Didactic sequence “Aquatic environments”

Purposes:

Propose situations for the recognition of different aquatic environments, their

physical characteristics and the living beings that inhabit them.

Goals:

Recognize the characteristics of an aquatic environment, its physical elements

and the diversity of organisms that inhabit it.

Identify adaptive characteristics of living beings (animals and plants) in the

environment.

Grouping forms:

 Individually, in pairs, in groups of no more than four students.

Times and spaces:

 15 days, classroom, assembly hall, school playground, among others.

Materials and resources:

 Posters- Manual- Photocopies- Videos- Prints- Bibliographic material

Assessment

It will be evaluated in a processual manner (qualitatively) emphasizing self-

assessment so that students know their own abilities and ways of learning; co-
evaluation taking into account the evaluation processes shared by the teacher,
the students and the student-student. And finally, performance evaluation
tasks will be taken into account in which not only what the student knows will
be evaluated, but also what he is capable of doing, solving or producing either
orally to promote dialogue and communication between students. students
and the teacher, the production and understanding of simple and scientific
texts and writing, paying special attention to coherence, cohesion and spelling
correction. Likewise, a record of achievements will be prepared on the abilities,
skills, personal qualities and results achieved by the student. This form of
evaluation will allow us to record achievements progressively and not only at
the end of the sequence, maintaining a comprehensive perspective where a
wide range of student learning and achievements will be recorded.
Activities:

Class 1: Finding Nemo

I will start the class by asking you to take out a sheet of paper to take note of
the aquatic animals and plants that you will see in the film. Some fragments of
the film will be taken to work exclusively on what an ocean is, the factors that
affect it such as depth, oxygen, light, temperature, animals and plants.

At the end of watching the movie Finding Nemo we will discuss with the
students about the movie: What type of aquatic environment is it about? What
types of animals and plants did you see? What animal is? What plants? What
relationship do these living beings have with the environment? Why do they
think they can live in that environment and not another?

Then I will ask them to answer the last two questions in their own words and
copy them into their notebooks.

Once the activity is done, I will ask orally: Does the ocean in different areas
have the same depth? Because? What happens in those places where there is
no light? Will there be oxygen? Will we find life in the depths?

Then I will deepen the ideas contributed by the students, to establish a

definition of the oceanic aquatic environment.

Definition: Oceans are masses of deep salt water found between continents,
and seas are the areas of the ocean closest to the coast.

The physical conditions of the oceans such as temperature vary according to

depth. In the more coastal areas the water is warmer, while in the deeper
areas the water is colder. Light is another physical factor that influences the
ocean environment, since sunlight penetrates to a certain depth; and at
greater depths the water is in absolute darkness.

As a closing I will give you the following photocopy:

scientific eye

In the great ocean depths there is life; but men of science thought that a
region so cold, so dark and so sterile must be deprived of life. However, in the
first research work on these seabeds they were able to realize that there was
life as they found beings with strange shapes that seemed like a nightmare.
After 200 meters of depth, the large amount of water does not allow the Sun's
rays to reach the seabed. Life in these areas of the ocean is represented only
by animals, since plants, without light, cannot live. Therefore, the depths of
the seas are not empty: although they lack the immense varieties of fish found
in surface waters, they have a life of their own that is only just beginning to be
known. There are amazing creatures that move in those depths in which a
terrible silence reigns, where the actions of the winds, the Sun, or waves are
not felt, so that the environment is almost motionless, dark and entirely cold,
an example of these animals is bioluminescence. It is a fish that has a larger
jaw than the other, which allows it to collect food remains scattered in the
water. They are also blind (blind) and have their own light, like a small lamp
that sticks out of their body.

Once the students read the text, I will ask them to answer the following
question:

Where light does not reach, will there be plants and animals?

To finish the activity there will be a sharing between everyone. At the same
time, I will intervene to deepen the students' responses.

Class 2: Characteristics of living beings that inhabit the aquatic

environment: animals.

I will start the class by recovering what I saw the previous day.

