Spark 101 Lesson Plan
Video Presentation Title: Species Diversity and River Quality
Unit of Instruction:
Biodiversity
Subject/Course:
Middle School Science
Standard(s):
7.10 B: Describe how biodiversity contributes to the sustainability of an
ecosystem.
Objective(s):
Students will be able to:
 Identify the existence of biodiversity in the Potomac River and
describe how it is related to the water quality of the river.
Assessment/Demonstration of Learning:
Students will create a strategy to measure biodiversity levels in a local
body of water to determine the quality of water in that area.
Resources Needed:
Writing Utensil, Notebook, Overhead Projector, Computer with Internet
Access
Lesson Component
Activator
(Prior to showing the
video presentation)
Time Allotted
Teacher Procedure
Think Write Pair Share:
Time:
10 minutes
Have students quietly enter the room and take their seats. The Do Now is on the board.
Ask the students to use begin answering the Do Now questions below in their Science
Notebooks, using complete sentences.
1. Describe the characteristics of a healthy lake, river, or ocean. Is the water
clean? Do many animals live there? Why/why not?
2. Compare your description of a healthy body of water with an unhealthy body of
water. Which one is cleaner? Which one has more animals living in it?
3. Do you think the cleanliness of a river affect how many animals live in the river?
Why/why not?
© 2014 Spark 101
Developed by Travis Fosbenner, John B. Hood Middle School, Dallas, Texas
4. Can you think of any other habitats where the number of animals tells you how
healthy the environment is?
Have the students complete the answers silently. After the students have written their
answers, instruct them to share with a seat partner at a quiet volume level. Next, take
about 2 answers from individuals in the class.
Problem/Motivation
(Part I of video)
Time:
9 minutes
Show this first segment of the video to your students, letting them know that they will
be working on solving the real-world problem after viewing. Ask students to take notes
during the video, answering the following questions by writing them down:
1. If the group catches a larger number (diverse) of species, what does the mean
about the river quality?
2. What does an indicator species tell you about a body of water?
3. How do the students determine how many species live in the river?
Problem Solving
Activity
(Describe process for
identifying possible
solution(s) to the problem
presented)
Time:
15 minutes
Grouping:
Independent
Pairs
Small groups (3-5)
Whole group
Go over answers with the entire group.
Have students divide into groups of 3-4. Around the room, the following questions will
be posted (one at each station). Have the student groups walk around the room with
their notebooks. Give them about 2 minutes at each question. Students should discuss
the answer and then write down their answer in their notebook.





The man in the video used the word ‘biodiversity’. What does ‘biodiversity’
mean and how is it related to the video that we just watched?
How does the group of students identify different species from each other?
Do you think there were many species in the river? Why/why not?
Given what we saw, do you think the Potomac River is healthy or unhealthy?
Explain why you think that.
How could humans make the river healthier?
Checks for Understanding
Once the students are done going around the room, have them sit back down and go
over the answers with them.
Solving the Problem
(Part II of video)
© 2014 Spark 101
Time:
4 minutes
Show this second segment of the video to your students, letting them know that they
will be comparing their solutions to the actual solution shared by the industry
professional(s).
Developed by Travis Fosbenner, John B. Hood Middle School, Dallas, Texas
As students watch the second part of the video, have them silently answer the following
questions:



Did the scientists come to the same conclusions as you did about the
biodiversity in the river?
Which indicator species were found in the river? What did they indicate?
Why did the river not receive an “A” score?
Answer the questions with the whole group.
The Scientific Method
Comparing Solutions
and Meaning
(Describe process for
identifying possible
solution(s) to the problem
presented)
Time:
8 minutes
Grouping:
Independent
Pairs
Small groups (3-5)
Whole group
Utilize The Scientific Method Template for this task.
Arrange students in groups of 3-4. Groups are tasked with creating a study to measure
the biodiversity of the river that would be more accurate than the one we saw in the
video. Students should use the following questions to guide their thinking:



Did the scientists in the video sample the river from one location or many
locations?
Did the scientists in the video sample the river on just one day or did they go
back many different days to get many different samples?
How could increasing the frequency of river samples make this study more
accurate?
Have students use their answers from above to guide them in creating a study that
would result in more accurate findings about the water quality of the Potomac River.
Checks for Understanding
Walk around the room and check in on the progress of every group. Be sure that
everyone is on track to recognize that increasing the size of the study would make its
findings more accurate.
Future Impact and
Meaning
(Part III of video)
© 2014 Spark 101
Time:
2 minutes
Show this third and final segment of the video to your students, letting them know that
they will be reflecting on their thoughts related to pursing possible education pathways
and careers presented in the video.
Developed by Travis Fosbenner, John B. Hood Middle School, Dallas, Texas
Value-Based Problem Solving
Future Impact and
Meaning
(Have students reflect
on how solving the
problem might relate to current or
future goals)
Time:
7 minutes
Grouping:
Independent
Pairs
Small groups (3-5)
Whole group
Utilize the value-based problem solving template for this activity.
Have the students relate what they learned in the video to a local body of water that
they are more familiar with. Ask each student to write down a body of water (lake,
stream, river) that they have visited in the past. Have each student write a basic plan
describing how he/she would go about testing the water quality of his/her body of
water using the concept of biodiversity. Ask the students to answer the following
questions when creating their plans:




How will they measure the amount of biodiversity found in the body of water?
How will they identify the different species that are found in the body of water?
What will their findings tell them about the water quality of the area?
How could they improve the water quality of the area?
Checks for Understanding
This will be the Exit Ticket (which will be graded privately by the teacher).
Reflective Journals
Summarizer/Closure
Time:
6 minutes
If time allows, move on to another video. While watching this video about the White
Rock Lake, ask students to write the different species (both in water and out of the
water) that they see in the video and use that information to determine if the water
quality is healthy/unhealthy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29057XelXBM
Assessment (if applicable)
Additional Notes (if needed)
CK12 Connections (if available)
OpenStax Connections (if available)
Free videos, activities, problems, and background text available at:
http://www.ck12.org/earth-science/Water-Pollution/
© 2014 Spark 101
Developed by Travis Fosbenner, John B. Hood Middle School, Dallas, Texas