Inquiry Unit Plan Ecology

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Inquiry Lesson PlanStandard

Standard 2Students will understand that the features of Earth’s evolving environment affectliving systems, and that life on Earth is unique in the solar system.

Objective

Objective 2 Analyze how ecosystems differ from each other due toabiotic and biotic factors.

Essential Question

Who will survive?

Naming Skills/Strategies/concepts as tools

Conceptual and procedural knowledge:know the difference between abiotic and biotic, how those thingseffect an ecosystem, what will happen when one ofthose things changes, where the ecosystem gets its energy, howdifferent parts of an ecosystem interact with each otherDo predict what will happen if there is a major disaster thatwipes out some aspect of the ecosystemName how students will make their knowledge visible and prove learningin actual accomplishmentStudents will conduct and design and experiment that shows theeffect of changing one factor in an ecosystem on anotherWhat skills/concepts do you want the children to know and practice?understand how all things are connectedHow are they going to think like scientists

Sequence - scaffold of activities

Frontloading questioner agree or disagree (technology based wikior paper)WS – ecology of my roomThe ecosystem of my room what is alive or once alive (biotic) what is not(abiotic)what happens if you turn of the air conditioning/ heat, light, air, water, in yourroom?

Focus Phase: Have students observe a working terrarium. Have students getinto groups of two to think-pair-share about abiotic and biotic elements inthe demonstrated ecosystem. Discuss the various elements that may befound in an ecosystem. Brainstorm elements and have students decide ifthe elements are abiotic or biotic.Challenge Phase: Have four stations (aquarium, plant with worm, bottle of nailpolish, moldy sandwich) set up for students to visit in small groups. As agroup, students will decide whether or not each station is an ecosystem.Also have students determine what parts of the system are abiotic orbiotic. Have students make predictions about whether or not the station fitsthe definition of an ecosystem. Have students make further predictionsabout what each station might need to fit the definition of an ecosystem.One person in the group will record the group's ideas and answers. Thisinformation will be shared with the class at a later time.Concept Introduction:As a class, share the results of the challenge phase. Which stations did studentsidentify as ecosystems? Students should have determined that the aquarium andthe plant with worm are ecosystems. The moldy sandwich is part of anecosystem. The bottle of nail polish is not an ecosystem. Have students sharetheir ideas about what needs to be added to make non-ecosystem stations anecosystem. For the bottle of nail polish to become an ecosystem, it needs asource of energy, food, water, and a population of "animals" which could maintainlife in extreme conditions. The sandwich is part of an ecosystem, but to be anecosystem of its own, it would require another source of food that could maintainits growth. As a class, brainstorm factors necessary for an ecosystem and listthem on the board. Frayer model (vocabulary section of binder) "What is ecology"Semantic feature analysis grid (vocab section) What makes a good ecosystem?• create a stop action video of the requirements of an ecosystem

Planning Documentation with the unitFinal culminating project

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