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Technology Integrated Lesson Plan Teacher Name: Kim Dodson Title of Lesson: Interacting in ecosystems!

Grade Level: 7th Subject Taught: Science Time Frame for Lesson: Two 45 minute class periods Summary: This lesson is a journey through several interactive websites over ecosystems, carbon and nitrogen cycles, and symbiotic relationships. The main purpose of this activity is to allow students the opportunity to manipulate data to determine changes in ecosystems. More often these days, school districts have cut field trip budgets and ask teachers to find other ways to allow students the opportunity to observe natural occurrences in ecosystems. The websites in this lesson do just that. Once students finish they will give feedback on what they learned in a comic strip they will create online and email to me. TEKS/Standards: 7.5C Diagram the flow of energy through living systems, including food chains, food webs, and energy pyramids. 7.10A- Observe and describe how different environments, including microhabitats in schoolyards and biomes, support different varieties of organisms. 7.10B- Observe how biodiversity contributes to the sustainability of an ecosystem. 8.11A Describe producer/consumer, predator/prey, and parasite/host relationships as they occur in food webs within marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems. 8.11B- Investigate how organisms and populations in an ecosystem depend on and may compete for biotic and abiotic factors such as quantity of light, water, range of temperatures, or soil composition. Instructional objectives: Students will be able to identify the difference between the carbon cycle and nitrogen cycle. Identify the difference between abiotic and biotic factors and the three types of symbiotic relationships. Analyze data in a population to determine what factors would need to be manipulated to sustain populations in a balanced state in which all organisms survive and reproduce. Students will create a comic strip with each of the concepts above narrated in individual boxes in the strip. Learning Theory/Instructional Design: This lesson is patterned after the cognitivist theory that students learn when information enters through the senses and then undergoes mental manipulation. I honestly believe students learn better by first discussing the concept to activate prior knowledge, and then observing the concept through manipulation. As with Gagnes 9 events of instruction, this lesson pulls on prior knowledge that has been activated the week prior through slide presentations for each concept. Students are asked questions to demonstrate their knowledge before beginning this lesson. This allows me to make sure everyone remembers the concepts discussed and answer questions for anyone who may have been absent recently. Since students have had several assignments this year using the internet and are familiar with the browser they prefer, I only need to remind them to update the Flashplayer from the self-install folder provided by the district. Students will practice using the websites provided and answering questions for each with their partner. When they finish, they

will create a comic strip using the information they found to reinforce the concepts. Comic strips will be printed and posted around the classroom for a gallery walk when finished. Learning environment: Students will work in the classroom and be given the opportunity to collaborate with a partner during the activity. Each student must complete the questions on their own paper. Technology Tools and Resources: Websites are already selected and linked in a Word document which also contains the questions and directions for each site students will need. Each site is a simple mouse click away. Flashplayer for the students chosen web browser must be up-to-date for some sites to work appropriately. All students will use district issued laptops to complete this lesson over two class periods. If a student does not have a laptop, the teacher desktop computers are available for their use or they may work with another student to complete the assignment. To create my video presentation of this lesson, I used Screen-Cast-Omatic for recording purposes. It allows me to record up to 15 minutes in one upload. I can create a video using parts of my screen or fullscreen depending on my preference. Procedures: Students will be directed to the Word document for the ecosystem web activity either on the teacher website, or in a network directory that students have access to. Once they open the document, they will begin by clicking the first hyperlink and completing the definitions and questions below it. They will then do this for each link until they reach the end of the assignment. At the very end of the document, they will be instructed to create a comic strip using Make Beliefs Comix, an online educational comic strip generator. I will monitor students to make sure they are staying on-task during the activity.

Ecosystem web activity Click this link first Define 1-4 then answer 5 and 6 1. biotic 2. abiotic 3. producer 4. consumer 5. parasitism 6. mutualism 7. commensalism 8. A log comes from a tree. Why is it considered an abiotic part of the ecosystem?

9. What do you think might happen if the trees disappeared from this ecosystem?

A Ecosystem

B Habitat

C Community

D Population

Choose the most appropriate vocabulary term from the list above 1 ________ All the living and non-living things in an area 2 ________ All the ants in an anthill 3 ________ An area that provides food and shelter 4 ________ Fish, frogs, turtles, lily pads and dragonflies are all members of the same what? 5 ________ All the blackbirds in your neighborhood 6 ________ A forest 7 ________ The damp soil within a forest in which a mushroom grows 8 ________ Different populations that live together in a particular area 9 ________ A prairie dog, a hawk, and a badger all members of the same what? 10 ________ The rainbow trout in a stream Click Site #2 In the Niche and Habitat Game - What was your score? Click Site #3

Read the information on this page. If you do not understand a word, or want more information, click on the hyperlinks. The information on the Carbon cycle will be helpful on the next website. The reading level can be changed by clicking on the Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced Tab What is Carbon and where is it found? What are the six movements that carbon makes? How are humans responsible for more carbon in the atmosphere? Why are greenhouse gases necessary for our planet? Click Site #4 In this online interactive game, you are playing the role of carbon atoms. You will travel through the carbon cycle. After playing the game, answer these questions. 1. 2. 3. 4. How many stops can you make on your trip? Will your journey ever end? Was everyones journey the same? Why not? What would happen if we burned more fossil fuels?

Click Site #5 What was your score on the quiz? Click Site #6 How does lightening help make N2 useable? What kind of animal was shown during the Nitrogen Cycle Animation? Click Site #7 Define Producer Consumer Decomposer Click here to complete 4 habitat food chains Click Site #8 Click through the 10 instruction slides before you play the game. At the end of 50 years how many foxes did you have left? At the end of 50 years how many rabbits did you have left? At the end of 50 years how many plants did you have left? What was your score? Manipulate the numbers by adding more or less of each to see if your score changes. Did adding more of each make your score go up?

How is this similar to populations in nature? Click Site #9 What is the difference between a food web and a food chain?

Click site #10 Open the PowerPoint for symbiotic relationships Give 3 examples of Mutualism 1. 2. 3. Give 3 examples of Commensalism 1. 2. 3. Give 3 examples of Parasitism 1. 2. 3.

Click Site #11 Take the Ecological Relationship quiz. How many did you get correct? Click Site #12 Define Succession How have wildfires aided the Kirtlands Warbler? Click Site #13 Build a prairie Did you choose the right plants and animals to create a thriving prairie system? Click Site #14 Take the quiz over factors that limit populations in ecosystems. What was your score? Now that you have completed the web activities, go to the following website and create a comic strip over two of the topics below. The website will not save it, so please email your comic to me at kimberly.dodson@forneyisd.net. Make beliefs comix

Topics: Abiotic/biotic factors Carbon Cycle Nitrogen Cycle Food Webs Carrying Capacity Symbiotic relationships Limiting Factors Succession

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