The Flatline of Flathead Lake - Of Eagles and Bull Trout

In this lesson, students solve a mystery of the decimation of the ecosystem in Flathead Lake, Montana, by analyzing data and articles to determine the ecological relationships between organisms. Once the determine the cause of the disruption to be the invasive species of Opossum shrimp, introduced as a potential prey species that outcompeted the native zooplankton and fish, students design a solution to solve the problem. This lesson was developed into a ready-made unit by Linda Rost in partnership with the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation.

Linda Rost

Linda Rost is the 2020 Montana Teacher of the Year and a national finalist. She teaches science at Baker High School in Baker, MT. In her seventeen-year career, twenty-six of her students have competed at national or international science competitions. Rost obtained a B.S. from New Mexico State University, an M.Ed. and M.S. from Montana State University, and a PhD from Texas Tech University. She is a three-time winner of the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium Teacher Award, a four-time Continental Cares grant recipient, and the 2016 National Vernier Engineering Contest winner. In 2023, she received the NEA Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award for Montana, the Teresa Veltkamp Advocacy Award for Excellence in Indian Education, and is finalist for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching. She lives on a cattle and poultry ranch in Baker, MT with her husband and three children.