Transformation 2013 PBL 5E Planning Form Guide Design Challenge Title: The Way I See It: A First Person Perspective – How Humans Impact My Life and My Ecosystem Teacher(s): Shane McKay School: East Central High School Subject: Biology Abstract: Students will learn the make-up of an ecosystem, resource cycles, energy flows, and the impact development has on natural resources.
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Begin with the End in Mind The theme or “big ideas� for this PBL: The students will develop an essential understanding of ecology and the vital role each organism plays in an ecosystem. Students will further develop an understanding of the importance of natural resources and the impact humans have on the environment. TEKS/SEs that students will learn in the PBL: (5) Science concepts. The student knows how an organism grows and how specialized cells, tissues, and organs develop. The student is expected to: (C) sequence the levels of organization in multicellular organisms to relate the parts to each other and to the whole. (9) Science concepts. The student knows metabolic processes and energy transfers that occur in living organisms. The student is expected to: (D) analyze the flow of matter and energy through different trophic levels and between organisms and the physical environment. (11) Science concepts. The student knows that organisms maintain homeostasis. The student is expected to: (D) summarize the role of microorganisms in maintaining and disrupting equilibrium including diseases in plants and animals and decay in an ecosystem. (12) Science concepts. The student knows that interdependence and interactions occur within an ecosystem. The student is expected to: (A) analyze the flow of energy through various cycles including the carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and water cycles; (B) interpret interactions among organisms exhibiting predation, parasitism, commensalism, and mutualism; (C) compare variations, tolerances, and adaptations of plants and animals in different biomes; (D) identify and illustrate that long-term survival of species is dependent on a resource base that may be limited; and (E) investigate and explain the interactions in an ecosystem including food chains, food webs, and food pyramids.
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Key performance indicators students will develop in this PBL: The learner will understand the following ecological terms: ecology, biosphere, species, population, community, biome, ecosystem, producer, consumer, autotroph, heterotroph, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, detrivore, food chain, food web, trophic level, ecological pyramid, and biomass. Students will also be able to label a food chain and a food web and learn the various cycles of matter that occur in an ecosystem. 21st century skills that students will practice in this PBL: www.21stcenturyskills.org Creativity, critical thinking STEM career connections and real world applications of content learned in this PBL:
Careers: Ecologist, Environmental Safety Specialist, Range Management, Agriculture, Environmental Lobbyist, Environmental Engineer, and Waste Management Connections: Environmental impact studies are going on around us daily. Careers in ecology affect everything from the way we drink our water to the types of groceries we buy in the grocery store.
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The Problem An environmental lobbying firm located in Washington, DC has contacted you about writing a first person narrative as if you were an organism in your local ecosystem that is being impacted by humans. You can pick any perspective you want (producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer). Describe how you obtain energy, what natural resources do you depend on, and what predators are out to “get you”. Explain what humans are doing to your ecosystem and how it affects you, those organisms above you, and those organisms below you in the food web. Lastly, describe how the human race can have less of an impact on your ecosystem. What are some simple strategies that humans can do that will allow you and the organisms above you and below to thrive? You have 4 days to complete this essay and you may include illustrations in your paper to help better explain the concepts that you are describing.
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Map the PBL Already Learned
Performance Indicators
1. Vocabulary: ecology, abiotic, biotic, biosphere, species, population, community, biome, ecosystem, producer, consumer, autotroph, heterotroph, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, detrivore, food chain, food web, trophic level, ecological pyramid, and biomass 2. Identify the levels of organization that ecologists study
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3. Understand the methods used to study ecology 4. Trace the energy flow through living systems 5. Evaluate the efficiency of energy transfer among organisms in an ecosystem. 6. Describe how cycles of matter affect living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem 7. Understand why nutrients are important in living systems. 8. Evaluate how the availability of nutrients affects the productivity of an ecosystem.
