Ecology of Isle Royal
ABC'S
A Biome Classification Survey
Deborah Bryant
Introduction
Every living organism is part of one of six broad biomes named for its dominant vegetation. These biomes include forest, savanna, grassland, shrub land, desert, and tundra. A biome is a large stable terrestrial ecosystem characterized by specific plant and animal communities (Christopherson, 2003). Organisms in a biome can vary from one location to another within the same biome. Variations are a result of natural influences like topographic barriers, food distribution, and/or man-made influences such as over hunting or urban sprawl.
This project introduces the concepts behind biome variations by allowing the student to create a survey of organisms located indigenous to an area of their choice. Students will find an organism, soil type, or climatic condition for each letter of the alphabet, and then research information on each element. These research elements will be placed into a pictorial alphabet book. The main objectives for this project are centered on the Michigan Curriculum Frameworks, the National Science Teachers Association's College Pathways, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College course curriculum objectives. Michigan Curriculum Frameworks and the National Science Teachers Association's College Pathways are listed in appendix A.
Kalamazoo Valley Community College course objectives include:
To be able to interpret plant and animal relationships
To be able to relate course work to real world applications
To provide the tools need for students to become self-growers
Project Background
Pre-service elementary education students are the bulk of my classroom and lack a strong science background. Familiarity of the alphabet provides an equal starting point. Using Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983), this survey project has aspects that appeal to a variety of learners such as the linguistic, naturalist, or logical/mathematical intelligences.
Project overview
The students will select a location to study then research the organisms that inhabit the area. The students will select plants, animals, fungi, insects, birds, amphibians, climatic conditions, and soil types that could be found in the biome of this location to match one with each letter of the alphabet. The scientific name will accompany a description and an image as well as references for each entry. Images may be rendered as a photocopy, downloaded from the World Wide Web, or sketched. A variety and minimum number of insects, fungi, birds, amphibians, and mammals must be included. Mammal examples will include at least one predator-prey relationship, preferably a top predator.
Students will answer specific critical thinking questions concerning the area of study. These questions cover topics taught over the course of the semester. The library staff will demonstrate research techniques during one laboratory class session. Students will use the research to complete the critical thinking questions.
The ABC's project will count with the same weight as a test grade worth 100 points. The timeframe is from early-September to late November. The outline is:
Introduction of biomes - Lecture Class - one week (one hour fifteen minutes)
Introduction to library research - Laboratory Class- one week - (one hour forty minutes)
Construction survey project - out of class research time
Assessment VS Evaluation
The Faculty at Kalamazoo Valley Community College is involved with the concept of process education. “Process education is defined as a process which focuses on building students' learning skills and developing self-growers”. Process education uses a number of traditional teaching methods including cooperative learning, journal writing, assessment, and guided-discovery learning. But process education makes a distinction between assessment and evaluation. Evaluation is the assigning of a grade where assessment is a reflection your strengths, areas of improvement, and insights (SII) (Apple, 2000). See page 15 of the student assignment for an assessment tool modeled from Process Education by Dr. Daniel Apple and page 14 for the grading rubric. Students will receive both at the onset of the project.
Standards
This project uses the Michigan Frameworks standards for science, English Language Arts, art education, and social studies. The research portion could easily be used at the high school level and modified for the middle or elementary school classroom. Teachers at Parchment Central Elementary use the alphabet “book” concept on a much simpler level. The children's book “M is for Mitten: A Michigan Alphabet” (Appleford, 1999) has been used in these classrooms. It is my hope this ABC'S project will bring the concept to a higher cognitive level and be a bridge into the classrooms of these future teachers.
Cross curriculum
I have made arrangements for the Children's Literature instructor to introduce several preschool level alphabet books to my classes including “M is for Mitten: a Michigan Alphabet” (Appleford, 1999). She is also putting together a list of other books for my classes. It is not yet available to me, but I will include the list with the project summary. The library staff has agreed to assist my classes with library resources for research. I have contacted an art instructor for guidance on sketching and we are now in the process of coordinating our class schedules. It is my hope that the art instructor will be able to take some lab time for pointers on sketching. We won't be able to finalize our schedules until late August. I will include an update in the summary project.
