SAMPLE LESSON
TITLE: The Story in
Color!
OVERVIEW: Using the
Habitat maps for four different dates, covering approximately 40 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.
CROSS CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS: geography, earth
science, life Science, mathematics
PROCESS SKILLS: Observing, communicating,
comparing, inferring, classifying
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: Habitat map sections- 1956, 1978, 1988, 1995, color
classification scheme, colored pencils
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 Habitat
classification scheme.
4. Following distribution of the color scheme and the Habitat
maps, students should begin their exploration of the sites habitats by the
coloration process.
coloring one particular year.
6. Class discussion and question wrap-up.
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
should be made.
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.