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Ecosystem Unit with activities & plans

Ecosystem unit with lesson plans, activities, & lab notebook

You cannot protect the Earth unless you understand that the ecosystems and their resources give you life;
and to protect them, is to protect yourself.

Overview

This page includes a unit or project with a sequence of plans to facilitate a review of ecosystems and develop a deeper understanding of the interdependence required to maintin their health. Investigations include study of environmental factors, organisms and their needs, populations, communities, life cycles, food webs and energy cycle, water cycle, carbon dioxide - oxygen cycle, nitrogen cycle, and decomposition.

Background information:

This plan is designed for learners who have very little prior knowledge of the interdependence of ecosystems.

Related study topics:

Big ideas, concepts, facts, and outcomes

Big ideas

  • Ecosystems are complex systems with many interdependent interactions that are necessary to maintain the health of all the organisms within the ecosystem and the ecosystem itself. Interactions which are complex and difficult to understand, but not impossible. With creative thinking, patience, and scientific investigation we can learn how to better understand ecosystems and how to maintain their health.

Related concepts and facts

  • Better decisions (claims) are made when information is verified, with evidence and reasoning, before being considered accurate and used to reason and develop explanations and models to understand the world and make decisions.
  • People make better decision when they understand and consider the positive and negative influences that effect their decision making.

Outcome

Use accurate verifiable information to consider and decide how objects can be balanced or made more stable.

Science concepts: earth, life, earth, physical

Big ideas: Sustainable ecosystems have evolved over time as organisms interact with their environment. Interactions where organisms have their needs met from the resources in the environment (environmental factors). Resources whic that use natural resources be balanced in some way or the resources needed to survive will not be available.

Related concepts

  • All organisms cause changes in the environment where they live.
  • Some of these changes are detrimental to the organism or other organisms, and others are beneficial.
  • In all environments organisms compete with each other for resources, including food, space, water, air, and shelter in order to survive.
  • Food chains identify the relationships among producers and consumers.
  • Food webs identify the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem.
  • Food cycle includes producers, consumers, and decomposers. 
  • Loss of plankton affects ecosystem energy cycle or food cycle for other organisms. 
  • Over time matter is transferred from one organism to another repeatedly and between organisms and their environment. This total amount of matter remains the constant even though its form and location change. Energy can be change from one form to another in living organisms (energy from oxidizing food).
  • An ecosystem includes all populations living together and the physical environmental factors with which they interact. 
  • For ecosystems, the major source of energy is sunlight which is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis. 
  • That energy then passes from organism to organism in food webs. 
  • Decomposers, primarily bacteria and fungi, are consumers that use waste materials and dead organisms for food. 
  • In the process of decomposing organic matter they create nutrients for plants.
  • Humans change environments in ways that can be either beneficial or detrimental for themselves and other organisms.
  • Detrimental changes include: Overfishing, biodiversity loss, plastic pollution, climate change, acidification, deoxygenation, oil spills,

Outcome

  1. Describe an ecosystem model
  2. Describe the need for clean water and explain how the water cycle can sustain life in a heathy ecosystem.
  3. Explain how the carbon dioxide and oxygen cycle sustains life in a healrhy ecosystem.
  4. Explain how decomposers break down living organisms and provide nutrients and other beneficial materials in a healthy ecosystem.
  5. Explain how pollutants (anything that harms or contaminates the environment) can interfer with a balance of the cycles that are enecessary to to sustain life.
  6. Explain how the energy cycle, water cycle, carbon dioxide oxygen cycle are necessary for healthy ecosystems.

Source Life science knowledge base

Vocabulary

Community, organism, environmental factors, plants, decomposers, producers, mold, algae, yeaast, bacteria, virus, oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, heat, light, gravity, water, plant consumers, animal consumers, water cycle, pollutant, pollution, ecosystem, aquarium, terrarium, population, food chaiin, food web, biome, control, fertilizer, nutrients, circle of life.

Science inquiry, process, & perspective concepts, facts, & outcomes

Big ideas: Science (claim evidence & reasoning) can be used to understand and explain cause and effect in the world.

Related concepts and facts

  • Variables describe properties that change and can be used to explain interactions.
  • Relative position describes changes in positions of objects when they are moved relative to a common position.
  • Systems are used to describe objects that interact together.
  • Interactions can be explained by describing how variables change within a system and how a system interacts with other objects or systems.
    • Objects change.
    • Change can be observed and recorded as before, during, after.
    • Change is observed through properties of the object.
    • Change can vary.
    • Constancy Somethings stay the same and some things change.
    • Constancy can sometimes be observed during a very slow rate of a change process or focusing on a particular property.
  • When I experiment I collect observations that describe how different properties change (become variables) when objects and systems interact. This helps me make claims, explain what is happening, and to predict what might happen in the future.
  • Inquiry concepts
  • Process concepts
  • Perspective concepts

Outcome

  1. Describe how evidence and reasoning is used to explain cause and effect and build models to better understand how to sustain life on Earth.

