LS2+(5-6)+-+5


 * Students demonstrate an understanding of equilibrium in an ecosystem by …**

5a __identifying and defining an ecosystem and the variety of relationships within it__ __(e.g., predator/prey__, consumer/ producer/decomposer, __host/parasite, catastrophic events).__

What do these GSEs mean? What subtopics do students need to address to understand these GSEs?
Predator/prey relationships Consumer/producer/decomposer relationships

Host/parasite relationships Carnivore/herbivore/omnivores

Overall definition of an ecosystem- all organisms in a particular area and how they interact with each other.

What ideas to students need to understand before they can address the topics described above?
Plant structure and function and how this contributes to the process of photosynthesis How organisms obtain energy (food, light, etc,) = =

What misconceptions are students likely to have about these topics?
An animal that is high on the food web preys on all populations below it. A change in the prey population has no affect on the predator. If the size of one population in a food web is changed, all other populations in the web are changed in the same way. Animals are carnivores if they are big and ferocious. Herbivores are small and timid. The top of the web has the most energy/energy accumulates at the top. Populations on the top increase as the organisms below decrease. Species live together in an ecosystem because they have compatible needs and behaviors.  Arrows on a food chain/web represent who eats whom rather than flow of energy.  Changes in populations of an organism may not affect an ecosystem because some organisms are not important. One population can change and have limited or no effects on an ecosystem. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"> Students often hold misconceptions about the role of decomposers in the environment. They may not consider decomposers as part of feeding relationships, or may think of decomposers as the "bottom" of a chain or hierarchy. Decomposers are responsible for recycling nutrients in the biosphere. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;"> Plants get food from the soil by sucking it through their roots.

What phenomena and representations help students understand these topics?
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;">Photosynthesis demonstration- interactive cards, videos, experiment involving blocking a portion of a leaf from sunlight and measuring the amount of starch produced in that area compared to an area exposed to sunlight. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;">Celery demonstration (plants carry water up through xylem)

What activities or activity sequences can be used to address these GSEs?
Build an ecocolumn that includes a terrarium and aquarium. Add crickets, isopods, fish, snails, and both land and water plants. Identify relationships between organisms within the ecocolumn.

Observe a picture of an ecosystem and brainstorm all the ways that organisms are related. This can be applied to students' own environment they live in.

= How can students show that they understand this GSE? = <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Six Facets of Understanding: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">1. Explanation- based on data, experiments, observations. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: 0in;">Provide examples of each type of relationships in their aquarium/terrarium ecosystem.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">2. Interpretation- the means by which scientists make sense of data, making connections.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">3. Application- using knowledge to solve new problems <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: 0in;">- Do not give the answer. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: 0in;">- Present a related, but challenging task to explain <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: 0in;">- Point towards use of prior knowledge <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: 0in;">- Hints to provide a scaffold

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">4. Perspective- recognizing that multiple interpretations are possible, not jumping to conclusions and consider all alternatives, **knowing the importance of an idea-** teachers should design their lessons so that students come away knowing the importance <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: 0in;">- “Valuing the discipline is required for knowing and understanding the discipline”

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">5. Empathy- Four levels: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in;">1. Struggle to validate the ideas and theories that they’re learning <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in;">2. Understand and appreciate the ways that science has changed people’s ways of thinking over time about the natural world. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in;">3. Teachers need to grasp how and why students are thinking as they do <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in;">4. Open- mindedly embrace ideas that seem strange <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">6. Self-knowledge- examination of one’s own ideas and reasoning in order to advance them