Pond Power Pre-Field Trip Lesson Plan

Transcription

1 Overview Pond Power Pre-Field Trip Lesson Plan Long-standing research trends show that field trips are more educationally beneficial if students are prepared for both the setting and purpose of the field trip prior to the trip itself (Sneider, Eason, and Friedman,1979; Gennaro, 1981; Finson & Enochs, 1987). The following activities will acquaint your students with the Central Wisconsin Environmental Station and will review the concept of trophic levels that will be used during the Pond Power field trip session. Objectives By the end of the pre-trip lesson, students will be able to: Summarize the following information about their field trip to CWES: activities they may participate in; what they should bring/wear; and behavioral expectations for their field trip Define food chains Describe 4 trophic levels: producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers and tertiary consumers within food chains Correctly identify at least one example of each of the 4 trophic levels Familiarize themselves with 3 pond macroinvertebrates Teacher Preparation Reserve equipment needed for class viewing of the Welcome to CWES online video. Reserve your computer lab for the online search for trophic levels. Make copies of the 2 student worksheets: Online Search for Trophic Levels and Pond Life Predictions. Lesson Outline Field trip reminders and viewing of Welcome to CWES video Levels of the food chain/defining trophic levels Online search for trophic levels Pond life predictions Lesson Details Field trip reminders: The Welcome to CWES video will address questions about what to wear and bring on the field trip. It will also give an overview of what students should expect to see and do while they are at CWES. After viewing the video, feel free to discuss your field trip s schedule and agenda with the students. To access the video, go to: Levels of the food chain/defining trophic levels: On the CWES field trip, students will survey the macroinvertebrate community in a pond and classify the macroinvertebrates into trophic levels. Before the field trip, introduce your students to the definition of a trophic level and describe the differences between each trophic level (see Trophic Levels Handout in this lesson plan or go to Begin by having each student think about one thing he/she ate for breakfast or lunch (if students come up with a multiple-ingredient item, ask them to pick just one ingredient to focus on). Ask each student

2 Pond Power Pre-Field Trip Lesson Plan to position what he/she ate in a food chain. What does it eat? What (other than humans) eat it? Have a couple of students draw their food chains on the board. The position in which they have placed their breakfast/lunch represents its trophic level. The number of steps an organism is from the start of the food chain is a measure of its trophic level. Food chains start at trophic level 1 with primary producers, move to herbivores (also called primary consumers) at level 2, carnivores (also called secondary consumers) at level 3 and typically finish with carnivores that are top predators (also called tertiary consumers) at level 4. The path along the chain forms a one-way flow along which energy travels in the form of food. Completing the cycle of the food chain are decomposers organisms like bacteria and fungi that break down dead matter into nutrients. Because decomposers can be considered both the start and finish of many food chains, they are usually not assigned a trophic level. Online search for trophic levels: Test students understanding of trophic levels by having students complete an online search in which they identify the trophic levels of different animals on the CWES Nature Navigator website. (See Student Worksheet #1 in this lesson plan for a copy of the online search for trophic levels and the Teacher Answer Sheet for answers). Pond life and predictions: Have students get in pairs and use the CWES Nature Navigator website to familiarize themselves with at least 3 examples of pond life they might find when surveying the pond during their field trip. Use the What did I see? section of the website related to pond critters at the following link: Alternately, you can download and print the University of Wisconsin Extension s publication on pond life, entitled Wonderful Wacky Water Critters at: Print out a copy of the booklet (27 pages) for your class to look through and use for the assignment. Have students choose 3 different macroinvertebrates from at least two different trophic levels. For each macroinvertebrate they should: 1) identify the trophic level; 2) list a couple of the organisms they would predict are above or below the organism on the food chain; 3) predict, of the three macroinvertebrates they chose, which will be the most abundant in the lake; and 4) hypothesize why the organism they chose would be the most abundant in the lake. (See Student Worksheet #2 in this lesson plan.) Resources Miller, B. (Photographer). Closeup of dark green blades of grass. [Web]. Retrieved from FreeDigitalPhotos.net. (Photographer). Common toad. [Web]. Retrieved from Jscreationzs. (Designer). Bacteria cell. [Web]. Retrieved from Noffsinger, L. (Photographer). Red tailed hawk. [Web]. Retrieved from Siers, W. (Photographer). Grasshopper family. [Web]. Retrieved from

3 Pond Power Pre-Field Trip Lesson Plan Wade, S. (2004). Wonderful Wacky Water Critters [A publication of the University of Wisconsin-Extension in cooperation with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, pp. 27]. Retrieved from Webster, J. (2006). CWES Nature Navigator - What Did I See?. Retrieved from Wisconsin Citizen-Based Water Monitoring Network. (2007). Wisconsin's citizen-based water monitoring network home page. Retrieved from Wisconsin Model Academic Standards Addressed Environmental Education (5 th 8 th grade): Questioning and Analysis A.8.4, A.8.5 Knowledge of Environmental Processes and Systems (Energy and Ecosystems) - B.8.8 Science (5 th - 8 th grade): Science Inquiry C.8.2, C.8.4, C.8.8, C.8.9 Life and Environmental Science (Populations and Ecosystems) F.8.8 English Language Arts (5 th 8 th grade): Reading/Literature - A.8.1, A.8.4 Media and Technology - E.8.1 Research and Inquiry - F.8.1 Math (5 th 8 th grade): Mathematical Processes - A.8.1

4 Pond Power Pre-Field Trip Lesson Trophic Levels Handout Below are examples of the trophic levels in one particular food chain: Grass produces its own food through photosynthesis. It is a primary producer at the bottom of the food chain. Primary producers are the 1 st trophic level. Grasshoppers are herbivores that eat grass. Therefore, they are one trophic level higher than grass. They are considered primary consumers. Primary consumers are the 2 nd trophic level. Toads eat grasshoppers. Therefore, they are one trophic level higher than grasshoppers. They are considered secondary consumers. Secondary consumers are the 3 rd trophic level. Hawks are carnivores that eat toads. Therefore they are one trophic level higher than toads. They are considered tertiary consumers. Tertiary consumers are the 4 th trophic level. Tertiary consumers tend to be at the top of the food chain. They have few, if any, predators. Bacteria, fungi and other organisms feed off of dead matter. These organisms are known as decomposers. They convert the dead matter back into nutrients. Decomposers are at both the beginning and end of the food chain. Therefore, decomposers are not assigned a trophic level.

