Introduction Step Four
Section One. Biocontrol Basics - Interactives
Navigating the Biocontrol In Your Backyard portal
Introduction Step Four.
In Step Three, you learned how to access Extras from the Biocontrol In Your Backyard Home Page. Choosing from media files like ppt, pdf, jpg, png, and doc; you learned how to locate and download drawings, PowerPoint presentations, notes pages, reports, brochures, photographs of people implementing weed management methods, and color illustrations of biological weed control insects. In Step Four, you will learn how to access independent media elements that add an interactive component to lesson plans. You will learn how to access and stream an audio (mp4) file for listening from the portal, or download the mp3 file to your computer hard drive to eliminate waiting for the streaming to download. You will access games and flash cards, posters, and more to build on your lesson plans and learning.
Brief Overview. Integrated pest management practice is dynamic, improving as lessons are learned and shared. Lessons are learned by setting up methods of monitoring activities and evaluating successes and failures based on expectations from the lessons learned by others. Education materials and lessons learned are available from a variety of sources: agencies, state governments, local weed districts, universities, and non-profits like The Nature Conservancy of the Southeastern Exotic Pest Plant Council.
The Interactives found in the biocontrol portal are products that build on many existing education materials. Some of the designs such as the flash cards are directly related to the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine Scarious eatumupos series of native and non-native invasive pests. The flash cards in the Interactives are designed to complement the biological control teaching and learning for monitoring protocol currently in use by the State of Idaho.
Monitoring protocol changes and improves with practice much like integrated management methods: burning, cultural, mechanical, chemical, biological, and prevention. The Interactives collaborative poster builds on USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and other interagency groups that recommend concepts for integrating a variety of methods that address the needs that are unique to each situation. Invasive plant identification and biological control agent life histories and cycles, point of attack, and unique behaviors and features that help us characterize them in the field are found in audio plays and scripts that interpret these Interesting Facts.
Later in Section Four, you will design your own biocontrol resource library to build on your existing education materials. For now, in Step Four, you will learn how to access and download these Interactives to your computer for teaching and learning.
Step Four.
In this step you will learn how to access and stream audio plays, download mp3 files to your computer, and begin thinking about your own media library for teaching and learning about biological control of native and non-native invasive plants.
Task #4a. From the Biocontrol In Your Backyard button at the bottom of the page navigate to the Home Page.
Task #4b. From the Home Page click the '
button to go to the Interactives main page.
Task #4c. Note that you can at any time return to the Biocontrol In Your Backyard Home Page by clicking the banner at the top or the button on the bottom of the page.
Task #4d. From the Interactives main page click on the blue text Interesting Facts.
Task #4e. You will see two sets of ten audio plays. The first set is for leafy spurge and the second is for spotted knapweed. The first five audio plays for each host plant are about the plant. The second five are about the biological control insect for the host plant. The audio plays were designed to accompany the teaching of each weed and its bioagent. With twenty plays, one for each day of the week for approximately three weeks, a teacher can concentrate 3-5 minutes each day to engage students in biological control concepts. In some areas with a little coordination, radio stations will air them to meet public service requirements on the same days as teachers present them in class. Teachers can encourage students to write their own plays, or skits, or 90-second infomercial as a class assignment.
Task #4f. There are four ways to access the audio plays.
- The first is downloading the written script of all of the plays. Double click on each of the two sets of blue text that reads, Written Text For Leafy Spurge Discovery Radio Play Scripts and Written Text For Spotted Knapweed Discovery Radio Plays. A prompt box will ask if you want to open or save the file.
- The first is downloading the written script of all of the plays. Double click on each of the two sets of blue text that reads, Written Text For Leafy Spurge Discovery Radio Play Scripts and Written Text For Spotted Knapweed Discovery Radio Plays. A prompt box will ask if you want to open or save the file.
- The second is streaming the mp3 files for each audio play on the portal. Double clicking the blue text name of the specific audio play will at some point in the future allow you to play the file stream from the portal. Thank you for your patience while IT works on this feature.
- The second is streaming the mp3 files for each audio play on the portal. Double clicking the blue text name of the specific audio play will at some point in the future allow you to play the file stream from the portal. Thank you for your patience while IT works on this feature.
- The third is downloading the mp3 file to your computer. Thank you for your patience while IT works on this feature.
- The fourth is playing the mp4 movie sound only version from the video box provided on the page. Thank you for your patience while IT works on this feature.
Task #4h. You will learn skill sets to stream or download Training Films, public service announcements, and short motion clips of plants and insects in Introduction Step Five.
You can return to Steps One through Five
There are several options for you to iteratively access resources.
In five steps, you will learn how to access resources from five different access points.
Section One. Biocontrol Basics and Portal Navigation
- Step One. The Weed Problem (program access point)
- Step Two. Why We Care About Weeds and What To Do (lesson plan access point)
- Step Three. Integrating Biocontrol Basics (Extras access point)
- Step Four. Lessons Learned (Interactives access point)
- Step Five. Training Clips (Movies access point)
You can advance to Step Five'
- Content for Biocontrol in Your Backyard is provided by individual program sponsors.
- Content is formatted and uploaded by InterMedia
- The Biocontrol In Your Backyard Portal collaboration with The Bugwood Network and its content accessible
- format are sponsored by USDA Forest Service, Forest Health Protection, Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team.
