This lesson plan is licensed under Creative Commons.
In this lesson students learn how invasive species are detrimental to the ecosystem of native species and create a prevention poster.
Step 1 - Inquire: Students relate their knowledge about competition with competition among organisms within an ecosystem.
Step 2 - Investigate: Students learn how invasive species impact native species and biodiversity.
Step 3 - Inspire: Students develop a prevention poster describing how their invasive species was introduced into their community.
Positives
This lesson aligns with Hawai’i’s Nā Hopena A'o HĀ-BREATH Framework.
Students are encouraged to be creative in creating a prevention poster to raise awareness.
Students learn about invasive species in Hawai’i and in their community.
Students learn why it is important to recognize invasive species and to raise awareness.
Additional Prerequisites
Teacher should provide poster materials for the students, including poster paper and colored pencils.
Teacher can provide a digital option such as Canva for students who want to create a digital poster.
Teacher has the option to print out the Student Document.
Differentiation
Students can watch this video for instructions on how to play Rock Paper Scissors Rockstar.
Students can work on their prevention poster projects individually or in pairs.
Students can create their prevention poster projects digitally or on paper.
Students can make an informative video to go with their posters.
For an interdisciplinary connection to math, students can research percentages of invasive species introduced into each natural ecosystem, chart data on habitat loss due to invasive species, or calculate the costs of different solutions to addressing invasive species.
Students can research how invasive species were introduced to the ecosystem (e.g., tourists, traveling, commercial imports, residential pets).
Students can extend their learning by responding to the following writing prompt: “Do you think humans are invasive species? Explain.”
If the students vote for the prevention poster contest, this can be done anonymously, on Google Classroom, or on Google Forms.
The impact of invasive species on Hawaii's natural ecology is highlighted in this lesson, especially when they compete with native species for nutrients. Students will receive instruction on how to observe and recognize invasive species in an ecosystem and will present posters outlining ways that humans may stop the spread of invasive species in a particular ecosystem. This lesson passed our science review process after the contents underwent a thorough evaluation.
