Organisms Around Our Island

By Maske Jim, Lenson Tauleng, and Lisa Riseleng
 
 
I. Setting the Focus for Learning

Context/Situation
(Why is this topic important to learn?)

In this unit, the students will develop better understanding, skills, and awareness of organisms around their island, and of the interrelationships among the island ecosystems (forest, coral reef, weedy sand flat, and mangrove swamp.) The students will also increase their sense of stewardship toward their own environment. The organisms and their habitats are unique and play important roles in the lives of the students.
Pacific Science Content Standards and Benchmarks Addressed
(Pacific Standards for Excellence in Science, PREL, 1995)

 

Science as Inquiry
Students wil . . .

  • Ask good thoughtful questions about the organisms around our islands and their habitats.
  • Explore the habitats by observing, collecting data, and doing simple experiments.
  • Communicate their results in charts, graphs, and drawings, as well as verbally.
  • Work with others to get the job completed.

Habits of Mind
Students will . . .

  • Demonstrate the use of simple equipment.
  • Show honesty, clarity, and accuracy in recording and sharing data.
  • Show care of and respect for the environment.

Planet Earth: Oceans and Land
Students will . . .

  • Identify habitats in different environments.
  • Diagram a familiar ecosystem.
  • Identify and describe the effect of change on the environment caused by living things.

Living Environment
Students will . . .

  • Classify organisms in their habitats.
  • Identify the food chain and food web.
  • Identify examples of interdependence among organisms.
  • Work with others to design possible ways to sensitively address existing environmental problems and issues.

Human Society
Students will . . .

  • Describe the trade-offs in making choices that often have long life-long consequences.
  • Participate in the community and cultural governing systems as responsible citizens.
Related Grade Level Goals and Objectives for Grade 8

Students will . . .

  • Identify the main groups of animals and plants in the various habitats of our islands.
  • Recognize similarities and differences among the different habitats.
  • Work cooperatively to produce an annotated, illustrated wall story.
  • Experience the natural environment through hands-on activities.
  • Use various equipment in testing and observing features of the habitat, and record data.
  • Share information through oral presentations.
  • Engender stewardship of the environment.
Topic/Theme

The Major Habitats of an Island Ecology
Driving Question How can we increase our understanding of the different organisms and their various habitats of our island, and how do we protect them?
Resources Print resources:
E. L. Demanche, 1980, Program Manual of the Hawaii Nature Study Program: Field Trips Near and Far

FASE Science Curriculum: Life and Environmental Science

Human resources: To be determined by students and teacher

Sites, organizations, and agencies: To be determined by students and teacher

 

II. Making Sure the Desired Outcomes of the Unit Are Clear

Demonstration of Learning

Criteria for Demonstration of Learning
To an audience of parents, teachers, school administrators, fellow students, and other invited guests, students will perform and present their products.

Students will . . .

  • Present results, conclusions, recommendations of work on the excursions through reports, displays and presentations.
  • Create, perform, and recite poems, songs, and dances related to the organisms of the islands.
  • Dramatize the important issues and threats the habitats face.
  • Develop a video mini-series on the different habitats and show how human impact is changing them.
  • Debate issues of use of natural resources for economic gain versus conservation and protection.
  • Write letters to key persons and newspapers on the issues pertaining to use of and threats to our natural habitats.

 

III. Building and Assessing Knowledge and Skills

Task 1: Classification of Animals and Plants in the Various Habitats

Objectives:
Students will know . . .
  • How/why animals and plants are classified.

Students will be able to . . .

  • Classify selected animals and plants.
  • Ask good questions about why animals and plants are grouped as they are.
  • Work with others in a cooperative way.
  • Demonstrate the use of tools and how to take care of them.

Students will value . . .

  • Thinking critically and scientifically.
  • Working with others to get their work done.
  • Working safely with others.

Teaching Strategy and Procedure:

  1. Organize students to work in groups. Give each group an assortment of objects like math blocks or anything readily available. Instruct the students to group the objects in a logical manner. They must be able to support their decisions. Facilitate follow-up discussions.
    • Why did you group objects in this manner?
    • Is there any other way of grouping them?
    • What is classification?
  1. Using the enlarged chart of animal classification, review classification. Conduct a question and answer session. Some possible questions are :
    • Why is classification important?
    • How do scientists decide which items belong to each group?
    • Which group do you think is more important? Why?
    • Is there a group that is more important than the others are? Support your responses.
     

  2. Repeat above activity for the plant classification. (Change the questions to be specific to plants.)

Assessment: How do we know they know?

  1. Short oral or written quiz:
    What is the difference between animals and plants?
    Why are animals and plants grouped they way they are?
    How do we classify?
  2. Student work.
  3. Anything else the teacher/students identify.

 

Task 2: Field Day Preparation

Objectives:
Students will know . . .
  • The differences/similarities among the habitats: forest, coral reef, weedy sand flat, and mangrove.

Students will be able to . . .

  • Work together in a cooperative way.
  • List the organisms in the different habitats.
  • List and explain some human impacts affecting these habitats.
  • Make simple learning equipment or tools.