Next I will investigate the characteristics that animals in aquatic environments

share. To do this, ask the following questions:

What types of animals do we find in an aquatic environment?

How do they live in water? Does everyone breathe the same way? Because?

How do they move? What do aquatic living things eat?

Individual Activity:

1) Invent an animal that has the appropriate characteristics to live in an

aquatic environment. Draw it and then complete the sheet telling how it uses
those characteristics to survive in that environment

Name:

How does it move?

What are their legs like?

How do they breathe?

Once the activity is completed, students will socialize each of the animals they
invented. Depending on the diversity of animals that arise at the moment,
together with the students you will establish similarities and differences
between them. The purpose is for students to understand that although they
all inhabit the aquatic environment, they also have different characteristics.

Then I will raise the idea that sea turtles, ducks and fish are different, yet all
three live in water and ask: What do they have in common? The shape of your
body? Or do they have flat limbs? Will this allow them to move underwater?
As?

I will continue to explain that most animals that swim have elongated, curved
and tapered bodies at the ends. For this reason, the shape of their body allows
them to move in the water and that is why they are said to have a
hydrodynamic body. At the same time, the limbs are important so that they
can move in the water. For example, the duck has a membrane that joins its
fingers which allows it to swim easily. Fish have fins for swimming, while sea
turtles have flat, fin-like limbs so they would have a hard time moving on land.
And that shape is what we humans try to imitate when we swim with our arms
and legs stretched out; like frogs.

Next and returning to the first activity, I will propose that the students look at
the drawing and recover the answer of how the animal they invented moves
taking into account the definition of locomotion. That is, what they would or
would not modify about the movement of the living being they created.

To close the class, I will copy the definition of locomotion on the blackboard,
taking into account each of the students' contributions.

Definition: Locomotion is the movement that aquatic animals make to move in

water.

Class 3: Respiration of aquatic animals

I will begin the class by returning to the question about how the aquatic
animal they invented breathes, to introduce another adaptive characteristic:
respiration.
I will start from the distinction of how a fish and a dolphin breathe. To do this
I will ask the following questions: how do the dolphin and the fish breathe?
How do they capture oxygen?

And how does an octopus breathe? and a starfish? What about a sea sponge?
And the jellyfish?

All the answers will be recorded on the blackboard so that the students can
then create a descriptive text in which they will have to write how the aquatic
animals discussed during class breathe. Once the text is finished, they must
return to how the animal they invented breathes, and modify or change the
way it breathes.

At the end of the activity, students will socialize what they wrote. I will
conclude by explaining that locomotion, that is, movement or movement, and
breathing are adaptive characteristics that allow aquatic animals to survive in
water.

Class 4: Adaptive characteristics of aquatic beings. I will return to the

previous class to be able to advance on the adaptive advantages that animals
have to protect themselves in the environment they inhabit. For this, the
various animals worked previously will be recovered.

I'll start by asking: What happens when the octopus feels threatened? What do
you do to defend yourself? Why does it eject ink? Then I will continue asking:
What happens if we touch a jellyfish/living water? How do you defend yourself
when you feel threatened? According to the responses that arise, the teacher
will intervene explaining that when an octopus feels threatened, it expels ink
to create a dark cloud in the water. By clouding the water, the octopus can
escape before the attacker can see clearly again. While the predator tries to
orient itself, the octopus swims with jet propulsion. For their part, jellyfish do
not attack for pleasure, they contain a poison inside. And when he releases it,
it is to hunt or to defend himself from danger. That's why when we touch it we
feel burning in the part that touched us.

Then I will ask the students: What happens if we submerge ourselves in water
for a long time? Does our body shape allow us to stay in water? Have you ever
tried running in water? What's happening? Can we breathe underwater?
Because?

After investigating, I will make a comparison between man and aquatic

animals, explaining that the characteristics of human beings do not allow us
to adapt to the aquatic environment because we do not have flat limbs, nor a
hydrodynamic body that allows us to swim. Furthermore, we do not have gills
and spiracles to be able to breathe underwater, nor adaptive advantages that
allow us to protect ourselves from a threat. Therefore, the characteristics of
the organism determine the adaptation to the environment in which it lives.

