Life Interactions w/ Ecosystem

Target Audience:

            High School Level Biology (9^th-12^th)

Curriculum Mapping:

            Geography, science, math (statistics)            

 

Project Description:

            This project will serve as a springboard onto many subjects such as species/species interactions, data analysis, water sampling techniques, and of course to learning about many of the different investigative tools and techniques that limnologists use in order to study the changes on the ecosystem of a body of water.  Students will also learn about the different layers of a large/small body of water and how they are affected by external sources, such as the sun, wind, etc.  This is key in understanding how these external sources can either exacerbate or diminish such problems as introduced species of plant or animal variety.  Obviously, there is a much bigger picture, and when looking at all the sub-issues, this can easily become a complex subject spanning perhaps an entire semester. Yet, the goal is to teach essential tools that the students can bridge into other topics, and as well to satisfy curriculum standards via a crucial topic to understand/appreciate and implement into their daily lives.

 

Driving Question:

            How would introducing an outside species affect your local pond's ecosystem?

 

Project Objectives:

The goal is to teach essential tools that the students can bridge into other topics, and as well to satisfy curriculum standards via a crucial topic to understand/appreciate and implement into their daily lives.

 

 Rationale:

            Students will be able to interact with an ecosystem that they have created, and thus will be able to better appreciate how it is effected, either for the better or the worse by certain factors. This will allow for an appreciation of the adverse effects certain environmental changes can have on an ecosystem, especially one that is their own.  The goal is to, through many topics, apply a self-awareness of how what we do, and how we interact with our environment can be a catalyst for either its demise or its prosperity.  This will be done through the bridging of topics of biology, limnology, and math.

 

Background:

This is a question that is a crucial in understanding the adverse effects that overpopulation and/or predation, can have on the balance of life in an ecosystem. Mainly addressed is the way that we can analyze the changes by monitoring a specific species that is easily affected by such fluctuations in species ratios via the introduction of an alien species/organism.  This is a problem not only felt on the biodiversity forefront, but as well on the environmental and socio-economic levels as well.  As a globalized society, we have begun to import and export goods and consumables from other foreign markets, and have seen these adverse effects it has had in the agricultural field, human well-being, and in our environment via introduced species alien to our own ecosystems.  Thus students will be able to investigate how, via studying the effects first hand, an introduced species in an ecosystem can change it either for the better, or the worst, and gain an appreciation for the causes and effects of such species interactions.

 

TEKS:

 

<>(c)  Knowledge and skills.
        (1)  Scientific processes. The student, for at least 40% of instructional time, conducts field and laboratory investigations using safe, environmentally appropriate,                        and ethical practices.

        (2)  Scientific processes. The student uses scientific methods during field and laboratory investigations.

<>                        (B)  collect data and make measurements with precision;

                            (C)  organize, analyze, evaluate, make inferences, and predict trends from data; and

        (3)  Scientific processes. The student uses critical thinking and scientific problem solving to make informed decisions.

<>                       (C)  evaluate the impact of research on scientific thought, society, and the environment;

       (11)  Science concepts. The student knows that organisms maintain homeostasis. The student is expected to:

                            (A)  identify and describe the relationships between internal feedback mechanisms in the maintenance of homeostasis;

                            (B)  investigate and identify how organisms, including humans, respond to external stimuli;

<>                       (D)  summarize the role of microorganisms in maintaining and disrupting equilibrium.

       (12)  Science concepts. The student knows that interdependence and interactions occur within an ecosystem. The student is expected to: <>

                            (B)  interpret interactions among organisms exhibiting predation.

                            (C)  compare variations, tolerances, and adaptations of plants and animals.

                            (D)  identify and illustrate that long-term survival of species is dependent on a resource base that may be limited.

                            (E)  investigate and explain the interactions in an ecosystem.

Safety Precautions:
         
       Some safety precausions are as follows:  Students should be carefull during the field project, in other words not to fall into the tubs, as they are deep and injury can occur, the teacher must be aware that the students are all accounted for before, during, and after the trips, and make sure they do not push each other around the tanks, as this can result in personal injury.  Other than, this, during the project itself I.E. in class , students should just remain seated and should not be allowed to become excessively roudy during the lab work, because this project does allow for alot of free time in itself if not used properly and effectively.

 

Assessments:

 

General Formative topics students will aquire. :  

            1) The student will be able to measure and quantify certain species.

            2) The student will be able to take down qualitative and quantitative data.

            3) The student will be able to use appropriate methodology to preserve samples.

            4) The student will be able to assess the affects of external stimuli on environment

            5) The student will be able to assess the effect of species interaction on the   

     environment.

6) The student will be able to assess the effect on species interacting with each    

     other.

7) The student will be able to make a graphic display of their data which  

     correlates with their scientific findings. 

8) The student will be able to, via the scientific method, create a journal which is   

     key in following their progress.

Please look at this link.  (assessment page) for more in depth formative assesements.

Summative:

            The final assessment will come in the form of a kept journal that the students have been working in for the duration of their project.  In the journal should be similar data to each of their group partners, yet all will keep their own journal and set of data. This journal will be submitted as an individual assessment of their own work and progress.   Students will prepare a final presentation that will summarize their findings,  and must include graphical data/statistical, that correlates with this.  This will be presented in class amongst their peers who have been doing the same experiment.  In this fashion their can be a discussion amongst the students about similar or dissimilar data, and can arouse student-student interaction.  The presentation will be a group assessment.