Vanessa Ricker

Grade 9

Subject: Biology

Date: April 16, 2007

Title/Source of Lesson: Biome Projects

Resources from the media center

Description of Learners: 21 adolescents, 2 on IEPs, both males and females, Mostly Caucasian, 1 Asian, 2 African American

Goals:

The students should be introduced to several factors that are present in a few of the biomes. These include location, temperature range, precipitation, plant life, animal life, and additional information.
The students should learn how to divide the work up in groups.
The students should gain more experience giving presentations

Student Performance Objectives:

Benchmark F: Explain the structure and function of ecosystems and relate how ecosystems change over time. Indicator 15. Explain how living things interact with biotic and abiotic components of the environment (e.g., predation, competition, natural disasters and weather).

Connections to previous learning and future content:

The students have graphed the different climates of 3 of the biomes in class last week. To do this they were given average temperatures and precipitation values. This had introduced them to the topic of biomes. They will need to understand the different biomes for future science classes. They will also be expected to give presentations in the future so this lesson is helping prepare them for that.

Materials/Resources Needed:

Materials for presentations, computer with powerpoint presentations set up, outline to be distributed to students for taking notes, grading rubric.

Procedure:

Today we’re going to start a group investigation of biomes. The students will be put into 9 heterogeneous groups with a randomly assigned biome to explore. They will be given a rubric that tells them the directions and what they must find. In a week they will be expected to give a presentation to the class on their particular biome. Each person in the group must participate in this presentation. This presentation can be in the form of a PowerPoint or a regular poster board. Either way, the presentation should include all the necessary information including climate, location, plant communities, animal communities, and environmental concerns. After your presentation, you should allow your classmates and myself to ask you questions. You may find it easiest to assign roles to each person in the group about finding information and becoming experts on individual aspects. Then you should share your information with the rest of the group. This will help you on the overall project as well as on the test that will cover all the different biomes.

You will be given class time to work on this down at the media center beginning today. Make sure you use the time wisely.

Biomes:

Tropical Rain Forest

Nutrient poor soils,

Location: parts of south and central America, Southeast Asia, parts of Africa, southern India, and northeastern Australia

Temperature Range/precipitation- hot and wet

Plant life- broad-leaved evergreen trees; ferns; large woody vines and climbing plats, orchids, bromeliads

Animal life- sloths, jaguars, monkeys, toucans, anacondas, boa constrictors

Tropical Dry Forest

Generally warm year round

Seasonal rainfall; alternating wet and dry seasons

Richer soils

Plant life: tall deciduous trees, drought-tolerant orchids and bromeliads, succulent plants

Animal life: tiger, monkeys, elephants, rhinoceros, snakes, lizards

Location: parts of Africa, South and Central America, Mexico, India, Australia

Tropical Savanna

Location: large parts of eastern Africa, southern brazil, northern Australia

Temperature: warm temperatures

Frequent fires, compact soils prevent it from turning into a dry forest

Plants: tall, perennial grasses, drought-tolerant and fire resistant trees.

Animal life: lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, aardvarks, elephants, giraffes, zebras, ostrich, storks

Desert:

Location: Africa, Asian, the middle east, United States, Mexico, South America, Australia

Are all deserts hot? Variable temperatures

Mongolia and China and the Great Basin in the western United States

Low precipitation less than 25 cm

Plants: cacti and other succulents

Wildlife: mountain lions, gray foxes, bobcats, mule deer, rattlesnakes, lizards

Temperate Grassland:

Temperature: warm to hot summers, cold winters

Precipitation: seasonal,

Plant life: lush, perennial grasses and herbs, most are resistant to drought fire and cold

Animal Life: predators such as coyotes and badgers, wolves, rabbits, prairie dogs, snakes,

Location: central Asia, NA, Australia, central Europe

Temperate Woodland and Shrubland (chaparral)

Location: western coasts of North and South America, South Africa, Australia

Precipitation: dry summer, moist winters

Temperature: hot summers, cool winters,

Plant life: woody evergreen shrubs, small leathery leaves

Animal life: coyotes, foxes, mountain lions, rabbits, squirrels, haws, lizards

Growth of dense low plants that contain flammable oils makes fires a constant threat

Mix of shrub communities and open woodlands

Temperate Forest

Location: eastern U.S., southeastern Canada, most of Europe

Temperature: cold to moderate winters, wamr summers

Precipitation: year-round;

