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Isler
The subject
and grade level that this unit aims for is Grade 5 or 6 Science.
Commencement
Content Standards from MST:
- Standard #
1 Analysis, Inquiry, and Design
Students
will use mathematical analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design,
as appropriate, to pose questions, seek answers, and develop solutions.
- Standard #
2 Information Systems
Students
will access, generate, process, and transfer information using appropriate
technologies.
Students
will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories
pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and recognize
the historical development of ideas in science.
- Standard #
7 Interdisciplinary Problem Solving
Students
will apply the knowledge and thinking skills of mathematics, science,
and technology to address real-life problems and make informed decisions.
Benchmark
Standards:
Content Standards:
Analysis,
Inquiry, and Design: Scientific Inquiry
The central purpose of scientific inquiry is to develop explanations of
natural phenomena in a continuing,
creative process.
Information Systems:
Information technology is used to retrieve, process and communicate information
and as a tool to enhance
learning.
Science:
The Living Environment
Plants and animals depend on each other and their physical environment.
Human decisions and activities have had a profound impact on the physical
and living environment.
Interdisciplinary
Problem Solving: Strategies
Solving interdisciplinary problems involves a variety of skills
and strategies, including effective work habits; Gathering and processing
information; generating and analyzing
ideas; realizing ideas; making connections
among the common themes of mathematics, science, and
technology; and presenting results.
Performance
Standards:
Analysis,
Inquiry, and Design: Scientific Inquiry
- Students will
formulate questions independently with the aid of references appropriate
for guiding the
search for explanations of everyday observations
- Students will
construct explanations independently for natural phenomena, especially
by proposing preliminary
visual models of phenomena.
Information
Systems:
- Students will
use a range of equipment and software to integrate several forms of
information in order to create
good quality audio, video, graphic, and text-based
presentations.
- Students will
access needed information from electronic data bases and on-line telecommunication
services.
Science: The Living
Environment
- Students will
describe the flow of energy and matter through food chains and food
webs.
- Students will
provide evidence that green plants make food and explain the significance
of this process to other organisms.
- Students will
describe how living things, including humans, depend upon the living
and nonliving environment for their survival.
- Students will
describe the effects of environmental changes on humans and other
populations.
Interdisciplinary
Problem Solving: Strategies
Content
Standards or Outcomes:
Students will understand:
- ecology is the
study of interactions of living things within their
environments.
- organisms have
certain roles in the environment.
- interactions
of living things result in the flow of matter and
energy.
- certain life
substances are recycled in the environment.
- within an ecosystem
there are producers, consumers and decomposers.
- planktonic plants
are the food factory of a pond.
- a pond ecosystem
is complex and ever-changing.
- people make choices
that affect the survival of our own and other
species (biodiversity).
Students
will be able to:
- create and maintain
a naturalist’s journal.
- identify plants
and animals of a pond ecosystem and
create a food web.
- identify the
origin of energy necessary for life.
- describe how
energy flows through an ecosystem.
- differentiate
producers, consumers, and decomposers.
- describe what
happens in the water cycle.
- identify and
explain what is produced during the process of
photosynthesis.
- compare a food
chain and a food web.
- define habitat
and give examples of how habitat changes may
occur.
- follow directions
and set up an experiment.
- record and analyze
data.
- work cooperatively
and collaboratively in a group.
Performance
Measures:
- Using the steps
of the writing process, and following a business letter format, students
will be able to compose and print a letter to a local naturalist or
Audubon Society using word processing software.
- Given instruction,
students will be able to define and describe (or give an example)
of the terms found in the glossary created for this pond study unit.
This will be measured by the student’s ability to correctly use
these terms in assignments and discussion throughout the unit and
on a unit test.
- Students will
create and maintain a Naturalist’s Journal throughout this unit
of study, which should contain the students’ observations, maps,
charts, sketches, investigation data, questions, conclusions and personal
reflections.
- Each group of
students will demonstrate the ability to work effectively and collaboratively,
gather and process information, generate and analyze ideas, observe
common themes, realize ideas and present results through their participation
and completing of the following project:
- Students will
create, using some form of technology, a product and presentation
designed to instruct younger students (or other audiences) about the
pond ecosystem.
- The product and
presentation will be evaluated using rubrics that will be designed
by the teacher and students prior to the start of this project.
Enabling
Activities
- During this unit
it would be helpful if you are able to set up a nature library and
reading section in the classroom. You might also include an
exhibit area, if appropriate.