Wrap up
Once the booklets are completed, I plan to have the classes share them among the sections. This project will help to tie together the major concepts from the semester and give my students a tool to use in their own classrooms when become they teachers.
References Cited
Geosystems, Robert W. Christopherson, 5th edition, Prentice Hall 2003
Process Education Teaching Institute Handbook, Dan Apple, Pacific Crest, 2000
Frames of Mind: The theory of Multiple Intelligence, Howard Gardener, 1983
College Pathways to the Science Education Standards Edited by Eleanor D. Siebert and William McIntosh, NSTA Press 2001
M is for Mitten, a Michigan Alphabet, Annie Appleford, Sleeping Bear Press, 1999
Appendix A
Standards Addressed
From NSTA College Pathways to the Science Education Standards
Program Standard B
The program of study in science for all students should be developmentally appropriate, interesting, and relevant to students lives, empathize student understanding through inquiry and be connected to all school subjects.
Program Standard C
The science program should be coordinated with the mathematics program and enhance student use and understanding of mathematics in the study of science and to improve student understanding of mathematics.
The following objectives are from the Michigan Curriculum Framework with the High School Benchmarks noted. The MCF list Art education and English standards in a slightly different format than the math and science format.
Science
Strand I. Construct New Scientific and Personal Knowledge
Content Standard 1. All students will ask questions that help them, learn about the world; design and conduct investigations using appropriate methodology and technology; learn from books and other sources of information; communicate their findings using appropriate technology; and reconstruct previously learned knowledge.
Benchmark 7 Gather and synthesize information from books and other sources of information.
Benchmark 8 Discuss topics in groups by being able to restate or summarize what others have said, ask for clarification or elaboration and take alternative perspectives.
Strand II. Reflect on the Nature, Adequacy, and Connections across Scientific Knowledge
Content Standard 1. All students will analyze claims for their scientific merit and explain how scientists decide what constitutes scientific knowledge; how science is related to other ways of knowing; how science and technology affect our society; and how people of diverse cultures have contributed to and influenced development in science.
Benchmark 4 Discuss the historical development of key scientific concepts and principles.
Benchmark 6 Describe the historical, political, and social factors affecting developments in science.
Strand III. Use Scientific Knowledge from the Life Sciences in Real-world Contexts
Content Standard 2. All students will use classification systems to describe groups of living things; compare and contrast differences in the life cycles of living things; investigate and explain how living things obtain and use energy; and analyze how parts of living things are adapted to carry out specific functions.
Benchmark 1. Classify major groups of organisms on the basis of the five-kingdom system.
Benchmark6. Explain the effects of agriculture and other human activities on selected ecosystems.
Content Standard 5. All students will explain how parts of an ecosystem are related and how they interact; explain how energy is distributed to living things in an ecosystem; investigate and explain how communities of living things change over a period of time; describe how materials cycle through an ecosystem and get reused in the environment; and analyze how humans and the environment interact.
Benchmark 1. Describe common ecological relationships among species.
Benchmark 2. Explain how energy flows through familiar ecosystems.
Benchmark 3. Describe general factors regulating population size in ecosystems.
Strand V. Using Scientific Knowledge in Earth Science
Content Standard 2. All students will demonstrate where water is found on earth; describe the characteristics of water and how it moves; and analyze the interaction of human activities with the hydrosphere.
Benchmark 2. Explain relationships between the hydrosphere, regional climates, and human activities.
Benchmark 3. Describe how human activities affect the quality of water in the hydrosphere.
Content Standard 3. All students will investigate and describe what makes up weather and how it changes from day to day; from season to season and over long periods of time; explain what causes different kinds of weather; and analyze the relationships between human activities and the atmosphere.
Benchmark 1. Describe patterns of air movement in the atmosphere and how they affect weather conditions.
Social Studies
Strand II. Geographic Prospective
Content Standard 2. All students will describe, compare and explain the locations and characteristics of ecosystems, resources, human adaptation, environmental impact, and the interrelationships among them.
Benchmark 2. Assess the relationship between property ownership and the management of natural resources.
Content Standard 4. All students will describe and compare characteristics of ecosystems, states, regions, countries, major world regions, and patterns and explain the processes that created them.
Benchmark 1. 1. Explain how major world processes affect different world regions.
