Nature Journals Final Project
Introduction:
Have you ever seen Survivor on television? Have you ever wanted to travel to one of the
exotic locations where Survivor is filmed? Wondered about the fascinating plants and
animals that the participants encounter?
For our final assignment (you will have the next 3 weeks to work on it), you will be
creating a project that attempts to convince your classmates and the head judge (that
would be me!) that your biome is the perfect place to host the next season of Survivor.
You will work together in teams to discover one Earth’s biomes. As a team,
you will focus your research on the climate, typical flora and fauna, as well as the worlddistribution of your biome. The team will present work to the class in a creative manner
as if you are trying to persuade the producers of the hit television show “Survivor” to
hold the next season in your biome. The biome that wins the production for the next
season will receive financial support for their ecological conservation program. You will
also individually research a unique organism to your biome and discuss its specific
adaptations. You, and your WCATY teammate, will be presenting your biome project
during our final Face to Face meeting!
Important Information:
Biome: A major regional or global biotic community, such as a grassland or desert,
characterized chiefly by the dominant forms of plant life and the climate
Biome types:
Tundra
Desert
Grassland/Savannah
Shrub/Scrub
Montane/Alpine
Marine
Tropical rainforest
Temperate rainforest
Deciduous forest
Coniferous forest
Logistics:
I will assign you a teammate AND a biome type. I will also set up a “forum”
specific to you and your partner, you MAY NOT enter into other groups’ forums. I am
able to track your movements in the forums, so I can check that this rule is not being
violated!
You will “meet” with your partner online and work on your project together for the next
two weeks.
During the final Face 2 Face, I will bring plain white poster boards (you can request other
supplies, and I will do my best to bring them as well) for you and your partner to create
your final presentation. You will have completed your research, collected information
and any other pictures/maps/etc that you need. You will also have made a plan with your
partner to create your final presentation poster!
We will plan on having each group present for 10 minutes (I will cut off your
presentations at 10 minutes, because of our time constraints!) and we will spend 60-90
minutes creating our final posters and meeting with our teammates to practice and plan
our final presentation.
Your assignment:
You will use your creativity and develop scientific knowledge about your biome in this
project. Each team will also be on the “board of directors” while other teams are
presenting and rating the presentations along with the executive producer. You will also
have an opportunity to rate yourself and your partner during this activity.
Your teams’ grade will be based on:
Quality of research
Creativity of project/presentation
Participation
“Board of Directors” comments
Use of resources
Your individual grade will be based on your team grade AND:
Your individual organism research flyer
Assignments:
As a committed conservationist, you are concerned about the state of your biome. To
ensure the survival of your biome, you need to acquire money for your conservation
projects. Since your biome is the best place in the world, you have decided that
perhaps you could make some money by hosting “Survivor” in your biome. If the
television show is produced in your biome, your ecological conservation program will
receive financial benefits.
TASKS
Your objective is to convince the producers of “Survivor” that your biome should be
chosen for the show. Your task will consist of several parts. You and your team are
assigned the following responsibilities:
1. Produce a flyer describing your biome (e.g. average temperature & precipitation),
outlining what ecological concerns in your biome merit funding
2. Individually produce a flyer on an organism in your biome & its adaptations
3. Design a reward challenge unique to your biome
4. Make a presentation to the producers of the “Survivor” series
5. Evaluate the suitability of each biome for “Survivor”
Guidelines set by the producers of “Survivor” are as follows:
_ There will be 2 team members
_ The final presentation will contain the following information –
_name of the biome
_ world distribution of the biome (you may include a map)
_ location within the biome you want “Survivor” to be filmed (i.e. city,
island, etc.)
_ climate of the biome (i.e. average temperature & precipitation)
_ typical flora (plants)
_ typical fauna (animals)
_ ecological concerns, current & future conservation efforts
_ visuals (pictures, diagrams) to enhance the appeal of the final poster
_ Each team member will ALSO choose one plant or animal that lives in their biome and
make a separate flyer that describes the organism and its adaptations. Pictures should be
included if at all possible.
_ As a team, design a reward challenge unique to your biome. (Look at the Survivor web
site, http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor, for an outline of some of the past reward
challenges – click on “show”, then“challenges”.)
_Each team must turn in a complete bibliography of ALL RESOURCES used, I am
looking for 6-10 sources, from a mix of books, websites, magazines, etc.
PRESENTATION:
_ Each team has 10 minutes to make their presentation (description of biome, individual
organism & adaptations, reward challenge)
_ All members must speak.
_ All teams will participate in the presentations, while other groups present, we will be
completing information sheets about their presentation
Grading breakdown:
_ All teams, when not making presentations, are acting members of the “Survivor”
production team and are responsible for completing a summary sheet on the biomes and
the organism and adaptation summary.
_ Biome flyer: (group) 25 points
_ Organism flyer: (individual) 25 points
_ Reward challenge: (group) 25 points
_ Complete bibliography: (group) 10 points
_ Complete summary sheets: (individual) 15 points
100 points total
_ Grading: (presentation)
_ Group (biome, reward challenge) 50 points
_ Individual (organism & adaptations) 50 points
100 points total