| Days | Activities |
| Pre-project | Collect plastic drinks bottles (usually 6 x 2-litre bottles) Download and read “Teacher and Pupil Mayfly basic assembly instructions pdf” Obtain equipment detailed in basic assembly instructions Cut down bottles, drill bottle caps and trim plastic pipette tips as per basic assembly instructions - Place cold packs in the freezer
|
| Day 1 | Visit to local stream to kick sample, identify and collect mayfly nymphs (a good starting point is to find nymphs with 6 jointed legs and three tails that are not damselfly nymphs – a great simple ID guide is available here: FSC guide
Group Work (guided by basic assembly instructions): Assemble one complete bottle with corresponding individual “branch” of aeration system per group of pupils Add water and appropriate substrate Each group to bring their bottle and aeration “branch” and join it to the circular “loop” of aeration tubing that is connected to the air pump Fill water bath (plastic tray) with tap water and add up to half of the cold packs from the freezer Nominated pupils from each group add nymphs to their bottle: between one (largest species) and three (smaller species) nymphs per vessel Different pupils fill out the first entries in the daily record sheets for each individual vessel
|
| Days 1 to 14 | Daily checks for continuous aeration and temperature (must be <20 degrees C) as well as emergence and mortalities Completion of daily record sheet according to observations Replacement of thawed cold packs with frozen ones from freezer Transfer of any adult flies immediately to fridge in storage box with air holes Learning activities relevant to local issues and efficient domestic water usage e.g. water efficiency link Art and literature activities based on nymphal and adult mayflies Learning about the foodwebs that mayflies belong to and what healthy streams need to thrive Learning about other indicator species that require high water and habitat quality like trout Learning about solubility of gas in liquids at different temperatures (as per aeration system)
|
| Day 14 or other end date | |
