Biology 2 Proposed Digital Curriculum: Terrestrial Ecology
Desired Results
By the end of this unit students should display understanding of the general
components of Ecology. They should be able to describe general abiotic
components that animals have evolved to tolerate, such as temperature, pH,
precipitation, elevation, salinity, and soil composition. The students should also be
able to describe the importance of biotic interactions that affects species and
populations of species, such as resource competition, behavioral adaptations,
reproductive strategies, and human impact. This unit covers Bio2 Standards 2.1,
2.2, 2.3, and 2.4
Teacher Objectives
 Students will demonstrate mastery of content knowledge through daily
quizzes focused on vocabulary and content.
 Students will work effectively in a group where they will be evaluated by the
teacher and fellow students on the project.
 Students will educate each other, taking the role of instructor for specific
topics.
 Students will choose a current research topic that is not wholly explained by
science
 Students will create a mock-public service announcement based on their
research and be graded by a rubric.
Essential Questions
How does a terrestrial organism interact with its environment—why is this
knowledge important?
How does a terrestrial organism interact with other organisms—why is this
knowledge important?
How do humans affect these interactions—why is this knowledge important?
Time
The time allotted for this unit is approximately six weeks. The overall lesson
begins with an inquiry-based lab, incorporates lecture and student research, and
includes technology building projects using, but not limited to: excel, GoogleDocs
for data collection, data sharing, and data analyses; Microsoft Publisher,
PowerPoint; Active-Inspire, and Moviemaker.
Performance Based Assessment of Essential Understandings
Justification: science is unique as it is an ever-evolving field of study that requires
collaboration among scientists as they try to classify and describe natural
phenomena while basing research findings on previously collected factual data. The
following student activities promote these strategies.
Part One: Students will conduct an investigation on tree diversity using a leaf
collection and identification strategy. Data for each class will be compiled into a
GoogleDoc spreadsheet, with the opportunity available to share and examine leaf
collection data with other Biology 2 teachers county-wide. This activity promotes
the idea of biodiversity and the concepts of ecological succession as students
identify the types of trees and try to explain why certain species of trees are
more prevalent.
Part Two: Students will prepare and present an instructional research project
designed to teach their fellow students about the components of biomes and how
plants and animals have evolved to inhabit specific biomes. Students will not only
research data on specific biomes and species that have evolved to inhabit them,
but they will also present this material in an instructional format using educational
brochures for their peers. This activity promotes biological diversity based on
abiotic and biotic circumstances.
Part Three: Students will prepare lectures on human caused ecological impact
through non-native species introduction and the methods used to control nonnative species. They can choose from a variety of species (blue catfish, kudzu, etc.,
but the Emerald Ash Borer that currently threatens Virginia will be used as an
introductory example. This activity will demonstrate how difficult it is to control a
species once it has demonstrated an ability to thrive in a new habitat. This activity
also promotes public speaking.
Part Four: Students will create a public service announcement (PSAs) on a
currently unexplained scientific phenomenon using ActiveInspire and MovieMaker
or some other venue. This exercise is designed to show students that certain
phenomena are difficult to explain as they may be caused by multiple environmental
factors that are difficult to theorize and to scientifically test. Phenomena should
include, but not be limited to: Colony Collapse Disorder, White Nose Disease,
Climate Change, Chronic Wasting Disease, recent rabies increases, and chytid
fungus in amphibians.
Essential Understanding (Bio2 SOLs covered)
Lesson Development
Teacher Review:
 Teachers can help prepare for the unit by watching the free online Yale
course entitled “Lecture 24: Climate and the Distribution of Life on Earth.”
The course can be found at http://oyc.yale.edu.
 A free online textbook: Conservation Biology for All. Sodhi and Ehrlich. 2010
Oxford University Press, can be accessed and downloaded for both teacher
prep and classroom reference at the website:
http://www.mongabay.com/conservation-biology-for-all.html
Unit Warm Up:
The unit begins with an introduction to abiotic and biotic components. Teachers can
use their own prepared notes, or they can use an excellent pre-recorded lecture
downloaded from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNfmew9C508
(BozemanBiology).
After the concepts of abiotic and biotic are explained, students will participate in
two inquiry based labs, utilizing the scientific method. Students should be
assigned into groups of two-three for each lab. The first lab investigates how
changing one abiotic factor effects seed germination, with students in control of
choosing and manipulating the factors. The second inquiry-based lab will
investigate niche preference and diversity with a variety of bug traps around
campus. Both labs will review use of the method, as well as promote quantitative
data collection and graphic displays in excel.
