Unit 1 Plan

Backward Design:
Backward
Begin with the end in mind
Develop a clear understanding of where you want to go
Map out the steps to get you there
Design
To have purposes and intentions; to plan and execute
Stage 1-Identify Desired
Results:
What are the desired
results for learners to do?
During this stage ask
What big ideas are worthy of
understanding and implied in
the established goals (ex:
content standards, curriculum
objectives)? What permanent
understandings are desired?
What essential questions are
worth pursuing to guide
student inquiry into these big
ideas?
What should students know
and be able to do? What
specific knowledge and skills
are targeted in the goals and
needed for effective
performance?

Stage 1 Desired Results

During this stage ask
Big Idea: Conflict, balance, and carrying
capactiy
Essential Questions:
How does population affect the way that
ecosystems and communities function?
Guiding Questions:
-What are the needs of an ecosystem or
community?
-What factors limit the size of a population?
-What factors encourage the growth of a
population?
-How are population and conflict connected?
-How have humans impacted the populations
of animal species?
-How can humans identify and help with overor under-populated animal species?

Established Goals
Topic: How does conflict
impact balance?
Standards:
What relevant goals, (content

(From NGSS 5th grade standards)

Use models to describe that that energy in animals

food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to
maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
[Clarification Statement: Examples of models could

standards) will this course

address?

include diagrams, and flow charts.]

Develop a model to describe the movement of matter
among plants, animals, decomposers, and the
environment.[Clarifcation Statement: Emphasis is on the
idea that matter that is not food (air, water, decomposed
materials in soil) is changed by plants into matter that is
food. Examples of systems could include organisms,
ecosystems, and the Earth.] [Assessment Boundary:
Assessment does not include molecular explanations.]

(from Middle School Standards)

Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the
effects of resource availability on organisms and
populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on cause and effect
relationships between resources and growth of individual
organisms and the numbers of organisms in ecosystems
during periods of abundant and scarce resources.]
Construct an argument supported by empirical
evidence that changes to physical or biological
components of an ecosystem affect populations.
[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on recognizing
patterns in data and making warranted inferences about
changes in populations, and on evaluating empirical
evidence supporting arguments about changes to
ecosystems.]

Understandings:
Students will understand that
What should students come
away understanding?

Essential Questions:

The Six Facets of

Understanding

Guiding Questions:

Understanding is not mere

knowledge of facts but
inference about why and
how.
When we truly understand,

How can we tell if human and animal

populations are healthy?

-What does a healthy human community look

like?
-What does a healthy urban forest ecosystem
look like?
-How are population and conflict related?

we
-What factors play into carrying capacity in a
region?
Can explain (observe and
describe)-via generalizations
-How does a human community become
or principles, providing justifies
unhealthy?
and systematic accounts of
phenomena, facts and data;
-How do animal communities become
make insightful connections
unhealthy?
and provide illuminating
examples of illustrations
- Are humans overpopulated?
Can interpret (questioning
-What impact can conflict have on an
and predicting, comparing
ecosystem and the surrounding community?
and connecting)-tell
meaningful stories; offer apt
translations; provide a
revealing historical or personal
Understandings:
dimension to ideas and events;
-Conflict impacts balance in communities and
make the object of
eco-systems.
understanding personal or
accessible through images,
-Scientists use observation and documentation
anecdotes, analogies, and
to learn more about their subject
models
Can apply (reasoning and
-Population factors relate to conflict
drawing conclusions)-Each player of a community affects the
effectively use and adapt what
community on small and large scales
we know in diverse and real
contexts we can do the
subject
Have perspective
Tasks:
(exploring viewpoints)-see
-How do we deal with/balance conflict?
and hear points of view
through critical eyes and ears;
-Analyze carrying capacity in Frick Park
see the big picture
Can empathize (finding
-Discuss and analyze conflict between
complexity)-find value in what colonizers and indigenous peoples
others might find odd, alien, or
- Bird ID-ing (as part of project)
implausible; perceive
sensitively on the basis of prior
direct experience
Have self-knowledge
(communicate ideas)-show
metacognitive awareness;
perceive the personal style,
prejudices, projections, and

habits of mind that both shape

and impede our own
understanding; are aware of
what we do not understand;
reflect on the meaning of
learning and experience

Students will know

(building blocks)

What key knowledge and skills

will students acquire as a result
of this unit?
-The overpopulation of the
whitetail deer affects
ecosystems and communities
around Western PA.
-The role producers,
consumers, and decomposers
play in a community.

Student will be able to (building blocks)

What should they eventually be able to do as a
result of such knowledge and skill?
-Observe, document and analyze carrying
capacity in an area of Frick Park
-Make connections between invasive
species/over-population and conflict in
communities
-Identify factors that may be causing an animal
population to be unhealthy

-Colonization affected and

reduced the native
communities in the United
States.
Vocabulary:
Biodiversity
Carrying Capacity
Population
Interdependence
Conflict
Balance
Colony
Colonization
Invasive Species

Outdoor Connections:
Hikes
Observation in the park
Possible Fieldtrips:
Audubon Society

Experts & Partnerships:

Game Commissioner
Ecologist
Ornithologist
Entomologist for the aphid project

Visible Thinking:
Types of thinking:
Observing and Describing
Questioning and Predicting
Reasoning and Drawing
Conclusions

Stage 2-Determine
Assessment Evidence
What evidence will be
needed to showcase
students abilities around
topic or concept?

Thinking Routines:
I used to think but now I think
Claim, Support, Question
See, Think, Wonder

-Documentation in EL notebooks

During this stage consider

evidence of learning, ask
How will we know that
students really understand
the identified big idea(s)?
How will we know if students
have achieved the desired
results and met the content
standards?
What will we accept as
evidence of proficiency?
What evidence/documentation
is needed to validate the
desired results of Stage 1?

Performance Tasks:
Through what authentic
performance tasks will
students demonstrate the
desired understandings?

Other Evidence:
Through what other evidence will students
demonstrate achievement of the desired
results?
How will students reflect upon and self-assess

By what criteria will

performances of understanding
by judged?

their learning?

-Pre-Assessment - Interview

-Exit Slips

-Authentic Assessment:
Struggle for Existence and
Population Growth in Aphids /
Lab Report (possible)

-Question and Answer

-Documentation in EL notebook

-Classroom discussions

-Animal Research Project (likely

birds)
- Summative assessment
(would be great to have this
occur off-site)
Stage 3- Plan Learning
Experiences and Instruction
What are the learning
activities?
During this stage ask
What will need to be taught
and coached? How should it
best be taught, in light of the
performance goals?
What sequence of activity best
suits the desired results?
How will we make learning
both engaging and effective,
given the goals and needed
evidence?
Learning Activities:
What learning experiences and
instruction will enable students
to achieve the desired results?
Help the students know where
the unit is going and what is
expected-prior knowledge
Hook all the students and hold
their interest

Lesson plans

Provide opportunities to rethink

and revise their work and
understandings
Allow students to evaluate
their work
Tailor to different needs,
interests, and learning abilities