Lesson Plan Summary

Blake Crose, Taylor Newman, Taylor Tarbutton

How do humans affect wildlife?

Objectives (SWBAT)
Analyze the niches of various organisms
Evaluate diversity in the nature reserve
Compare and contrast human impact on wildlife
Assess impact on organisms living in rural versus urban
areas


Standards
CDL.7.B.5
NS.11B.1
NS.11.B.6
NS.13.B.2
NS.13.B.3

Engage
(First half of class)The teacher will take students to nature trail to
observe organisms and their interactions with each other and their
environment. The teacher will inform the students that they are to
choose an organism commonly found in that area.

(Second half of class)The students will go back to the classroom
and carry out an activity with a kinesthetic representation of
competition. One example of competition their chosen organism
might encounter must be documented in the daily notebook. The
students must also record one instance when humans might
possibly hurt this organism for their benefit and one instance when
humans might possibly help this organism for their benefit.

**Each day back into class, 3 notebooks will be randomly selected
and the contents from the previous day read aloud. This is meant to
help refresh the students about what they have learned and to also
give them insight into what the other students learned. Warn them
about this before they document their first entry. This is to help
motivate the students to put legitimate answers.

Explore
(First half of class)
The teacher will take the students to the Nature Reserve to get start
ed
on the project. The observations and data collections will start taki
ng place. The students will use the worksheet titled "Who can live
here?" for guidance.
The students will check with the teacher to make sure they are getti
ng the right data and are documenting the right observations. The
diversity of one or more species on the nature trail should be
recorded by the student in their daily notebooks.
(Second half of class)The students will act out a second activity in
the form of a game to demonstrate human and ecological
interactions.
Explain
The students will be shown an example poster. A "Good Speaking
Skills" handout with proper presentation etiquette will be handed
out at least 3 days prior to the presentation. The expectations of the
poster will be laid out in the form of the rubric.

Elaborate
The teacher will take the students to the library so students can thes
tart researching the organism further. They will gather additional
data on the organism found in other living environments. (ie. a
squirrel lives in the forest and also the city) The
students will check-in with the teacher to make sure they are
collecting data from accurate and reliable resources. The teacher
will also verify that the students are staying on task in researching
their organisms in multiple
environments.. After the research, students can start to outline their
poster and speech presentation. The teacher shall advise the
students to refer to their "Good Speaking Skills" handout when
preparing for the presentation.

Evaluate (formative)
Oral presentation at the end of the experiment
Self-assessment during group work/research
Daily notebook
Who can live here? worksheet

Resource Requirements:
Library for research
The nature reserve to conduct the experiment
Outside professional to evaluate the presentation
Mentor teacher