Lesson Topics Evolution » KBS GK12 Project

Is CO2 An Atmospheric Pollutant?

Aug 152013

Photo Credit: Jorge Royan

The United States Supreme Court is currently (December, 2006) debating the question, “Is carbon dioxide an atmospheric pollutant?” This lesson provides middle school students with an opportunity to learn about and discuss rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, which may drastically change their lives in the future. A panel discussion with two-three adults is used to engage students in a discussion about the Supreme Court case. Adults help to share as much information as possible about the issue with students to help them form their own – unbiased opinion on the matter.

At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to:

Define what carbon dioxide (CO₂) is
State why concentration of CO₂ is rising in the atmosphere
Understand how CO₂ in the atmosphere will cause rapid climate change
Understand that rising CO₂ increases growth among many plant species
Identify ways to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere
Define air pollutant based on the definition set forth in the Clean Air Act
Use the data collected by science to make an educated argument regarding the question of, “Is CO₂ an atmospheric pollutant?”
Identify ways that they can personally limit the amount of CO₂ released to the atmosphere

Resources:

Lesson Plan

Article

Lesson created by Brook Wilke, 2006

Iron In Cereal

Aug 152013

Many breakfast cereals are fortified with iron, which is essential for transport of oxygen in blood throughout human bodies. The iron is simply sprayed on the cereal and can be separated by physical processes. Students in this lesson use bar magnets to extract iron from crushed up breakfast cereals. Five different cereals are used for the experiment including those with different iron concentrations based on nutritional information. Iron extracted from each cereal type is weighed and compared to the other cereals and the nutritional information on the box.

At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to:

Extract iron from fortified breakfast cereal
Conduct an experiment to determine which cereals have the most iron
Separate a mixture of cereal and water into magnetic and non-magnetic categories

Resources:

Lesson Plan

Lesson created by Brook Wilke

How Do Birds Fly?

Aug 152013

Photo Credit: Paul Tomlin

The ability to fly is a fascinating biological phenomenon. In this short activity, students will identify characteristics of birds that allow them to fly, and how these characteristics are different from other animals that cannot fly.Many of these characteristics are listed in this lesson for teacher use, including how bird wings are arc shaped, causing decreased air pressure above the wing compared to below.Students also will learn that not all birds are able to fly.

At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to:

Understand that gravity is a force that pulls objects toward the center of the Earth
Understand that not every bird can fly
Explain several reasons for why birds are able to fly and many other animals can not fly

Resources:

Lesson Plan

Bird and squirrel picture

Lesson created by Brook Wilke

History and Diversity of American Crops

Aug 102013

In this activity, students explore the world of crop history in North America. They begin by choosing a crop species that was historically grown in the Americas, studying the history and ordering bulk amounts of seeds from an heirloom variety that has been around for many years. The students use the bulk seed to run a small- scale seed store where they repackage and sell seed for a profit. Students also examine the characteristics of the seed and use the schoolyard or classroom as a place to plant and examine the growth of the variety they have chosen. Plants may be maintained in the schoolyard or at students homes so that they can save seed to create a seed bank at the school.

At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to:

Provide a detailed history about a specific crop plant
Describe the differences between currently grown crop varieties and heirloom varieties that were maintained from past societies
Identify major crops that were domesticated in the United States
Identify the diversity of some crop and garden plants and understand the artificial selection/evolution process that allowed for that diversity
Conduct a small scale, student run seed business
Start and maintain garden plants indoors
Plant seeds and start plants in a garden outdoors
Create a seed bank at the school

Resources:

Lesson created by Brook Wilke

Hairy Leaves

Aug 102013

Plants have small hairs on their leaves and stems called trichomes.These structures are important for defense from herbivory and protection from cold, heat and drought. Students will investigate leaf hairs of many different plants in the schoolyard using an inquiry based activity.Two hypotheses will be made,one about whether or not all plants have leaf hairs, and whether most plants are highly pubescent (hairy) or modestly pubescent.Leaves will be collected and classified into three categories.Students will create a data table and bar graph from their data and present this to the rest of the class.The teacher will conclude with some ideas about why plants have leaf hairs and try to stimulate future questions from the students about the topic.