Plant life: broadleaf deciduous trees, conifers, flowering shrubs

Animal life: deer, black bears, bobcats, raccoons

Fertile soils

Northwestern Coniferous Forest

Location: pacific coast of northwestern U.S. and Canada

Temperature: mild

Precipitation: abundant;

Animal Life: bears, elk, deer, beavers

Plant life: Douglas fir, western hemlock, redwood

Conifers

“temperate rain forest”

Boreal Forest: (taiga)

Location: North America, Asia, northern Europe

Precipitation; moderate

Temperature: long cold winter, short, mild summers

Animal Life: lynx, timberwolves. Beavers, songbirds

Plant life: needleleaf coniferous trees

Northern hemisphere

Tundra:

Location: northern North America, Asia, Europe

Precipitation: low

Temperature: short cool summer; long, cold winters

Permafrost

Animal Life: waterfowl, arctic foxes, caribou

Plant Life: mosses, lichens

Opening/focus/anticipatory set:

I will introduce the first day of the biome presentations. I will also remind the students of a few key points they should remember. For example, they should know it should be between 5 and 10 minutes and each person in your group must participate.

Teacher modeling/demonstration of learning:

The students will demonstrate that they know their biome by presenting it to the class. They will be evaluated on their presentations.

Check for Understanding.

The students are giving presentations and I will be asking questions if they miss any of the information. The other students in the class will also be given the opportunity to ask questions for further information. This will check if the students understand the information.

Guided Practice or activity

The students are involved in a group activity and are presenting their biomes to the class.

Independent Practice:

Each student must participate in this presentation. They all must have an active role. Therefore, they will all be held accountable for their part.

Class discussion and/or group activity

The students were put in groups to present information on a biome. They collect information and put the presentation together as a group.

Closure of lesson that determines if goals/objectives were met

At the end of class each student should have filled out their notes worksheet that had been provided. This will give the students a summary of the different biomes to study for their test.

Authentic assessment:

The students will be assessed on their presentations by a rubric. The presentation is worth 30 points. They have been given the rubric ahead of time so they know what I will be looking for and what content they must include

Name ______Period______Biology

Partner(s) ______

Biome Project 2007

With you partner(s), you will thoroughly research the ______biome. You are to develop a presentation that will convey to the rest of the class an understanding of the abiotic and biotic factors that define your particular biome. The research will culminate with a 5-10 minute presentation that will include the participation of all members of your group. The presentation should include some visual aid to help explain the content. You may be creative in the method of presentation; there is no single correct format. The content, however, must be factual and should convey to your classmates your expertise of the topic. Presentations will be October 24-26, chosen in a random order.

Rubric for grading:

Content:Climate (temperature and precipitation)0-3 pts.______

Location throughout the world0-3 pts______

Plant communities described0-5 pts.______

Animal communities described0-5 pts.______

Environmental concerns explained0-3 pts.______

Presentation:Group participation1-3 pts______

Visual aid0-5 pts.______

Questions and answers0-2 pts.______

Originality/creativity 1-2 pts. ______

Total:____

Elements of cooperative learning

Positive Interdependence: The students each need to participate and look at different aspects of the biome. They must then be prepared to give a presentation where each person is included. Also, they can work together to answer the questions posed by the teacher and class at the conclusion.

Individual Accountability: Each group must present what they contributed to the overall project. However, each student will be held accountable for all the material presented on the test that will be given at the end of the chapter.

Social Skills: The students must be willing to work together to build the project or they will not have all the required parts. They also

Face-to-face interaction: The students will be given the opportunity to work face-to face during class in the media center

Heterogeneous Grouping: The groups were put together by the students randomly drawing a number. Also, the biomes were assigned randomly to the groups.

Evaluation: The students will be evaluated while they work on their project as I will come around during class and make sure everyone is participating. Also, they will be evaluated on how well they present the information and how well they are able to answer questions posed following the presentation. Finally, the students will again be assessed on the material on the test at the end of the chapter.

Trust: The students must trust their other classmates to do their part and gather the correct information.

Expectations: The children all have expectations of themselves and of their overall group and how well they can do on the assignment.

There are also expectations set by the teacher through the directions given and the rubric provided.

Friendship: Hopefully this assignment will foster a new friendship since the groups are being formed randomly and the students are not just in groups with their friends who they talk to all the time.