Learning Goals
Students will be able to formulate an investigable question and directional hypothesis about biodiversity and population stability in Vermont and the Galápagos using principles of methodological fit and ecological scale.
Students will be able to design and conduct a systematic biodiversity investigation that documents species abundance, invasive organisms, habitat conditions, and human pressures using reliable sampling and evidence-quality practices.
Students will be able to analyze field and secondary data with mathematical representations of exponential and logistic growth, carrying capacity, limiting factors, and population bottlenecks to explain population change across ecosystem scales.
Students will be able to create and test a computational simulation connecting natural-resource management, human population demands, and biodiversity to evaluate dynamic systems and management trade-offs.
Students will be able to justify comparative conclusions about how isolation, adaptation, species interactions, disturbance, and human intervention affect Vermont and Galápagos ecosystems while acknowledging contradictory evidence, uncertainty, and investigation limitations.
Students will be able to design, evaluate, and refine an evidence-based Vermont stewardship solution and communicate its ecological reasoning to scientific partners and elementary audiences using feedback, shared decision-making, and audience-appropriate communication.
Products
Comparative Biodiversity Investigation Notebook and CER Portfolio
Each student submits a research notebook documenting question development, sampling and source-selection decisions, raw field data, mathematical analyses, simulation tests, partner notes, revised CER explanations, limitations, and an individually defended stewardship recommendation.
Vermont–Galápagos Investigation Report, Children’s Storybook, and Public Defense
Teams synthesize traceable individual evidence into a formal comparative report with maps, visualizations, simulation results, conflicting findings, conclusions, and a refined stewardship solution, then translate the findings into an illustrated children’s book and Eco Warrior action guide for public presentation and partner questioning.
No rubric has been generated yet.