At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to:

Conduct a basic scientific investigation to support predictions
Explain why plants are pubescent and have small hairs called trichomes
Explain that not all plants or leaves of the same plant have the same number or type of trichomes

Resources:

Lesson Plan

Lesson created by Brook Wilke

Habitat Loss and Fragmentation: The Good, Bad, and Ugly

Aug 092013

Photo Credit: SUNY JCC

Habitat fragmentation is visible all over Michigan. Roads, lawns, buildings, farmland, and other changes in habitat have turned our state, and most others, into a huge patchwork quilt of ecotypes. Unfortunately, the lines between those quilt squares and the small size of those patches has had a huge impact on the wildlife that call Michigan home. Come join us for a session of active games and prizes. You can really see what impacts fragmentation has by putting yourself in the shoes of the critters dealing with the changes we make. Weather permitting we will head outside for some fun, so come dressed for the chill in the air and be prepared to get active and have fun!

At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to:

Explain how habitat fragmentation can influence the survival and reproduction of two competing species
Describe the recent, 400 year history of land use change in the Great Lakes Region
Identify causes and consequences of land use change and habitat fragmentation
Understand why it is difficult for small populations to survive
Identify some key endangered species in Michigan

Resources:

Lesson Plan

Species cards

Game rules

Student datasheet/worksheet

Lesson created by Brook Wilke

Food Chain

Aug 092013

Students learn about a specific food chain (coyote-squirrel-acorn in this example, but can be any local food chain) in nature and that organisms can be classified as producers, herbivores or carnivores depending on their diet. A game will be played where students take on the role of different organisms in the food chain and act out different cycles.Experimental situations are played out in the game and are designed to help the students understand that there are more organisms lower than higher in the food chain.They will also learn the consequences of separately removing carnivores and plants from the food chain.

At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to:

Understand that energy flows naturally through a locally occurring food chain
Define the terms producer, herbivore and carnivore
Understand that there must be more individuals at the bottom of the food chain than at the top of the food chain
Understand the effects of removal of the top predator in a food chain
Understand the effects of reducing primary production (plant growth) in the food chain

Resources:

Lesson Plan

Food chain pictures

Lesson created by Brook Wilke

Where does plant mass come from?

Aug 092013

Photo Credit: Audrey from Central Pennsylvania, USA

Tracing matter in the gaseous form is difficult to teach and requires carefully planned activities. Plant growth is one way to teach students that most of the mass of the plant comes from somewhere other than the soil, but mostly in carbon dioxide and hydrogen atoms from water. To identify this, students will be planting seeds indoors, weighing the dry pot, soil and seed first and then the dry pot, soil and plant later. The total mass of the soil and pot will be nearly equal before and after the experiment. Students will also measure plant height throughout the experiment. Students will be able use the data from the experiment to make graphs and conclusions, which are important concepts for upper elementary students. After discovering that most of the plant mass does not come from the soil, it will be explained that carbon dioxide is the primary “food” for plants. Students will be assessed based on data collection, graphing and conclusion paragraphs.

At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to:

Recognize that gases have mass and can be used to make living plant tissue
Conduct an experiment to answer a scientific question using data collected
Successfully grow different plants in a classroom setting and take accurate measurements

Resources for this lesson include:

Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan created by Brook Wilke

Water and Winter: How our seasons and the properties of H2O shape life in temperate lakes

Mar 082013

Using a simple inquiry exercise, a short presentation, readings, and discussion, you will explore how water and winter interact in temperate lakes and ponds. From the properties of solid and liquid water to the effects of biannual nutrient turnover through freezing and thawing, this lesson will highlight how winter dictates the ecology in temperate lakes. It ends with current event tie-ins that will get your students excited about ice in their daily lives.