Benchmark 3. Describe major patterns of world population, physical features, ecosystems, cultures and explain some of the factors causing the patterns.
English Language Arts
Meaning and Communication
Content Standard 3. All students will focus on meaning and communication as they listen, speak, view, read, and write in personal, social, occupational, and civic context.
Benchmark 6. Determine the meaning of specialized vocabulary and concepts in oral, visual, and written texts by using a variety of resources, such as context, research, reference materials, and electronic resources.
Benchmark 7. Recognize and use varied techniques to construct text, convey meaning, and express feelings to influence an audience.
Voice
Content Standard 6. All students will learn to communicate information accurately and effectively and demonstrate their expressive ability creating oral, written and visual texts that enlighten and engage the audience.
Benchmark 1. Assess their use of elements of effective communication in personal, social, occupational and civic contexts.
Benchmark 2. Evaluate the power of using multiple voices in their oral and written communications to persuade, inform, entertain and inspire their audience.
Arts Education
Creating
Content Standard 2. All students will apply skills and knowledge to create in the arts. (Visual arts)
Benchmark 19. Apply materials, techniques, and processes with sufficient skill, confidence, and sensitivity that personal intentions are carried out in artworks.
Benchmark 20. Create artworks that use organizational principles and functions to solve specific visual arts problems.
Benchmark 22. Apply and adapt subjects, symbols, and creative ideas in artworks and use skill gained to solve problems in daily life.
Mathematics
Strand II. Geometry and Measurement
Content Standard 2: Students describe the relationships among variables, predict what will happen to one variable as another variable is changed, analyze natural variation and sources of variability, and compare patterns of change. (Variability and Change)
Benchmark 1. Identify and describe the nature of change and begin to use the more formal language such as rate of change, continuity, limit, distribution, and deviation.
ABC's
A Biome Classification Survey
Geography 120
Every living organism is part of one of six broad biomes named for its dominant vegetation. These biomes include forest, savanna, grassland, shrub land, desert, and tundra. A biome is a large stable terrestrial ecosystem characterized by specific plant and animal communities (Christopherson, 2003). Organisms in a biome can vary from one location to another within the same biome. Variations are a result of natural influences like topographic barriers, food distribution, and/or man-made influences such as over hunting or urban sprawl.
Learning objectives
To become more familiar with communities within a biome by constructing an alphabet survey.
To be able to apply information from the survey to real word applications.
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Performance Criteria
Quality of your map.
Factor #1: Adherence to survey rules.
Factor #2: Inclusion of required components
Your understanding of geographic principles.
Factor # 1. Ability to answer the questions using well-formed answers.
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Resources
Geosystems: An Introduction to Physical Geography, 5th ed (Christopherson, 2003)
Class notes
KVCC Library
Materials
Internet access
Printer
Colored pencils
Procedure
Read entire handout.
Read pages 587 - 649 in Christopherson, 2003.
Select a terrestrial biome and location to study.
Research location for examples of all elements.
Follow provided the Feature List Guideline checklist.
Assess the rough draft in lab teams using the reflection form.
Incorporating the assessment feedback.
Take a draft to the writing center for editing.
Answer the critical thinking questions.
Complete the book with photographs, photocopies or drawings.
Features List Guideline
Select a terrestrial location by latitude and longitude.
Research the biome.
Select an organism for each letter of the alphabet.
Provide an image.
Provide the scientific name.
Provide a 1 - 2 paragraph description.
Describe the appearance, habit, habitat, and/or importance of each element.
Use up to three adjectives as letters for the alphabet.
Each of the organisms must be one a half sheet of paper. The project will be 15 - 20 pages long.
Cite the source for each entry must be noted in the body of work.
List all references in a separate section.
Select a maximum of six of the same organism type; for example no more than six mammals may be used.
Include examples of insects, fungi, plants, birds, amphibians, and mammals.
Include the major soil order.
Include climatic conditions where applicable.
Include organisms in a primary predator prey relationship
Include a title page with location name, your name, and section number.
Include a list of references cited.
Include the completed critical thinking questions.
Things to consider
Make it colorful and fun. It is ok to use a funky font for the names, or a color scheme for the organism types, such as all producers in green or all mammal in orange and amphibians in purple.
Finding images of organisms may be easier at the National Geographic Society website listed below.
