Ecology



Lesson PlanTitle of activity: Biome Concept AttainmentConcept covered in activity: BiomesGrade level or other prerequisites for activity: Understanding of producers, consumers, and decomposers, basic geographic understanding of the globe.Standards: National Science Education Standards: 9-12.C.4: Interdependence of organismsColorado Academic Standards:9-12.2.1: Matter tends to be cycled within an ecosystem, while energy is transformed and eventually exits an ecosystem. 9-12.2.2: The size and persistence of populations depend on their interactions with each other and on the abiotic factors in an ecosystemLearning objectives:(Students should be able to demonstrate their understanding of biomes by creating a poster as a visual aid and delivering a brief speech to the class and also turning in a written report about their biome.)(Students should be able to successfully demonstrate the skills of literacy by writing a report, providing a visual aid for a speech and delivering a speech about a biome.)Materials: Classroom set of computers, poster boards (enough to divide class into groups of 4, one poster for each group), markers for poster boards, access to library books and computers.Instructional planning (notes about gathering or preparing materials ahead of time AND advance organizers for students: handouts, overheads, slides, board notes) Teacher must have a saved file of .jpg files showing scenes of biomes and non-biomes. Teacher needs a computer with projection capabilities to show the class these images one at a time. Must have enough poster boards and markers for class. Procedure/activityStudent ActivityTeacher ActivityEngageStudents are in their usual seating arrangements to start. Students raise their hands to contribute to the class discussion by explaining if the picture shown is a biome or not, and explain their reasoning. Teacher explains that we are going to learn about ecosystems, also known as biomes. Teacher asks the class, what is a biome (ecosystem if they are more familiar with that term)? Teacher explains that he wants them to come up with their own definition of a biome from what they already know about nature. Teacher starts the class discussion by posting a picture of a deciduous forest scene from the Twilight Saga movies on the overhead projector. Ask the class if this is a biome, and why? Write down some student responses on a sheet of paper. Show a screenshot from the movie “The Grey” with Liam Neeson, ask the class if this is a biome and why or why not and write down some responses. Repeat this process with screenshots from Walt Disney’s The Lion King, The Jungle Book, other popular movies or TV shows, also show pictures of a spider web, a pond, a river in China, penguins in the Antarctic, a boat from the TV show The Deadliest Catch with huge catches of fish and crabs in it, an aquarium from someone’s house, an underwater ocean scene, a picture of the moon, a picture of Saturn from the Cassinni satellite, a log cabin in Russia, an alpaca farm in Peru, etc. The idea is to engage the students with scenes they may be familiar with (from popular movies and TV shows) and also inspire their curiosity with pictures from nature and from other continents. The teacher is facilitating the discussion by asking the students questions and writing down their contributions, and using their contributions to form a class definition of the term biome (or ecosystem). Finally teacher presents the class with their joint definition of what a biome is, and then presents them with a definition according to their textbook. Explain to the class that the definition of a biome is somewhat fluid with scientists, just as it is with us in this classroom.ExploreStudents spend 5-10 minutes perusing the list of biomes and geographic places and discussing with their shoulder partners what biome they want to research and present to the class. Then class will spend the rest of this class period and 1-2 more class periods using the library as a resource to research their biome and put together a poster board as a visual aid to present to the class. Students are also expected to work on their project at home, preferably over the weekend. Teacher will provide the class with a handout that contains a list of biomes and a list of geographic areas that contain those biomes. Students will have 5-10 minutes to look at those biomes and discuss them with their shoulder-partners. Teacher instructs students to form groups of 4 according to what biome they want to research and present to the class. Each biome can be researched by no more than one group. Example: only one group can research desert biomes, only one group can research tundra biomes, etc.ExplainStudents will use their poster as a visual aid to present to the class their biome.Teacher gives part of one day for students to present their biomes. Presentations should be limited to 5 minutes to allow every group to present. Teacher facilitates by asking questions of the group currently presenting and also allowing class to ask questions of the group. ElaborateStudents will also turn in a written report to tell about what they have researched on their biome.Teacher will sum up what a biome is by re-posting the class definition of a biome, and the textbook definition if it will add additional clarification, and by listing all the biomes researched and also more biomes that are acknowledged in the scientific community but were not chosen for research in this classroom at this time. EvaluateStudents reflect on what knowledge they have gained from group biome research project and from listening to class presentations of biomes and participate in a class discussion about biomes by raising hands.Teacher facilitates a classroom discussion about the different types of biomes, what their defining features are, what consumers, producers, and decomposers are present in said biome, where can these biomes be found, etc. Assessment:Formative: Informally assess prior knowledge during Engage activity.Summative: Informally assess students’ knowledge of what a biome is and the different types of biomes and where they can be found with final class discussion. Formally assess students’ knowledge gained by grading poster boards, presentations, and written reports.Rubrics for grading:Research Report : BiomesTeacher Name: Mr. Watson Student Name: ? ? ________________________________________ CATEGORY 9-10 6-8 4-5 0-3 Intro/Conclusion ? ? Intro/conc paragraphs are present and professionally constructed. No serious attempt made at intro/conc paragraphs, or missing completely. Group Participation ? ? Collaborated all group members, and showed patience and respect at all times. Did not collaborate as well, and/or was impatient or disrespectful with group members. Quality of Information Information clearly relates to the main topic (the question the student was assigned in their group). It includes more than 5 supporting details and/or examples. Information clearly relates to the main topic (the question the student was assigned in their group). It provides 3-5 supporting details and/or examples. Information clearly relates to the main topic. No details and/or examples are given. Information has little or nothing to do with the main topic. Organization Information is neatly organized with well-constructed paragraphs. Information is organized with somewhat well-constructed paragraphs. Information is organized, but paragraphs are not well-constructed. The information appears to be disorganized. References At least 5 in-text citations (information and graphics) and 3 sources are accurately documented in the desired format. 3-4 in-text citations (information and graphics) are present, and/or not all sources in the desired format. 2-3 in-text citations (information and graphics) and/or less than 5 sources are accurately documented and may or may not be in the desired format. Little attempt was made at in-text citing, and less than 5 sources are documented. Graphic Organizer 5 Illustrations, diagrams, or charts are present and shows clear, logical relationships between all topics and are accurately labeled. 5 Illustrations, diagrams, or charts are present clear, logical relationships between most topics and may or may not be accurately labeled. Less than 5 illustrations, diagrams, or charts are present and may or may not show clear, logical relationship between some topics and may or may not be accurately labeled. Graphic organizer has not been attempted. Anticipated misconceptions/alternative conceptions: Biomes are as small as a spider web or even a pond/ actually there is a difference between a habitat and a biome. Biomes are only geographically found in one place/ actually biomes can be recurring all over the globe. There is only one definition of a biome/ actually the definition can be quite fluid even between scientists and politicians.Accommodations/modifications of activity for any special needs students (special education, ELL, and gifted/talented): ELL students can present in their native language as long as there are appropriate pictures to illustrate, gifted/talented students may instead be required to research specific adaptations to their chosen biome (either human or animal adaptations, either structural or behavioral adaptations). ................
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