5 Pond Power Pre-Field Trip Lesson Student Worksheet #1 Online search for trophic levels For this online search, you will go to the CWES Nature Navigator website. You will look for animals that you can use to fill in the trophic pyramid below. Remember: the pyramid below does not represent a food chain. In the pyramid, animals on the same level have the same trophic level. The following link will take you to the starting point for your online search: Start your search: 1) Your first mission is to go to the Mammals section. In this section, animals are separated into different groups, or Orders, based on a classification system known as taxonomy. Find two animals, one from the Order Artiodactyla and one from the Order Lagomorpha, and place them on the trophic pyramid below. Remember to think about what they eat, and what might eat them before deciding where each goes on the pyramid. If you do not know what the animal eats, click on its picture to find out more information. 2) Continuing in the mammals section, find the animal from the Order Carnivora whose common name starts with an L. Does it eat meat? Does something else eat it? Place this animal on the pyramid. 3) In the mammals section, look for the Order Rodentia. Find the prickliest animal in the list. What kind of food does it eat? Place it in the appropriate trophic level on the pyramid. Now, in the list under the Order Carnivora, find the smelliest animal in the list. What kind of food does it eat? Is there any animal that eats it? Place it in the appropriate trophic level on the pyramid. 4) Go back to the original link at the top of this page and go to the Birds section. Find the Great Horned Owl. Click on the bird s picture. On the page that pops up, find the tab marked Life History. What animal does the great horned owl eat that is already on your pyramid? Is anything listed as a predator of the owl? Place the owl on your trophic pyramid. 5) Go back to the original link at the top of this page and go to the wildflowers section. Select 4 wildflowers and place them on your trophic pyramid. Trophic Pyramid Tertiary Consumer Secondary Consumers Primary Consumers Primary Producers

6 Pond Power Pre-Field Trip Lesson Teacher Answer Sheet The following link will take you to the starting point for your students online search: Student Search Tasks with Answers: 1) Your first mission is to go to the Mammals section. Find two animals, one from the Order Artiodactyla and one from the Order Lagomorpha, and place them on the trophic pyramid below. Remember to think about what they eat, and what might eat them before deciding where each goes on the pyramid. If you do not know what the animal eats, click on its picture to find out more information. (Eastern Cottontail and Whitetailed Deer both primary consumers) 2) Continuing in the mammals section, find the animal from the Order Carnivora whose common name starts with an L. Does it eat meat? Does something else eat it? Place this animal on the pyramid. (long-tailed weasel secondary consumer) 3) In the mammals section, look for the Order Rodentia. Find the prickliest animal in the list. What kind of food does it eat? Place it in the appropriate trophic level on the pyramid. (porcupine primary consumer). Now, in the list under the Order Carnivora, find the smelliest animal in the list. What kind of food does it eat? Is there any animal that eats it? Place it in the appropriate trophic level on the pyramid. (Striped skunk secondary consumer) 4) Go back to the original link at the top of this page and go to the Birds section. Find the Great Horned Owl. Click on the bird s picture. On the page that pops up, find the tab marked Life History. What animal does the great horned owl eat that is already on your pyramid? Is anything listed as a predator of the owl? Place the owl on your trophic pyramid. (tertiary consumer) 5) Go back to the original link at the top of this page and go to the wildflowers section. Select 4 wildflowers and place them on your trophic pyramid. (primary producers) Trophic Pyramid Tertiary Consumer Great Horned Owl Long-tailed weasel Striped skunk Secondary Consumers Primary Consumers Eastern cottontail White-tailed deer Porcupine Primary Producers Wildflower #1 Wildflower #2 Wildflower #3 Wildflower #4

7 Pond Power Pre-Field Trip Lesson Student Worksheet #2 Names of people in your group: Pond Life Predictions On your field trip you will look for organisms called macroinvertebrates in a pond. Macroinvertebrates are insects, worms, clams, snails, and other animals without backbones that can be seen without the aid of a microscope. Macroinvertebrates are a source of energy (food) for larger animals such as fish. For this assignment, look up information about pond macroinvertebrates. Go online to or use the publication, Wonderful Wacky Water Critters. Fill in the table below with the following information: 1) In the first column, write the names of three macroinvertebrates that you think you will find on your field trip. 2) In the second column, write what other organisms each macroinvertebrate eats. 3) In the third column, write what other organisms eat each macroinvertebrate. 4) In the fourth column, write what trophic level you think each macroinvertebrate belongs to. After completing this information: 5) Predict, of the three macroinvertebrates you chose, which one will be the most abundant in the lake you will sample on your field trip. 6) Write at least three sentences explaining why you believe the organism you chose would be most abundant. Macroinvertebrate Organisms it eats Organisms that eat it Trophic Level Macroinvertebrate that you predict will be the most abundant: In the space below, explain why you believe the organism you chose would be the most abundant of the three: