Biodiversity
Made up of two separate words: biology, the study if living organisms, and diversity that refers to the variety of living organisms. As we can see from the above living organism classification, there are millions of different species, all of which are important for the balance.
Life's Cycles
Ruth Heller (1983) in
The reason for a flower
clearly describes, through beautiful colored plates, the amazing process that takes place from flower to seed. It is through this process that children can begin to understand the definition of a wider spectrum of living organism, as well as the resiliency to regenerate itself from a simple seed into a flower, a fruit, and back to a seed. And thus, another life cycle begins at the same time that another continues, like the spiral on a snail's shell or yet another ring in a tree trunk.
The seasons as a cyclical clock
In order to understand the idea of ecosystems, habitats, communities, and biomes, students need to be able to understand the fundamental concept of the seasons as one of the most important life generating and recursive cycles of maintenance, development, and growth.
It is important to note the influence that the change of seasons has on all living organisms marking life on earth into very clear beginnings and endings of life cycles. It is through close observation of these yearly cycles, that we begin to understand issues of life and death, issues of rebirthing and regeneration, of destinies and foretold outcomes and endings.