Source

Pedagogical Overview

Activities Sequence to provide sufficient opportunities for students to achieve the targeted outcomes.

Make sure students have the prior knowledge identified in the background information.

  1. Activity 1 - Building an ecosystem
  2. Activity 2 - Organism descriptions
  3. Activity 3 - Population census cohart 
  4. Activity 4 - Ecosystem model
  5. Activity 5 - Pond ecosystem
  6. Activity 6 - Desert ecosystem
  7. Activity 7 - Water sources
  8. Activity 8 - Is there water in the air?
  9. Activity 9 - Gases & liquids
  10. Activity 10 - Gases & liquids - Make a water cycle
  11. Activity 11 - Four water cycle brain busters
  12. Activity 12 - Carbon dioxide & living organisms
  13. Activity 13 - Water plants and carbon dioxide
  14. Activity 14 - Water plants in the dark
  15. Activity 15 - Fish & carbon dioxide
  16. Activity 16 - Decomposers fas exchange
  17. Activity 17 - Algae, decomposers, and fertilizer
  18. Activity 18 - Fertilizer & erosion
  19. Activity 19 - Crickets and gases
  20. Activity 20 - Fish pond & hospital puzzles
  21. Activity 21 - Mold Growth 
  22. Activity 22 - Ecosystem review challenge

 

Focus question

Unit focus question:

  • What makes an ecosystems sustainable?
  • What are the relationships of environmental factors to the organisms in a community?
  • How are environmental factor maintained?

Sub focus questions:

  1. What is an ecosystem?
  2. What is a mode?
  3. How does the water cycle work?
  4. How does the carbon dioxide and oxygen cycle sustains life in a healthy ecosystem.
  5. How do decomposers break down living organisms and provide nutrients and other beneficial materials in a healthy ecosystem.
  6. What ways does pollution interfer with a healthy ecosystem.
  7. What is the energy cycle?
  8. What is the water cycle,?
  9. What is the carbon dioxide oxygen cycle?

Materials

  • Materials and organism to build aquarium terrarium systems
  • BTB Bromothymol Blue Solution is a safe acid-base indicator that changes from blue to green to yellow. It is also good for respiration experiments.

Lab notes

References and other resources

 

Habitat

habitat model

Scoring guides suggestions (rubric)

Rotational motion (scoring guide)

Top level

  • Explains an ecosystem is a complicated system of environmental factors and organisms whose interdependence for their survial is a complicated cyclic exchange of abiotic and biotic factors; well beyond food chains and webs.
  • Draw an ecosystem model and include environmental factors, cycles, community members, and show the exchange of abiotic materials into and out of the biotic community.
  • Gives simple one to one relationships as evidence to explain interdependence within an ecosystem. Examples of organisms needing water, light, oxygen/ carbon dioxide, food, habitable temperature range to survive.

Lower level

Lesson Plans

Activity 1 - Building An Ecosystem

Suggestions

There are many types of habitats or ecosystems that can be created as a class or created by small groups of learners.

Terrariums, aquariums, and a terrarium aquarium systems can be created to studied in conjunction with these activities. After you decide what system you would like and organisms to possibly include, it is a good idea to talk to an expert. A high school biology teacher, a reputable pet store, biological supply house or other trusted source.

The organism used in these activities are generally easy to get and take care of. Although, local situations may vary. For exampe, snails are not allowed to be imported in some states.

Habitats

Habitat diagram

Materials

  • Decide a system and organisms to include.
  • I will use an aquarium terrarium system in my examples. Which may or may not include organisms included in the activities.
  • Possible examples
    • Aquarium - guppies, algae, duck weed, elodea, water snails.
    • Terrarium - mung beans, grass, mustard, crickets, land snail, anole.
    • Extra supply of crickets, isopods, & land plants
  • Lab note - 1, 2, 3, & 4

Focus questions:

  1. What is an aquarium terrarium system?
  2. How can we make one that will be sustainable?
  3. How can we learn from the different kinds of interactions needed to sustain it?
  4. How can we record what we do and what happens to our system?

Learning outcomes:

  1. Create and aquarium terrarium system and monitor it to provide a healthy sustainable ecosystem.

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put learners in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.
  2. Either explain to them a plan to create a terraroum aquarium or work with them to crate a plan.