As a closing of the class and in relation to the characteristics worked on

previously, I will copy on the board: locomotion, respiration, and the
protection advantages that each living being performs, we call them
Adaptations; since these enable each organism to adapt successfully to its
environment, be it rivers, lagoons, seas and oceans.

Class 5: Other living beings in the aquatic environment: Plants

I will begin the class by copying the following question on the board, so that
the students respond in their own words, taking into account their aptitudes,
interests, abilities and prior knowledge.

From aquatic animals:

What other types of living beings do we find in an aquatic environment? Once

the question is answered, students will comment on the answers orally. And
the teacher will continue asking other questions: What plants? How do they
live in the water? Will we find a cactus? Because? Will we find an irupé? What
is an irupé? Where can we find it? In the river? At sea? In the ocean? or in a
lagoon? I will distribute photocopies to carry out the following activity:
I will tell your students that the one or those who finish the activity first will
be able to help their classmates when they have any difficulty solving it. If the
expert student detects an error, he or she will be able to make the corrections
he or she deems appropriate.

At the end of the class there will be a discussion on the characteristics of each
of the types of aquatic plants.

Class 6: Freshwater environments: rivers and lagoons

Next I will begin with the following question, so that the students can answer
it in their own words: In addition to the ocean and the sea, are there other
types of aquatic environments? Which is it? If I want to look for a starfish in a
lagoon, will I find it? Why not? What are the differences between an Ocean and
a lagoon? Does the water in the lagoon move? Where does the water in the
lagoon come from? What color has? What animals and plants can we find
there? Are animals in the ocean and in a lagoon the same? And in a river,
what living beings can we find? After tracking the students' previous ideas, I
will make the following comparative table on the board:

Once the comparative table is made, the students together with the teacher
will share each of the living beings that we can find in aquatic environments.
Afterwards, they will be given a short text to carry out the following activity:

1) Write a text with the main characteristics of a freshwater aquatic

environment. (rivers and lagoons).

At the end of the class, each student will read their productions about the
characteristics of rivers and lagoons. I will also copy the task on the board:

Task: Bring the following materials to the next class. In this way responsibility
will be encouraged. I will make a table on the blackboard with the materials to
speed up the assignment of the students and work on each aquatic
environment. For the selection of students in each group, the different
aptitudes, interests, abilities will be taken into account so that they can work
collaboratively:

Class 7: WE ARE NATURALISTS: we build models of aquatic environments

I will start the class working on those transitional aquatic animals.

To do this, I will begin by investigating: Where do seagulls live? And the

penguins? Will they be terrestrial or aquatic animals? Because? How they
feed?

All the answers will be recorded on the board, and then read the text that the
teacher will give them so that the students can write what a transition
environment is. Once the activity is finished, the teacher will propose that they
should put themselves in the role of a naturalist to recreate the different types
of aquatic environments, taking into account the characteristics of each one,
the different animals and plants that inhabit each of these environments. .

For the construction of the model, what was recorded in the folders can be
used. In turn, they must write a descriptive text telling the main
characteristics of the aquatic environment, taking into account coherence,
cohesion and spelling for the presentation of this work.
At the end of the models, each of the groups will make a brief explanation of
each of the aquatic environments. Once the text is made, they will place it on
the models as a reference for the environment.

Class 8: Model exhibition

Students will begin class by building the model. This The proposal offers the
possibility of reviewing knowledge, making it possible to demonstrate learning
about living beings in aquatic environments and leaving a specific production
to be used by groups of students in other years. To promote student
concentration, I will comment that I will monitor daily to see how they spend
their time in the proposed activity and it will be recorded in a list. At the end of
the activity, students will be able to see the record made so that they can
observe their performance during class.

Finally, the teacher will discuss with the students the idea of presenting the
work done at a science fair so that it can be appreciated by students
throughout the institution.