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Team-Building Activity It is important that teachers provide team-building activities for students to help build the 21st Century Skills that are necessary for success in the workforce. Team-building helps establish and develop a greater sense of cooperation and trust among team members, helps students adapt to new group requirements so that they can get along well in a new group, serves to bring out the strengths of the individuals, helps identify roles when working together, and leads to effective collaboration and communication among team members so that they function as an efficient, productive group. Our students are often not taught how to work in groups, yet we assume that they automatically know how. Use team-building activities with your students so that you can see the benefits which include improvement in planning skills, problem solving skills, decision making skills, time management skills, personal confidence, and motivation and morale. SURVIVAL A Simulation Game You and your companions have just survived the crash of a small plane. Both the pilot and co-pilot were killed in the crash. It is mid-January, and you are in Northern Canada. The daily temperature is 25 below zero, and the night time temperature is 40 below zero. There is snow on the ground, and the countryside is wooded with several creeks crisscrossing the area. The nearest town is 20 miles away. You are all dressed in city clothes appropriate for a business meeting. Your group of survivors managed to salvage the following items: A ball of steel wool A small ax A loaded .45-caliber pistol Can of Crisco shortening Newspapers (one per person) Cigarette lighter (without fluid) Extra shirt and pants for each survivor 20 x 20 ft. piece of heavy-duty canvas A sectional air map made of plastic One quart of 100-proof whiskey A compass Family-size chocolate bars (one per person) Your task as a group is to list the above 12 items in order of importance for your survival. List the uses for each. You MUST come to agreement as a group. EXPLANATION Mid-January is the coldest time of year in Northern Canada. The first problem the survivors face is the preservation of body heat and the protection against its loss. This problem can be solved by building a fire, minimizing movement and exertion, using as
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much insulation as possible, and constructing a shelter. The participants have just crash-landed. Many individuals tend to overlook the enormous shock reaction this has on the human body and the deaths of the pilot and co-pilot increases the shock. Decision-making under such circumstances is extremely difficult. Such a situation requires a strong emphasis on the use of reasoning for making decisions and for reducing fear and panic. Shock would be shown in the survivors by feelings of helplessness, loneliness, hopelessness, and fear. These feelings have brought about more fatalities than perhaps any other cause in survival situations. Certainly the state of shock means the movement of the survivors should be at a minimum, and that an attempt to calm them should be made. Before taking off, a pilot has to file a flight plan which contains vital information such as the course, speed, estimated time of arrival, type of aircraft, and number of passengers. Search-and-rescue operations begin shortly after the failure of a plane to appear at its destination at the estimated time of arrival. The 20 miles to the nearest town is a long walk under even ideal conditions, particularly if one is not used to walking such distances. In this situation, the walk is even more difficult due to shock, snow, dress, and water barriers. It would mean almost certain death from freezing and exhaustion. At temperatures of minus 25 to minus 40, the loss of body heat through exertion is a very serious matter. Once the survivors have found ways to keep warm, their next task is to attract the attention of search planes. Thus, all the items the group has salvaged must be assessed for their value in signaling the group’s whereabouts. The ranking of the survivors’ items was made by Mark Wanvig, a former instructor in survival training for the Reconnaissance School of the 101st Division of the U.S. Army. Mr. Wanvig currently conducts wilderness survival training programs in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area. This survival simulation game is used in military training classrooms.
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ANSWER KEY FOR THE RANKINGS 1. Cigarette lighter (without fluid) The gravest danger facing the group is exposure to cold. The greatest need is for a source of warmth and the second greatest need is for signaling devices. This makes building a fire the first order of business. Without matches, something is needed to produce sparks, and even without fluid, a cigarette lighter can do that. 2. Ball of steel wool To make a fire, the survivors need a means of catching he sparks made by the cigarette lighter. This is the best substance for catching a spark and supporting a flame, even if the steel wool is a little wet. 3. Extra shirt and pants for each survivor Besides adding warmth to the body, clothes can also be used for shelter, signaling, bedding, bandages, string (when unraveled), and fuel for the fire. 4. Can of Crisco shortening This has many uses. A mirror-like signaling device can be made from the lid. After shining the lid with steel wool, it will reflect sunlight and generate 5 to 7 million candlepower. This is bright enough to be seen beyond the horizon. While this could be limited somewhat by the trees, a member of the group could climb a tree and use the mirrored lid to signal search planes. If they had no other means of signaling than this, they would have a better than 80% chance of being rescued within the first day. There are other uses for this item. It can be rubbed on exposed skin for protection against the cold. When melted into an oil, the shortening is helpful as fuel. When soaked into a piece of cloth, melted shortening will act like a candle. The empty can is useful in melting snow for drinking water. It is much safer to drink warmed water than to eat snow, since warm water will help retain body heat. Water is important because dehydration will affect decision-making. The can is also useful as a cup. 5. 20 x 20 foot piece of canvas The cold makes shelter necessary, and canvas would protect against wind and snow (canvas is used in making tents). Spread on a frame made of trees, it could be used as a tent or a wind screen. It might also be used as a ground cover to keep the survivors dry. It’s shape, when contrasted with the surrounding terrain, makes it a signaling device. 6. Small ax Survivors need a constant supply of wood in order to maintain the fire. The ax could be used for this as well as for clearing a sheltered campsite, cutting tree branches for ground insulation, and constructing a frame for the canvas tent. 7. Family size chocolate bars (one per person) Chocolate will provide some food energy. Since it contains mostly carbohydrates, it supplies the energy without making digestive demands on the body.
