Help students consider the many ways that organisms interact with both the living and nonliving components of ecosystems
As the Ecosystems and Their Interactions unit opens, pond ecosystems and butterfly ecosystems provide the launching pad for learning how various elements of systems interact. Students build models and work with simulations to learn how the food web, predation, genetics, and the energy pyramid affect ecosystems. By the end of the unit’s 11 lessons, students apply their learning to timely issues such as invasive species, runoff and its impact on drinking water, and landslides.
During this course, participants will:
- Engage in three-dimensional learning for developing disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and cross cutting concepts
- Participate as an adult learner to experience investigations and science and engineering content
- Share teaching strategies to support literacy and inquiry-based learning
- Identify the learning goals in the module and how the investigations support the Big Ideas
- Examine assessment opportunities
- Develop notebook as a resource
