Ecosystems EcosystemsPrepared by: Christine Manfield
Comments || Introduction || Content Outline || Concept Map || Learning Objectives || Activities || Teaching Strategies || Resources || Assessment || Notes to a Teacher || End
This theme has been prepared to coordinate and supplement the NSRC:Ecosystems unit used in the 5th grade at Pentucket Regional School District. This theme was prepared by Chris Manfield, 5th grade teacher at the Bagnall School in Groveland, MA. This theme unit was first developed in August 1998 and will be updated and added to occasionally to ensure valid Internet links and information. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to e-mail me at manfield.prsd.org.
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The ecosystems unit is comprised of a series of lessons designed to introduce students to the concept of interdependence of nature, and to understand the web of relationships that link plants and animals to each other and to their natural environments. The goals of the unit are to have students create their own classroom ecosystems, to study the relationships in an ecosystem and to study the real life ecosystem in the Chesapeake Bay watershed area.
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The unit primarily follows the lessons in the NSRC:Ecosystems unit guide with additional supplemental and extension activities presented and linked to various Internet resources. Refer to Activities for a specific listing of activities to be included in the unit.
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The primary learning objectives of this unit are as follows:
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Students will be involved with the following activities:
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Most work will be done in small, cooperative groups. Daily observations will be made and tracked using various resources such as Graph Power. Students should lead most classroom discussions of ecosystems and their observations, as well as the controlled experiments on pollution and the Chesapeake Bay group project. Students should also utilize many of the Internet resources noted below for further investigation and extension activities.
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The primary text resource for the Ecosystems unit is:
NSRC: Ecosystems. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 1992
The following Internet sites may also be useful in cooperation with the unit to further enhance the unit and provide additional resources to both teacher and students:
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Chesapeake Bay information - Short amount of information on the Chesapeake Bay. 
Alliance
for the Chesapeake Bay - The Alliance for the Chesapeake
Bay is a private nonprofit organization that recruits and mobilizes broad participation in
the Bay restoration. It has an Education & Outreach program which produces materials
such as river fact sheets, issue papers, and the monthly Bay Journal.
Extension activities on other ecosystems - Riparian areas - Presents information about riparian ecosystems.
Class ecosystem project - This
presents a real life class project on ecosystems performed by a 5th grade class. This
would be great to show students and challenge them to create their own projects to share
on the classroom home page with a "web-wide" audience.
EPA Website for School
Environmental Projects - This site profiles a number of
school communities which have adopted environmental projects which are supported by grants
from the EPA. It has a number of ideas which could be carried out locally by students at
the elementary schools.
Worldwide GLOBE program - Global Learning
and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) is a hands-on international
environmental science and education program. GLOBE links students, teachers, and the
scientific research community in an effort to learn more about our environment through
student data collection and observation
Planning
a Conservation Community - Included in this website is an
activity whereby students work in teams to create a map of a "desert community"
that demonstrates the importance of protecting the desert's fragile resources. Students
are asked to brainstorm a list of the facilities, resources, and services that their
community would have. A great extension activity.
Observing a local ecosystem - This site
provides an activity where students will investigate a local Biology Study Site. The
students will use simple observational techniques to quantify and qualify their
observations. The intention is that students will become curious about their ecosystem.
The beginning activity will help students determine that a system's boundaries are often
delineated depending upon the question the scientist wants to answer.
Walking through a local ecosystem - This
website provides activities where students will observe a local ecosystem by taking a walk
through. Students will: observe an ecosystem, analyze factors in the ecosystem, analyze
the role of three living things in the ecosystem, discuss the balance between producers
and consumers, describe a possible food chain using organisms in the ecosystem, project
the effect of the loss of a major factor of the ecosystem on the remaining factors.
Lake and
Pond Study - This activity involves students with an
in-depth lake and pond student with the following aspects: list the types of places to
live in a pond or lake habitat, classify living things according to the location in which
they live in the lake or pond habitat, make an ecosystem flow chart, explain how aquatic
habitats are divided into various micro-habitats or communities
GeoTouch program - "GeoTouch"
is a worldwide environmental education project . Students from all over the world
will examine and analyze their local environment and share the results over the Internet.
In addition, participants will be put into groups according to similarities in the
environmental problems of their particular regions so they may compare, contrast and
analyze environmental problems.
Extension
activity - Old Forest Owl Ecosystem activities - This
website explores the complex ecosystem of an old-growth forest. It provides numerous
activities which would be great as extension activities focusing on forests and owls.
Smithsonian Institution - The web page for the Smithsonian Institution traveling Ocean Planet
exhibit. This exhibit will be at the Boston Museum of Science from 10/10/98 - 1/3/99.
Wylands
Kids - A Web site which focuses on the ocean art created
by Wylands. There are a number of pages at this site which would be interesting for
students to view as well as enable our schools to participate in ocean art contests with
students from around the US.
Give Water a Hand - This is national watershed education program designed to involve young
people in local environmental service projects.
Sites Alive Program - This program offers high school students with opportunities to travel to
various ecosystems to study firsthand the environments. It also provides a number of
teacher activity resources as well as student research and graphic resources.
Ocean Book List - This provides a listing of great ocean books recommended by student.
Rain
forest Ecosystem information - This site provides information about rain
forests which is great for both teachers and students.
Newton Projects on the
Wetlands - This site provides activities on the wetlands ecosystem.
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Informal assessment will be made through the following:
Formal assessment will be made through the following:
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As stated above, the listing of activities and the Internet resources (in some instances) have been provided as additional supplemental and extension activities for teachers and students.
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