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8. Newspapers (one per person) These are useful in starting a fire. They can also be used as insulation under clothing when rolled up and placed around a person’s arms and legs. A newspaper can also be used as a verbal signaling device when rolled up in a megaphone-shape. It could also provide reading material for recreation. 9. Loaded .45-caliber pistol The pistol provides a sound-signaling device. (The international distress signal is 3 shots fired in rapid succession). There have been numerous cases of survivors going undetected because they were too weak to make a loud enough noise to attract attention. The butt of the pistol could be used as a hammer, and the powder from the shells will assist in fire building. By placing a small bit of cloth in a cartridge emptied of its bullet, one can start a fire by firing the gun at dry wood on the ground. The pistol also has some serious disadvantages. Anger, frustration, impatience, irritability, and lapses of rationality may increase as the group awaits rescue. The availability of a lethal weapon is a danger to the group under these conditions. Although a pistol could be used in hunting, it would take an expert marksman to kill an animal with it. Then the animal would have to be transported to the crash site, which could prove difficult to impossible depending on its size. 10. Quart of 100 Proof Whiskey The only uses of whiskey are as an aid in fire building and as a fuel for a torch (made by soaking a piece of clothing in the whiskey and attaching it to a tree branch). The empty bottle could be used for storing water. The danger of whiskey is that someone might drink it, thinking it would bring warmth. Alcohol takes on the temperature it is exposed to, and a drink of minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit whiskey would freeze a person’s esophagus and stomach. Alcohol also dilates the blood vessels in the skin, resulting in chilled blood belong carried back to the heart, resulting in a rapid loss of body heat. Thus, an intoxicated person is more likely to get hypothermia than a sober person is. 11. Compass Because a compass might encourage someone to try to walk to the nearest town, it is a dangerous item. Its only redeeming feature is that it could be used as a reflector of sunlight (due to its glass top). 12. Sectional air map made of plastic This is also among the least desirable of the items because it will encourage individuals to try to walk to the nearest town. Its only useful feature is as a ground cover to keep someone dry.
How to score Each team should list its top 5 choices in order prior to seeing the answer sheet. To award points, look at the ranking numbers on this answer sheet. Award points to each team’s top choices according to the numbers here. For example, the map would earn 12 points, while the steel wool would earn 2 points. Lowest score wins (and survives).
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5E Lesson Plan PBL Title: The Way I See It: A First Person Perspective – How Humans Impact My Life and My Ecosystem TEKS/TAKS objectives: TAKS Objectives: 1, 2; TEKS: 5C; 9D; 11D; 12A,B,C,D,E Engage Activity Students will have an organism from an ecosystem handed to them (see handout below). Students will then start by moving around the room and creating a biomass pyramid. Next, the student with the picture of the sun will be handed a ball of yarn or string. Students will then create a food web by tracing how the energy is transferred in an ecosystem by passing the yarn to the next trophic level consumer that is affected (EX. Sun – grass – moose – wolf). Ask the students to describe what they see. Break the class up into groups of no more than 2 or 3 students per group. Ask the students to list what would happen if one of the organisms in the food web were to be killed off because of human environmental impact. Each group will explain to the class how the ecosystem would be impacted with the removal of an organism in its ecosystem (follow the handout). Tell the students that they will be focusing on ecology and the environmental impact humans have on ecosystems. Have the students use chart paper to create a list of ways the ecosystem was impacted by removal of one of the organisms and the affect that change has on the entire ecosystem. Present the chart to the class. Introduce the students to the challenge: An environmental lobbying firm located in Washington, DC has contacted you about writing a first person narrative as if you were an organism in your local ecosystem that is being impacted by humans. You can pick any perspective you want (producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer). Describe how you obtain energy, what natural resources do you depend on, and what predators are out to “get you”. Explain what humans are doing to your ecosystem and how it affects you, those organisms above you, and those organisms below you in the food web. Lastly, describe how the human race can have less of an impact on your ecosystem. What are some simple strategies that humans can do that will allow you and the organisms above you and below to thrive? You have 4 days to complete this essay and you may include illustrations in your paper to help better explain the concepts that you are describing. Engage Activity Products and Artifacts Chart and presentation Engage Activity Materials/Equipment String or yarn, organism cards, food web handout, chart paper or blank book covers, markers
