I. Curricular Framework

Concept:

Interdependence (1 of 2)

Essential Question:

Explain the concept of interdependence as it relates to ecosystems.

Bridge:

Circle of Life Metaphor

Content:

Photosynthesis and Respiration

Outcomes:

II. Standards Aligned

III. Instruction and Assessment

1. Connect: Connecting to the Concept Experientially

Objective: Interdependent coaching activity

Activity:
Simulate Interdependence with a coaching activity:
1) blindfold one student and restrict their partner from using their hands,
2) partner coaches blindfolded student to complete a puzzle cut out of foam art,
3) partners change roles and this time the blindfolded student creates a windmill out of K-next while being coached by the other student.

Assessment:

2. Attend: Attending to the Connection

Objective: Discuss interdependence

Activity:
Teacher led discussion:
1) Could you have succeeded without working together?
2) What did you have to do to be successful, etc.
3) If you weren’t successful, what should you have done?
4) What kind of a relationship did you have to be successful?
5) Ask questions to try and get them to come up with the term “interdependence.” What is the opposite of interdependence?
6) Think-write-pair-share: write a definition of interdendence.
7) Roundtable: In teams, brainstorm other examples of interdependent relationships in life and in nature.

Assessment:

Assessment, Phase One, Level of Engagement, Fascination:

3. Image: Creating a Mental Picture

Objective: Circle of Life metaphor

Activity:
1) Show video clip of Lion King’s "Circle of Life” and Pocahontas’ "Colors of the Wind”
2) Draw, act-out, or create a metaphor for what is meant by these two songs. [Arts connection]
3) Share and discuss, including:
a)What is meant by the circle of life?
b) What is your role in this circle?
c) What is the sustaining source of this circle?

Assessment:

Assessment, Phase Two, Seeing the Big Picture:

4. Inform: Receiving Facts & Knowledge

Objective: Instruction on photosynthesis and respiration and how these two interdependent processes form the basis of the "Circle of Life."

Activity:
1) discuss what is meant by the "Circle of Life”
2) Before beginning formal instruction, students engage in an inquiry into the relationship between a plant and animal. The students are given 7 hypotheses concerning whether plant and animals take in or give off carbon dioxide in the light and in the dark. Students then make predictions, design experiments and carry them out to test the hypotheses. The animals used are aquatic snails that students collect locally and the plant is elodea that I pick up at the pet store. A prelab is conducted in which students blow into beakers of water and Bromothymol blue (BTB) with a straw, turning the blue solution to green and then yellow. From this the students infer that BTB can be used to indicate the presence of absence of CO2. Most students predict that the plant in the dark will still take in CO2 and are surprised when it actually gives off CO2. (Lab is from Biology: As Scientific Inquiry) This primes students for a discussion and lecture on photosynthesis and respiration.
3) PowerPoint Lecture on Photosynthesis and Respiration, connecting to how these two interdependent processes make up the basis of the "circle of life."
4) Photosynthesis and Respiration Video
5) Laser Disk visuals and video clips
6) Introduce ecosystems and related terminology, focusing on the loss of energy as it flows from the sun to each of the trophic levels.

Assessment, Phase Three, Success with Acquiring Knowledge:

5. Practice: Developing Skills

Objective: Practice photosynthesis and respiration and research ecosystems.

Activity:
1) Photosynthesis and Respiration molecule building activity: these two processes are modeled using beads for atoms of C, H and O.
2) Photosynthesis and respiration Study Guide
3) Questions from text
4) Webquest to research ecosystems, especially those that are considered "hot spots" such as rain forests and coral reefs and those that are considered to be extreme. (To introduce this activity a few video clips from the movie, "Finding Nemo" can be shown and then have students contrast the coral reef ecosystem with the deap sea ecosystem, answering such questions as: "What is the basis of the circle of life in the deep sea where there is no light for photosynthesis?")
5) Ecology worksheet

Assessment:

Assessment, Phase Four, Success with Acquiring Skills:

6. Extend: Extending Learning to the Outside World

7. Refine: Refining the Extension

8. Perform: Creative Manifestation of Material Learned

Assessment, Phase Five,Performance, Creative Use of Material Learned: