Welcome to The Show Us Your Mussels Challenge
Help our native freshwater mussels. Be a freshwater mussel advocate!

Calling all Minnesota middle and high school students! We need you to create original digital media campaigns educating the public about the importance of native mussels, the impact of water quality has on native mussels, and what actions we need to take to ensure their survival. The schools who reach the most community members combined with receiving the most votes win a FREE field trip to the Minnesota Zoo! A free field trip includes bussing, Zoo admission for participating students and adult chaperones (as per student/adult ratios), parking and interactive session with our Zoo staff at the Mussel cabin.

All participating schools receive support from the Zoo’s mussel education staff including professional development, access to resources and curriculum, and school visits. For more information see the Frequently Asked Questions below or email us at [email protected].


REGISTRATION FOR THE 2024-2025 CHALLENGE is open! Please fill out the form below to receive information for next year.
Sign up for information for the challenge by clicking the + sign to open the registration form

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The Minnesota Zoo would like to thank the schools who participated in the 2023-2024 Show Us Your Mussel Challenge. They reached over 56,000 people!

Apollo High School (St Cloud)
Aurora Charter School (Minneapolis)
Brooklyn STEAM School (Brooklyn Center)
Cretin-Durham Hall (St Paul)
Heritage E-Stem Magnet (West St Paul)
Humboldt High School (St Paul)
Melrose High School (Melrose)
Shakopee East Middle School (Shakopee)
Shakopee West Middle School (Shakopee)
School of Environmental Studies (Apple Valley)
Washburn High School (Minneapolis)

Here are a few participating projects:

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Free Professional Development

Virtual Teacher Training (90 minutes, on-demand viewing)

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 a 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 click on the following link to our YouTube playlist at: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM4y6zy8KyFM5jn6OF-FoXTkdynPs5N6z

 

Frequently Asked Questions
What is the “Show Us Your Mussels” Challenge?
Why should we participate in the challenge?
How is this project aligned to my curriculum?
Is there any curriculum developed to support the Challenge?
Is there any professional development to support the Challenge?
What other support do you provide for teachers doing the Challenge?
Can members of your mussel conservation team come visit me at my school?
What types of projects can be created?
What are some best practices that students may choose to promote through their campaigns?
How will the winners be selected?
When is the challenge?
What do the winning groups receive?
When will the winners be announced?
When will field trips occur for the winning schools?
What are the important dates to remember?