Project WILD Aquatic Activity Descriptions
Section One - Ecological Knowledge
Activities found in this section are generally introductory lessons that focus on awareness.
Wildlife Populations
Addresses characteristics and population dynamics.
1. Are You Me? - Using picture cards, students match pairs of juvenile and adult aquatic animals. Page 2.
2. Fishy Who’s Who – Students complete an inventory of fish habitats that exist in their area; obtain information about the various fish species that live in these habitats; and locate the fish species on a map. Page 9.
3. Whale of a Tail – Students use computational, graphing and measuring techniques to draw or sculpt live-size replicas of whales. Page 12.
4. Migration Headache – Students portray migrating water birds traveling between nesting habitats and wintering grounds. Page 16.
Habitats, Ecosystems, and Niches
Addresses characteristics and population dynamics.
5. Got Water? – Students read about the natural history of several wild animals that might live in their state and discuss how these animals meet their basic needs. Students explore their schoolyard or neighborhood to determine if an assigned animal can obtain the needed food, water, and shelter within an accessible distance or area. Page 22.
6. Designing a Habitat – Students design a habitat suitable for aquatic wildlife to survive in a zoo or an aquarium. Page 32.
7. Water Safari – Students will conduct a field investigation at an outdoor study site to discover wildlife, signs of wildlife, and the locations of water sources which wildlife may use on the site. Page 35.
8. Where Does Water Run? – Students will design and implement a field investigation involving relationships between levels of precipitation, runoff, and percentage of impervious ground cover. Page 42.
9. Urban Waterway Checkup – Students learn about indicators or 'vital signs' used to gauge the health of streams and rivers, apply their knowledge in analyzing the health of a hypothetical urban waterway, and then write a "prescription" for actions that can improve the health of the waterway. Page 52.
10. Water Canaries – Students investigate a stream or pond using sampling techniques. Page 61.
Interdependence
Addresses commonalties and interactions among living things.
11. Aqua Words – Students brainstorm water words, make word trees with those words, and write poetic statements about water. Page 67.
12. Water Plant Art – Students create artwork showing aquatic habitats from their drawings and pressed aquatic plants. Page 70.
13. Marsh Munchers – Students use body movement and pantomime to simulate the feeding motions of marsh animals. Page 73.
14. Wetland Metaphors – Students are presented with a selection of objects to investigate as metaphors for the natural functions of wetlands. Page 78.
15. Hooks and Ladders – Students simulate the migration of and the hazards faced by Pacific salmon to illustrate their life cycle. Page 82.
16. Micro Odyssey – Students examine, draw, paint and identify microorganisms in pond water. Page 89.
17. Blue Ribbon Niche – Students create a variety of representations of wildlife that can be found in riparian areas. Page 92.
Changes and Adaptations
Addresses environmental changes and organism adaptations.
18. Fashion a Fish – Students design a fish adapted for various aquatic habitats. Page 96.
19. Sockeye Scents – Students participate in map and simulation exercises that help them understand the migration of the sockeye salmon. Page 101.
20. Pond Succession – Students create murals showing three major stages of pond succession. Page 106.
21. Eat and Glow – Students conduct an experiment using Daphnia and brine shrimp to demonstrate adaptations to environmental change by organisms. Page 110.
Biodiversity
Addresses types of biodiversity, human influence and the importance of habitat.
22. The Edge of Home – Students explore the concept of ecotones by visiting places where habitats overlap. Page 117.
Section Two: Social and Political Knowledge
Cultural Perspectives
Addresses cultural development, expressions and appreciation of wildlife and natural resources.
23. Mermaids and Manatees – Students describe aquatic animals using a narrative style of writing that, in turn, is the basis for a drawing or painting done by other students. Page 122.
Economic, Commercial, and Recreational Considerations
24. Water We Eating? – Students visit a local supermarket and compile a list of products that originate in aquatic habitats. Page 126.
25. Net Gain, Net Effect – Students conduct a simulation to explore the evolution of fishing and the effects of changing technology on fish populations. Page 129.
Historical and Geographic Development
Addresses the development of society and commerce as related to natural resources.
26. Watered Down History – Students investigate the history of a chosen waterway through research methods, recorded personal interviews, and public records, and then display their findings on a mural. Page 136.
Political and Legislative Frameworks
Addresses both international and domestic issues.
