Exploring Urban Integrated Pest Management 25 Michigan State University Pesticide Education, 2001 ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Inspect and Investigate Interviewing Inspecting and investigating is the first step in IPM. We need to know what pests we have and where they live to target our management efforts at those pests and places. Interviewing people can help us focus on the problem areas. Keep in mind, interviewing is a tool. People see and interpret things differently. Interviewing helps narrow the focus, but doing your own inspection is needed to confirm what is there. Because most people do not like seeing pests, they often do not clearly see what they are. Another reason interviewees may give incorrect information is that many people do not know the specific signs of different pests. When you visit a doctor because of a stomachache, the doctor will ask you specific questions. You may tell them what you think caused the stomachache. It is then the job of the doctor to use the information from you in combination with their own examination to come to a diagnosis. Background Inspecting and investigating in IPM works the same way. The IPM team learns some from the interviews and then conducts their own investigation to confirm the specific pests and where they are living. Getting Ready It is helpful to inform the people that you intend to interview about this project before you send the students out. Some choices for interviewees: custodians, food service workers, teachers (especially in Kindergarten, Home Economics, and other rooms that may have food or sinks), hall aides, principal and secretary, other students. Tell the interviewees about the overall project (see introduction to this resource). The students are simply gathering information to learn how you find about pests. Explain that we are teaching the students interviewing and investigating skills, and showing how their own behavior can influence pest problems in the school. In this activity, students are detectives with a mission to gather as much information they can about pests in the school. They interview people in the school to learn what they have seen or heard. Students will: • gather information about pest problems in the school. • learn interviewing skills. • learn to compile and evaluate results. student interview form, pencil, clipboard (optional) science, social studies ½- 1 hour Materials Duration Objectives Subjects Overview Classroom Activity Grades 4-6 #5 26 Exploring Urban Integrated Pest Management Michigan State University Pesticide Education, 2001 Step 1: Discussion. Review the steps of IPM (see Lesson #3). Discuss why inspecting and investigating is important in IPM. In IPM we need to find where in the building the pests are living and how they are getting in. Asking people gives us clues. We ask other people in a building what they have seen so that we can start our inspection and investigation in places where we are more likely to find the problem. The next step is to do our own inspection. Remind the students that when we interview, we ask people who spend more time than us in certain parts of the building what they have seen. Ask students who they should interview to learn more about what pests may be in the school. Write the suggestions on the board. Step 2: Interviewing. Hand out the interview worksheets. Assign each student or team a person to interview. They may also choose the person they wish to interview, but beware, the day custodian could be interviewed 20 times, which can be ok for some individuals, but a little much for others! Step 3: Presentations. After the interviews, ask the students to present what they learned to the class. Closure: Make a chart of the types of pests or signs of pests people have seen and where they saw them. Ask the students how we can use this information. Discuss with the class what parts they liked and disliked about interviewing. Focus Questions Were you surprised by the answers from the people that you interviewed? Did they see more pests in the school than you? Why is is important to ask people where they have seen pests? What is the first step in IPM? In addition to interviewing what do we do in the first step? Doing the Activity Based on what you learned today, what rooms and places in the building should we focus on when we inspect? What pests do we need to learn more about? Exploring Urban Integrated Pest Management 27 Michigan State University Pesticide Education, 2001 Interviewing People Inspecting for Pests Thank you for your time! What part or parts of the school do you spend most of your time? What pests or signs of pests have you seen? name of pest place it was seen Have you ever told anyone else at the school about the pests? What have they or you done about the pests? Do you want any information on any kind of pest? What ones? My name is (your name or names) and I am from (name of teacher) class. We are learning about a new way to control pests called integrated pest management or IPM. Before we do anything to control pests, we first need to learn what pests are here and where they are. Will you let us interview you as part of this project? Date: Name(s) of interviewer(s): Name of person being interviewed: Read the following to the person you are interviewing. Write down their answers.