Life Science: Living Together

Sample Material

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» What's the Big Question (PDF)
» Learning Set 1 (PDF)

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The Big Question: How does water quality affect the ecology of a community?

To answer the Big Question, students respond to the Big Challenge: Give advice to a small river town about how to deal with a new industry that wants to set up in the area. Using some of the practices and skills employed by ecologists, students learn about food chains and webs, ecosystems, biomes, photosynthesis and cell respiration, classification of living things, water quality and its effect on living organisms, and the effects of human activity on ecosystems.

Implements STEM initiative
Uses the Engineering Design Cycle

• abundance
• acidity
• biomes
• cell respiration
• classification
• deposition
• dichotomous key
• dissolved oxygen
• diversity
• ecology
• ecosystems
• effects of nitrates and phosphates
• elevation
• erosion
• food chains

• food webs
• habitat
• human impact
• independent and dependent variables
• indicators
• land cover
• land use
• macroinvertebrates
• pH
• pH scale
• photosynthesis
• plant growth
• pollution
• populations
• raised-relief maps

• species
• temperature
• turbulence
• water flow
• water quality
• watershed

• asking questions
• careful observation
• criteria and constraints
• data collection
• interpreting data
• keeping good records
• making measurements

• making recommendations
• modeling and simulations
• supporting claims
• using a microscope
• using evidence
• using scientific knowledge
• using scientific tools

21ST CENTURY SKILLS
Collaboration
Communicating plans and ideas Developing explanations
Finding trends in data
Critical thinking including:

• building on the work of others
• collecting, organizing, and analyzing data
• observations and interpretation using science knowledge
• using evidence to support claims