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SAMPLE PLANNING GUIDE ON OCEAN HABITATS
Author(s) Janice Smith, Cherylnn James, and Kristin Wallace
Content Area/Unit Science/Ocean Ecosystems
Grade Level 4th Grade Time Frame 2 months (3 times /week; 1 hr. periods)
Start Date 1-3-02
Final Product/Project Creation of concept map; PowerPoint presentation
This planning guide is designed to help teachers conceptualize and prepare a unit of focus. It is organized in a way to help teachers collect the necessary resources for the unit.
CORE CONCEPTS, SUPPORTING CONCEPTS AND STANDARDS
Core Concept: (See activity for teachers for generating core and supporting concepts)
Ocean Ecosystems
Supporting Concepts: What supporting concepts/big ideas will students learn?
Content Standards: What content standards address supporting concepts?
Supporting Concept # 1: Characteristics of major ocean habitats
Content Standards: Habitats are places that provide optimum space, food, water, and oxygen, as well as suitable temperature and light
Supporting Concept # 2: Diversity of organisms within the ocean habitats
Content Standards : Habitats are places that provide optimum space, food, water, and oxygen, as well as suitable temperature and light.
Supporting Concept # 3: Physical characteristics of organisms within ocean habitats
Content Standards: Marine organisms have special structures and variations in physiology that adapt them to different ocean habitats
Supporting Concept # 4: Adaptation of organisms within ocean habitats
Content Standards: Marine organisms have special structures and variations in physiology that adapt them to different ocean habitats
Supporting Concept # 5: Energy flow - sunlight is a major source of energy
Content Standards: Energy flows between members of a community (interacting populations in a common location)
Supporting Concept # 6: Food web - identifying relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers
Content Standards:
The marine food chain/web is based on tiny plants (phytoplankton) that live in upper waters of the ocean
Food webs express relationship between producers, consumers, decomposers
Supporting Concept # 7:Changes in resources in an ecosystem affect the organisms in a habitat
Content Standards:
Changes in the marine environment affect the health and abundance of the marine organisms living there
The number of organisms an ecosystem in a habitat can support depends on the resources available and abiotic factors (amount of light and water, temperature, soil composition)
Lack of resources, predation, and climate limit growth of populations
Supporting Concept # 8: Limited resources, predation, and climate affect organisms in a habitat
Content Standards:
Lack of resource, predation, and climate limit growth of populations
The number of organisms an ecosystem in a habitat can support depends on the resources available and abiotic factors (amount of light and water, temperature, soil composition)
Science Investigations and Experimentation Standards
Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations:
Other Standards: What other standards (other content standards, technology standards, information literacy standards) will be addressed?
Language Arts: Reading Comprehension
Research and Technology
Listening/Speaking
Technology Standards
Information Literacy Standards
Social Responsibility
RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT TO SUPPORT LEARNING
What resources will you make available to students to conduct their research? (be sure you have a wealth of resources available to students in all of the following categories; also be sure to include appropriate citations so you can find these resources later)
o Technology Related Resources (web sites, CD's, online encyclopedias)
o Print Related Resources (books, magazines, pamphlets, encyclopedia)
Strange Monsters of the Sea by Richard Armour (1982)
How Did We Find Out About Life in the Deep Sea by Isaac Asimov (1982)
Coral Reef Fish by Sue Beauregard & Jill Fairchild (1982) ·
Ocean Plants by Sue Beauregard & Jill Fairchild (1982) ·
The Rock Pool by David Bellamy (1988) ·
Exploring an Ocean Tide Pool by Jeanne Bendick (1992) ·
The Oceans by Martyn Bramwell (1987) ·
Realms of the Sea by Kenneth Bower (1991) ·
Coral Reef: a city that never sleeps by Mary Cerullo (1996) ·
The Magic School Bus, On the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole (1992) ·
Mysterious Seas by Mary Elting (1983) ·
What's for Lunch? The Eating Habits of Seashore Creatures by Sam Epstein (1985) ·
Creatures of the Sea by John Christopher Fine (1989) ·
Ocean by Theresa Greenway (1994) ·
Under the Sea by Anita Guneri and Jakki Wood ·
The World Beneath the Sea by Susan Harris (1979) ·
Coral Reefs by Dwight Holing (1995) ·
Sea Squares by Joy Hulme (1991) ·
Coral Reefs by Sylvia Johnson (1984) ·
Seas and Oceans by David Lambert (1985) ·
The Pacific Ocean by David Lambert ·
Sea Shapes by Suse MacDonald (1994) ·
Eyewitness Books: Ocean by Miranda Macquitty ·
The World's Top Ten Oceans and Seas by Neil Morris ·
Sea Creatures Do Amazing Things by Arthur Myers (1981) ·
Seashore by Steve Parker (1989) ·
What's in the Deep? by Alese Pechter (1991) ·
Oceans of the World: our essential resources by Kirk Polking (1983) ·
Coral Reefs by Laurence Pringle (1995) ·
Corals by Lili Ronali (1976) ·
Oceans by Seymour Simon (1990) ·
Night of Ghosts and Hermits: nocturnal life on the seashore by Mary Stolz (1985) ·
Safari Beneath the Sea: the wonder world of the North Pacific Coast by Diane Swanson (1994) ·
Coral Reef by Barbara Taylor (1992) ·
Giant Sea Creatures, Real and Fantastic by John Frederick Waters (1973) ·
Discovering Saltwater Fish by Alwyne Wheeler (1988) ·
Beneath the Waves: exploring the hidden world of the kelp forest by Norbert Wu (1992) ·
Sea Stars and their Kin by Herbert Zim (1976)
o People Related Resources (experts, librarians, parents, older students)
o Place Resources (field trips, museums, labs, gardens, community)
o Observation (touch, smell, see, hear, taste)
o Other · None
Environment
What needs to be done to your classroom environment to spark students' interests? See Environment Worksheet
Space
Display
Materials: at least 30 books on the ocean (go to public library if necessary)
LEARNING EXPERIENCES
What initial learning experiences (activities) will you provide before the unit of study begins to develop common background knowledge and spark curiosity?
