Lesson
Title/Focus
Biomagnification
Date
Thu, Jan. 22/15
Subject/Grade
Level
Grade 9 Science
Time
Duration
20 min
Unit
Environmental Chemistry
Teacher
Miss Einarson
OUTCOMES FROM ALBERTA PROGRAM OF STUDIES
General
Learning
Outcomes:
Specific
Learning
Outcomes:
1. Investigate and describe, in general terms, the role of different substances in the environment in
supporting or harming humans and other living things
-
describe and illustrate processes by which chemicals are introduced to the environment or
their concentrations are changed (e.g., dilution in streams, biomagnification through food
chains)
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will:
1. describe biomagnification through food chains
2. discuss the implications of biomagnification on human health
ASSESSMENTS
Observations:
Key Questions:
Products/Performances:
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Listen to students as they explain to their peers about biomagnification
Who ended up with the most toxins?
Why did the large fish have the most toxins in its system?
How does the concept of biomagnification affect people?
Now that we know about biomagnification, what should we do about it?
Students will explain biomagnification on their exit slips
LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTqd-7cQiAI
Alberta Education – Programs of Study
learnalberta.ca
http://wiki.islandwood.org/index.php?title=Biomagnification_game
MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT
 30 pennies
 smart notebook on biomagnification
 printed exit slips (enough for class)
PROCEDURE
Attention Grabber
Assessment of Prior
Knowledge
Expectations for Learning
and Behaviour
Advance Organizer/Agenda
Introduction
Ask the class as a whole to raise their hands: Who here has eaten fish? Did
you know that there is a good chance that the fish you ate had high levels of
toxins in them? We’re going to discuss why that is.
Get students to tell their partner what a food chain is.
Time
30 sec
Who can explain to me, from grade 7, what a food chain is? – Check to make
sure the explanation is complete. Go over food chains again if necessary.
2 min
Who has heard of the term biomagnification before?
- when modeling biomagnification, I expect students to be aware of
their surroundings so as not to bump into other students or
objects (students will be moving around so, for safety, make sure
there are clear paths for which they can move)
- I expects all students to participate in the simulation
- I expect students to participate in discussion
- organize the room to that the tables arc around the centre (so that
the activity can take place in the middle)
- assess prior knowledge by asking about food chains and
biomagnification
- discuss the term biomagnification and what the two words
(biology and magnification) mean
- show a diagram of how biomagnification works
- do biomagnification activity with the class
1
-
have students write down the number of pollutants
discuss why there are more pollutants in the large fish than in the
zooplankton
discuss what are the implications on human consumption
Transition to Body
Learning Activity #1
Assessments/ Differentiation:
Learning Activity #2
Assessments/ Differentiation
Learning Activity #3
Body
What is Biomagnification?
- explain to students that often pesticides will be sprayed on plants
and they make their ways into the water systems. If you didn’t
know about biomagnification, you might think that it’s okay
because it’s just a small amount of toxins. We will explain how a
small amount of toxins in one organism can turn into a large
amount of toxins in another.
- ask students if they have heard of the word biomagnification
- look at the first slide of the word
- move to the second slide where the word is illustrated
- talk about that biology is the study of living things and that
magnification is the process of making something larger/appear
larger
- show first biomagnification diagram and explain the increasing
arrow and that the amount of toxins inside a single organism
increases as you move up the food chain
- ask: Which organism is the highest on the food chain in this
example?
- Which organism would contain the highest toxin amount in
this example?
- ask students to turn to their partner and explain what
biomagnification is
- Key Questions: Which organism would contain the highest toxin
amount in this example?
- Observations: Listen to students as they explain to their peers
about biomagnification
Acting out Biomagnification
- explain to students that we are going to act out biomagnification.
There will be pennies that will be producers containing toxins. The
zooplankton will eat the producer. The small fish will eat the
zooplankton. The large fish will eat the small fish. Between each
round, you will record the number of toxins you have consumed.
- split class so that there are 10 Zooplankton, 5 Small Fish, and 2
Large Fish
- Scatter 30 pennies on the floor
- tell the zooplankton that they are now going about their day eating
some producers and ask them to pick up pennies
- get the zooplankton to record the number of toxins they consumed
on the smart board
- now ask the small fish to eat the zooplankton. When the
zooplankton are eaten, they must sit down but give their toxins
(pennies) to the small fish
- small fish will record the number of toxins they have in their body
on the smart board
- ask large fish to now hunt the small fish
- same process applies
- when all three steps have finished
- ask: Which organism contains the most toxin?
Key Questions: Which organism would contain the highest toxin
amount in this example?
What are the implications of biomagnification?
- ask: Why are there more pollutants in the big fish than the
Time
5 min
7 min
5 min
2
small fish or the zooplankton?
show the video of biomagnification
ask: Why was the bird killed?
show the diagram with the fisherman and explain what the bars
mean
- ask: How would this affect you and your consumption of fish?
- ask: What do you think we should do with this knowledge?
- have students complete the exit slip question
- Key Questions: Why are there more pollutants in the big fish
than the small fish or the zooplankton? Why was the bird
killed? How would this affect you and your consumption of
fish? What do you think we should do with this knowledge?
- Products: Students will explain biomagnification on their exit
slips
Closure
I would use the exit slip written by the students to assess their learning.
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Assessments/ Differentiation
Assessment of Learning:
Feedback From Students:
Feedback To Students
Transition To Next Lesson
Time
Outcomes I’m teaching:
Knowledge: 1. Investigate and describe, in general terms, the role of different substances in the environment in
supporting or harming humans and other living things
- describe and illustrate processes by which chemicals are introduced to the environment or their
concentrations are changed (e.g., dilution in streams, biomagnification through food chains)
I will be teaching this knowledge through direct instruction, class discussion, video, as well as a demonstration activity. I
believe the combination of words, static visuals, video, verbal discussion, as well as kinesthetic demonstration will cater to a
wide range of learning styles.
Skills: Work collaboratively on problems; and use appropriate language and formats to communicate ideas,
procedures and results
- communicate questions, ideas, intentions, plans and results, using lists, notes in point form, sentences, data tables,
graphs, drawings, oral language and other means
By having students work as an entire class to represent biomagnification, they will have to work together in order for
everything to run smoothly. I hope that by having class discussion with asking some open-ended questions, I will encourage
students to communicate their questions and ideas verbally.
Attitudes: Scientific Inquiry: Students will be encouraged to: Seek and apply evidence when evaluating alternative
approaches to investigations, problems and issues (e.g., strive to assess a problem accurately by careful analysis of evidence
gathered; critically consider ideas and perceptions, recognizing that the obvious is not always right)
I am having students question what they think people should do with this information. They will have to use the evidence that
they have to produce their own conclusions.
Reflections from the
lesson
3