Becoming Scientists: Synthesizing and Communication (Fish CSI)
Topics: Chemical markers Fish Fishing
Skills: Communication Data Manipulation Synthesizing Data
Grade Levels: Grades 6-8 Grades 9-12
Resource Types: Kits
Settings: Indoors
Students take on the role of an expert witness in a mock lake sturgeon poaching trial.
As number detectives, they will learn how to find trends in data and use the signals or patterns they see to connect a fish to its home body of water. Additional data manipulation will allow them to develop signals for both the St. Louis and the St. Croix Rivers. Finally, they must be prepared to communicate their findings in court to show whether the lake sturgeon in question was poached from the St. Louis River or taken legally from the St. Croix River.
Download a PDF of the lesson plan.
Download PDFs of maps for lesson – St. Louis River/Amnicon and St. Croix River
Minnesota Science Standards: 5.1.1.2.2, 5.1.1.2.3, 5.1.3.4.1, 7.1.1.1.2, 7.1.1.2.3, 7.4.4.1.2, 8.1.1.2.1, 9.1.1.1.2, 9.1.3.3.2, 9.1.3.4.3
Minnesota Math Standards: 7.4.1.1., 7.4.2.1
Credit: Science Institute 2013-2014