CORE CONCEPT 1 - characteristics of major ocean habitats
· Treasures in Tide Pools (activity as part of Cabrillo Marine Museum Outreach Program field trip)
CORE CONCEPTS 2 and 3 - diversity of organisms within ocean habitats physical characteristics of organisms within ocean habitats
· Create class database for characteristics of organisms in ocean habitats
CORE CONCEPT 4 - adaptation of organisms within ocean habitats
· Animal Adaptation Workshop - field trip to UCLA Ocean Discovery Center
· Characteristics/adaptations activity called Is This My Neighborhood? from Cabrillo Marine Museum On-line (http://www.cabrilloaq.org/preback.htm)
· Organisms adaptations activity called How Do They Make a Living? from Cabrillo Marine Museum On-line (http://www.cabrilloaq.org/prebefor.htm)
CORE CONCEPT 5 - energy flow: sunlight as a major source of energy
· Energy Flows Through a System activity from Discovery Works, Unit B Teacher's Handbook
CORE CONCEPT 6 - food webs: identifying relationships among producers, consumers and decomposers
· Food web activity called Who's Connected? from Cabrillo Marine Aquarium On-line (http://www.cabrilloaq.org/preback.htm)
CORE CONCEPT 7 - changes in resources affects the ecosystem in habitat
· Heal the Bay Clean-up activity during field trip to Santa Monica Beach
· Cleaning Up an Oil Spill, activity by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) On-line (http://www.epa.gov/oilspill/elemlab.htm)
What essential skills, requiring direct instruction, will you provide to ensure that all students successfully engage in the inquiry process?
SENSEMAKING
How will you assess that students truly understand the information they are going to use?
Meaning Constructing Assessments:(concept map, T chart, venn diagram, flow chart)
Have students, individually or in cooperative groups, use some type of graphic representation to show what they know. Have students explain their graphic representation to the class with the intent that questions asked by the class will help clarify what is known and what needs further research for those presenting.
Students will, in their research groups, construct a concept map to synthesize what they know. Initially, the students in each group will generate all words and phrases associated with their research. They will then categorize the words and label the categories. After this first phase is completed, students will then construct a concept map using the category labels as the big ideas from which the supporting ideas will flow. Each big idea and supporting idea will be connected with a linking word (also generated by the students) to show relationships between big ideas and supporting ideas, and between big ideas. Once students have finished creating their concept map, they will defend it in front of the rest of the class.
REFLECTING AND REFINING
Do students have enough information to answer their question(s)? Conference with students to ensure they have enough information to create new knowledge. Having students create a concept map of what they know, often reveals gaps in information that needs to be addressed to fully answer the research question(s). If students do not have enough information then they need to go back and get more. If students have too much information they must decide what is relevant to answering the research question.
USING INFORMATION
How will students communicate what they have learned as a result of their research? Possible ways that students can communicate information include multimedia presentation, diorama, written report, play, oral report, model, poster, pamphlet, etc.)
Using the finished concept map and their note cards, each research group will create a PowerPoint presentation. The presentation will have two different foci: 1) answers to the research questions, and 2) presentation of big ideas with supporting ideas. Each research group will present their PowerPoint presentation to the entire class.
Guidelines for success - What criteria will students use to assess how well they have communicated their findings (have students use a rubric to assess progress during the creation process. This may be teacher generated but is best if students and teacher generate together. Presenting the finished product - When and how will students present what they have learned? In other words, who will be their audience? This should be known by students well in advance of planning how they will communicate their findings. Who the audience is has a great deal to do with how you choose to present findings. Note: Ongoing assessment should occur during the entire process. Students should be asked to reflect on the process used, and the results they have achieved two to three times a week. This provides feedback to both the student and teacher about what worked well and what needs more instruction.
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This page was last updated March 5, 2002 This teacher resource was created to support the AT&T/UCLA Initiative for 21st Century Literacies. This Sample Planning Guide was created by Sharon Sutton Links for this page are maintained by Mary Schrader Lasica, AT&T. |