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Engage Activity Resources http://www.lalc.k12.ca.us/uclasp/urban_science/food_chains/images/plants.gif http://www.lalc.k12.ca.us/uclasp/urban_science/food_chains/images/animals.gif http://www.lalc.k12.ca.us/uclasp/urban_science/food_chains/images/insects.gif Explore Activity Break students up into groups of 2 to 3 students, and have them complete the team building activity. Next, have students explore in their groups the Ecokids website (http://ecokids.earthday.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/frogs/chain_reaction/assets/flash/chain_re action.swf) on chain reaction and the Harcourt website (http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/food/food_menu.html) food web game online. Following those activities, have the students do the food web lesson on the following website: http://www.gould.edu.au/foodwebs/kids_web.htm. Students at this point should have a firm grasp on interaction in an ecosystem. Student groups will now investigate biomes and characteristics of biomes by completing the handout provided with this lab. Explore Activity Products and Artifacts Biome Venn diagram with drawings Explore Activity Materials/Equipment Computers, Biome handout with Venn diagram Explore Activity Resources http://ecokids.earthday.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/frogs/chain_reaction/assets/flash/chain_rea ction.swf http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/food/food_menu.html http://www.gould.edu.au/foodwebs/kids_web.htm http://www.mbgnet.net/ http://www.2learn.ca/construct/graphicorg/venn/vennindex.html#
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Explain Activity Students will now be given an opportunity to view the PowerPoint slide presentation on Ecology and take notes (see accompanying presentation). Students will then visit the Troy High School Biology website (http://www.troy.k12.ny.us/thsbiology/skinny/skinny_ecology.html), read more about ecology, and reflect on the open ended question at the bottom of the website in their journals. Following the presentation and the Troy High School Biology website review, students will go to the BrainPOP website and pick one lesson that interests them on how the environment is impacted by humans (http://www.brainpop.com/science/ourfragileenvironment/). Students will choose one of the following lessons and report out to the class what they learned. - air pollution - global warming - water pollution - recycling - fossil fuels - humans and the environment - ozone layer - greenhouse effect - natural resources Students will create a visual representation of knowledge acquired about each biome investigated using PowerPoint, poster board, presentation boards, video, or model. Encourage the students to be creative and take risks (poems, raps, songs, etc.). Explain Activity Products and Artifacts Journal reflection, presentation regarding BrainPOP video Explain Activity Materials/Equipment Computer with Internet access, BrainPOP subscription, paper, chart paper, digital projector, pencil, journal Explain Activity Resources http://www.troy.k12.ny.us/thsbiology/skinny/skinny_ecology.html http://www.brainpop.com/science/ourfragileenvironment/
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Elaborate Activity Students will perform a lab online concerning algae blooms and their devastating affects on an ecosystem and how they can be prevented http://www.bigelow.org/hab/. Students will then return to their groups and will illustrate (thinking map), write, or describe (act out) one type of harmful algae bloom that affects our continent. The students must consider the origination of the bloom, what it does to destroy or harm, how blooms can be prevented, and where this type of bloom occurs on our continent (geographical location). Re-introduce the challenge and have students begin working on the project: An environmental lobbying firm located in Washington, DC has contacted you about writing a first person narrative as if you were an organism in your local ecosystem that is being impacted by humans. You can pick any perspective you want (producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer). Describe how you obtain energy, what natural resources do you depend on, and what predators are out to “get you”. Explain what humans are doing to your ecosystem and how it affects you, those organisms above you, and those organisms below you in the food web. Lastly, describe how the human race can have less of an impact on your ecosystem. What are some simple strategies that humans can do that will allow you and the organisms above you and below to thrive? You have 4 days to complete this essay and you may include illustrations in your paper to help better explain the concepts that you are describing. Elaborate Activity Products and Artifacts Illustration, write-up, or description of the algae bloom’s devastating affects on an ecosystem Elaborate Activity Materials/Equipment Computers, chart paper, markers, pens, pencils, construction paper Elaborate Activity Resources http://www.bigelow.org/hab/
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Evaluate Activity
Students will complete the project and present their finished products to the class. Evaluate Activity Products and Artifacts Essay, presentation Evaluate Activity Materials/Equipment Computer, pen, pencil, paper Evaluate Activity Resources Internet, Biology textbook, PowerPoint notes
