SAMPLE LESSON
TITLE: The Story in Color!
OVERVIEW: Using the National Wetland Inventory (NWI) maps for three different dates, covering approximately 30 years, students will discover the major changes in habitat types for a selected site.
SUBJECT AREA: Environmental Science
GRADE LEVEL: Middle school
OBJECTIVES:
To identify habitat patterns and develop
habitat appreciation.
To use modeling in explanation of habitat
change.
To differentiate between habitat types.
To recognize selected patterns illustrated in
designated images.
To understand the processes involved in habitat
change.
STANDARDS:
National Geography Standards
Essential Element 1 The World in Spatial Terms
Standard 1. How to use maps and other
geographic representations, tools and technologies to acquire, process, and
report information from a spatial perspective.
Standard 2. How to use mental maps to organize
information about people, places , and
environments in a spatial context.
Standard 3. How to analyze the spatial organization
of people, places, and environments on Earths surface.
National Science Standards
Content Standard: Unifying Concepts and
Processes
Standard. As a result of activities in grades
K-12, all students should develop understanding and abilities aligned with
the following concepts and processes:
-Systems, orders and organization
-Evidence, models and explorations
-Constancy, change and measurement
National Math Standards
Standard 8. Patterns and Functions
The mathematics curriculum should include
explorations of patterns and functions so that students can:
-analyze functional relationships to explain
how a change in one quantity results in a change in another.
LOUISIANA STATE FRAMEWORKS
Louisiana Social Studies
G-1A-M2
Interpreting and
developing maps, globes, graphs, charts, models, and
G-1B-M3
Identifying
criteria used to define regions and explaining how and why
G-1D-M1
Analyzing and
evaluating the effects of human actions upon physical
Louisiana Science Content Standards
S1-M-A4
Developing
descriptions, explanations, and graphs using data.
SE-M-A4
Understanding
that human actions can create risks and consequences in
CROSS CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS: Geography, Earth Science, Life Science, Mathematics
PROCESS SKILLS: Observing, communicating, comparing, inferring, classifying
TIME: Teacher Preparation-One Hour
Class time-two 50
minute class periods
MATERIALS: Teacher-Background information, photo essay, Skills and
Technique sheets for
Skill 1 Map Use, Element 3 Classification of Wetland
and Upland Habitats
Skill 3 Visual Recognition, Element 1
comparison of Habitat Maps
Student: NWI map sections- 1956,1978,1988, color classification scheme, colored pencils
PROCEDURE:
1. Students should brainstorm the definition of
wetlands and their benefits.
2. Class discussion of wetland types should
follow to identify the students expectations of what plants and animals are
found in various types
of wetlands.
3. The photo essay should be shown to confirm
or direct student responses and introduce the NWI classification scheme.
4. Following distribution of the color scheme
and the NWI maps, students should begin their exploration of the sites
habitats by the
coloration process.
5. After completion of the coloring process,
comparisons between the three images should be made by the student group.
6. Class discussion and question wrap-up.
ASSESSMENT:
Student group work should be monitored.
Completed colored images should be evaluated.
A student generated chart to illustrate percent
of change for selected habitat types.
REFERENCES:
Nice Geography and GIS Sites www.frw.tuu.nl:80/nicegeo
GIS in Education danet.wicip.org/gisedu
First National Conference on the Education
Applications of Geographic Information Systems (EdGIS) Report. (1955).
Looking at Earth. (1996). Priscilla Strain
& Frederick Engle. Atlanta: Turner Publishing, Inc.