|
Overview:
This lesson series is part of a larger unit entitled “Effects
of Climate Change on Species and Civilizations”. The interdisciplinary
unit covers two areas: Science and Social Studies. The essential questions
for each discipline are as follows:
Science: How does change in the temperature
of the ocean affect animal populations?
What impacts on animal populations are revealed by examining stranding
data? How does the impact vary from one part of the world to another?
What is the role of human activity in bringing about long-term climate
change? How can humans monitor the environment to determine what the
long-range effects are?
Social Studies: How does human activity
affect the natural environment and affect climate change? What factors
permit the rise of human civilizations? What human activities create
conditions under which civilizations can no longer exist?
Prior Knowledge :
•Jigsaw
research activity strategies
•Use
of graphic organizers
•Journal
Entries to connect to a text
•Descriptive
Writing
•Access
information through the Internet
Content Knowledge:
•
Normal patterns of wind and ocean currents
•
Normal seasonality and fluctuation in coastal oceans
Big Idea/Theme/Essential Questions:
Lesson Obejectives:
(1)
To describe El Niño and La Niña, their causes, and the
effects on the ocean
(2) To interpret seal surface temperature graphs in order to identify
El Niño or La Niña conditions.
(3) To prepare graphs using various combinations of data
(4) To summarize results, comparing yearly and monthly stranding data
with sea temperature
(5) To conclude how changes in sea temperature affect seal and sea
lions populations
(6) To predict how continued rise of sea temperature will affect long-term
population dynamics
(7) To differentiate between the effects of El Niño and La
Niña on the ocean environment
(8) To hypothesize and design methods for determining the effect on
global climate change on ocean communities
(9) To detect and monitor the effect of temperature change on marine
communities
Opening Activity:
Activity 1:
Introduction to El Niño and La Niña---2 days?
The Sun, Circulation of the Atmosphere, Ocean Currents,
Seasonality in the sea
Activity 2:
Mapping
Sea Surface Temperatures---2 days?
Scaffolding activity with satellite maps showing sea surface temperature
El Niño, the movie
Graph of Sea Temperature information
Activity 3:
Causes
of El Niño, La Niña
Graphic Organizer,
Reading activity
Activity 4:
Effects of El Niño/ La Niña on Pinnipeds---2 days
Graphing Stranding Data:
Break students into teams based on the numbers of computers available
for use in the classroom or computer lab. Depending on the comfort
level of your students with creating graphs from Excel Spreadsheets,
you may choose to pursue this lesson in a variety of ways. You may
give them the data already in spreadsheet form or let them create
the spreadsheets for themselves.
1. Use the companion sheet: Graphing the Stranding Data. This sheet
will guide the students through a series of graphs. After creating
the graph, have students record their observations:
Scaffolding activity
graphing subsets of the data
Analysis of the data
The effect of temperature on the food web
Graphic Organizer
Cartoon illustration
Activity 5:
How global warming changes the impact of El Niño or La Niña
conditions---3 days
Devising hypothesis and monitoring for effects
Projections into the future
Effect on animal populations
Population game (normal year; El Niño Year, La Niña
year)
How human behavior enters into the equation
Literacy Strategies:
Cross-curricular Connection Activity:
Culminating Activity:
Extensions:
(1) How does El
Niño or La Niña conditions affect other animal populations?
Look at marine birds, algae or kelp forest organisms, plankton populations,
terrestrial animal or other species in areas of chronic drought
(2) How does El Niño or La Niña impact human fishermen?
What advantages do humans have over Pinnipeds in surviving an event?
How does the fish that are being sold change? Is the price the same?
(3) How do changes in global temperature change other areas of the
world beside the ocean? Plot on a large map of the world how higher
ocean temperature affect weather, farming, sea level, and other phenomena.
Activities to Get Involved:
(1) Support legislation
that improves the environment
(2) Participate in cleaning the environment through watershed projects
(3) Visit and support a rehabilitation center for wild animals near
your home. Can you provide a service project that will help them even
if you are too young to start taking care of the animals?
(4) Support establishing national seashores, wetland restoration,
nature preserves, urban forests, and other wildlife areas
(5) Each one, teach one. Pass on what you learn to others.
Performance Task Assessment:
Rubric:
|
|
Grade:
6
Subject:
Science
California Content Standards
Science
Content Standards
Energy:
4a. Students know the sun is the major source of energy for phenomena
on Earth’s surface: it powers winds, ocean currents, and the
water cycle.
4b. Students know solar energy reaches Earth through radiation, mostly
in the form of visible light.
4e. Students know differences in pressure, heat, air movement, and
humidity result in changes in weather.
Ecology:
5a. Students know energy entering ecosystem as sunlight is transferred
by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis and then
from organism to organism through the food chain.
5b. Students know matter is transferred over time from one organism
to others in the food web and between organisms and the physical environment.
5e. Students know the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can
support depends on the resources available and on abiotic factors,
such as quantities of light and water, a range of temperatures, and
soil composition.
Investigation
and Experimentation:
Students will:
7a. Develop a hypothesis
7c. Construct appropriate graphs from data and develop qualitative
statements about the relationships between variables.
7d. Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in written
reports and oral presentations.
7f. Read maps for evidence provided on the maps and construct and
interpret a simple scale map.
7h. Identify changes in natural phenomena over time without manipulating
the phenomena.
Grade 7:
Evolution:
3a. Students know that extinction of a species occurs when the environment
changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient
for its
.
.
.
|