27. A Whale of an Issue – Students hold a hypothetical meeting of the International Whaling Commission. Page 139.
28. Sea Turtles International – Students simulate the political interactions of citizens from different countries who have a variety of perspectives on the conservation of wildlife habitat. Page 145.
Section Three: Sustaining Fish and Wildlife Resources
Attitudes and Awareness
Includes human perspectives and values.
29. Water Wings – Students visualize a simulated field trip and then create artwork and poetry. Page 158.
30. Puddle Wonders – Students measure and record the depth, area, and volume of puddles; look for evidence of wildlife using the puddles; and graph and interpret data. Page 164.
31. Riparian Retreat – Awareness of a riparian zone is created through the use of a simulated field trip and artwork. Page 173.
32. How Wet Is Our Planet? – Students calculate water volumes using percentages. Page 178.
33. Facts and Falsehoods – Students analyze and evaluate print material according to criteria they establish for a strong presentation; as an option, they can then develop their own presentations using the same criteria. Page 182.
Human Impacts
Includes both positive and negative ones.
34. Plastic Voyages – Students monitor plastic waste in their own households, learn about its effects on marine life, and propose ways to mitigate the problem. Page 187.
35. Watershed – Students measure the area of a local watershed, calculate the amount of water it receives each year, and discuss functions of the watershed. Page 194.
36. What’s in the Air? – Through simulations and direct measurement the students experience differing acidic conditions in aquatic habitats and explore the consequences on aquatic life. Page 199.
37. What’s in the Water? – Students analyze the pollutants found in a hypothetical river. They graph the quantities of pollutants and recommend actions that could be taken to improve the habitat. Page 204.
38. Something’s Fishy Here? - Students read and discuss a story, inventing their own endings that lead to environmental action in their community. Page 210.
39. Water Works – Students create a 'water web' to illustrate the interdependence among water uses and producers. Page 214.
40. Alice in Waterland – Students use simulated field trip; lecture and discussion; and student gathered data to explore water use and its effects on wildlife habitat. Page 221.
41. The Glass Menagerie – Students observe and describe changes in physical characteristics of several different experimental aquatic habitats that they create. Page 226.
42. Fishable Waters – Students evaluate how healthy fish populations provide multiple benefits for their community. Through a simulation, they explore the connection between water quality, habitat, and "fishable and swimmable" waters. Page 230.
Issues and Trends
Includes global perspectives, land use, consumptive and non-consumptive uses of wildlife and wildlife and populations.
43. Turtle Hurdles – Students become sea turtles and limiting factors in a highly active simulation game. Page 244.
44. Aquatic Roots – Students use reference materials to research various local aquatic plants and/or animals to identify whether these organisms are native or exotic to their area and to investigate their effects on people, other animals, and the environment. Page 249.
45. Where Have All the Salmon Gone? – Students graph and interpret actual fish population data in relation to historical events. Page 252.
46. To Dam or Not to Dam – Students portray individuals representing differing perspectives and concerns related to a complex issue. Page 258.
47. Aquatic Times – Students investigate, write and produce a newspaper that features aquatic information and issues. Page 262.
Wildlife Management
Addresses basic concepts related to management considerations and practices.
48. Silt: A Dirty Word - Students create a model to simulate changes to a stream and its water flow when silt and/or sand are added to the system. Page 264.
49. Dam Design – Students design and draw a dam appropriate for salmon survival. Page 267.
50. Gone Fishing! – After making simple fishing rigs and practicing casting, students conduct a field investigation focused on fish and fish habitat. Page 270.
Responsible Action and Service
Focuses on how students and others can take action on behalf of wildlife and the environment.
51. Kelp Help – Students research kelp, create a mural, and report to the class about their findings. Page 277.
52. Dragonfly Pond – Students create an arrangement of human land-use activities around an image of a pond. Page 280.
53. Conservation Messaging – Students plan and produce a PSA informing people about actions they can take to conserve fish and aquatic environments. Page 287.
54. Living Research: Aquatic Heroes and Heroines – Students identify people, through news media, personal contacts or other means, who have made contributions to conserving or preserving aquatic environments; research their contributions, including a personal interview; and then write a biography of the person. Page 291.
55. Working for Wildlife – Students conduct a simulated job fair and interviews to learn about jobs in aquatic wildlife conservation, management, and advocacy. Page 294.