Transcript Microbes and Climate Change

 Avon
Central School
 9th Grade Living Environment
 AP Biology
 8th grade accelerated course
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I loved that this lesson focused on
microbiology and that it really made my
students reflect on the importance and
interdependence of an ecosystem as a
whole.
This was a great lesson to introduce my
students to other factors that affect
climate besides the standard textbook
topics.
My students were amazed to learn that
tiny microbes could have such an
important impact on climate.
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Include more bacterial types.
I wish that the lesson had students examine
data.
I think the idea of the power point
presentation was fine, but if you wanted
more student interaction, a jigsaw activity
would also work well with this lesson.
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You could have each student report his or her
assigned microbe to a smaller group and each
member of the group could fill out a small
organizer on the influence of each of the
microbes
I also like the idea of a gallery walk where
students would prepare a small poster of their
findings and then display them around the room.
The teacher could create a scavenger hunt from
the posters and each student in the class could
then participate in the hunt by circulating
around to each poster to learn about each
microbe.
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Ocean Microbes Feel a Warming Climate’s Effects
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/ocean-microbesfeel-a-warming-climates-effects-16237
Climate Change Altering Oceanic Food Chain by Allowing
Certain Microbes to Survive
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/2775/2013070
3/climate-change-altering-oceanic-food-allowing-certainmicrobes-survive.htm
Bacteria 6 Miles Above Earth's Surface Impacting Climate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0KirpO755w
Microbes will joust for survival in Earth's warming
climate
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/04/science/la-scisn-microbes-climate-20130702
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This lesson did help my students understand
the concept of the biological pump.
It made the discussion of a complex topic
much easier to navigate. I liked that it
challenged my students to apply various
environmental conditions to a biological
model
I liked that the lesson encouraged students
to analyze and make predictions.
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My 9th graders struggled with some of the
higher level discussion questions dealing with
the biogeographical provinces and the dust
and iron deposition.
The website link located within the power
point was confusing to some of my students,
and as a result some of my students quickly
lost interest in the topic.
We did some extra research on the topic
which helped, but this was a challenging
lesson for my lower level students.
CO2
Respiration
CO2
Phytoplankton
Respiration
Respiration
Photosynthesis
CO2
Zooplankton
Decomposition
Consumption
Higher Level
Consumers
Consumption
Decomposition
Bacteria
Remineralization
CO2
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Traveling around the room as part of the
biological pump.
 2. Give the students manipulatives and have them
model the biological pump in smaller groups
 3. Throw in some mathematical problem solving
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I used a graphic organizer to go along with the power
point so my students had something to refer to as we
discussed the questions.
The Biological Pump
http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/virtualmuseum/climate
change1/06_2.shtml
The Biological Productivity of the Ocean: Section 3
http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library
/the-biological-productivity-of-the-ocean-section71072666
The Ocean Carbon Cycle
http://serc.carleton.edu/eslabs/carbon/6a.html
Video