driving question asks about the ecosystem of a creek, your child will actually be exploring nearby creek ecosystems. Because we will spend a significant amount of time outdoors it is important for you to fill out the attached safety form that includes any allergies your student may have. 

In addition to ecology, your child will be learning about the effects of the human population on a natural environment, how to properly create an entomology collection, and the basics of statistics in order to analyze the data. The students will have several in class project days to work on the data collected.

This semester the project will count as 75% of your child’s grade and will be in the form of a well written paper and an insect collection.  The other 25% will come from the final exam and other in class assignment requirements.  The students will also be evaluated in many different ways throughout the project. An understanding of statistics and importance of the three insect groups is necessary in order to complete this project.  The students will be tested on their understanding of statistics through bi-weekly tests and by a final exam. Their understanding of the importance of insects will be assessed via in class worksheets.

The project will consist of collecting insects, identifying insects, statistically analyzing their results, and making conclusions based on those results. The students will be required to collect insects weekly outside of class at nearby creeks and rivers in Austin. Good “hunting grounds” are the Green Belt, Waller Creek, Onion Creek, San Marcos River, Colorado River,  and Guadalupe River. We will take a vote on which three rivers to study in class. I will be leading non-mandatory weekend field trips to these rivers but the students will need to hunt on their own as well.

For this project, you will need to purchase a Field Notebook, PermaPen, Ti-83 calculator, An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America by Merritt and Cummins 3rd edition, and a statistics book for your child. The Field Notebook must be water and alcohol proof. It is important that the pen purchased is a PermaPen as it is alcohol and water resistant. A width of .5 or 1 is sufficient. The dip nets, ethanol, water resistant paper, and tubes will be provided.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at 555-5555 or Brandon at 555-5556. We are looking forward to this exciting project and semester!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Owen

Brandon Harvill