THE WONDER OF OR OUR LIVING PLANET: Ecology and the Interconnectedness of Earth, Air, Water & Life
Essential Questions:
- How are living organisms connected to each other and to their environment?
- What role does competition and cooperation play in an ecosystem?
- How do limiting factors affect population growth and how does population growth affect the environment?
- How is matter and energy cycled through the environment?
- How does ecology allow us to predict the effects of environmental change?
Content:
- Components of the biotic and abiotic environment
- Relationships between organisms within an ecosystem
- Food webs and energy pyramids
- Nutrient Cycling
- Population growth and limiting factors
- Natural responses to environmental changes
Skills and Processes:
- Using ecological field-sampling methods to more deeply understand the natural world
- Identifying relationships between organisms in an environment and how these relationships relate to matter and energy cycling
- Interpreting varied types of graphs to investigate the effects of environmental factors and limited resources on population growth
- Reading the natural landscape to predict past disturbance and future changes
Assessment:
- Ecological field reports
- Food-web, Energy-pyramid and Nutrient Cycling visual displays
- Eco-muve virtual labs
- "The story of a place" graphic novelettes (if time allows)
Resources:
- Project Wild Curricula
- Project Learning Tree Curricula
- EcoMuve Virtual ecology labs
- NSTA Exploring Ecology
- NSTA Forestry Field Studies Manual
Integrated Learning:
- Using math and laws of probability to calculate and predict ecological characteristics
- Interpreting cause and effect through complex graphs
- Field report writing and peer editing