91 | Introduction to Restoration Ecology Instructor’s Manual 4.
After each step, be prepared to present your findings to the class as a whole, and participate in the discussion.
We usually set aside two and a half hours to run the entire charrette, and the time is well spent. As students develop their answers, they reveal misconceptions and gaps in their knowledge, which we then go over during the discussion periods. Having to apply the concepts is a great way for students to truly understand them. If you do not have the time to use the full version, one way to shorten the assignment is to specify the community type, then provide the community/ecosystem model summary, the project purpose, and the use-policy, effectively starting the assignment at step 3. To be able to create the measurable outcome statements needed for a site plan, the community/ecosystem models will need to include specific details and at least some quantitative information. In this example, we are asking students to use their community/ecosystem models from a previous assignment. If students need to create or add detail to their existing models, you can provide students with reference materials during the charrette and/or specify the information categories they will need to include; in this case, more time will likely be needed. •
Consider using the conservation park scenario introduced in Chapter 6 (see Food for Thought Question 2) as the setting for questions 4 and 5. Students can apply the use-policies, target community, and goals they created to this situation and go on to write the community outcomes. (If you did not use this assignment before, just introduce it here.) If you choose to have your students use the Wisconsin southern mesic forest model to develop their answers, they can use the information in Tables 7.1–7.3 (pp. 203–205) in the textbook, reproduced from The Vegetation of Wisconsin (Curtis 1959), to develop measureable outcomes.
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Another way to get at the points covered in Question 4 is to either assign or ask students to find a published restoration site plan and have the students describe the components of the plan. Then ask them how they would be able to determine, based on the information provided, if a site had achieved its restoration outcomes (met its outcomes).
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As an alternative to Question 5, especially if you do not choose to use Question 4, you could list a series of site plan outcomes and have the students suggest criteria for these in reference to a particular community/ecosystem.
What to Look for in Student Responses to Question 4 •
Restoration outcomes describe what a site will be like when the project has been fully implemented. They describe the features of the plan in measurable terms. The outcomes follow from the restoration goals. They depend upon the purpose of the restoration (whether it is an experiential, complete, or ecosystem services restoration, for example); the use-policies of the site (whether particular iconic species are to be highlighted or a stream is to be protected from siltation); and the relevant community/ecosystem model. Students should justify why each objective they write is important and appropriate to the situation they are addressing; they should avoid including extraneous information simply because they have seen it used with regard to other projects. It is important that students recognize that each restoration situation is unique.