Part One:
Introduction to Using Dichotomous Keys and Species Richness and Biodiversity of Native
Virginia Tree Species in Henrico County
Name
Melinda VanDevelder
Date
7-7-11
Lesson Title
Tree Leaf Identification Using a Dichotomous Key
Grade Level
10-12
Time Requirement 90 minutes; more time is required if leaves are collected at school
Bio 2 SOL: BIO2.1 a, j, l; BIO2.2c, BIO2.4a
Lesson Objective: To give students a hands on, “real-life” situation involving use of an
online dichotomous key in order to identify student-collected leaves, as well as real-life
analyses involving tree species richness and diversity. This project has the potential to serve
as a collaborative project county-wide to examine tree diversity and richness.
Directions for the Lesson
The Warm Up (5 min)
1. Review of Dichotomous keys and the importance of Dichotomous keys for proper
classification. Introduce the concept of diversity and species richness.
Activity 1 and/or Homework (30 minutes)
Students will collect leaves from 10 different trees on campus or from home. Students
will use these leaves for identification purposes and for diversity and richness indices.
Activity 2 (Student-led Analyses/Assessment) (40 minutes)
Students will identify leaves using: http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/forsite/key/intro.htm
Activity 3 (Assessment/student-led analyses, teacher modeling) (45 minutes)
Students should create a graph of the distribution of tree species for their class’ data.
Students will also enter collected leaf species data of the class into the Shannon Diversity Index
Excel File in order to determine species richness. Subsequent discussion of species diversity and
richness results should follow, as well as ecological succession data on shade-tolerance of trees.
Data can also be shared county-wide to promote data-sharing and larger sample sizes.
Resources
Materials
Tree Identification Website:
Student collected leaves
http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/forsite/key/intro.htm Laptops
Google Docs for data entry and graphs
Shannon Diversity Index File
Part Four:
The objectives of this unit is to combine pre-learned components of ecology with a
culminating assessment based on ecological events that scientists struggle with
creating “fixes” for, or simply cannot explain. Student should work in small groups,
preferably in groups of three or less. Students can choose one topic from a variety
of topics below (but are not limited to these topics):
Topic one: Colony Collapse Disorder
Topic two: White Nose Disorder
Topic three: Chronic Wasting Disease
Topic four: Superbugs-medically resistant bacteria and viruses
Topic five: Climate Change
Topic six: Exploding rabies populations in mammals on the East Coast
Topic seven: Chytrid fungus in amphibians
Topic eight: Free range farming versus organic farming versus commercial farming
Topic nine: Endangered Species in Virginia
Topic ten: Clean energy
Student directed questions for their awareness campaign:
1. What is the background of the environmental issue and how did it first
became an issue?
2. What are believed to be possible abiotic factors of the environmental issue?
3. What are believed to be possible biotic factors of the environmental issue?
4. What are the problems that scientists are facing with the environmental
issue?
5. What are the best “fix-it” methods available?
6. How can awareness be raised to communicate and educate people in our
community about this issue?
Peer-Guided Exploration: Complex Ecological Events
Name
Melinda VanDevelder
Date
9-17-11
Lesson Title
Grade Level
Science Dilemmas
10-12
Time Requirement 270 minutes; more time may be required for research and project
development
Bio 2 SOL: BIO2.2, 2.3, and 2.4
Lesson Objective: To give students topics on current scientific dilemmas for the purposes
students investigating current research and increasing public awareness about the current
dilemmas.
Directions for the Lesson
The Warm Up (5 min)
1. Review of “legitimate” research sites (.edu, .gov.). It is important to stress that
Wikipedia (or similar venues) are not reliable sources for information. This can be done
by having the teacher or student publish nonsensical data on Wikipedia while the class
watches.
Activity 1: Research (90 minutes)
Student groups will research a complex ecological event. They should focus their
research on the following questions and should record the sites they find legitimate information
from:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What is the background of the environmental issue and how did it first became an issue?
What are believed to be possible abiotic factors of the environmental issue?
What are believed to be possible biotic factors of the environmental issue?
What are the problems that scientists are facing with the environmental issue?
What are the best “fix-it” methods available?
How can awareness be raised to communicate and educate people in our community
about this issue?
Activity 2 (Student-led Analyses/Public Awareness) (90 minutes)
Students will prepare a presentation using media order to create a public awareness
campaign designed to inform about their selected ecological event. Completed media will be
posted on the classroom blog.
Activity 3 (Assessment/student-led analyses, teacher modeling) (45 minutes)
Students will view the completed presentations via the blog. Students will peer-grade the
presentations using a rubric, as well as answer questions about the environmental issues covered.
Resources
Classroom blog
Materials
Laptops