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Ecosystems
Students create plots of land in three different ecosystems and use AppleWorks to collect data for research. This instructional activity includes a downloadable worksheet and can be accomplished in four days.
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Exploring Ecosystems
Fourth graders create an ecosystem as a class. They have already produced smaller ones. They use a pond or something similar on school grounds to meet the needs of certain plants and animals of their ecosystem. Specifically created will...
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Making Connections, Linking Population and the Environment
Students find out that all habitats have a carrying capacity. They explore how the world's human population has grown markedly in the 20th century, and that humans impact environmental health. Students investigate that people can and...
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Investigating Local Ecosystems
Students investigate the habitats of local plants and animals. They explore some of the ways animals depend on plants and each other. Students observe living organisms in a local ecosystem and create detailed drawings and descriptions...
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The Rain Forest
Students acquire knowledge about the basics of the tropical rain forest ecosystem. They analyze the cause/effect relationship between humans attitudes and behavior and the evnvironment. Students list the four general layers of vegetation...
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Plants and Animals Depend Upon One Another
First graders study plants and animals and how they depend on one another. They also study that plants give energy to animals and provide oxygen needed for life. Finally, 1st graders give examples of the roles plants and animals play...
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Home, Home on the River
Students examine the complex issues that result from human use of ecologically sensitive areas. They investigate these issues from the point of view of their major/career path.
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Water Retention and Soil Variation in Local Ecosystems
Young scholars identify the differences in local soil types and the relationship between soil size and water retention. They are introduced to microenvironmental conditions in ecosystem sustainability.
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Trophic Relationships, Cycling of Chemicals, Human Impact on Ecosystems and Conservation
Students explore how the energy flow through a system is related to trophic levels. They investigate how organisms affect the cycling of elements and water through the biosphere. Students participate in lab activities to observe ways...
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Which One Matters?
Students study the balance necessary to maintain ecosystems and how changing that balance can impact the ecosystem. They identify and discuss the need for balance in any ecosystem and discuss how greenhouse gases impact ecosystems.
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"Using Cichlids To Demonstrate the Effects of Human Activity On Ecosystems"
Students explore the freshwater ecosystem of Africa's Lake Victoria by creating a freshwater aquarium. They investigate factors affecting the aquarium's ecosystem and conduct lab activities.
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Nature and Fintess Trail
Students investigate how humans impact the environment and compile an organism database into an e-book field guide. They name muscle groups and develop specific exercises to strengthen these groups. Students utilize technology for data...
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The Captain And Lake Wilmar
Tenth graders examine the ecosystem of Lake Wilmar through three coordinated performance tasks. They first investigate the effects of pH on freshwater animals by comparing the zooplankton counts from three different areas. They then...
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Treasure Hunt
Students actively search a the ground outside and find several types of leaves, lichen, feathers and trash. They place items into journals, write entries, draw pictures and ask questions about the items found on their exploration.
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Why preserve biodiversity?
Students view photos of endangered species on the Internet and discuss the reasons why these animals are threatened and why they should be protected. They use the words: biodiversity, ecosystem, and extinction in sentences to demonstrate...
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Ecology and Ecosystem
Students are introduced to the concepts of ecology and ecosystems. In groups, they use the Internet to research one of six topics. They present their information to the class sharing the most interesting information they found. They...
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Forest Floor Terrarium
Students study the aspects of a forest floor ecosystem, including decomposition, the water cycle, food webs, the needs of living things, and physical vs. chemical change over an extended period. In addition, students conduct observations...
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The Bee Tree
Students engage in a variety of activities arranged around the reading of the book "The Bee Tree". This book will help students to understand the purpose of how an ecosystem can work together and that organisms influence each other for...
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Antifreeze - Anti Fish
Students participate in the production of a play that highlights the direct linkage between storm drains and natural river, stream, or creek ecosystems. They explore their thoughts, feelings, and actions through dramatic interaction and...
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Down, Dung and Dirty
Students investigate the stages of succession in animal dung communities. They create a dung culture using fresh cow, goat or horse dung then record data on the fungal species that appear over a two week period.
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Ecological Relationships
Students identify ecological elements and their factors on species, populations and food webs. They analyze ecosystems for these elements and research how these factors influence species survival rate. Predictions on conditions over time...
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Habitat Hunt: Clue Box
Students compile a collection of specimens, descriptions, and data that describe their local environment. They exchange this collection with another school and use their collection to determine the ecosystem surrounding the exchange school.
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Antarctica
Young scholars explore why Antarctica is so important to the planet. They investigate the physical characteristics. Students create their own unique treaty of governance for Antarctica and discuss how laws are enforced in Antarctica.
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The Many, Varied, and Unusual Places and Things on Earth
Students discover how energy flows through communities because of the relationship between producers, consumers and decomposers. Examining various ecosystems, they identify the materials that cycle continuously through them. They label...