Exploration -

  1. Put learners in pairs.
  2. Either explain to them a plan to create a terraroum aquarium or work with them to crate a plan.
  3. Ask. How can we record what we do and what happens to our system?
  4. Make a log describing the the planning.
  5. Suggestions to think about: in what to put the system (fish bowl, acquarium, two liter pop bottles, plastic container....), what organisms to include, how the organisms interact with each other, what to included to keep them alive and healthy, how to reduce or eliminate unwanted organisms, what else to include.
  6. Make the terrarium aquarium system.
  7. Log what you did in lab notes.

Invention -

  1. Groups observe their ecosystem daily and share their observations with class.
  2. Log changes.
  3. Discuss progress, share problems, questions, and discuss.
  4. Implement any changes necessary.

Discover

All the following activities.

 

Activity 2 - Organism Descriptions

Materials

  • Aquarium terrarium system with plants and animals.

Focus questions:

  1. How can we build and sustain an aquarium and terrarium system?

Learning outcomes:

  1. Research different organisms to incude in an aquarium terrarium system and how to create a sustainable ecosystem.
  2. Describe the organisms to be included and what should be doen to set up a sustainable ecosystem and track what happens.

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.
  2. Activity twirl zoomers.
  3. Describe

Exploration

  1. Put learners in pairs.
  2. Review background vocabulary
    • The community is all the living organisms within an ecosystem. 
    • The environmental factors are all of the nonliving objects within the ecosystem.
    • The community and the environmental factors’ interaction within the ecosystem. 
    • A healthy ecosystem is balanced by a variety of different cycles that move energy and materials among organism to sustain life.
  3. Record information about the aquarium-terrarium system
Organism Drawing Description What it needs to survive  Other information 
   

 

  • Energy / Food / Nutrients 
  • Water
  • Shelter
  • Temperature
  • Air
  • Other
 
     
  • Energy / Food / Nutrients 
  • Water
  • Shelter
  • Temperature
  • Air
  • Other
 
     
  • Energy / Food / Nutrients 
  • Water
  • Shelter
  • Temperature
  • Air
  • Other
 
     
  • Energy / Food / Nutrients 
  • Water
  • Shelter
  • Temperature
  • Air
  • Other
 
     
  • Energy / Food / Nutrients 
  • Water
  • Shelter
  • Temperature
  • Air
  • Other
 

 

Invention

  1. Review the characteristics, need and how they might anticipate their needs will be provided for.

Discover

 


Activity 3 - Population Census Chart 

Materials:

Focus questions:

  1. What is the population of organisms in your system

Learning outcomes:

  • T

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.
  2. Activity take a census of the populations of organism in the acquarium terrarium system.

Exploration

  1. Put learners in pairs.
  2. Tell. Take a census of the organisms in an environmental system and record the information on the chart in your lab notes.  
  Date / Count  Date / Count Date / Count Date / Count Date / Count Date / Count
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for change

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 

 

Invention

  1. Check it daily, record any change, and record what you believed caused the change.
  2. Disucss observations and anhyproblems with the class and make any necessary changes.

Discovery

  1. All activities ...



 

Activity 4 -

Materials

Focus questions:

  1. How can you represent your acquarium terrarium system?

Learning outcomes:

  1. Represent an acquarium terrarium system in a model with a diagram.

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.
  2. Explore how to represent an aquarium terrarium sytem with a model.

Exploration

  1. Ask. How can you represent your acquarium terrarium system?
  2. Review:
    • The community is all the living organisms within an ecosystem. 
    • The environmental factors are all of the nonliving objects within the ecosystem.
    • The community and the environmental factors’ interaction within the ecosystem. 
    • A healthy ecosystem is balanced by a variety of different cycles that move energy and materials among organism to sustain life. 
  3. Tell. Use the diagram below to begin to make a model for your system.
  4. Put the names of the organisms, list enviornmental factors, and decomposers within your system.

ecosystem model

Invention

  1. Ask. How can we show the interdependence of the organisms in community and with the environmental factors?
  2. Discuss. Don't worry about accuracy or completeness at this time. If learners press you for answers or suggestions, SAY good that you are thinking about that. Maybe we will find out more about it as we investigate further ...

