Activity One: Introduction to Invasive Species
Objective: The students will be able to explain how organisms can disrupt an ecosystem
Materials: Food web, Youtube Video:
The threat of Invasive Species – Jennifer Klos
, Internet access
The students should have an idea on what a food web and coevolution are by now. In a typical ecosystem, there are producers and consumers. To prevent the overpopulation of producers (plants), there are primary consumers (herbivores/omnivores) that eat them. To prevent the overeating of the producers and the overpopulation of primary consumers, the secondary consumers (omnivores/carnivores) eat them. This is the process of coevolution where overtime, organisms evolve and adapt alongside others to maintain a balance.
Student will be given a food web and asked “Who will be effected if a single organism is removed from this system?” Students will share with one another what they believe will happen when someone disrupts the food web. The teacher will go on to explain that even though two organisms may not be directly related in a food web, the two effect one another. If one were to not be part of the system, some organisms go hungry and some thrive. Students will be asked “If removing an organism from an ecosystem could disrupt everything, what will happen if a new organism is introduced?”
Students will watch TEDEd’s video on invasive species and see what will happen if a new organism is introduced into an ecosystem.
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Without evolving and adapting with the other organisms, this new organism can continue to flourish without the threat of any natural predator. This is what makes them invasive. The fact that they are introduced into a new area and causes damage to the ecosystem and the organisms that live there. The students will choose from a list of invasive species and do independent research to answer the following questions:
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Where did it come from?
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How was it introduced into the new area?
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What damages has it caused?
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Have there been any attempts to stop it? If not, what could be a way to stop it?
Activity Two: Humans and Carbon Dioxide Emissions
Objective: The students will be able to compare the rate of human population growth to carbon dioxide emission.
Materials: Graphs of human population growth and greenhouse gas emission overtime.
Students will be asked to recall the concept from the previous lesson of organisms disrupting the natural flow within an ecosystem. Students will be asked “Understanding what an invasive species is and what it does, do you think that humans would qualify as one?” Students will share with another their thoughts before coming back to the general forum.
Teacher will explain to the students that ever since the industrial revolution, as many parts of the world was developing, the amount of fossil fuel burning increased to meet the demand. Teacher will explain to the students that we can track how much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are in the atmosphere are different time periods by a process in which ice is extracted from permafrost. In areas where the snow does not melt, every time it snows, it covers the previous layer of snow. Each layer of ice crystals holds a frozen remnant of the atmosphere at the time in which the snow fell and they can be collected and measured. With this method, scientists can get an accurate measurement for how much carbon dioxide was in the atmosphere during that time period.
Students will look into how the human population have grown in the past few centuries. Students will also look into the amount of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere over the course of time. Students will compare the maps of population growth and greenhouse gases release to look into a correlation between the two.
Activity Three: The Human Effect on the Ecosystem
Objective: The students will be able to compare environmental factors from before and after the human population started to grow exponentially.
Materials: Graphs of temperature, ice melt, sea level change, and pH concentration of oceans
Students will be asked to recall the concepts from the previous lesson of how humans have increased the amount of greenhouse gases since their population started to rise. Students will be asked “What do greenhouse gases do to effect the environment?” Students will think back to previous science classes and share with one another about how greenhouse gases keep heat from escaping the atmosphere. With more heat being trapped, there will be an increase in temperature.
Students will look at a map that shows the increase of average temperature over the course of time. The teacher will explain to the students that when they looked into the amount of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere last class, they can watch a correlation between the amounts of gases released with a rise in temperatures. The teacher will explain that there are other factors that are being effected by the amount gases being released.
Students will be given a map of the planet and look into how key aspects have changed over the course of time. Students will look into the changes of surface and water temperature, ice melt, sea level rise, change in weather patterns (increase/decrease of precipitation), acidification, etc.
Activity Four: The Human Effect on Living Organisms
Objective: The students will be able to explain how changes to the ecosystem can affect their lives
Materials: Journal, Internet Access
Students will be asked to think about how greenhouse gases have affected the ecosystem and recall the information from the previous class. The students will be asked “If the environment is changing, how will this affect the living things that live in the environment?” Students will share out their ideas on how living organisms can affected by the factors from the previous class.
The teacher will explain how for certain areas, they may see a change in temperature, change in weather, or change pH. In some areas, with the increasing amounts of greenhouse gases, we start to see changes in usual weather phenomenon. In some areas, we are seeing an increase of temperature but also a change in precipitation levels. In some areas, we are seeing a decrease of usual precipitation and an increase of extreme precipitation. This has an effect of crop development which has a direct impact on our and other organism’s food source.
The teacher will pose the question, “How do you think your life will be effected by the changing of the climate?” Students will share out their ideas. Some answers to expect are the easy ones including how the temperature will get hotter or the ocean is getting higher. The teacher will explain how there are many more aspects of our lives that are being effected by the climate. The teacher will give the example of eating a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. “How many of you have eaten a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast? It’s easy, convenient, and tasty. Where does oatmeal come from though? Many places, like Quaker Oats, get their oats from Iowa, out in the Midwest. Imagine if the Midwest started to see an increase of temperature and a decrease of precipitation due to climate change, what happens to the oats?”
The teacher will explain to the students that they will asked to record what they had done/will do in a 24-48 hour timeframe (or over the weekend). “Your goal is to record what you do, even the smallest of details, and you are going to try and find out as many possible ways in which your life will have to change if the climate is changing. What will happen to your morning commute to school if precipitation and/or extreme weather phenomenon increase? What will happen to the food you eat if farmers can no longer raise cattle in certain environments?”
Students will record what they’ve done the day before class or come back to school with their recordings and share their normal routine. Students will then share how their lives aren’t safe from the changing climate.
Activity Five: Humans Adapt to Their Mistakes
Objective: The students will be able to design an adaptation in which humans can undergo to live with the environmental changes.
Materials: Chart Paper, Markers/Colored Pencils
The students will be asked to quickly reshare their information from last class about the negative effects that greenhouse gas emissions is having on living organisms. The teacher will ask “What are some ways in which we can stop these negative effects?” Students will share their ideas on ways we can try and engineer solution to the issues that are occurring. The teacher will explain that this is called “mitigation” or the act of reducing the severity of something. Actions like recycling, driving less, using alternative energy are all valid ways in which we can reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that we are putting into the atmosphere.
The teacher will ask “What happens if we don’t fix the problems in time though? What happens if the problems continue to progress as we are trying to fix them since not everyone is on board? What can we do?” The students will be given the prompt of rising sea levels as an example. The teacher will explain “As temperature increases, the sea level will continue to slowly rise and coastal cities will eventually start to flood. What can we do to stop this?” Students will share their thoughts about this problem. The teacher will explain “Some adaptations that have already been put into effect are the constructions of seawalls. Areas of sand and dirt are dug out and a wall is erected to stop erosion and to create a barrier to stop the water from reaching residential areas.” The teacher will show examples of this.
The students will be posed with the task to take on one of the environmental effects identified in the previous class and design an adaptation so that we can live with the change. The students will create a poster to be used in a gallery walk that will include the following:
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What issue are they attempting to live with?
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What is their engineering solution?
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How will this work to help?
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Will this be a permanent fix?
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Are there any potential hazards with this engineering solution?