- Learning will
be enhanced if students are able to share their findings with local
and global communities. Students should be able to obtain and
share knowledge on computer web sites during this unit of study.
KLH
Charts
Have students work together in cooperative groups (of 4 students) and
create a chart showing what they know about ecosystems and ponds, what
they want to learn and how they might find the answers. A class
chart can be created after groups share their own work.
Guest
Speakers
Students will contact a local naturalist and/or the Audubon Society to
invite them to speak to the class and participate in this unit of study
in person and/or via the internet.
Introduce
Naturalist’s Journal
Ask students if anyone has ever used a journal or diary. Allow several
students to talk about their experiences keeping a journal. Ask
students to define the term naturalist. See if students can tell
how a naturalist is like a detective (watching animals in their
habitats raises questions and provides many clues).
Tell students that a journal is an essential tool used by nature
researchers and scientists in the field. They use it to record data
and observations, maps, drawings and other information. Discuss
the power of observation as a learning tool and the importance of recording
data for future use. Introduce students to a sample page from a
naturalist’s journal and review each element and the kind of information
it records.
Give students a blank journal page and arrange for a 20 minute field trip
to the school yard to record what they see. When you return to class,
students should share in small groups what they recorded. One member
of each group should report the group’s observations to the rest
of the class.
- At some point
you might want to allow students time to personalize their journals,
decorating the cover in any way that they choose. Suggest a
way to organize the information in their journals by dividing it up
into different sections. If you plan on doing a long term study,
you may wish to invite students to share their methods of organizing
the journals and explain the reasons why they organized them that
way.
Field
Trip(s) to a Local Pond
- Be sure to visit
the pond ahead of time to make sure there is safe access for students!
- Students will
visit the area once just to observe the surroundings and record observations
in their naturalist’s journal.
- Encourage students
to keep track of personal reflections as well in their journals.
Back in class students will once again share what they recorded.
- On your next
visit to the pond, each group of four students will need the
following items:
Light
color, heavy duty dish pan, kitchen strainer, hand lens, naturalist’s
journal and field guide. An optional item that you may wish to include
for each student would be a pond survey sheet showing a variety of tiny
creatures that students may come across during their observation.
- When you arrive
at the pond, have students spend some time observing forms of life
and making journal entries. Then have them carefully muck rake
by scooping up a strainerful of pond bottom and placing it in the
dishpan. Make sure you remind students to keep all critters
in water and shaded from the sun. Students should observe and
try to identify the pond animals. Students will then record
and illustrate their findings in their journals.
Direct
Instruction/Class Discussion
Students will share their observations and findings with each other in
class. Discuss the types of plants and animals that are part of
a pond ecosystem. How many types did they see? Write the following
on the board: big fish, small fish, turtles, ducks, tadpoles, crayfish,
snails, plankton and insects. Ask students (groups of 4) to create a food
web showing what each uses as a source of food. After five minutes
have each group present their web and explain how they decided what each
animal used as a food source. As a class, create a food chain using
the members that were observed in the local pond ecosystem.
Have
students perform the following experiments, recording their observations,
questions and conclusions in their journals:
How Can
We Demonstrate the Water Cycle? Investigation
Materials (for each group): water, large, clear plastic bowl, small jar
or mug, plastic wrap, tape, penny or pebble.
Procedures:
- (Day 1) Fill
a plastic bowl ¼ full with water. Place mug or jar in the center.
Cover top of bowl tightly with plastic wrap and tape tightly around
the edges. Place the bowl in a hot, sunny window. Place
a penny or pebble on the plastic wrap directly over the mug to insure
that it “rains” into the mug.
- (Day 2 or 3)
Groups should examine the bowls and describe what has happened.
(The water in the plastic bowl has evaporated. Some water droplets
can be seen on the piece of plastic. Other water has condensed and
fallen into the mug.) Students may record their observations
in their journals.
Do Plants
Need Sun? Investigation
Materials: A houseplant, several pieces of aluminum foil and a sunny windowsill.
Procedures:
Cover one leaf of the houseplant completely in aluminum foil. Cover
the stem attached to the leaf as well. Leave the plant where it
will get a lot of sun. In about a week, remove the aluminum foil
and look at the leaf. (The leaf has probably become yellow and withered.
The aluminum foil prevented light from getting to the leaf, so the plant
shut down.) Students may describe what has happened and record their observations
and conclusions in their journals.
