Executive Summary of Teaching and Learning Unit



Wave of Change/Imminent Destruction Gone Fishin’ TL Unit

Contributors:

W. Sean Chamberlin, Jessie Kastler, Paul Bologna, Kristen Rosenfeld, Beverly Livingston, Nadine McHenry, Leesa Sward (facilitator)

Course description (name of course, level, approximate number of students)

This unit could be taught in any 100-200 level course on Ecology, Oceanography, Environmental Science, or Biology either in class or in a distance learning environment. The activities are appropriate for any number of students from a very small class to a very large one.

Learning goals/objectives (After completing this unit, the student will…list them)

The Students will

1) be able to explain potential relationships between nutrient levels and food web structure (Summative, CAT III – Discipline-Specific Knowledge and Skills)

2) demonstrate problem solving skills (CAT I: Higher Order Thinking Skills)

3) be able to analyze and synthesize data (CAT I: Higher Order Thinking Skills)

4) develop the ability to work productively with others and improve ability to follow directions, instructions, and plans (CAT V: Work and Career Preparation)

Rationale for Instructional Approach (Why are you doing what you are doing?)

Students come to courses with a fundamental misconception that “more is better” relative to nutrients (undocumented). Students also believe that food chains involved predator and prey, no producers and in a food web, a change in one population will only affect another population if the two populations are directly related as predator and prey (Gallegos et al. 1994). Lastly, Hogan (2000) documented that students don’t understand eutrophication as a consequence of pollution. This unit provides a mechanism to dislodge that misconception through inquiry and to contextualize the concept in a way that is meaningful and relevant.

Brief Description of the TL Unit (Briefly describe strategies, assessments, teaching plans)

This TL unit focuses on the relationship between nutrient levels and food web structure. Through this activity students address preconceptions and develop and test hypotheses. Students are assessed through a minute paper which asks them to apply what they’ve learned to a new situation.

How does the TL Unit address active learning? (What are the students being asked to do that makes them ‘inquirers’?)

Students are generating hypotheses and data that they can use to support or reject their hypotheses. Then they apply this knowledge in a new situation.

Other Information for Presentation

Student Background:

We assume that students have already been exposed to basic ecological terms and this unit would take place within a larger unit on aquatic productivity but would be equally well placed within a unit on anthropogenic influences on the environment.

Lesson Extensions:

In a future class or at the end of this class students are given a version of the simulation with a moderate level of nutrient loading. Students then rerun the simulation and compare results across groups and assess whether their results support the hypotheses they generated in the minute paper.

Students take datasheets home and graph the data.

Local case studies could be located presented and used in class (Gulf of Mexico example provided).

References:

Gallegos L, Jerezano ME, Flores F (1994) Preconceptions and relations used by children in the construction of food chains. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 31: 259-272

Hogan, K. (2000). Assessing students’ system reasoning in ecology. Journal of Biological Education 35(1), 22-28

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