On June 14th, the ALLARM team packed up and headed north to Tunkhannock for a macroinvertebrate workshop with the Northern Tier Stream Team. There, we trained community members on our macroinvertebrate identification and collection protocol. The workshop kept its participants busy in the stream all morning; and despite the wet weather, everyone was satisfied with what they had accomplished by the end of the experience!
Kristin:
Getting involved in the workshop was very exciting for me because I did not have much prior experience with collecting and identifying macroinvertebrates. Learning the process of identification proved to be a bit of a challenge for me as I began to prepare for the event, so I spent a lot of time reviewing ALLARM’s macroinvertebrate collection protocol, studying identifying features of preserved specimens, and using online resources such as Macroinvertebrates.org to test my knowledge. With enough practice, I could correctly identify mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies more consistently, which made me feel confident in my ability to teach others the protocol during the workshop!
The experience taught me that, even though I was still new to identifying macroinvertebrates themselves, I could create valuable teaching moments for community members. When we found something that neither I nor the community members could identify, we could go through the process to try and find the answer together. I enjoyed finding collaborative solutions to difficult problems, and I think that doing so helped get everyone excited about identification as they learned the protocol.
David:
For me, this workshop has been a long time in the making. Early in my junior year, I missed a macroinvertebrate workshop due to illness, so I was thrilled when I found out that I would get a second chance. Leading up to the workshop, I practiced my identification skills and created a guide to our preserved specimens.
When the day finally arrived, I was buzzing with excitement. When folks began showing up, I was struck with the friendliness and passion of all the volunteers. Everyone was ready to jump right in- both literally and figuratively.
This was one of the first events where I had the background knowledge to take the lead in helping other watershed coordinators prepare and the event itself. It was rewarding to see all the time and effort I put into preparing paying off and to see the “aha” moment when the volunteers identified a macro.
Ayako:
Preparation for this workshop started from learning what macroinvertebrates are, how to identify them in order with their unique characteristics, and to get familiarized with the macro monitoring manual.
Although I found it challenging to instruct and balance the volunteer monitors as a whole group (with their different backgrounds and levels of experience), I enjoyed being able to communicate with them individually and support them on a one-to-one basis. I was delighted to see how enthusiastic and curious the volunteers were in the identification step.
I enjoyed identifying macros together with volunteer monitors. Since I was also new to macroinvertebrates, going through identification guide sheets step by step and figuring out the order of the macros allowed me to improve my knowledge and teaching skills at the same time as the attendees.
Overall, this workshop was definitely a success. The experience seemed to strengthen the sense of community that existed among its participants, and it served as an exciting learning opportunity- not only for the community members, but for the student Watershed Coordinators as well! We are absolutely looking forward to working with macroinvertebrates again in our future endeavors.