DRAKE UNIVERSITY LESSON PLANNING TEMPLATE

GENERAL INFORMATION Name: Gina Digiantonio Lesson Title: Environmental Science Grade level(s)/Course: 9th grade, General Biology Date taught: Day 2 INFORMATION ABOUT THE LESSON Content Standards: Understand and apply knowledge of the interdependence of organisms Communicate and defend scientific procedures and explanations Design and conduct scientific investigations Enduring Understanding and/or Essential Question: Scientists use experiments to deduce information Humans modify ecosystems Instructional Objectives: Students will design a scientific experiment to address an ecological question. Students will be able to understand a case study of a conservation issue as shown by offering one viable solution for the situation. Prior Learning/Prior Thinking I will encourage the students to think about what they have learned about how humans modify our environment and the environment of animals. This will be the general information they need, and the specific background information I will give to the students in a powerpoint before the case study. LESSON IMPLEMENTATION Anticipatory Set/Elicit Prior Knowledge I will have students design their experiments based on the discussion of good experiments that we talked about in Day 1. I will ask them to check to make sure they are committing to those standards

DRAKE UNIVERSITY LESSON PLANNING TEMPLATE

and the safety rules for equipment. Focus/Purpose Statement Today we will investigate the different factors that go into a conservation situation and try to come up with solution. Procedures Put students into groups of 4 and have them design an experiment to test a hypothesis that is related to an aspect of plant growth that can be tested in the classroom and does not require extensive supplies. o Once their experiment is approved, they will need to design the procedure (15 minutes) Case study- Caribou conservationhttp://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/files/caribou_notes.pdf o Background information (5 minutes) Powerpoint that introduces the situations of the wolves and the fictional Environmental wildlife biologist, Rachel Advice to a government that is legally obligated to protect the caribou but the area has a lot of economic value Wondering if killing the wolves would be a solution for the caribou situation o Jigsaw Part 1 (10 minutes) Students are divided into 4 groups, and each group reads 4 short passages Caribou biology Wolf biology Landscapes and landscape change Species interactions/Food webs o Jigsaw Part 2 (10 minutes) Students leave their expert groups and form groups with one student from each group Share their information and come up with conclusion o Class discussion Is a wolf-cull a viable long-term caribou conservation strategy? List important points (5 minutes) Get opinions of each group and write on board the factors Give other potential solutions to the problem (5 minutes)

Differentiation The jigsaw can be a form of differentiation because there are 4 topics and if a student has a special

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interest in a topic I will put them in that group. Closure At the end of the lesson, the students will give their final solution to the problem that I presented to them. This requires them to combine and evaluate all the things they learned through the lesson into one statement. Materials and Resources Plants, soil, counter space for plant experiments Readings that are given in the case study. Classroom Management/Democratic Practices Since each student will become the expert, they will be empowered to cooperate in the jigsaw. ASSESSMENT

During the lesson Informal Formative Assessment Groups will write their solutions on the board which will give me an idea for where they are at.

At the end of the lesson Summative- Part of the plant summative assessment