Unit 4F, Populations and Ecosystems Unit Project: Designing a Natural History Museum Exhibit Do you notice any past or recent changes in the environment in which you live? Use what you are learning about past and present ecosystems to create a natural history exhibit showing how the ecosystem and biome in which you live have changed. Project Link 1 (Chapter 1, p. F17) You will be making a science museum exhibit showing how ecosystems change over time. With other students, brainstorm to list living things that you might find in your area. Make a chart or map of the area. Then do a survey that marks the location of the living things you find. Use a camera to photograph some of these organisms in their environment. If you don't see the actual living things, look for evidence that they were present, such as animal tracks, nests, and droppings. Internet Links Field Studies Franklin Institute: Investigate an Ecosystem http://www.fi.edu/tfi/units/life/habitat/habact3.html Glacier National Park: Electronic Field Trip http://www.sd5.k12.mt.us/glaciereft/atour.htm Canadian Museum of Nature: Museum at Work http://nature.ca/nature_e.cfm Public Broadcasting Service: Places in the West http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/ Project Link 2 (Chapter 2, p. F38) You will create a display of how the populations of living things in your neighborhood have changed. Find out how people lived there 200 years ago. Then find out how plant and animal populations have changed during the same time. Think about how human activities affected both living and nonliving things in your neighborhood. Use a variety of sources for gathering information. You can contact senior citizens, historical society members, local newspaper archives, and so on. Make copies of artifacts or create authentic-looking copies to display. Here are some examples: a cookbook or menu showing what people ate, a bird-watcher's list showing the species observed, a wooden top used as a toy, and a farmer's inventory of animals and crops. Internet Links Natural History Museums Dallas Museum of Natural History: Wildlife Dioramas http://www.dallasdino.org/permanent/wildlife_dioramas/Index.htm National Museum of Natural History: A Virtual Tour http://nmnhwww.si.edu/VirtualTour/ Internet Links Information Gathering Smithsonian Institution: You Be the Historian http://americanhistory.si.edu/hohr/springer/index.htm National Audubon Society: Watch List http://www.audubon.org/bird/watch/list.html Internet Public Library Youth Collection: USA — 50 States http://www.ipl.org/cgi-bin/youth/youth.out.pl?sub=usa1000 United States Department of Agriculture: Plants National Database http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/topics.cgi?earl=classification.html National Wildlife Foundation: Keep the Wild Alive! http://www.nwf.org/wildalive/#snavigator Library of Congress: Learning Page: Using Oral History http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/oralhist/ohstart.html Student Resources Changes Over Time Changes Over Time (continued) Biomes and Continents Project Link 3 (Chapter 3, p. F46) Create a model of the biome in which you live. Find out the characteristics of the biome and how biomes can change over time. What was it like hundreds of years ago? Who were the people who first lived there? What now-extinct plants and animals once lived there? Work with other students to create a model of your biome before any people lived there. Internet Links Exploring World Biomes Minnesota State University: Native United States Cultures http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/cultural/northamerica/index.shtml The Evergreen Project: What's It Like Where You Live? http://mbgnet.mobot.org/sets/index.htm Student Resources On Display