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Engage Activity Objectives: 1. To be able to group different organisms into their correct biological niches. 2. To show the energy flow through a food chain by constructing model food chains and food webs with the given drawings of organisms. 3. To describe how pollutants can be transferred from one organism to another and magnified through the food chain. 4. To be able to predict what might happen if one organism is removed from the food web. Procedures: 1. Students will be handed one of the organism cards. (printed off the websites provided) 1. Students will line themselves up in a biomass pyramid form to demonstrate how energy is transferred to the next trophic level (producer – primary consumer – secondary consumer – tertiary consumer). The teacher should explain the 10% rule of energy transfer and should also discuss biological niches. 2. Students will then be given a ball of yarn or string. Starting with the sun, students will then trace the flow of energy using the yarn to demonstrate a food web in an ecosystem. In a “who eats who” type of format (EX. Sun to grass to grasshopper to bird to owl, etc.). 3. Once food web is complete, remove one of the organisms (student) from the web. 4. Break students up into groups of 2 or 3 and provide for them a piece of butcher paper or a blank book cover. Ask students to list the following: a. What organism was removed? b. What trophic level was the organism in? c. List 4 ways the removal of this organism impacted the ecosystem. d. Give an example of how humans have impacted ecosystems through out the world. 5. Student groups will present their findings from this activity to the class Materials: Yarn Organism Cards Butcher Paper or Blank Book Covers Markers Images: http://www.lalc.k12.ca.us/uclasp/urban_science/food_chains/images/plants.gif http://www.lalc.k12.ca.us/uclasp/urban_science/food_chains/images/animals.gif http://www.lalc.k12.ca.us/uclasp/urban_science/food_chains/images/insects.gif
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Comparing Ecosystems Group 1 Group 2 Rain Forest Tundra Temperate Forest Taiga
Group 3 Dessert Grasslands
Group 4 Rivers & Streams Ponds & Lakes
Group 5 Temperate Oceans Tropical Oceans
Internet resource - http://www.mbgnet.net/ Instructions: After your group is assigned, your job is to research the two biomes using the Internet. You will then create a Venn diagram and include features of each of your biomes, placing similar features in the overlapping area of your two circles. Probably the best way to approach this problem is for each person to review one ecosystem and jot down notes of its significant features and characteristics. Together you can then decide where to place them on the Venn diagram. Characteristics of Biomes 1. Rainfall 2. Temperature 3. Physical Features 4. Geographical locations 5. Types of Animals 6. Types of Plants Draw at least two images related to each ecosystem (Venn diagram on the next page)
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Plan the Assessment Engage Artifact(s)/Product(s): Chart and presentation
Explore Artifact(s)/Product(s): Biome Venn diagram with drawings
Explain Artifact(s)/Product(s): Journal reflection, presentation regarding BrainPOP video
Elaborate Artifact(s)/Product(s): Illustration, write-up, or description of the algae bloom’s devastating affects on an ecosystem
Evaluate Artifact(s)/Product(s): Essay, Presentation of Essay
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Rubric Ecology Project Rubric Student Name:
Creativity
Clarity/Neatness
Project Detail
Grammar
Class Period: 25 Extremely creative. Went above and beyond on the project. Very original and thought provoking Project presented in a clear and precise manner. Very neat in the presentation and worked hard on assuring quality to the highest standard. Very easy to read. Extremely detailed in scope and effort. Student went above and beyond the explanations and perspective was true to the organism’s niche.
Perfect paper, no grammar mistakes.
20
15
10
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Creative. Did the assignment as asked. Original.
Some parts were creative, other parts were not original nor creative.
Lacked creativity and originality.
Did not meet any specifications.
Was clear and neat as asked. Easy to read throughout most of the paper.
Lacked some clarity and was lacking in neatness. Was able to read and follow at times.
Not clear as per the topic nor was the project presented in a neat manner. Very difficult to read and follow.
Did not meet any specifications.
Detailed in scope and effort. Student’s perspective was accurate to organism’s niche.
Lacked some details needed for the paper, the perspective
Lacking any detail or project specifics.
Did not meet any specifications.
Three or fewer grammar mistakes.
Four to Six grammar mistakes
Riddled with grammar mistakes throughout the paper.
Did not meet any specifications.
Comments:
Total
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Score
Story Board
Week 1 Activities
Week 2 Activities
Day 1 Engagement – food web demonstration and ecological affects (30 min) Engage – environmental impact of ecosystem assignment (30 min) Introduction of problem and overview of rubric (15 min) Team Building Activity (15 min) Day 6 Presentation of papers (90 min)
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Day 2 Explore – Ecokids website, Harcourt website, food web online lesson (45 min) Biome investigation (45 min) and handout
Day 7
Day 3 Explain – PowerPoint (30 min) Troy website, BrainPOP website choice board (60 min)
Day 8
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Day 4 Elaborate – online ecology lab (45 min) Algae bloom investigation and presentation (45 min)
Day 9
Day 5 Evaluate – 1st person perspective paper on an organism in a local ecosystem (90 min)
Day 10
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