Ecosystems and Pollution Lesson Plan

Rationale: Lesson seven will begin an introduction to two types of pollution, oil spills and acid rain. Pollution will be connected to the world as well as the ecosystems the students have created.

Goal: To develop a better understanding of some types of pollution, as well as how they are related to the ecosystems we have created.

Objectives: After completing this lesson:

•Students will be able to define the term pollution.
•Students will be able to name two types of pollution.
•Students will participate in a class discussion of the Rhode Island oil spill of 1996.
•Students will conduct an oil spill experiment with their partner and make observations.
•Students will translate their oil cleanup methods to money in order to make connections to real life as well as integrate mathematics.

•Students will conduct an acid rain experiment with vinegar and chalk and make observations.
•Students will be able to explain the effects of acid rain on building and statues orally.

Science Standards:

CONTENT STANDARD A: As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop
•Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
•Understandings about scientific inquiry

CONTENT STANDARD C:
As a result of their activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop understanding of
•Regulation and behavior
•Populations and ecosystems
•Diversity and adaptations of organisms

RIBTS:
•RIBTS # 5.5: Teachers use tasks that engage students in exploration, discovery, and hands-on activities.
•RIBTS # 6.3: Teachers organize and allocate the resources of materials and physical space to support active engagement of students.

•RIBTS # 9.2: Teachers use a variety of assessment strategies and instruments (e.g., observation, portfolio, teacher made tests, self-assessments) that are aligned with instructional content and methodology

Materials:
For each student:
Science notebook
Worksheets

For every two students:
Pan
Water
Feathers
Oil (w/cocoa mixed in it)
Rocks
Cotton Balls
Droppers
Chalk
Vinegar
Gloves

Learner Factors: All set up directions will be on an overhead and provided to each group in help students like M.S. Agenda will be written on the board. Each student pair will work through experiments that depict real-life occurrences. The findings will be put on the board for visual learners. I will continue to circulate to make sure all groups are on task.

Environment Factors: Students will work in pairs with one group of 3. The groups have been made by the regular classroom teacher.

Instructional Sequence:

9:15-10:35 & 11:00-11:35
•Students will be arranged in their groups before beginning to prevent disruptive behavior.
•The teacher will begin by asking students groups to present their overheads. We have some presentations that we were unable to get to in the previous weeks lesson.

•After presentations, I will begin to talk to the students about pollution. Can we make our own definition? I will ask students to come to the board to write words and as a class we will come up with a definition.

•Then I will ask students why pollution is unhealthy for our environment. What types of pollution are there?
•We will talk about oil spills. I will ask the students if they are aware of any oil spills in our history. I will hand out an article about a Rhode Island oil spill that occurred in 1996. We will read the article as a class and then list the effects of the oil spill on the board. We will take note of how much money it costs to clean up an oil spill.

•We will make our own oil spills. I will demonstrate that oil and water don't mix to show students this important concept. I will briefly mention density and tie the oil and water demonstration to a glass of water with ice.

• Each student will get the necessary materials. We will fill a small container with water. One side will have small rocks, to act as a beach. Each group will place two feathers into the bowl, to act as animals.

•Each group will place a dropper of vegetable oil (mixed with cocoa to make it more visible) into their bowl, on the side opposite the rocks. Then they will have to act as the wind and blow the oil to the rocks to spread the oil.

•From here, the students will have to act as a cleanup crew. They will get to use a dropper and cotton to clean up the spill. They will be asked to keep all materials they take out of the oil spill. Used cotton will be placed in clear bags, and students will have to keep track of the balls they used. Each dropper they take out will also need to be counted and recorded.

•To make this scenario more real life, students will translate the materials they used into money. For instance, each used cotton ball counts as $20, a dropper counts as $100 a minute. Even labor is figured into this estimation. This is a useful way to integrate math into a science unit.

•They will have a sheet of questions to answer about the activity. They will work in groups.
•We will go over the questions as a class. I will ask each group to participate.
•We will record how much it cost each group to clean up their spill and compare prices.
•RECESS
•After recess, students will be introduced to acid rain. We will explore characteristics of rain on the board.
•We will read an article as a class on acid rain to provide a basis for the experiment.
•I will explain that vinegar is an acid. Acids react with limestone. I will ask students to look around and give me an example of limestone. (chalk!)

•We will discuss the slow deterioration of statues and buildings due to the weak acid rain that falls on some statues and buildings. If the stone is limestone or has limestone in it, the deterioration is more rapid.

•Each pair of students will get a cup, a piece of chalk and vinegar. They will record observations about the chalk and vinegar. Then the chalk will be placed in the cup, and the vinegar will be placed by dropper into the cup. The students will write down what changes they see. What is happening to our chalk?

•We will discuss our findings and what we have learned.

Assessments: Observation sheets