LESSON PLAN
Habitat Detectives
What Students Will Do· Investigate similar habitats and record populations of plants and animals found in each.
· Identify organisms inclusive and exclusive in each habitat.
· Distinguish the difference between a habitat and community.
Valued Outcomes
After doing the activities, the student should be able to express and illustrate:
· All the animals, plants, and natural resources in any particular habitat that form a self-sustaining ecosystem.
· All parts of an ecosystem are interdependent.
Grade Level Appropriateness: 2–4
Materials
For each student:
1. Duplicated activity sheets
2. Metal coat hanger
3. Clip board or 9 by 12 in. corrugated cardboard sheet to write on and 2 clothespins.
4. Hand lens
5. Pencil
For the class:
1. Transparency of the Venn diagram activity sheet.
2. Overhead Projector
Vocabulary
organism, habitat, community
Advanced Preparation
If clipboards are not available, make writing boards by cutting corrugated cardboard squares approximately 9 X 12 inches. Place two wooden clothespins at the top of each board which will serve to hold the paper in place. Each student will need one wire coat hanger. Bend the triangular shape of the coat hanger into a circle. Straighten the hook but do not unwind the coat hanger near the hook. For safety, wrap the straightened hook with masking tape to reduce the risk of students accidentally poking one another with the straightened end. / Students will be lying on the ground to make close observations during the day of the activity. The day before the activity, encourage students to wear appropriate clothing.
Make a transparency of the Venn Diagram to help direct students to transfer the data to the diagram at the conclusion of the investigation.
Prior to the activity, go outside to find two areas, one that will be open and sunny, the other, shady and cool. The areas should be within observation distance of the other for you to patrol. Be sure to choose areas that do not contain poison ivy and/or poison oak or other organisms that might cause risk of harm. Divide the students into two groups. Each group will be assigned to one area at a time, and then reversed. Plan to begin the activity in the classroom. Make a list of safety rules and expectations students should follow while outside doing the investigation.
Background Information:
Teaching Today’s Health, Anspaugh & Ezell, 9th edition, Chapter 26: Strategies for Teaching Environmental Health
“Students need to learn about the importance of a healthy environment. They must recognize that it is up to each of us to maintain the environment. Doing so will more easily foster high-level wellness. Instruction about environmental health should build a sense of appreciation for all life and natural resources and encourage personal practices that will help to ensure the continued preservation of the ecosphere.”
In this activity, students will investigate and compare small plots of ground in different areas of the school property. They will compare two sites such as an open grassy sunny field and shaded undergrowth area. They will identify the organisms within the area of a metal coat hanger that has been formed into a circle. By comparing and contrasting, students will determine whether the organism is a plant or animal. Plants can be identified by their green, leafy structure. Animals can be identified by their ability to move and respond to touch, and by the identification of distinct body parts (legs, wings, etc.)
Habitat Detectives
Guiding the Lesson / Support InformationWrite organism on word cards or on a white/chalk board and pronounce the word. Ask students to recall the context in which they remember the term being used. Explain that organisms are living things that grow, develop, take in or make food, exchange gases, respond to the environment, and reproduce their own kind.
Ask: What are some examples of living organisms?
Ask: What are some things necessary for organisms to live? Accept responses that pertain to food, shelter, space and water. Write habitat on word cards or on a white/chalk board and pronounce the word. Explain that the habitat is the place where organisms find food, shelter, space and water. Elicit examples of habitats of various animals including vertebrates and invertebrates. For example, termites are found where they have access to rotting wood. Bees reside where there is nectar and pollen, and a place to build a nest.
Write community on word cards or on a white/chalk board and pronounce the word. Invite students to describe their community. They will probably include the school, neighborhood, businesses, churches and service agencies. Explain that in nature, a community is a group of plants and animals living in the same area and usually depending on one another for food and other requirements.
Before going outside, distribute the activity sheets for sunny and shady habitats, clipboards and hand lenses. Each student will need a pencil. Go over data sheets, expectations and safety rules. Group the students into two groups. Distribute the coat hangers. Demonstrate how to place it on the grass and explain that they are going to study only what is inside the wire plot.
When students are outside, invite them to locate (point out) various habitats for animals such as birds, chipmunks, earthworms, spiders, etc. Include habitats where they will find plants such as clover, grass, vines and shrubs.
Direct students toward their assigned areas. Give students 15 to 20 minutes at each station, then reverse.
After the outside investigation, bring students inside the classroom to share their observations and predictions. Distribute the Venn diagram. Place the corresponding one on the overhead projector. Show students how to take the data from their data sheets and place it in the correct part of the circle, 1, 2, or 3.
Conclude by discussing how the organisms’ needs for food, shelter, space and water (in the intersection of the two circles) are met in both the shaded and sunny spots. Also discuss the impact that abuse of the habitat by humans might have on the populations of organisms living in each of the habitats. / Any plant or animal is considered a living organism. Students may not recognize the fact that some organisms release and or take in gases such as carbon dioxide or oxygen. All are designed to reproduce in some way. Responses to the environment may include motion toward or away from sunlight, or death if they cannot obtain what is needed for sustaining life. For example, a plant may die because of lack of water, too much water or inadequate nutrients or other environmental conditions
Students may question the need for shelter for plants. Actually plants are adapted to withstand the environment where they survive. Some become dormant and if not, produce seeds before they die at the end of the growing season. Point out that the place where students find food, shelter, space and water is their habitat or home.
Students may have some knowledge of plant and animal interdependencies such as food chains and webs, symbiotic relationships etc. Relationships that carry on these functions are found in a community. A community may contain many habitats.
If students do not have experience using hand lenses, demonstrate how to use them by placing the lens close to an object and pulling away until the object comes into focus.
Encourage students to be thorough with their observations just as any scientist that studies nature. You may also encourage them to use all senses but tasting.
Venn diagrams show relationships between two or more concepts or phenomena. The intersecting circles show common properties or phenomena. The areas outside the intersections indicate the properties are exclusive of one another.
You may use the same activity in other seasons to observe how environmental factors (temperature, rainfall, amount of daylight etc.) affect the organisms that were found in the habitats students compared in this activity.
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VENN DIAGRAM
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Habitat Detective Data Sheet
for a Shady Habitat
Is the organism a plant or animal? / Evidence used to classify organism. / What is the organism? / Number found in wire ring. / Drawing of the organismWhich organisms do you predict you will find in both the sunny and shady habitat?______
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Name______Date______
Habitat Detective Data Sheet
for a Sunny Habitat
Is the organism a plant or animal? / Evidence used to classify organism. / What is the organism? / Number found in the wire ring. / Drawing of the organismWhich organisms do you predict you will find in both the sunny and shady habitat?______
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