El Rio Grande: Field Guide

Overview

El Rio Grande is a multi-disciplinary unit that studies of the effects of the Rio Grande on the Rio Grande Valley. Lesson plans cover content areas of Mathematics, History, Science, and Language Arts. The activities in this unit engage students in research, group work, information technology, and presentation.

The Rio Grande is an entire ecosystem. Its has tremendous influences on the people, animals, and plants that live in the Rio Grande Valley. These lessons can be used by anyone interested in studying the Rio Grande. If used in distant classrooms, field trips can be taken to local rivers and lakes.

Introduction

The Rio Grande supports a wide variety of life forms. In this lesson, students will identify various organisms that exist in the river environment. They will consider physical characteristics and roles that plants and animals play in the river ecosystem. Using information from research and a trip to the local river, they will create field guides of the plants and animals that thrive in the river ecosystem.

Technology

Multimedia software
Scanner
Digital Camera or 35mm Camera
Audio Recorder (cassette)
Video Recorder (camcorder or digital camcorder)
Journal (legal pad or wirebound notebook)

Resources

Online

Northwood Field Guides www.northwoodsguides.com/
Plant Gallery http://plants.usda.gov/gallery.html
Desert USA http://www.desertusa.com/
Digital Desert Library http://horizon.nmsu.edu/
Desert http://www.cdri.org/Desert/

Off-line

Bowers, Janice Emily.100 Desert Wildflowers. SW Parks and Monuments Association, 1989.
Fischer, Pierce C. 70 Common Cacti. SW Parks and Monuments Association, 1989.
MacCarter, Jane S. NM Wildlife Viewing Guide. NM Department of Game & Fish.
MacMahon, James A. Deserts. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.
Pearce, Q.L. Animal Footnotes: A Nature's Guide.
Taylor, Dave. Endangered Desert Animals. Crabtree Publishing Co., 1993.

Process

Tips

Remind students that there are endangered animals and plants in the area. The key phrase of the trip should be: "Take only pictures, leave only footprints."

Materials

Drawing materials (paper, colored pencils, etc.)
Notebooks for field notes
Field guides (see Resource list)
Digital camera (recommended, not required)
Scanner
Audio recorder (recommended, not required)
Video recorder (recommended, not required)
One computer (minimum) with multimedia software (HyperStudio, PowerPoint, etc.)

Preparation

A field trip to the river will be necessary to complete this lesson.
Have students review field guide references so that they may see what type of information should be included in their field guides.
For the field research and subsequent research on physical characteristics, students should be divided into groups of 4 or 5. Each group has assigned roles and tasks for each role: Researcher, Photographer, Recorder, Editor, and Artist (optional).
Options for groups: A) Assign each group one organism (e.g. Birds) or B) allow each group to study all organisms. Option B will create a field guide from each group. Option A will create one large field guide.

Driving Questions

What plants and animals live in and near rivers?
What characteristics do they have that allow them to live in and near rivers?
What roles do these plants and animals play in the river ecosystem?

Tasks

Before the trip to the river, groups will study and research their assigned tasks, gather and learn to operate the appropriate equipment, and prepare for the trip.
Take a field trip to the river. Each group will identify and draw or photograph as many different types of their organisms as possible. They will follow the directions set forth in their assigned roles (see Task card).
Back in classroom, each group will continue to research the various physical structures (and their functions) of each organism as well as any other data relating to the organism that they can find. All data will go into field notebooks, including sketches, etc.
As each student in the group finishes her/his research, s/he should begin to scan drawings and/or download photographs, video and audio onto computer for incorporation into multimedia software.
All images should be labeled and placed in a database containing all information gathered in field notebooks.
Finally, each group will use the data and images to create a both a printed Field Guide and a digital presentation of the Field Guide (see Group Task card).

Assessment

Different rubrics can be used to evaluate the students. Included is a Field Guide rubric, and a digital presentation rubric. These rubrics evaluate products, not student contributions.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, the learner will:

be able to identify several species of plants and animals indigenous to the Rio Grande.
understand which physical characteristics help the organisms adapt to their particular environment.
describe role played by each in their ecosystem.
be able to use scanner, digital camera and multimedia software to create electronic field guide.

Downloading and Printing files

These pages can be downloaded to your computer as files. Files can then be opened and printed. You can choose from two file formats:

Microsoft document format opens the files in Microsoft Word. You can then make changes in the pages before printing them.

Acrobat Reader or Portable Document Format (pdf) opens the files in Adobe Acrobat Reader. Pages cannot be edited in this format. However, .pdf files are less likely to be distorted or corrupted. Pages that contain graphics or large images look better in .pdf and print very nicely. For your convenience, Acrobat Reader can be accessed from this page.

Microsoft Word (.doc)

Field Guide Lesson provides the Teacher's guide for the set up and process of the students' tasks.

Field Guide Group Task Cards provides the students with a clear, step-by-step guide for their final products. Includes evaluation rubrics.

Group Task Cards in Spanish

Field Guide Role Task Cards provides step-by-step guidance for each student.

Role Task Cards in Spanish

Acrobat Reader (.pdf)