Introduction
After a year of concentrated effort by WMMA members, the mushroom education trunk
has been completed and was recently handed over to members of the Montana Natural
History Center. The Center will rent the trunk to schools for $25 for a 2 week
rental. The educational trunk contains a basic 2 week course in how to recognize
and identify fungi, how fungi grow and reproduce and interact with their environment.
CONTENTS CHECKLIST (check on arrival and before returning):
Mushroom Cultivation Kit. Coupon sent to teacher with letter of acknowledgement. Teacher must fill out and mail in coupon to redeem!. Please remit coupon at least one week before you receive the trunk. Includes its own section in the teacher's book, comes with worksheets about the life cycle of a mushroom, from spores to hyphae to mushroom. Recipes for preparing the mushrooms the kit produces are included.
Welcome to the Fungal Jungle (1993) This lighthearted 15 minute video introduces the basics of mushroom ecology, discusses habitat and symbiotic partners, and touches on the use of fungi in food, medicines, and other applications. Several common fungi are illustrated and named. There are worksheets for grades 4-7 and grades 8-12. Requires television and VCR player.
Mushroom Posters: Mushroom Poisons and Treatments, Mushrooms of the Meadow, Mushrooms of the Forest, USFS Mushroom Poster. While these seem to be self-explanatory, remember that these posters represent a very limited number of species, and that there are on the order of 1000 or more fungi that may be found near you. Do not be surprised if the mushroom you have found is not on these posters! You are welcome to keep the USFS mushroom poster ("Have Fungi--But be Careful") for your classroom after the trunk is returned.
Dried mushroom collection includes conks with labels securely attached, dried morels, Cronartium harknesii, Dibotryum morbosum, shiitake, Marasmius oreades, tree ears, tooth fungus, and a lobster mushroom. Since there are only a limited number of these specimens available, please examine them in a supervised setting and do not leave them out as they may be easily demolished, and are difficult to replace. After re-hydrating the tree ears and Marasmius for show, allow them to dry out again before returning them.
Paper collecting bags & spore print papers are included to allow the class to collect mushrooms and take spore prints in an organized fashion. The teacher may wish to distribute these bags at the beginning of a field trip, or give to students so they may collect mushrooms in their spare time. Spore print papers may be used in the "taking a spore print" lesson outlined below. Please return the materials that are not used.
Mushroom Identification Slide programs 1 & 2. The narrative text and teachers notes are written below. Worksheets accompany both lessons; answers separate.
Mushroom Ecology (program 3) This slide show also comes with a work sheet. Teacher's worksheet with answers are at the end of this booklet.
Making a spore print Lesson 1. Includes an explanatory sheet that may be copied and handed out; no worksheet included.
Mushroom Cultivation Lesson 2 comes with overhead transparency of fungal life cycle and worksheet. Answers to worksheet at end of booklet.
Keying Out Mushrooms Lesson 3 Includes a hand out that should be copied and handed out for this lesson.
The
Mushroom Flashcards (40) form the basis for a number of learning games about
fungi, Each laminated card has a photo of the fungi on the front and a brief
written description on the back. Here are a few ideas on how the cards can be
used. Let us know if you come up with others!
Please count the cards after each use and do not permit unsupervised use. We hope to make available a printed, low cost card set in the future, but the photo reprints and lamination costs alone make these cards worth $2 each.
"Old Maid" All cards are dealt out to 4 or 5 players. The Amanita phalloides (toxic!) is the Old Maid, and whoever holds that card at the end is the loser. The winner is the person who matches up the most pairs or sets of mushrooms with similar features, or mushrooms of the same genus, such as two Coprinus or two Amanita cards. Other common features may be Body Form, Habitat, Edibility, etc. as listed on the backs of the cards. Cards are held with the pictures facing towards the other players.
"Q&A Flashcards" Played like the card game "Go Fish".Deal out five cards. Up to 6 students may play, holding the cards so that the printed information on the back is towards them. Students ask questions of each other, such as, "Do you have a white spored mushroom?" and if the answer is yes, then they have to guess which one it is. If they guess correctly, they get to take the card. If two mushroom cards of the same genus are held, these are a pair and can be retired from the game. Game ends when one player runs out of cards; the winner is the one with the most cards. The rules can be modified to require the players to recite 2, 3, or more characteristics before they win a card.
"Who am I?" This game is best played towards the end of the program, when the students are familiar with the names of fungi and their features. A card is taped on the back of each student, and he/she must ask questions of the other students (who can see the card) to determine "who am I?" Questions must be about the mushroom, not its name, for example, "Do I have a cap and stalk?" or "What color are my spores?" and not "What is the first letter of my name?" Students walk around until they guess their fungus, then turn in the card to the teacher. This game may be played with either the photo or the written side showing, and the 2 versions of the game are quite different.
Other Game Ideas??
Click here to continue Education Trunk instructions.
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