* Remember -No light, no plants; no plants, no food ! How can we
apply this to the pond ecosystem?
How Can
We See A Plant Making Oxygen?
Materials: A leaf of really fresh lettuce, a large glass bowl of water,
a piece of cardboard, and a glass jar (like a mayonnaise jar) with the
lid removed, filled almost to the top with water.
Procedures:
Put your lettuce into the water filled jar. Then put the cardboard
on top of the jar and hold it in place like a lid. Still holding
the cardboard, turn the jar upside down an put it into a bowl of water.
Once the jar is in the glass bowl, pull out the cardboard. The water
and the lettuce should stay high up in the jar. Put the jar and
the bowl in a place where it will get plenty of light. In a few
hours, you’ll start seeing bubbles. Those bubbles are filled
with oxygen.
? You could also cut a small piece of pondweed and leave it in a jar full
of water on a sunny windowsill.
Research
Students will find out additional information about the members of the
pond ecosystem using related software, electronic encyclopedias, the Internet,
trade books, science encyclopedias, field guides and record this information
in their journals (text and graphics).
Pond
Mural
Cooperative learning groups of 4 students each will be responsible for
working on a portion of one large mural depicting a pond ecosystem.
Plants and animals, pond surroundings, the water cycle, photosynthesis,
food webs/chain should be included in the final product. Students
should use the information they obtained through their research to complete
this task.
Introduce
Pond Ecosystem to Younger Students
Each cooperative learning group of students (teams of 4) will be responsible
for developing a way to teach their 2nd grade learning partners (as well
as any other interested groups) about a pond ecosystem, using some form
of technology (camera, camcorder, tape recorder, computer and related
equipment). Examples: Produce a video or slide presentation,
a field guide or book, Power Point presentation, etc. Students will
need to decide as a group what to include in their presentations and should
share the information they obtained from the research task. They
should also be involved in creating the rubric that will be used to evaluate
the final products and presentations.
Notes:
This is only a small portion of the activities that can be accomplished
during this unit. Items such as classification system, cell structures,
succession, environmental concerns can all be addressed using a pond ecosystem
as your model.
Another
thought is to study a local pond periodically throughout the entire year
and observe and document the changes that occur throughout the seasons.
CLASSROOM RESOURCES
Nye,
Bill and Ian Saunders. Bill Nye the Science Guy’s Consider
the Following. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 1995.
Pollock,
Steve. Eyewitness Science: Ecology. New York: Dorling
Kindersly, 1993.
Schwartz,
David M. and Dwight Kuhn. The Hidden Life of the Pond. New
York: Crown Publishers, 1988.
Your
local Audubon chapter (518 nationwide) can assist you with planning activities
and obtaining resources. The National Headquarters is located in New York
(212) 979-3000. They also have a special hotline number 1-800-813-5037
for teachers!
GLOSSARY
abiotic environment: non-living or physical environment which includes
the climate, soil, water, air, nutrients and energy.
carnivore:
an animal that feeds primarily on animal flesh.
community:
all the different plants and animals that live in a habitat.
consumer:
the feeding animals of a habitat including herbivores, carnivores, and
decomposers.
decomposer:
a plant or animal that feeds on dead materials and causes its mechanical
or chemical breakdown.
ecology:
the study of plants, animals, and the environment and how they interact
with one another.
ecosystem:
how plants and animals within a habitat interact with each other and with
the nonliving parts of their environment.
food
chain: the series of steps showing energy flow through a community.
food
web: the combination of all overlapping food chains in a community.
habitat:
natural home where a plant or animal finds the food, water and space it
needs to survive.
herbivore:
an animal that feeds primarily on vegetation.
invertebrate:
lacking a backbone or spinal column.
larva:
in most insects, the immature, flightless stage that transforms into a
resting stage called a pupa or another stage before becoming an adult.
metamorphosis:
a series of changes in form during development of an immature form to
an adult.
niche:
an organism’s role in the environment.
nymph:
the larva of an insect that goes through gradual changes to reach the
adult stage.
omnivore:
an animal which feeds on both plant and animal materials.
organism:
anything that has all the features of life.
photosynthesis:
the process in which leaves use carbon dioxide from the air, water from
the roots, and the sun’s energy (in the form of sunlight) to make
sugar (glucose).
plankton:
minute animal and plant life that float in a body of water.
population:
a group of organisms in a community that are all the same species.
producer:
green plants which are able to manufacture food from simple organic substances
using energy from the sun.
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