Marianas Forest Ecology Lesson Plans

The Ecology of Bird Loss project has worked with teachers in local K-12 and university schools in a variety of manners. The Research Experience for Teachers program has funded six teachers from local middle and high schools to participate in field research for a summer alongside EBL field crews, and to produce curriculum focused on bringing field ecology into the classroom. The teachers who have participated in the RET program with the EBL project, along with other EBL members, created a booklet of lessons on forest ecology aimed at students in grades 7-12. This booklet has been distributed to every public and many private high schools in the Mariana Islands. 

View and download a copy of the entire curriculum booklet here.

Preview and download individual lesson plans here: 

Plants 

Lesson 1.1: Plant identification Part 1- Leaf Identification Activity 

Lesson 1.2: Plant Identification Part 2- Dendrology Scavenger Hunt 

Lesson 1.3: Plant identification Part 3: Creating a Herbarium 

Lesson 1.4: Setting Up a Study Plot 

Lesson 1.5: Native versus non-native plants- Making a Brochure 

Lesson 1.6: It’s a Jungle Out There! 

Lesson 1.7: Mariana Islands’ Medicinal Plant Project 

Animals 

Lesson 2.1: Endangered Native Forest Birds of the Mariana Islands 

Lesson 2.2: Go Hike Card Game 

Ecology 

Lesson 3.1: Create an Advertisement on an Endangered or Invasive Species 

Lesson 3.2: Seed Dispersal Part 1

Lesson 3.3: Seed Dispersal Part 2- Wind dispersal 

Lesson 3.4: Marianas Least Wanted Species 

Lesson 3.5: Natural History observations 

Resources for teachers

Resource: Useful books and websites 

Resource: Mariana Islands Plant Species Uses

Resource: List of some Endangered Species in the Mariana Islands

Resource: List of some Non-native Species in the Mariana Islands