Students will value . . .

  • Honesty, clarity, and accuracy in recording and sharing of information.
  • Critical thinking skills to make informed decisions.

Teaching Strategy and Procedure:

  1. Field preparation. Students must be proactive in planning for the field trip.
    • Discuss the field trip: purpose, site, why it was selected there, what to bring, and other related matters.
    • Brainstorm on what is important for a field trip: safety measures, materials, clothing, and other items.
    • Use a checklist for preparing for a field trip.
    • Distribute and explain excursion data sheet.
    • Issue permission slips and remind students to bring them back with parental consent.
  2. Classification grouping activity: Teacher prepares small cards with characteristics of each of the four habitats and distributes them to each of the students. The four groups will be forest, coral reef, weedy sand flat, and mangrove.
  3. In groups, students can discuss/brainstorm expectations of habitat components. (The teachers will facilitate and monitor the activity.) Use an observation sheet and record observations.
    Some possible questions for discussion are:
    • What types of organisms might you find in this habitat?
    • What are some examples of human impact we might expect to see in this habitat?
  1. Students will gather and prepare their zipboards* and ensure that they have all of their handouts and necessary equipment ready for the field.

*Zipboards require: Ziplock bag, rubber band, paper, data sheet and other handouts, cardboard, and pencil.

 

Task 3: Writing a Wall Story

Objectives:
Students will know . . .
  • That organisms in the same habitats, although different, still need each other to live.
  • That plants are producers of the food that animals need.
  • That habitats can be changed by human activity.

Students will be able to . . .

  • Ask thoughtful questions about different habitats.
  • Continue learning more about different habitats on their own.
  • Communicate my their results by charts, graphs, and verbal explanations.
  • Work collaboratively and cooperatively in groups to get work done.
  • Show honesty, clarity, and accuracy in recording and sharing data.
  • Show care of and respect for the environment.
  • Classify organisms by habitat.
  • Identify and describe the effect of human activity on the environment.

Teaching Strategy and Procedure:

  1. Back in the classroom, ask the students to settle back into groups and to write a story about their visit to the habitats.
  2. Explain the suggested chapter heading for each group and have the students write their assignment on chart paper or a Bristol board.
    Chapter headings:
    • Purpose of the Visit and Getting Ready
    • What We Found in the Habitats
    • Conclusions and Feelings
  3. Allocate the chapters to the groups and have them follow these suggested steps:
  • Ask the students to jot down things they remember most clearly.
  • Have them pencil in drafts in large print, then finalize the text and illustrations with markers.
  • Assemble the complete story by taping the sheets together in sequence and displaying them in a suitable place.
  • Call together the groups and invite each of them to read and talk about the chapter to the whole class.

Assessment:

Based on:
    • Quality of the student product (wall story).
    • Criteria for the wall story. (These should be made clear in advance.)
    • Performance of the students on the task.
    • Checklist of the indicators.

 

Task 4: Presenting a Creature Feature Task

Objectives:
Students will know . . .

  • Different kinds of animals and plants of the habitats visited.
  • The basic difference between the kinds of animal groups and plant groups.

Students will be able to . . .

  • Present their results, conclusions, and recommendations to their classmates.
  • Write about their results, conclusions, and recommendations in graphs, tables, charts, and journals.
  • Classify the different animals and plants in each habitat.
  • Diagram the simple food chain.

Students will value . . .

  • Honesty, clarity, and accuracy in sharing their results, conclusions, and recommendations with fellow students and others.
  • The care of the animals and plants and their habitats.
  • The trade-offs between what community needs and maintenance of the habitats.

Teaching Strategy and Procedure:

  • Provide directions on how to do the creature feature tasks.*
  • Explain and model to the students a good oral presentation.
  • Prepare the classroom for the students’ presentations.
  • In presentingusing the creature features, the presenter will not disclose the identity of the creature immediately, but will ask his or her audience to guess or predict what the creature is after listening to all the features.

    *Creature feature tasks ask each individual student to select or adopt an organism from the habitats, study its features carefully, and share with a class.

Assessment: How do we know they know?

  1. Give a simple written quiz.
    Sample questions:
    • List some examples of animals you find on the coral reef.
    • What are some characteristics of a sea cucumber?
    • Look at the poster of healthy and unhealthy reefs. What are the main differences you see?
  1. For performance assessment tasks, use the rubric below.
    For individual presentations:

The rubric, scale of 1 to 3:

3 — Already there
The student . . .

  • Speaks loudly and clearly.
  • Has an acceptable appearance.
  • Uses visuals with art and graphs.
  • Has content that is clear and accurate.
  • Has a good conclusion and recommendations.

2 — On the way
The student . . .

  • Speaks loudly and clearly.
  • Uses visuals.
  • Has contents that are clear, but not too accurate.
  • Has a conclusion.

1 — Still developing
The student . . .

  • Does not speak loudly and clearly.
  • Has no visuals, or visuals are not clear and legible.
  • Presents contents that are not accurate, or contents are not clearly presented.
  • Has no conclusion, or a conclusion that is not related to presentation, and no recommendations are suggested.