A brine shrimp ecosystem design project for 5th and 6th grade students

摘要

As engineering strives to increase its student numbers, more and more programs in biological engineering and other areas are developing outreach efforts for K-12 students. An important component of this type of outreach is the creation of grade appropriate design experiences. This project has developed a hands-on curricular module to examine the role of various components of a brine shrimp (Artemia) ecosystem in a classroom setting for fifth and sixth grade students. An understanding of these various components is formed using an ecological engineering design project. In the curriculum, the students are asked to design an ecosystem capable of supporting brine shrimp. The module was developed to be a 45-minute hands-on capstone activity with an emphasis on analysis-based design. It was designed for a school visitation program that reaches approximately twenty thousand fifth and sixth grade students annually. It includes teacher support materials such as activity descriptions and equipment requirements. In addition, it details the student and material implementation cost. This project fulfills several requirements from the Standards for Technological Literacy and the National Science Education Standards for the fifth and sixth grades. Therefore, creation and dissemination of this project has the potential for outreach and wide use in the classroom.