Subject: Ecology – Habitats
Brief description: There are many different ecological systems in the world; the students will be
working in groups to explore the inner workings of a specific habitat. With their group
presentations they will share this information with their peers. The students will therefore be
exposed to a total of six habitats in this lesson which are grasslands, temperate forest, tropical
rain forest, desert, polar ice and swamp.
Class: Grade 5-6/Age 10-12/Cycle 3
Duration: Four 45 minute classes
Inquiry Question Approach: What makes up the different landscapes of the world?
STSE Goals:
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Social responsibility: Appreciating the societal impact of scientific and technological
change, and recognizing that science and technology are, to some extent, culturally
determined.
Knowledge, skills and confidence, to express opinions and take responsible action to
address real world issues in science
Objectives:
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Students will examine the characteristics of the earth’s ecosystems
Students will be able to produce a realistic model of an ecosystem
Students will be able to categorize different plants, animals and weather into the multiple
ecosystems
Students will to able to define new terminology such as peninsula, canopy, and
decomposes
Students will be able to use technology (computers) to design and create a brochure of
their ecosystem
Students will be able to explain how the different ecosystems relate to one another
Materials:
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Computers, Building materials, Research materials on habitats (i.e. books, magazines),
Scissors, Markers, Kidspiration and Microsoft word programs.
Classroom Management:
As this classroom does have children with special requirements, the groups should be divided in
the following way: six groups of four students. In one of the groups there should be three
students without special requirements and the student with autism. The next three groups should
have three students without special requirements and one student coded with ADHD and finally
the last two groups will have two students without special requirements and two of the students
with behavioral disabilities.
Scientific and Pedagogical Procedure:
Any important pedagogical procedures are italicized in this section.
Class time 1:
1. Divide the class into their groups. As per discussed in classroom management section
2. Have one member of each group come up to the front of the class and pick which
ecosystem they will be working on. Have six cue cards with the words grasslands,
temperate forest, tropical rain forest, desert, polar ice and swamp. Put the cards face
down so that the children are blindly choosing an ecosystem card.
3. Describe the lesson to the children, each team gets an ecosystem that they are going to
research and look into. In the set time frame the children are to complete three tasks:
An educational brochure about their ecosystems weather, plants, animals and
locations using Microsoft word and kidspiration
A realistic model of their ecosystem
A short five minute presentation describing the main characteristics of their
ecosystems
These three tasks are helping us answer the inquiry questions that is: What makes up the
different landscapes of the world?
Explain to the children that although they have three blocks of time to work on their
ecosystems, they will only have access to the computers during one of those times (as
there is only three computers in the class) Therefore three groups can use the computers
the second block of time to create and brochures while the other three groups create their
model and then during block three they will change tasks. Finally explain to them that
their presentations will all take place in the fourth block of time.
4. Write out on the board the aspects that should be included in each of the three tasks
Brochure: List the main characteristics of the ecosystems; be sure to include the weather,
vegetation, animals and location.
Realistic Model: a small representation of what a little piece of the landscape in that
ecosystem would look like this will include some/but not all of the vegetations and
animals.
Presentation: Describe the main characteristic of the ecosystems to your peers, think
about these two questions: What did you find out? What did you think was interesting?
5. Let the children begin their research and planning for their brochures and models. Have
books, magazines, scrap paper and art materials out available for the students.
Class time 2:
1. Have the students break off into their groups and start working on their ecosystem
projects. Make sure that three groups are working on their brochures while the three
others on their models.
2. The teacher should briefly run through how the students can export information they have
done in kidspiration into their word brochure template.
The teacher should be circulating around the classroom, observing the groups working
and helping re-direct any students that have come off track (which may happen due to the
classroom make up)
Class time 3:
1. Have the students break off into their groups and start working on their ecosystem.
projects. Make sure that the three groups that were working on their brochures are now
working on their models and the ones working on the models are now working on their
brochures.
2. The teacher should briefly run through how the students can export information they
have done in kidspiration into their word brochure template.
The teacher should be circulating around the classroom, observing the groups working
and helping re-direct any students that have come off track (which may happen due to the
classroom make up)
Class time 4:
1. Have the students walk around the class room for ten to fifteen minutes observing their
peers models and brochures.
2. Have each of the groups come up and present their ecosystem to the class.
3. Allow time for them to answer any questions their peers may have.
Evaluation:
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Students are making use of their new vocabulary in their brochures and presentations.
Students ecosystem’s model hold true to the characteristics of their ecosystems
A short test in which the students are asked to categorize different weather systems,
plants and animals into their appropriate ecosystems
Students show their knowledge of computer technology as they create their brochures.
Through a discussion the students will illustrate that they can identify the similarities and
differences between the ecosystems.