Lesson Plan Overview

Abstract
Ecology Unit that addresses the following essential questions: What causes deserts, rainforests, savannahs and tundras? Why do saguaros only live in the Southwest? Can you have a rainforest in the desert? Are modern humans the only people to affect our environment?

Author
Jason Prichard (Willis Junior High School) and Terri Wattawa (Santan K-8)

AZ Standards

Science as Inquiry

1SC-E3 Organize and present data gathered from their own experiences.
1SC-E4 Identify and refine questions from previous investigation.
1SC-E2 Create a model to predict change.
1SC-E6 Analyze scientific reports from media.

History and Nature of Science

2SC-E3 Provide different explanations for phenomenon; defend and refute explanations.
2SC-E4 Identify characteristics of scientific ways of thinking.
2SC-E5 Explain how scientific theory, hypothesis generation and experimentation are interrelated.
2SC-E6 Demonstrate how Science is an ongoing process of gathering and evaluating information, assessing evidence for and against theories and hypothesis, looking for patterns, and then devising and testing possible explanations.

Life Science

4SC-E1 Construct classification systems based on the structure of organisms.
4SC-E7 Explain and model the interaction and interdependence of living and non-living components within ecosystems, including the adaptation of plants to their environments.

History

1SS-E8
1SS-E10

Geography 1

3SS-E4 Understanding the importance of using geographical tools to help locate and analyze information about people…environment.
3SS-E5 Describe natural and human characteristics of places and use this knowledge to define regions.
3SS-E7 Explain the effects of interactions between human and natural systems.
3SS-E8 Use geographic knowledge, skills and perspectives to explain past, present and future issues.

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