Biology Lesson Plan
Title:
Sponges. Paper Towel. Styrofoam. Cotton: Choose the fate of Oil Spills.
Subject:
Biology/Ecology
California State Standards:
Investigation and Experimentation Standard 1. To be a scientist and
make scientific progress students must ask meaningful questions
and conduct investigations. Students should develop their own
questions and perform their own investigations.
Biology Standard 6: Stability in an ecosystem is a balance between
competing effects. As a basis for understanding this concept:
Biology Standard 6a. Students know biodiversity is the sum total of
different kinds of organisms and is affected by alterations of habitats.
Biology Standard 6b. Students know how to analyze changes in an
ecosystem resulting from changes in climate, human activity, introduction
of nonnative species, or changes in population size.
Biology Standard 6c. Students know how fluctuations in population size
in an ecosystem are determined by the relative rates of birth, immigration,
emigration, and death.
Biology Standard 8. Evolution is the result of genetic changes that occur
in constantly changing environments. As a basis for understanding this
concept:
Biology Standard 8b. Students know a great diversity of species
increases the chance that at least some organisms survive major
changes in the environment.
Author:
O.C.E.A.N.I.T.S G.W
Grade Level:
9th
Time Duration:
55 minutes
Overview:
Oil spills have impacted ecosystems within the ocean in multiple ways. Not only
do they create a thick layer surfacing the ocean, but deplete the oxygen within the water
as well. There are various ways in which oil spills occur ranging from oil rig explosions to
oil tanker accidents. What many people fail to realize is that there are numerous
methods in cleaning an oil spill up. One method that is not widely used or known is that
of using hair mats. Since hair is a natural absorbent of oil, when it is matted together it
absorbs the chemical well. Other than obvious sorbents such as paper towels, cotton,
Styrofoam and sponges, a soil-like substance called HTP (containing microbes) also
cleans up oil well because it sort of eats the oil and is easily manageable. Although oil
spills often occur infrequently, they occur to often to attain a healthy environment. The
reason this lesson plan was implemented was to demonstrate the various ways used in
an oil spill clean-up.
Objective:
What are oil spills?
How do oil spills occur?
How often do oil spills occur?
What are the negative effects of oil spills?
How are oil spills cleaned up, and how affective are each of these
methods?
How do oil spills have a direct impact on the organisms living within the
affected area? How does this affect that particular ecosystem?
Materials:
For each experiment:
2 Sponge
2 Paper Towel
2 Styrofoam
Cotton Balls
4 Worksheets for each sorbents
1 Tweezer
3 ½ Cup Simulated Crude Oil (Cocoa Powder, Vegetable Oil)
3 drops Blue Food Coloring
1 Feather
1 Glass Baking Dish
1 Teaspoon
1 Popsicle Stick
Other:
The Green Team Newscast (Video)
The Green Team Newscast Worksheet
Paleton Lollipops
Activities and Procedures:
1. Video: The Green Team Newscast
a. As students watch The Newscast they answer the questions on the
Newscast worksheet in descending order.
b. Overview of Questions
i. What is the name of the newscast?
1. The Green Team at 11.
ii. Where are oil spills most common?
1. They are most common in bodies of water such as lakes
and oceans.
iii. What does oil do to the oxygen in water making it hard for marine
life to survive?
1. It depletes the oxygen in the water.
iv. What is the most widely used way for oil spills to recover?
1. Detergent and hair mats.
v. How to hair mats clean up oil?
1. Since hair is a natural absorbent of oil, it soaks up oil.
vi. What is the watch and wait method in cleaning up oil spills?
1. Watching and waiting to see if the oil will evaporate and
what will happen is no action is taken.
vii. What is one cause of oil spills, and how much of a percentage is it
the cause of the oil spill?
1. Answers will vary.
viii. What country is third in creating crude oil?
1. Mexico
2. Experiment
a. Put your hand up and ask for blue food coloring
b. Mix it in with the popsicle stick
c. Pour cup #1 of the simulated crude oil in
d. Place your sorbent in the ‘contaminated ocean’
e. Remove your sorbent with the tweezers
f. After every group member finished answering #1-12 answer #14-17
together
g. Empty out the ocean and fill it with water again
h. Pour the next cup of simulated crude oil in
i. Place new clean sorbent in
j. Place feather in
k. Answer questions on worksheet
3. Review Handout
4. Conclusion
Conclusions:
How does it fit into your class’s curriculum?
Roughly 10% of freshman biology curriculum emphasizes on Ecology. During
this Biology lesson plan, the O.C.E.A.N.I.T.S G.W ambition was to educate the students
on how oil spills have a direct impact on wildlife and organisms living within the affected
area. With a high rate of death’s occurring because of oil spill disasters, fluctuation in
populations affect food cycles and can ruin an entire ecosystem. By dipping a feather in
their contaminated ocean replications, they discovered the different affects oil can have
on animals such as weight and chemical poisons. Through the newscast and
experiment, the students interpreted how oil spills occur and various approaches to oil
spill clean-ups, and how oil spills affect the environment they occur in.
How many times was the lesson plan taught?
The lesson plan was taught 3 times to 3 different freshman AVID (a college prepatory
course) classes at SOAR High School (the entire freshman class). Each class had
approximately 30 students. With about 400 students total at SOAR High School,
O.C.E.A.N.I.T.S G.W educated about 150 students (along with the chemistry lesson
plan) which is almost 40% of SOAR’s entire population.
What was the entire number of students taught?
Not including the Chemistry Lesson plan, this Biology Lesson plan was taught to
98 students.
How did the students respond to the lesson plan?
Through the use of teamwork, the students were able to positively take away with
them more than a fun experiment. They now hold more knowledge on oil spills and
various components about this topic. The students responded to the lesson plan with a
positive attitude. They all were attentive during the O.C.E.A.N.I.T.S G.W made
newscast, and answered all of the questions about it correctly. During the experiment
they were all involved and by working together were capable in accomplishing the goal
of the lesson plan altogether, which was to determine the effectiveness of each sorbent
and what affect oil spills have on organisms and ecosystems altogether.
How did we modify the lesson plan as we taught it?
Because of the fact that we taught the lesson plans all on 3 separate days we
were able to make the modifications we needed to. After the first lesson plan we
proceeded to discovering how long each component of the lesson plan should take, so
that gave us the opportunity to make sure they were completed in that time frame.
Are there any further improvements you would make after teaching it?
Further improvements that could have been made were to figure out how the
crude oil was going to be made and distributed without making a mess. It was all made
at once in a large oil container with a vast amount of coca powder which caused a thick
clump of cocoa to stay stuck together. Other than that the organization including time
management went well.
Works Cited:
“Experiment to Clean up an Oil Spill.”Australian Maritime Safety Authority. Australian
Government, 15 Nov. 2004. Web. 06 Sept. 2012.
http://www.amsa.gov.au/marine_environment_protection/Educational_Resources
and_information/Teachers/Classroom_Projects/Clean_up_oil_spill_excercise.asp