Mosquitoes

Sarah Yunus and Tiffany Chen

 Phenomenon: You are more likely to encounter a
mosquito in the summertime and not in the
wintertime in New York City.
● Driving Question: Why do we see so many mosquitoes in the summer,
but not in the winter, in NYC?
● Grade: 3rd
● Timeline: 9 lessons (lessons twice a week, one lesson on the last week)
and 45-60 minutes per lesson
 Performance Expectations
● 3-LS1-1: Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth,
growth, reproduction, and death. [Clarification Statement: Changes organisms go through during their life form a pattern.]
[Assessment Boundary: Assessment of plant life cycles is limited to those of flowering plants. Assessment does not include
details of human reproduction.]
● 3-LS4-3: Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive
less well, and some cannot survive at all. [Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence could include needs and
characteristics of the organisms and habitats involved. The organisms and their habitat make up a system in which the parts
depend on each other.]
● 3-LS4-4: Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of
plants and animals that live there may change.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of environmental changes could include
changes in land characteristics, water distribution, temperature, food, and other organisms.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment
is limited to a single environmental change. Assessment does not include the greenhouse effect or climate change.]
 Lesson 1
● The teacher will engage the students in this unit by doing a Know and Wonder chart (20
minutes). “What do you know about mosquitoes? What do you wonder about mosquitos?”
● Throughout the unit, students will pick vocabulary words that relate to mosquitoes and
create a visual chart to reference. Draw an initial model about showing where do you find
mosquitoes in the summer and what can be found in those habitats (i.e. water, food,
shelter).
○ Phenomenon revealed at the end of lesson: A lot of you mentioned that you often
see mosquitoes in summertime or whenever it is really warm outdoors. What we
need to try and find out, is why are we most likely able to see mosquitoes in the
summer, but not the winter in NYC.
○ For homework, students will ask their parents or other family members about their
experiences with mosquitoes (where did they find them?, when do they usually
appear”).
 Lesson 2
● Students will visit the
Insectarium (opening at the
American Museum of
Natural History in later
2017, early 2018). Make
observations about the
environment that insects
live in, including the
temperature, food source,
and other necessary
elements.
 Lesson 3
● Students will be learning about
the life cycle of a mosquito.
Students will connect it to how
mosquitoes adapt to their
environments. Revise their
models based on their
observations at the zoo and
what they learned about the
mosquitoes’ life cycle.
 Lesson 4
● Learning Objectives
○ Students will be able to understand how the different elements in an ecosystem contribute to an organism’s survival.
○ Students will be able to develop and use a model to connect to their understanding of a mosquitoes’ adaption to its
environment.
● Activity
○ Groups will place their materials in the mason jars (ie. soil, rocks, water, plants, flowers, tree bark).
○ Students will make a drawn model of their mason jar, labeling each item in the jar. Students will use this to justify their
use of the materials.
○ Groups will place the mason jars in a garden, an open space, or near the garbage bins for a duration of a weekend. By
placing the mason jars in different areas, the students can see whether their jars are effective in attracting different
insects in places that are prone to high population of insects (garbage and garden) and those that are not (open space).
This will further their understanding of environments that are suitable for insects and connect that observation to
mosquitoes.
○ The teacher will film their mason jars and surrounding environment for a short duration to allow students to observe the
insects.
 Differentiation
● We will incorporate the use of sign language in class, for agreements, disagreements, or unsure.
● Students will be using multiple forms to convey information (writing explanations, speaking in
groups, presenting to the whole class their reasoning, drawing models and labeling)
● Sentence starters will be given to students at the introduction of the lesson.
● Vocabulary words about what we’ve learned thus far present on a science word wall in the
classroom. Each word can contain a picture pertaining to the vocabulary word.
● If a student is not comfortable with speaking English (for example, if they are at an early ELL level)
they can be in a group where at least one student speaks their native language. This way the
student can feel comfortable participating in their group.
 Lesson 5
● Students will make observations
about what they noticed about
their environments after
collecting their mason jars back
and watching the video clip. Some
questions we might ask would
include, “Were there any evidence
of insects crawling into their
jars?” and “Do you think that if
the weather was different, the
results would be affect?”
 Lesson 6
● In this lesson, we will discuss with
students how different weather
patterns change the environments of
different species. We will have VS
students notice the weather
difference in the habitats of insects
compared to other species when they
were at the zoo.
 Lesson 7
● Students will revise their models based on the
discussion of weather patterns. Then, they will
use their models to discuss which elements in
the habitat and which ideal weather condition
are better for mosquitoes to thrive in. (i.e. In the
summer, mosquitoes have enough water, sugar
from flowers, and warm temperature to keep
them alive.) This conclusion should be based on
their observations and data collected from their
habitats placed outside.
 Lesson 8
● Students gather their claims and
evidence to come to a class consensus
about the phenomenon and create a
video to inform the community how to
avoid mosquitoes based on which
environments are mosquitoes most
prevalent in.
 Lesson 9
● Students will discuss with their families
ways to get rid of mosquitoes (i.e.
mosquito repellant). Then, students will
design a solution to how to decrease
the amount of mosquitos around their
home or community. Students can do
this in groups, made by the teacher.
 Assessments
● Baseline Assessment:
○ Students should be making observations about the different components found in a variety of habitats in comparison to their own physical
model.
○ Students are creating and revising their models of the ideal environment for mosquitoes to thrive in.
○ Students should be engaging in arguments about how different components interact to form different habitats and make connections to how
weather also affects the dynamic of the environments.
● Summative Assessment:
○ Student’s videos about ways to modify their environment so that there are less pesky mosquitoes attracted to the environment
■ Criteria:
● Students must include information on the types of environments mosquitoes are likely and not likely to be found in with
evidence from their models and arguments.
● Students must also include the types of weather patterns that are associated with the presence of mosquitoes during
certain types of weather. Students must explain how weather affects an environment and how that environment change
may affect the organism (ie. the mosquito) that lives in or presides over it.
● Students will mention their sources for their information--any data that they collected.