ALEX Classroom Resource

  

It’s All About the Resources

  Classroom Resource Information  

Title:

 It’s All About the Resources

URL:

 https://www.nationalgeographic.org/lesson/its-all-about-resources/

Content Source:

 National Geographic
Type: Lesson/Unit Plan

Overview:

Students brainstorm what they know and need to learn about endangered species, in order to best answer the driving question for the unit. Students then engage with a variety of sources about the Sumatran rhino to learn about conservation concepts, including causes of extinction, food webs, and ecosystem services. This lesson is part of the Extinction Stinks! unit.

Content Standard(s):
Science
SC2015 (2015)
Grade: 7
Life Science
6 ) Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence regarding how resource availability impacts individual organisms as well as populations of organisms within an ecosystem.

NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
L8.7: The number of organisms and populations an ecosystem can support depends on the biotic resources available and abiotic factors, such as quantity of light and water, range of temperatures, and soil composition.

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect
Disciplinary Core Idea: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Organize data (tables, graphs, charts, etc.) that allows for analysis and interpretation of relationships between resource availability and organisms in an ecosystem.
  • Analyze data that shows identification of relationships between factors like population size, the growth and survival of individual organisms, and resource availability.
  • Make relevant predictions, based on interpretation of organized data, of relationships between factors like population size, the growth and survival of individual organisms, and resource availability.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • Analyze
  • Interpret
  • Evidence
  • Resource(s)
  • Organism(s)
  • Ecosystem
  • Biotic
  • Abiotic
  • Populations (e.g., sizes, reproduction rates, growth information)
  • Competition
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Organisms, and populations of organisms, are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living (biotic) things and with nonliving (abiotic) things.
  • In any ecosystem, organisms and populations with similar requirements for food, water, oxygen, or other resources may compete with each other for limited resources, access to which consequently constrains their growth and reproduction.
  • Growth of organisms and population increases are limited by access to resources.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Organize the given data to allow for analysis and interpretation of relationships between resource availability and organisms in an ecosystem.
  • Analyze the organized data to determine the relationships between the size of a population, the growth and survival of individual organisms, and resource availability.
  • Determine whether the relationships provide evidence of a causal link between factors.
  • Interpret the organized data to make predictions based on evidence of causal relationships between resource availability, organisms, and organism populations.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Cause and effect relationships may be used to predict phenomena in natural or designed systems.
  • Causal links exist between resources and growth of individual organisms and the numbers of organisms in ecosystems during periods of abundant and scarce resources.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Investigating Biodiversity and Interdependence
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.7.6- Use data as evidence that the availability of natural resources (e.g., food, light, water) influences the growth of organisms.
Science
SC2015 (2015)
Grade: 7
Life Science
7 ) Use empirical evidence from patterns and data to demonstrate how changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem (e.g., deforestation, succession, drought, fire, disease, human activities, invasive species) can lead to shifts in populations.

NAEP Framework
NAEP Statement::
L8.8a: All organisms cause changes in the environment where they live.

NAEP Statement::
L8.8b: Some of these changes are detrimental to the organisms or other organisms, whereas others are beneficial.

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Crosscutting Concepts: Stability and Change
Disciplinary Core Idea: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Use information gained from data patterns and analysis to demonstrate that any change in an ecosystem can lead to shifts in populations.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • Empirical evidence
  • Patterns
  • Data
  • Ecosystem
  • Populations
  • Physical components (e.g., water, air, temperature, sunlight, soil, etc.)
  • Biological components (e.g., plants, animals, etc.)
  • Phenomena (e.g., deforestation, succession, drought, fire, disease, human activities, invasive species, etc.)
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Ecosystems are dynamic in nature and can change over time.
  • Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations.
  • Changes in the physical or biological components of an ecosystem (e.g., rainfall, species introduction) can lead to changes in populations of species.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Demonstrate the scientific idea that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem can affect the populations living there.
  • Identify and describe the given evidence needed to demonstrate the scientific idea that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem can affect the populations living there.
  • Evaluate the given evidence, identifying the necessary and sufficient evidence for supporting the scientific idea.
  • Use reasoning to connect the evidence and support an explanation using patterns in the evidence to predict the causal relationship between physical and biological components of an ecosystem and changes in organism populations.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Changes in the amount and availability of given resource may result in changes in the population of an organism.
  • Changes in the amount or availability of a resource may result in changes in the growth of individual organisms.
  • Resource availability drives competition among organisms, both within a population as well as between populations.
  • Resource availability may have an effect on a population's rate of reproduction.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Investigating Biodiversity and Interdependence
Studying the Development and Reproduction of Organisms
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.7.7- Interpret data to see how changes in an ecosystem (e.g., drought, forest fires) affect the animal population in an area.
Tags: conservation, ecosystem, endangered, extinction, food web, populations, Sumatran rhino
License Type: Custom Permission Type
See Terms: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/terms-of-service/
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https://creativecommons.org/licenses
AccessibilityText Resources: Content is organized under headings and subheadings
Comments
  This resource provided by:  
Author: Stephanie Carver
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