FRIT 7234

Mini Lesson 2: Biomes

B. Pearce
S7L4. Students will examine the dependence of organisms on one another and their
environments. 

e. Describe the characteristics of Earth’s major terrestrial biomes (i.e. tropical rain forest,
savannah, temperate, desert, taiga, tundra, and mountain) and aquatic communities (i.e.
freshwater, estuaries, and marine). 

ISTE Standards for Students
2. Communication and collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively,
including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of
others.
 2.a Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others
employing a variety of digital environments and media
3. Research and information fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
 3.b Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize and ethically use
information from a variety of sources and media
4. Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making
Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve
problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.
 4.a Identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for
investigation

Digital Information Fluency

1.E Learners select and apply appropriate search strategies to effectively and efficiently
locate reliable digital information related to their academic learning goals
 Navigate hyperlink, i.e. browsing strategies
2.B Learners evaluate the quality of a search result to determine the reliability of its
content
 Investigate internal content reliability (accuracy)
3.A Learners ethically use digital information
 Learners cite the source and/or author for the selected digital information

Principles of Inquiry-Based Learning

Deep Understanding- The interaction of humans and their impact on biomes is a
political controversy. Students will understand how biomes are affected by global
warming. They will be able to collect and analyze research that suggests that the human
impact on biomes is damaging them. This will help the student choose how to interact
with their environment in a way that least impacts their biome and the biomes of others.
Assessment- Students will demonstrate their knowledge and understanding by engaging
in disussions, debates, and through the design of a project centered around a biome.
Demonstration of Understanding – Students will publicly demonstrate their
understanding with their presentation about a biome. Students will be able to share and
improve their ideas as they gain feedback from the instructor and their peers.
Learner Success- The assessment provides an opportunity for the student to set their
own project management goal and determine roles, facilitated discussions, and resolve
conflicts.
Engage, Enhance, Extend
The creation of the presentation about a biome and the use of the internet to research the
information related to the debate enhances the learner’s knowledge about the subject.
Students are able to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the content because
they interact closely with features of the biome and become well versed in the things that
are affecting it. The presentation tool allows students to demonstrate their understanding
in ways they could not with traditional tools.

Essential questions-
Why are there different types of environments on Earth? Why isn’t there just one?
Why are biomes important?
How are the biomes affected by its inhabitants?
What can you do to protect the biomes?

Lesson Plan:
Step 1: Explain what a biome is.

Step 2: Allow students to search the website from curated content and familiarize
themselves with the biomes. As they search they should pick a biome to explore more
closely. As they pick their biomes they should enter it onto the discussion board with a
brief description of why they picked it. No more than four students are allowed to work
on one biome. Link to different biomes is in curated content.

Step 3: Students will take ownership of their biome and create a presentation with the
Web 2.0 tool of their choice. With the Web 2.0 tool students will begin to design their
presentation about their chosen biome. Students are required to post their presentation to
the discussion board labeled with their biome name in order to collaborate later in the
lesson. The presentation should include images of the terrain, plants and animal life, a
description of the climate, and other facts about the biome. Citations must be provided for
content, curated resources provided. Curated resource linked, with information about the
global warming debate

Step 4: Students will view the presentation of their peers critique them or comment with
additional information or questions. Once the peer reviews are completed, students will
revise their presentations.

Step 5: Students will collaborate with students who have studied the same biome. They
will research within Galileo, linked in curated site, and on the internet various problems
that are occurring in that biome. Students will note these issues and what researchers
suggest is the cause. Climate change must be one of the areas looked at regarding each
biome.

Step 6: Assignment
Students will use the information they have acquired to debate the impact of climate
change on their studied biome.
Curated resources- https://www.pinterest.com/baziel/biomes/

Assessment Assignment-
You will debate this topic. You will not know which side of the debate you will be on,
until it is time for the debate. You will debate in teams, regarding the biome you have
already studied. Each biome will debate this question: Is climate change affecting my
biome? And if so, what are some of the causes? If not, how is that the case?

In the debate you must counter your opponents arguments at least twice. Each person on
the team must contribute to the debate. Arguments must be clearly stated and backed up
with facts. Debates will last up to ten minutes.

When the debate is over, write a discussion board post stating which biome you
represented, which side of the argument, and whether or not your opponent’s case was
convincing. You are also required to comment on the debate of at least two other biomes.
Include one compliment and one area where there is room for improvement.