NEW Project ESC@ESC: Wildlife Forensics : Wildlife Forensics

This Wildlife Forensics Unit Plan has been designed to support the Genetics Unit in the HS Living Environment, Biology or AP Biology Curriculum. The general skeleton of this unit plan consists of pre-activities to prepare the students before visiting the GESC (or renting a DNA kit) and post-activities to extend the concepts introduced from the GESC experience into the classroom. The Unit Plan is organized using the Stripling Model of Inquiry. This model is an ongoing series of stages that support student learning by introducing a topic and allowing the students' curiosity to lead them into more in-depth discovery.

The stages are:

• Connect- Connect to self, previous knowledge. Gain background and context.
• Wonder- Develop questions. Make predictions, hypothesis.
• Investigate-Find and evaluate information to answer questions, test hypothesis. Think about information to illuminate new questions and hypotheses.
• Construct- Construct new understandings connected to previous knowledge. Draw conclusions about questions and hypotheses.
• Express- Apply understandings to a new context, new situation. Express new ideas to share learning with others.
• Reflect- Reflect on own learning. Ask new questions​

This unit plan offers pre-activities for the Connect and Wonder stages. The Investigate stage occurs at GESC or using the DNA kit rental in the classroom. The Construct stage is the reflection of student learning from the GESC experience or using DNA kit in the classroom. The Express and Reflect stages offer post-activities from the GESC experience or using the DNA kit in the classroom.