Transcript Using Paleoclimate Proxy Data with Middle School Students

Playing with Ecosystem Science
Informal Modeling Games to Explore
the Delicate Balance in Watery Places
WWW.WINDOWS.UCAR.EDU
©2003 International Art Tiles
Lisa Gardiner ([email protected]), Randy Russell,
Roberta Johnson, and Dave Mastie
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu
Learning about Natural Environments
and Processes through Models
From Benchmarks for
Science Literacy:
By the end of the 8th grade,
“students should know that
models are often used to think
about processes that happen
too slowly, too quickly, or on too
small a scale to observe
directly, or that are too vast to
be changed deliberately, or that
are potentially dangerous.”
http://www.project2061.org/
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu
Learning about Ecosystems…
“In the middle-school years, students should
progress from studying life science from the point of
view of individual organisms to recognizing
patterns in ecosystems... students should broaden
their understanding from the way one species lives
in its environment to populations and
communities of species and the ways they
interact with each other and with their
environment …Observations and investigations
should become increasingly quantitative,
incorporating the use of computers and conceptual
and mathematical models. ”
- National Science Education Standards
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu
Four activities that foster ecology
exploration via simple models
The Exploration
The Classroom Activity
Relationships between species in food
chains and balance of ecosystems
Food Chain Checkers
How nitrogen cycles through diverse
parts of the Earth system
Traveling Nitrogen
Game
How carbon cycles through diverse
parts of the Earth system
Carbon Cycle Game
How human can impact the land and
watershed
Land Planning Activity
Available at Windows to the Universe (www.windows.ucar.edu),
a University Corporation for Atmospheric Research educational project.
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu
Food Chain Checkers
Diatoms
Herring
Orca
Copepods
Students play a game that models dynamics of
a simple food chain, then they improve the
model by making their own rules that better
account for the ways that food chains work.
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu
Directions: Food Chain Checkers (round 1)
1. Decide who will play each part in this food chain (diatoms,
copepods, herring, Orcas). Each player puts six pieces on
the board (start with the diatom player and go up the
chain).
2. Objective: Capture your prey by jumping over it. (Rules on
jumping and moving are on the student worksheet.)
3. When you capture food, your species reproduces. Remove
the prey piece from the board and replace it with a piece
from your reserve.
4. Every time the first player’s moves, record the population
size of each species on the graphing worksheet.
As you play the game, think about
how you would improve this model!
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu
Traveling Nitrogen Game
Students play the role
of nitrogen atoms
traveling through the
nitrogen cycle to gain
understanding of the
varied pathways
through the cycle and
the relevance of
nitrogen to living
things.
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu
Directions: Traveling Nitrogen
1. YOU are a nitrogen atom!
2. The signs around the room mark the 11 reservoirs that
you are able to travel between. Chose one to be your
start location and add its stamp to your passport.
3. Roll the die at the reservoir to find out where you are
going next.
4. To document your travels, add a stamp to your
passport at each reservoir you arrive at and record
with words how you got there. Then roll the die again
and move to the next reservoir!
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu
Carbon Cycle Game
Through an
online game,
students
learn how
carbon cycles
through Earth
system.
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu
Land
Planning
Student groups
develop towns and
plan for their needs.
They take into
consideration their
local water resources
as they make their
plans.
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu
Directions: Land
Planning
Students discover that
their communities are
connected through use
of surface water,
wetlands, and shared
borders.
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu
“Are ecosystems made of checkerboards?”
“Do nitrogen atoms really carry passports?”
Ensure that students understand the
usefulness and limitations of these simple
models to avoid science misconceptions.
• Discuss how the model is similar to and different
from what it represents.
• Brainstorm ways that a model could be improved
to better represent Earth processes.
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu
WWW.WINDOWS.UCAR.EDU
For more information, visit Windows to the
Universe or email Lisa at [email protected]
Other Windows to the Universe Workshops at NSTA…
Workshop
Day/time
Location
Interactive Simulations in Earth and
Space Science
Friday
5:00 – 6:00
Adams Mark
Promenade F
Climate Change: Classroom Tools
Saturday
to Explore Past, Present, and Future 12:30 – 1:30
Adams Mark
Directors Row 27
WALLS (Water, Air, Land, Life, and
Space)
Adam’s Mark
St. Louis B
Saturday
2:00 – 3:00
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu
UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, Boulder, CO, www.eo.ucar.edu