Here is an example lesson plan that I wrote for a course covering Integrated Pest Management. You can view my reflections on writing a lesson plan here.
Integrated Pest Management (ENT/AGECO 457)
Lesson 8 of 18
Lesson Title: How can pest dynamics be forecast and how are thresholds calculated?
Lesson Time: 50 minutes
Hook: The warm-up activity will be used to activate prior knowledge on pest biology, management tools (learned in prior lessons or courses), and economic considerations (not yet taught, but curious to see what they may know or come up with).
Context: In order to manage pests, workers need understanding of how that pest’s abundance is changing over time, the many factors influencing their population growth, how many pests there must be for a problem to be present, and how to make decisions for management.
Lesson Objectives:
- After lesson is complete, students should be able to draw an example of a non-pest, an occasional pest, and a frequent pest to instructor’s satisfaction (worksheet due next class).
- After learning the formula and with an example provided, students should be able to correctly calculate the economic injury level for a pest (in-class).
- After lesson is complete, students will be able to apply these calculations and forecasting tools to a real-world pest example and decide on whether or not to apply a management tool, to instructor’s satisfaction (worksheet due next class).
Warm Up: Students will be called on to provide as many factors (biotic or abiotic) as they can think of that may influence a pest’s population growth and whether or not a farmer should be concerned about it. (~5 minutes)
Summary of Lesson/Timeline:
- Patterns of Population Growth
Lecture: Regan (~10 minutes)
- Logistic vs. Exponential
- Seasonal Fluctuations
- How to graph pop. dynamics
- Non-pest; Occasional pest; Frequent Pest
- How Thresholds are Calculated
Lecture: Regan (~10 minutes)
- Economic Injury Level
- Economic Threshold
- Factors influencing the calculations
- How to use calculation to make management decision
Stop for activity (~5 minutes): Provide an example of a pest-crop complex, a potential management option, and numerical examples for each component of the economic injury level formula. Ask them to calculate the EIL on a sheet of paper and turn in (Assessment #1).
- Forecasting and Scouting
Lecture: Regan (~5 minutes)
- Why scouting and forecasting are useful
- How it can be done (methods/techniques)
Demonstration: Regan (~5 minutes)
- What online forecasting tools are available (will encourage them to follow along on their own computers if they happen to have them)
- How to use them (input)
Lecture/Demo: Regan (~5 minutes)
How to apply results of forecasting simulation to make a management decision
Wrap-up (~5 minutes): Provide chance for them to ask questions; hand out worksheet, review what’s expected on worksheet (Assessment #2)
Assessments:
- EIL Calculation: will be scored for participation/attendance
- Worksheet: Drawing of 3 pest dynamic graphs; 1 paragraph answer to an open-ended question providing a pest example and seeking a management decision; will be scored to provide feedback