Classroom Observation and Reflection

Debra Proffitt

Running head What is Biological diversity

Grade levels: 4 to 6.
Subjects: Science, Biology, And Environmental Education
Duration: 1 hour

Introduction

Students will participate in whole group instruction. Teacher will gather students to the front of the classroom, on the carpet, there are chairs line up five one side and five on the other side Students play a round of musical chairs using drawings of different species in a food web. The disappearance of chairs signals the extinction of that species. Students learn how the extinction of species affects others in the food web.

Grouping and Group Work:
Student will form groups of two or three and discuss important details, concepts, and main ideas presented in the Musical Chairs session. They will work together to come up with a list of details to share with the class. Each group will create a mini-book called: My Journal of different environment . I will provide colored paper for each group and they will have 30 minutes to decide what they want to put inside. The journal will be four pages long. 1. Sentence summary of the Journal with an illustration
2. Favorite part of the journal with an illustration
3. Important concept presented in the Journal with an illustration and
4. Another important concept presented in the Journal with an illustration. Click on the picture to access the directions for making the Journal (A diversity Plan)

Objectives
By the end of the activity, the students will be able to:
Explain how plants and animals support each other in the food chain or food web;
Identify human caused species loss as one of the major current threats to biodiversity;
Explain the species diversity level of biodiversity;
Explain how the disappearance of one species affects other species

Skills: Students will develop skills in the following areas: Organizing their knowledge into KWL charts.
Materials
Blackboard, chalk, paper, drawing tools and source of music (teacher can sing

1 VOCABULARY LIST

Biodiversity, carnivore, decomposer, ecosystem, food chain, food web, herbivore,
Microorganism, omnivore, species.

Procedure
Part 1 Understanding food webs (30 minutes)
.
1.As a class, create a KWL chart and fill in the K and W columns. This step will help students start reflecting on biodiversity, and is an opportunity to introduce new vocabulary.

2.Explain learning objectives of this exercise. Have students read what is biological diversity? In Biodiversity, food and farming for a healthy planet If reading in class, students can take turns reading out loud.

4.Explain new vocabulary as the section is read in class or when the reading is assigned.

3.Have students create a word wall to put on the wall for the duration of the biodiversity module.

.
In small groups (or as a class), have students brainstorm examples of food chains, identify the component microorganisms, plants and animals and explain the relationships among the components. (See sample below.)

5.Write the five typical levels of food chains on the black board (plants/primary producers,
Herbivores, omnivores, carnivores, decomposers). Have students classify each species in their food chain according to these divisions. Have students write each species in
Its appropriate category on the board. There should be multiple organisms for each level of the food chain.

6.Draw lines connecting the various components of each food chain. Use a different colored chalk for each food chain. Students should recognize that one species could be part of multiple food chains. Explain that a food web is various food chains that are connected.
Explain that the connections between species are why biodiversity is sometimes called the web of life.

7.Ask students how humans, human activity and human inventions can affect food web in positive and negative ways. Students should consider the effects of various levels for individual species, for a particular food chain, and for the entire food web felling trees
To build homes destroys plant and animal habitats and disrupts an entire food web; birds
Have less food to eat when farmers apply insecticides to kill insect pests). Before sharing
Their answers with the class have students spend one minute sketching their answers.

8.Have students select one or more food chains for the game. Have students choose one species they want to draw (ensuring that there is at least one species per category. Only one species per piece of paper.

9.After students have completed their drawings, ask students to arrange the drawings in a web, according to the food chain

Game to understand biodiversity loss (30 minutes).

10. Explain that the rules of game (an adaptation of musical chairs):
The drawings are set up in a circle (one drawing per student).
The music is turned on and the students walk around the drawings.
The teacher sneaks in and takes one of the drawings out representing the loss of a species. When the music stops the students sit on the drawings.
The student left standing is taken out of the game.
The teacher shows the picture of the extinct species‘ and asks the students what could have made this species go extinct?
Students have 30 seconds to consult with the student sitting next to them. The teacher asks two or three groups to report their conclusions.
The students all stand again and the music is started again. Another drawing is removed.
This procedure is continued for several rounds.
After several rounds have students compare the remaining species to the food webs on the board. Ask if and how any of the remaining species would be affected by the loss of removed species. Repeat previous steps until only one student remains. Ask what would happen to the species if it were the only species remaining
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11.Play the game.

12.Finish with a short discussion on species extinction and a brainstorming session on what students can to reduce and eliminate biodiversity loss.

13.As a class, complete the L column of the KWL chart

Assessment: Student participate in the food web discussion. Active student participation in brainstorming session of what students can to reduce and eliminate biodiversity loss.
See appendix 3(a) for a sample rubric for assessing participation and group work.

Internet resources

The 3minute 2010 video is visually appealing and contains good background information on biodiversity issues for teachers; however, the words change too quickly for young students to read. Coding/videos/
Food websbigelow.org/edhab/fitting_algae.htmlarcytech.org/java/population/facts_foodchain.html
Gould.edu.au/foodwebs/kids_web.htm

Food Chains and the Food Web

Know What I Learned What I Want To Know What I Learned

Me and My Husband Put this on our wall and I took it and placed it so if you want to think differently that is ok I still have plenty of pictures that say the same thing

[pic]

I learned how to Play the Game with a Modification I want to know how many kinds of Predation of native species Biodiversity can be broken Down into three different types of Diversity: I want to know about biodiversity Competition for resources: Invasive species can compete into With natives for food and space I want to know more about my food Organismal diversity, which is • Choices is divided into species, general • , families, orders phyla and and domains or kingdoms kingdoms • Ecological diversity, • which is broken into populations, • communities, habitats, ecosystems • , and biomes • Genetic diversity, which includes • genes, chromosomes, • individuals and populations

Make a habitat Species there are In the Pacific Ocean has lost Most of it’s birds to an Invasive. I learned about how they feel about biodiversity . Predation: Guam, an island In the Pacific Ocean has lost Most of it’s birds to an Invasive. I learned about how they feel about biodiversity

. I want to know more about my food Choices
We talked about a few ways conservation happens: population recovery,
Recolonization, and creating reserves. Some conservation Groups also get involved in Restoration, the process of Recreating habitats that have Been destroyed or fixing
Habitats that have been Damaged. Predation: Guam, an island In the Pacific Ocean has lost Most of it’s birds to an Invasive. I learned about how they feel about biodiversity

RESOURCES

http://www.cbd.int/ibd/2008/resources/teachers/1.shtml