This unit is geared for high school biology students. The unit will take place after the students have learned about ecology and population growth. The students will use their prior knowledge on subjects like food webs and balance within ecosystems to understand how small factors can cause great changes.
The unit will start off by considering invasive species and how the introduction of a single new organism into an ecosystem that is already in balance can disrupt the flow of energy. With this in mind, the students will think about how humans have done something similar. We introduced ourselves into new areas and have caused environmental harm. From there, we will study climate-based damage caused by humans and consider the environmental and biological impacts.
Finally, we will design strategies to adapt to a changing planet. This will have the students looking into how the world has changed, and what we can do to cope with the diverse climate-based impacts.
(Developed for Biology, grade 10)
