Module One
Curriculum Links Level 9 Science Curriculum
(Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2018)
Biological Sciences
Ecosystems consist of communities of interdependent organisms and abiotic components of the environment; matter and energy flow through these systems (VCSSU121)
​
-
Elaboration: Exploring interactions between organisms, for example, predator/prey, parasites, competitors, pollinators and disease vectors
Science Inquiry Skills
Communicating: Communicate scientific ideas and information for a particular purpose, including constructing evidence-based arguments and using appropriate scientific language, conventions and representations (VCSIS140)
Learning Intentions/Outcomes:
By the end of this lesson students should be able to:
-
Contribute ideas and concepts to a whole class discussion
-
Summarise the work of a scientist
-
Arrange content, knowledge and understandings into a meaningful and purposeful layout
“I CAN” STATEMENTS
-
I can contribute meaningful ideas to a class discussion
-
I can summarise the research of a real world scientist from Deakin University
-
I can express the knowledge I have on ecosystems, in a suitable and justifiable visual array of ideas
-
I can link in my ideas into this arrangement of scientific concepts
Learning Activity 1:
Graffiti Wall
Teacher Input
Have students come up to the whiteboard to contribute their ideas and current knowledge on:
-
Ecosystems
-
Living and non-living components
-
Interactions between organisms
This is a student lead activity, where the teacher may ask students to clarify their ideas, however, this is a conceptualisation of how students perceive the topic. Students should be reminded there is not correct or incorrect answer. All students are encouraged to contribute to the graffiti wall, using not only words to describe their ideas, but also pictures. This would appeal to students who are more artistic.
Student Input
Students are introduced to the topic of ecosystems. Students are assigned some time to contribute their current ideas and understandings to the graffiti wall (the whiteboard). Depending on class size, the students can also form a semi-circle around the whiteboard so they are collaborating their ideas closely amongst their peers. Students discuss ideas with their peers around them to enhance and elaborate on their current conceptual ideas.
Resources
Whiteboard markers
Whiteboard
Assessment FOR and OF Learning
Students are diagnostically assessed on their ability to contribute ideas to the graffiti wall. Student responses are not considered correct or incorrect, rather they are assessed on their ability to present their current conceptions on ecosystems. This will be demonstrated through their capability to collaborate with their peers and present their current conceptions on the graffiti wall. This activity will allow the teacher to identify the common misconceptions students have, and to see where their current level of understanding is at.
Learning Activity 2:
Puzzling Out
Teacher Input
Have students form into groups of 2. Teacher will provide each group with the puzzle pieces (shown below). The puzzle pieces have concepts about ecosystems written on them. The teacher will inform students that they are required to create a puzzle, which links the ideas on ecosystems together. Teacher will advise students that this is a self-guided learning activity, and they are responsible to investigate the concepts on the puzzle pieces. Emphasis will be placed on the requirement to justify why concepts are connected and arranged with other concepts in a particular way. Teacher will highlight that each group may have different responses. This activity is similar to presenting a concept map, however, it is just presented in a different way. The puzzle piece are colour coded, the yellow pieces have the terms on them, the students will write the definition or concept on the blue puzzle pieces, and then the green pieces are linking phrases, or describing how the concepts are related. The students should be aiming to use as many puzzle pieces as possible to connect together.
Student Input
Students will arrange the puzzle pieces together and justify why their puzzle is organised in a particular way. Students will add more information to the puzzle pieces as they research into ecosystems using their textbooks, laptops or mobile devices. There are spaces on the puzzle pieces for students to write and include their own examples of the concepts, to further support their understanding. Blank puzzle pieces will provide students with the opportunity to write something they learnt about, that isn’t already on the puzzle pieces. The initial puzzle pieces are prompts for their deeper thinking. The final product should be an elaborate puzzle of the concepts and examples of ecosystems which the students have created.
Resources
Puzzle pieces (below)
Laptops
Textbook (optional)
Assessment FOR and OF Learning
Students will be formatively assessed on their ability to arrange the puzzle pieces and justify why they have arranged them in a particular way. The students will also be assessed throughout the ‘puzzling out’ process, by their capability to utilise the resources available to them to find the answers, learn about ecosystems and demonstrate their ideas and knowledge through presenting them on the puzzle pieces. Students will be formative assessed on their science inquiry skills in communication. They need to communicate the information they have illustrated to their teacher and peers using “appropriate scientific language, conventions and representations” (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2018).
Puzzling Out Activity
The PowerPoint contains the template for the Puzzling Out terms and concepts. They will need to be printed out, and cut out by the students.
The images shown are examples of what the puzzle template looks like. Yellow pieces show the term or concept idea. With the blue pieces, the students will fill in their definition. With the green pieces, the students will have the opportunity to describe how the concepts link together
