Minnesota Middle and High School students are to create an original campaign informing the public about the impact of water quality on native mussels.

The top community-reaching schools win a FREE field trip to the Minnesota Zoo to present their campaign at a poster symposium!  The free field trip includes bussing, Zoo admission for participating students, adult chaperones (as per student/adult ratios), and parking.

Almost half of Minnesota’s native freshwaters mussels are threatened or endangered. This project provides an opportunity to talk about these unique species while also addressing water quality in our area and seeking solutions. It has interwoven an element of community service and local engagement.

By participating in real-world campaigns, students can effectively highlight their science research projects and the scientific process. This hands-on approach helps them learn to cite evidence, communicate creatively, and increase their content knowledge and overall learning goals.

The project can be implemented to address the following benchmarks:

• Minnesota Science Standards related to:
  • System Relationships
  • Changes in Ecosystems
  • Humans Effects on Ecosystems
  • Decisions and Health
  • Impact of Chemical Technology

• Advanced Placement Environmental Science (APES)
  • Earth Systems and Resources (10%–15%)
    • Global Water Resources and Use
  • The Living World (10%–15%)
    • Ecosystem Structure and Diversity
    • Natural Ecosystem Change
  • Pollution (25%–30%)
    • Pollution Types
    • Impacts on the Environment and Human Health
    • Economic Impacts
  • Global Change (10%–15%)
    • Loss of Biodiversity

• Minnesota English Language Arts related to:
  • Comprehension and Collaboration
  • Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
  • Media Literacy

• International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards related to:
  • Digital Citizen
  • Knowledge Constructor
  • Creative Communicator

• Yes! To access our Free Downloadable curriculum, click here.

YES! Developed in 2020, watch the Show Us Your Mussels Virtual Teacher Training videos to learn more about native freshwater mussels, water quality, and the Minnesota Zoo and DNR’s important mussel conservation work. This training is self-guided, allowing you to access the information at the time and place that works for you. The training is divided into 9 different short videos so you can pick which topics work for you.

To watch this asynchronous training, simply clink on the following link to our YouTube playlist at: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM4y6zy8KyFM5jn6OF-FoXTkdynPs5N6z

For more information email us at [email protected].

NOTE: Coming soon in 2026! We are in the process of updating the videos. 

Information about the Challenge and resources are continually updated via our Facebook page (MnZooEdu). Please follow-us! We also provide teachers with updates via email.

If you are interested in us coming to your school to talk about the project and the information that the Zoo is doing in mussel conservation, we would be happy to visit if we are available. For more information, please email us at [email protected].

Your students can use their creativity to design and develop an effective campaign advocating the importance of freshwater mussels, our impact on their survival, and what we need to do to ensure their survival. Past campaigns were limited to digital media; online videos, websites, and various social media outreach but now students can disseminate the information and engage the public in other means. We currently have specific resources that have been developed to support teachers in developing and tracking YouTube videos, websites and Instagram campaigns.

Important!  All campaigns must encourage community members to take some kind of action to improve water quality and conserve native mussel populations. In addition, all campaigns must collect and report their data on community reach and obtaining their objectives.

Projects may be created by individual students or in small groups, it does not matter how many campaigns are active, but each group is responsible for collecting their data and reporting it.  The top schools with the highest community reach will be awarded and recognized at the poster symposium at the MN Zoo.

This year we would like students to focus on the following actions to improve water quality:

Pet Waste
Pet waste that washes off lawns and parks during rain and snow melt events contribute to harmful bacteria and nutrient contamination of our river water. Impaired water can become so bad that swimming is not recommended within 48 hours of a rainstorm. Help prevent this by always carrying bags to pick up pet waste and disposing of them in the trash or flush it down the toilet without the bag.

Boating & Fishing, Clean in Clean Out
Invasive zebra mussels that harm our native mussels attach to boat docks and boat hulls. If you use a boat, you can help prevent the spread of zebra mussels by removing all aquatic plants from the boat and trailer, draining all of the water from your boat and bait bucket, never dipping a bucket into a lake if the bucket contains water from another lake, and allowing your boat and trailer to dry in the sun for at least five days before using them in other waters.

Reduce Salt Use
The salt we put on our roads, sidewalks and driveways are not only melting the ice, but the excess eventually runs into our lakes and streams raising the overall salinity of our freshwater ecosystems. This increase in salinity is deadly to our mussels as well as to our fish, amphibians, and other aquatic species. Reduce the amount you use and sweep up any excess that remains. Save and reuse it for another day.

Winners will be selected based on the cumulative number of people reached by the campaign.

As part of the project, students will be responsible for keeping track of how many people they reach through the campaign and citing their evidence. This will mean documenting all engagements such as likes, follows, shares, number of participants, QR code downloads, etc. and report back to the Zoo. Each student group will complete a reflection survey which describes their project, their measurable objectives, if they met those objectives and their final community reach number.

The 2025-26 school year will have a Spring Challenge with campaigns active for data collecting in February. The poster symposium at the Zoo is scheduled for April 30, 2026.

Spring 2026 registration deadline: December 31, 2025

The 2026-27 school year will have both a Fall Challenge and a Spring Challenge.  The Fall Challenge with campaigns active for data collecting in October. The poster symposium at the Zoo is scheduled for December 15, 2026.

Fall registration deadline: August 31, 2026

Spring Challenge 2027 deadline will be December 31, 2026.  The poster symposium at the Zoo is tentatively scheduled for April 28, 2027.

To register, fill out the simple form at the top of this webpage or email your name, name of school, grade level, number of students participating and what Challenge you would like to participate in to [email protected].

Participants from the schools with the highest community reach will receive a FREE field trip to the Minnesota Zoo including bussing, parking and admission to participate in the poster symposium.

We plan on announcing the winners at least 6 weeks prior to the poster symposium so students have time to prepare their posters and field trips can be planned.

It depends on the Challenge you participate in.  The poster symposiums are held:

• April 30, 2026, for the 2026 Spring Challenge
• December 15, 2026, for 2026 Fall Challenge
• April 28, 2027, for the 2027 Spring Challenge.

Important Dates
Year Round	Registration open for the Challenges
December 31, 2025	Registration closes for the 2026 Spring Challenge.
February 2026	Spring Challenge campaigns are live.  Data can be collected
March 6, 2026	Student reflections and community reach evidence due to MN Zoo
March 10, 2026	School Results Announced Winners can schedule April 30, 2026 field trip
April 30, 2026	Show Us Your Mussel Poster Symposium at the MN Zoo
August 31, 2026	Registration closes for the 2026 Fall Challenge
October 2026	Fall Challenge campaigns are live.  Data can be collected
November 4, 2026	Reflections and community reach evidence due to MN Zoo
November 6, 2026	School Results Announced Winners can schedule December 15, 2026 field trip
December 15, 2026	Show Us Your Mussel Poster Symposium at the MN Zoo
December 31, 2026	Registration closes for the 2027 Spring Challenge.