Standards And Backward Mapping

• Subject and grade level: Mixed-grade(9-12) Biology (Ecology)

• NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards)

  • Source: The National Research Council (NRC), the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Achieve have completed a two-step process to develop the Next Generation Science Standards.

• Why NGSS?

  • As I mentioned in the last activity, my school (science department in specific) is pushing the NGSS, because it is performance expectation based rather than content based. And a high-quality science education means that students will develop an in-depth understanding of content and develop key skills—communication, collaboration, inquiry, problem-solving, and flexibility—that will serve them throughout their educational and professional lives.

• Students Proficiencies

  • SWBAT(Students Will Be Able To)

1. Use mathematical and/or computational representations to support explanations of factors that affect carrying capacity of ecosystems at different scales.

2. Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity

3. Evaluate the evidence for the role of group behavior on individual and species’ chances to survive and reproduce.

4. Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.

5. Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity
   

   Essential Question:

   How do living and non-living things interact in the ecosystem?

• Assessments

1. Role Play: students being a conservation ecologist give a speech/presentation about why we shouldn’t build a new factory in the town.
2. A quiz about the key concepts and vocabulary about ecology.
3. Video: students making a video with statistics and evidence to encourage a more environmental friendly way of life.

• Activities

1. Field Trip to a nearby national reserve park with ecosystems
2. Case study about ecology in action (Case study 1: Atmospheric Ozone, case study 2: North Atlantic Fisheries, case study 3: Climate Change)
3. Web quest: students looking for information online to build data tables and graphs about the biodiversity of the area.

 

 

Reference:

1. “Next Generation Science Standards”. org. N.p., 2017. Web. 31 Mar. 2017.

 

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