Скачать или смотреть EXPLORE ACTIVITY -- 5.9 C: ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES (Grade Level 5)

TRANSCRIPT: EXPLORE ACTIVITY -- 5.9 C: Environmental Changes (Grade Level 5)


[Overview Statement]
In this activity, students act like grazing animals to examine how changes in the environment affect an ecosystem.

[Materials]
Prepare the following items in advance (for each group in your class): a piece of legal-size paper, resources with prairie or grassland pictures, seeds or dry beans, a Styrofoam cup, a stop-watch, coloring pencils or crayons, and the student journal.

[Part I Title:] The Ecosystem
Creating an ecosystem. [Or just…] The Ecosystem.

[Section 1:]
To begin, brainstorm with your class to identify ways that grazing animals might affect an ecosystem. Record these possibilities.

We’ll use the paper and coloring supplies to create the ecosystem. Separate the paper into four quadrants and label them A, B, C, and D; draw a large grassy area in one section, an area for water in another and an area for shelter and shade.

Now spread the beans or seeds over the paper, approximately 40 in each quadrant.

FADE TO BLACK.

FADE IN.

[Part II Title:] Grazing Experiments
Performing the grazing experiments. [Or just…] Grazing Experiments.

[Section 1:]
For the first experiment, one animal, represented by one student hand, “grazes” in quadrant A for ten seconds. Note that only one bean can be removed at a time. When ten seconds are up, record the amount of food “eaten” and the amount of food left in the ecosystem.

In the second trial, two animals, represented by two student hands, “graze” in quadrant A. Once complete, total the number of beans “eaten,” and those that remain. Allow students to continue eating beans in 10-second cycles, adding an additional hand at each interval. Move sequentially from quadrant A to D until food or time runs out.

[Section 2:]
As a final test, restore all beans to the ecosystem and allow all “animals” to graze at the same time, in 10-second cycles as before. Discuss with your class the affect of their grazing and record these observations.

FADE TO BLACK.

END CREDITS.