At the conclusion of the lesson, students will be able to:

List the unique properties of water
- Hydrogen bonding
- Ice is less dense than water
- Water is most dense at 4°C
Explain how turnover affects nutrients, plants and animals in a lake
Explain how the density of water at certain temperatures causes turnover to happen

To complete this lesson in full will take two 50-minute periods. The lesson could be shortened to focus only on water properties, how turnover works, or how turnover affects living things in the lake.

Resources:

Lesson Plan created by GK-12 Fellows Anne Royer and Raffica La Rosa, 2009

Weeds! Tricks of the Trade

Jan 212013

This lesson will explore how plant traits like seed dispersal (e.g., wind-dispersed, animal-dispersed, etc.), seed hardiness, and land-use history influence the assembly of weed communities following a major disturbance (e.g., construction of a BEST plot, agricultural field, or garden plot). The focus will be on volunteer species (read: weeds) most commonly found in the BEST plots across the network. The lesson begins by providing students background information on seed traits and land use legacies. After covering this information, participants will do a brief activity that involves making predictions about which plant traits make weeds made most successful. Students will spend the remaining portion of the lesson analyzing and interpreting volunteer species abundance data from the BEST plot network.

At the conclusion of the lesson, students will be able to:

List and describe four different plant dispersal mechanisms
Describe three determinants of “how a plant got there” (dispersal mechanism, seed bank longevity, effect of landscape)
Better interpret histograms and scatterplots

Resources:

Lesson Plan created by GK-12 Fellows Tyler Bassett, Dustin Kincaid, and Cara Krieg, 2012

The Best Genes for the Job: Exploring genotype by environment interactions

Nov 072012

An organism’s genetic composition plays an important role in its chances of survival, but will the same combination of genes always win? An organism, (or more specifically, a set of genes) that succeeds in one environment or season may not fare so well under different conditions. In this lesson plan, students will explore how genetics and environmental conditions can affect the survival of different organisms. This classroom activity simulates how birds with different beak sizes might have a competitive advantage depending on environment. Students will then graph their data to see how environment influences the success of different genotypes.

At the conclusion of the lesson, students will be able to:

Explain how survival of an organism is affected by both its genotype (nature) and its environment (nurture)
Understand environmental factors that contribute to the varying success of organisms, including climate, seasonal change, disease, and competition
Define and differentiate between a genotype and a phenotype
Construct and interpret graphs relating to genotype by environment interactions
Relate patterns to theory
Use evidence and reason to form a conclusion

Resources:

Lesson plan
Best Genes for the Job powerpoint
Student worksheet

Lesson written and created by GK-12 fellows Michael Kuczynski and Kate Steensma, 2011

Geeked About Beaks: Inquiry learning about survival and reproduction

Oct 032012

In this lesson, students will learn about survival, reproduction, selection, adaptation, and evolution all while playing hands-on games and constructing their knowledge through experience. Students get to be birds and compete against their classmates to eat the most seeds. This activity demonstrates how small beaks are better at getting small seeds, whereas large beaks are better at getting large seeds. Next, students become part of a bird population with a variety of beak sizes. Depending on the weather, big, small, or medium seeds are common that year. Students observe how populations change over time based on the environment. Students explain why the population changes over time, and they also make predictions about what will happen to the population in future years.

At the conclusion of the lesson, students will be able to:

Describe how physical characteristics of an organism affect what it can eat, which then impacts its survival and reproduction
Explain why a population might change over time based on the environment
Make predictions about how a population might change over time based on the environment
Draw graphs from game outcomes, summarize patterns, and interpret what is happening to the population over time
Compare game outcomes and explain why populations look different depending on the environmental conditions they experienced over time

Resources:

Lesson plan written and created by GK-12 Fellow Alycia Lackey, 2012

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