There are several other websites listed below and on my website.
Start early.
Internet Resources
Here are a few places to get started in the search. Remember, just because you found something on the web doesn't mean it is valid. Be certain to double-check the facts!
Study Location Questions
What is the name of your area?
What is the latitude and longitude of your location?
What is the time difference (in hours) from Kalamazoo?
Which global wind influences your location?
Is your location affected by any of the local winds discussed, if so which one(s)?
Would your location be a continental or maritime location?
What is the average annual precipitation? Include a climograph.
What is the nearest ocean, nearest lake, nearest river?
Based on the climograph, location of bodies of water, and the local population, is there an adequate supply of clean water year round? Defend your position.
What is the climate classification of your location? What are some things you could do if building a home in this climate, for example, a hot dry climate would need sun protection. What could be done to facilitate the needs in this climate?
What is the soil classification for this location? How effective would this soil be for agriculture? What is the major soil forming process occurring in the selected biome?
Describe the biome.
What are the dominant producers (vegetation) and consumers (organisms)?
What is the top predator in your biome? Discuss the impact of removing the top predator from the biome. Consider the prey and producer population results.
Discuss the impact of removing the primary consumer (prey) for the top predator from the biome. Consider the impact to the top predator and to the producers the primary consumer.
Features List Guideline Checklist
Use the checklist as a guide for the required elements. Following the checklist will insure that the required minimum has been met.
_____ Neat and presentable - no pencil/pen changes in text. No smudges, wrinkles, or stains.
_____ Cover page included - biome type, location name, name, due date, and lab section.
_____References cited - follow the APA format.
_____Questions answered - using full sentences. Concise and clear reasoning,
_____Writing center review - tutor must initial for credit a minimum of two days prior to the due date. No credit will be given within two days of due date.
_____One organism for each letter
_____Scientific name included for each letter
_____Image included for each letter
_____One to two-paragraph description for each letter
_____References cited in the paragraphs
_____Minimum of one mammal
_____ Minimum of one bird
_____ Minimum of one amphibian
_____ Minimum of one reptile
_____ Minimum of one insect
_____ Minimum of one fungus
_____ Minimum of one predator prey relationship
_____ Minimum of one soil order
_____Climatic condition (if applicable)
Grading Rubric
100 points total
Mechanics - 30
_______(5) Format - paper is typed, double spaced with 1” margins (standard college format); indented paragraphs; heading is appropriately spaced with name and date.
_______(10) Grammar- Run-ons eliminated; fragments eliminated, subjects and verbs agree; correct verb form used; pronoun usage correct; parallel construction used; faulty modifiers eliminated; correct punctuation, and correct capitalization.
_______(10) Writing Center - go to the writing center room 2220 with a rough draft copy. Have the tutor edit and correct your draft. Have the tutor initial and date your draft. Staple the rough draft version to the back of your final version.
_______(5) Assessment - assessment completed; attached to end of paper. Attach the checklist,
Creativity - 70 points
_______(20) Content - Introduction, body and conclusion - interesting and appropriate; provides necessary background information. Main points are well developed with relevant examples or discussions.
_______(20) Logic - Stays with one consistent point of view; logical sequence of ideas, language and style are fitting for the content.
_______(20) Clarity -Reflects an awareness of audience; clear understanding of purpose; correct use of geographic terms and principles.
_______(10) Required elements - all features on checklist are included.
________Spelling - Two points will be deducted off the total for every spelling error after the first two.
__________ Total (100)
Assessment
Each of you should assess your teammates projects using SII. (Strengths, Improvements, and Insights). This is to be turned in with the final draft. Read the work then fill in the strengths, improvements and insights. Use the back of the page if necessary.
List the group members. ________________________________________________________________
Select a gatekeeper. This person has the responsibility to keep everyone on task.
Who is the gatekeeper? _____________________________________________
Select a clock-watcher. This person has the responsibility to decide how much time is to be spent on each paper.
Who is the clock-watcher? _________________________________________________
The group goal is to learn as much as possible about biomes.
Strengths and why are they strengths. Tell the writer what was well done. Be specific and constructive.
Improvement and how can that be done. Tell the writer what could use more work and offer suggestions on how to do it
Insights. If you had to assign a grade, what would it be and why?
