MARTONEN- ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE            LESSON PLANS-9/01/08

 

 

MICHIGAN COURSE CONTENT STANDARDS ADDRESSED

  • B1.1A Generate new questions that can be investigated in the laboratory or field
  • B1.1B  Evaluate the uncertainties or validity of scientific conclusions using an understanding of sources of measurement error, the challenges of controlling variables, accuracy of data analysis, logic of argument, logic of experimental design, and/or the dependence on underlying assumptions
  • B1.1C  Conduct scientific investigations using appropriate tools and techniques (e.g., selecting an instrument that measures the desired quantity with the appropriate level of precision)
  • B1.1f   Predict what would happen if the variables, methods, or timing of an investigation were changed
  • B3.2A Identify how energy is stored in an ecosystem
  • B3.2B  Describe energy transfer through an ecosystem, accounting for energy lost to the environment as heat
  • B3.2C  Draw the flow of energy through an ecosystem.  Predict changes in the food web when one or more organisms is removed
  • B3.3A Use a food web to identify and distinguish producers, consumers, and decomposers and explain the transfer of energy through trophic levels
  • B3.3b  Describe environmental processes (e.g., the carbon and nitrogen cycles) and their role in processing matter crucial for sustaining life
  • B3.4A Describe ecosystem stability.  Understand that if a disaster such as flood or fire occurs, the damaged ecosystem is likely to recover in states of succession that eventually result in a system similar to the original one
  • B3.4B  Recognize and describe that a great diversity of species increases the chance that at least some living organisms will survive in the face of cataclysmic changes in the environment
  • B1.2A Critique whether or not specific questions can be answered through scientific investigations
  • B1.2C  Develop an understanding of a scientific concept by accessing information from multiple sources.  Evaluate the scientific accuracy and significance of the information.
  • B1.2E  Evaluate the future career and occupational prospects of science fields
  • B1.2k  Analyze how science and society interact from a historical, political, economic, or social perspective 
  • B1.2i   Explain the progression of ideas and explanations that leads to science theories that are part of the current scientific consensus or core knowledge
  • B1.2D Evaluate scientific explanations in a peer review process or discussion format
  • B1.2B  Identify and critique arguments about personal or societal issues based on scientific evidence 

 

 

MONDAY- LABOR DAY- NO SCHOOL

 

TUESDAY-

1)      Introduction to class and myself

2)      Hand out and review course expectations- students are to read this with a parent/guardian and returned signed by the end of the week.

3)      Address envelopes and mail home parent letters.

4)      Hand out and review course syllabus

5)      Handout textbooks and fill out textbook inventories

6)      Read chapter one

7)      Do Chapter one review sheet for 9/5/08

8)      Demo- field trips from previous years on CD and general expectations for field trips.

 

 

WEDNESDAY-

1)      Field trip form for 9/12/08

2)      Introduction to Fumee Lake water quality project- students will get a general overview of project which involves a field trip, several in-class investigations, GIS/arcview computer mapping, and a formal lab report due.

3)      Introduction to macroinvertebrates- students will be given “Canaries of the Stream” to read and return on Thursday. Students will use taxonomic keys to identify a set of macroinvertebrates from a site on Pine Creek. They will also classify the water quality of this site based on what is found there (macros). Identification and survey must be completed in 30 minutes.

 

 

THURSDAY-

1)      Students will repeat macroinvertebrate survey method with a second set of macros from a different site on Pine Creek.

2)      Instructor will discuss article and results of the two surveys with class.  Students will learn that they can in fact use the presence of macroinvertebrates to indicate water quality. Instructor will give history behind the Pine Creek sites and explain how this method will be used at Fumee Lake.

3)      Finish Chapter one review sheet.

 

 

FRIDAY- 

1)      Introduction to GPS technology and GPS units that will be used in class this year.

2)      Students and instructor will go outside on school grounds and perform a GPS team navigation exercise in order to practice GPS use for next week’s field trip. Students will mark and save points writing a description of the location. They will then switch GPS units with a partner and navigate to a different saved location. Students will check each other’s descriptions ensuring that all are able to navigate with a GPS unit.

3)      Chapter 1 review sheet due.