Diversity and Bullying: Co-habitants of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
(Life and Death in the Dunes)
Lesson Plan: Created by Patricia Deur-Vis (deur-visp@grps.k12.mi.us)
For: MiTEP Summer Internship in the National Parks
When: Summer 2011
Where: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
This lesson plan can be used in multiple grades, depending on what and how you want to use it. While the
following list may seen long and tedious, I did want to list any Michigan Science Grade Level Content
Expectation (GLCE) that could be touched on by this lesson, and the variety of grade levels this lesson plan
can fit into. The Michigan GLCEs are as follows:
Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations:
E.ES.E.1 Solar Energy: The sun warms the land, air, and water and helps plants grow.
E.ES.01.02 Demonstrate the importance of sunlight and warmth in plant growth.
E.ES.M.4 Human Consequences: Human activities have changed the land, oceans, and atmosphere of
the Earth resulting in the reduction of the number and variety of wild plants and animals sometimes causing
of species.
E.ES.07.41 Explain how human activities change the surface of the Earth and affect the survival of
organisms.
E.ES.E.1 Earth Materials: Earth materials that occur in nature include rocks, minerals, soils, water, and
the gases of the atmosphere. Some Earth materials have properties which sustain plant and animal life.
E.SE.00.11 Identify Earth materials that are used to grow plants.
E.SE.01.12 Describe how Earth materials contribute to the growth of plant and animal life.
L.OL.E.1 Life Requirements: Organisms have basic needs. Animals and plants need air, water, and
food. Plants also require light. Plants and animals use food as a source of building material for growth and
repair.
L.OL.00.11 Identify that living things have basic needs.
L.OL.00.12 Identify living and nonliving things.
L.OL.02.14 Identify the needs of plants.
L.OL.04.15 Determine that plants require air, water, light, and a source of energy and building
material for growth and repair.
L.OL.04.16 Determine that animals require air, water, light, and a source of energy and building
material for growth and repair.
L.EC.E.1 Interactions: Organisms interact in various ways including providing food and shelter to one
another. Some interactions are helpful; others are harmful to the organism and other organisms.
L.EC.04.11 Identify organisms as part of a food chain or food web.
L.EC.E.2 Changed Environment Effects: When the environment changes, some plants and animals
survive to reproduce; others die or move to new locations.
L.EC.04.21 Explain how environmental changes can produce a change in the food web.
L.EC.M.1 Interactions of Organisms: Organisms of one species form a population. Populations of
different organisms interact and form communities. Living communities and nonliving factors that interact
with them form ecosystems.
L.EC.06.11 List examples of populations, communities, and ecosystems including in the Great
Lakes region.
L.EC.M.2 Relationships of Organisms: Two types of organisms may interact with one another in several
ways.
L.EC.06.23 Predict how change in one population might affect other populations based upon their
relationships in the food web.
L.EC.M.3 Biotic and Abiotic Factors: The number of organisms and populations an ecosystem can
support depends on the biotic (living) resources available and abiotic (nonliving) factors, such as quality of
light and water, range of temperatures, and soil composition.
L.EC.06.32 Identify the factors in an ecosystem that influence changes in population size.
L.EC.M.4 Environmental Impact of Organisms: All organisms (including humans) cause change in the
environment where they live. Some of the changes are harmful to the organism or other organisms,
whereas others are helpful.
L.EC.06.41 Describe how human beings are part of the ecosystem of the Earth, and that human
activity can purposefully, or accidently alter the balance in the ecosystems.
National Science Teaching Standards: I also wanted to include any of the National Science Teaching
Standards. I chose to focus on Teaching Standard B, which states:
Teachers of science guide and facilitate learning. In doing this, teachers:
 Focus and support inquiries while interacting with students.
 Challenge students to accept and share responsibility for their own learning.
 Recognize and respond to student diversity and encourage all students to participate fully
in science learning.
Various Vocab Words Covered in this Lesson
Alewives
Asian Carp
Baby’s Breath
Black Locust Trees
Bladder Plant
Bully
Decomposing
Diversity
Dune
Dune Blow Out
Dune Grass
Emerald Ash Borer
Erosion: Water and Wind
Fungus
Garlic Mustard
Ghost Forests
Glacier
Goby Fish
Habitat
Milkweed Plant
Mussels: Quagga and Zebra
Native Species
Non-Native Species
Nutrients
Oak Wilt
Piping Plovers
Pitcher’s Thistle
Purple Loosestrife
Spotted Knapweed
Wetlands
ITEMS NEEDED
PowerPoint for Diversity and Bullying
Computers
Chart Paper
ELMO, if desired
Copies of Vocab Words, if desired
ENGAGE
Science Journals or Class Brainstorm: Ask these two questions for responses:
1. What is diversity?
2. What is a bully?
Allow science answers and personal/social answers.
EXPLORE
Show PowerPoint of examples of diversity and living things, and also of bullies in Sleeping Bear Dunes
National Lakeshore, which is attached to this document.
After showing, ask these questions:
1. What were some examples of habitats?
2. What examples of living things did you see?
3. What examples of bullies did you see?
Answers can be written on the board, or via the ELMO in your classroom.
EXPAND
Inform students of Group Activity:
1. Students should be in groups of 2-3. Students can choose partners, or it can be set up
intentionally or randomly by the teacher.
2. Choose 2 or more of the movies from the list below, and watch it as a group.
3. Answer these questions on paper, with the names of all students in your group:
a. Make a list of the living things and bullies you heard about, or saw in these movies.
b. What do living things need to survive and thrive in their habitats?
c. How are the living things in these movies threatened?
d. In each movie you watched, what evidence of life is there when a living organism does die?
For the movie, GHOST FORESTS, click here.
For the movie, PETERSON BEACH, click here
For the movie, GOOD HARBOR BAY, click here.
For the movie, FOOD CHAIN, click here.
For the movie, PYRAMID POINT, click here.
For the movie, DUNE CLIMB AREA, click here.
For the movie, PIERCE STOCKING DRIVE, click here.
EXPLAIN
Have chart paper in various places around the room with the title of each movie at the top of the page.
Have the headings: Habitats, Living Things, Bullies, Things Needed to Survive, How are Living
Things Threatened. Students should write their answers in bullet form under each heading.
1. Class Discussion occurs after students have performed the Group Activity. Focus on similarities
from the movies. Use Accountable Talk as you guide this discussion.
2. Bring the Diversity/Bully analogy to students by asking:
a. What does diversity in this classroom mean?
b. How does bullying show up in this classroom? Can you provide examples from our science
movies and relate them to bullying in our classroom or school?
c. What can we as human beings do in our nature setting to protect and allow the various
organisms there to prosper?
d. What can we as human beings do in our classroom and school habitat to protect and allow all
people to grow and thrive?
EVALUATION
Evaluation can take a couple different forms:
1. Give the groups an envelope which contains the vocab words, and two Headings with Positive and
Negative written on them. Have each group place the vocab words under the column they think it
goes under. They should be able to defend their placement when/if asked!
2. The above activity can also be done as a whole class with the teacher doing this on the board, or
via ELMO.
3. Individual evaluation may be in the form of a Thinking Map or Venn Diagram where students
draw two overlapping circles comparing science knowledge of this lesson and the classroom
diversity/bullying aspects. Or, of course, students could simply write or draw what they learned
from the movies of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and also about diversity/bullying in
the classroom.