SAMPLE LESSON

TITLE: The Story in Color!

OVERVIEW: Using the National Wetland Inventory (NWI) maps for four different dates, covering approximately 40 years, students will discover the major changes in habitat types for a selescted 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 Earth’s 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

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- 1950's, 1979, 1989, 1992 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 site’s habitats by the coloration process.

NOTE: Students may do each map by themselves, or in cooperative grouping situations to address time constraints each student may be assigned the task of coloring one particular year.

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.