Discover

  1. Activities to come ...

Activity 5 - Pond Ecosystem

Materials:

Focus questions:

  1. How can we show the interdependence of the organisms in community

Learning outcomes:

  1. Explain how organisms in a community are interdependent for food / energy.

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.
  2. Review vocabulary and have learners complete a model for a pond community and food web.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into pairs and groups.
  2. Ask.
    • What is community in an ecosystem? all the living organisms within an ecosystem. 
    • What are the environmental factors? All of the nonliving (abiotic) objects within the ecosystem. 
    • How does a healthy ecosystem exchange energy among organism to sustain life. 
  3.  Challenge - Use the following descriptions, and any additional information from other resources desired, to make a model of a pond ecosystem.
  • Plants: 
    • Duckweed, pickerel weed, water lilies, elodea.
  • Animals: 
    • Mosquito: sucks nectar from flowers or other plants
    • Water beetle: eats plants
    • Snapping turtle: eats animals that it can catch
    • Frog: eats insects or small animals it can catch
    • Minnow: eats very small animals or plants
    • Bluegill: eats small fish
    • Bass: eats fish
    • Great Blue Heron: minnow, bass, bluegill, frog
    • Crayfish: minnow

ecosystem model

Invention

  1. Share group work, discuss, and allow any edits desired.

Discover

  1. After later activities more can be added.

 

Activity 6 - Desert ecosystem

Materials:

Focus questions:

  1. How can we show the interdependence of the organisms in community

Learning outcomes:

  1. Explain how organisms in a community are interdependent for food / energy.

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.
  2. Review vocabulary and have learners complete a model for a pond community and food web.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into pairs and groups.
  2. Ask.
    • What is community in an ecosystem? all the living organisms within an ecosystem. 
    • What are the environmental factors? All of the nonliving (abiotic) objects within the ecosystem. 
    • How does a healthy ecosystem exchange energy among organism to sustain life. 
  3.  Challenge - Use the following descriptions, and any additional information from other resources desired, to make a model of a pond ecosystem.

Use the following descriptions, and any additional information from other resources desired, to fill make a model of a desert ecosystem.  

  • Plants: 
    • Saguaro, sage brush, yucca 
  • Animals: 
    • Botta's pocket gopher
    • Kangaroo rat
    • Roadrunner
    • Rattlesnake
    • Beetle
    • Spider

Model diagram

Invention

  1. Share group work, discuss, and allow any edits desired.

Discover

  • After later activities more can be added.

Activity 7 - What are the sources of water in an environmental system?

Materials

  • Vials or any other sealable container - butter tub, very small plastc bag, and object of questionable water source.
  • Lab notes -

Focus questions:

  1. What organisms in your aquarium terrarium exchange moisture?

Learning outcomes:

  1. Identify organism that exchange moisture and how they do.

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.
  2. List biotic and abiotic items in the ecosystem.
  3. Select one.
  4. Design, conduct, and share an experiment to demonstrate if it exchanges water.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
  2. Tell. Pick one of the sources that you listed above and design an experiment to prove that it is a source of water in your system.
  3. Can use what ever experiment design you want: question, materials, procedure, results, concluson. Or I used hypothesis, materials, possible procedure, restuls, conclusions.
  4. Give time to design and experiment.
  5. Share.
  6. Discuss.
  7. Suggestion:

Hypothesis: Water comes from selected plant, soil, water, animal? (NEED to check ethical design).

Materials: sealed containers, plant, earth, ...

Possible procedure:

  1. Take two containers, seal an empty one to be the control.
  2. In the other, place the object that you think water is coming from and seal it. 
  3. Set them aside and wait overnight (if ethical otherwise modify for an ethical design). 
  4. Record the amount of water from the object and rank the different objects that all others chose.

Results:

  Amount of Water
Object or organism  none trace little medium more most
             
             
             
             
             
             

 

Conclusions:

 

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and share results from their experiment.
  2. Ask. How important is water for the organism in a community?
  3. Ask. How can you explain the interdependance of water for the surival of organisms and the sustainability of an ecosystem?
  4. Discusss.

Discover

  • Activities to come ...

Activity 8 - Is There Water In The Air?

Materials

  • Vials or cups with sealable lids, water, ice
  • Lab notes -

Focus questions:

  1. Is there water in the air?

Learning outcomes:

  1. Describe that water in the air will condense on surfaces if they are cooler than the dew point.

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
  2. Can present as a challenge by giving each group a vial of ice cold water and asking them to observe it, for a few minutes, at room temperature.
  3. Ask. What do you observe? water on the sides
  4. Where do you think the water on the vial came from? inside the vial
  5. How did it get out? leaked, went up and over the side ...
  6. What if put lid on container? ....
  7. Repeat with sealed containers of ice water?

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and groups demonstrate their projects.
  2. Ask. Where did the moisture on the side of the vial came from?
  3. If no one has claimed it came from the air, introduce that idea.
  4. Where does rain come from? water in the air? clouds?
  5. Water vapor is very tiny drops of water that can be supported supported by the air.
  6. With hot air being able to support more than cold air.
  7. How does this idea fit with what we observed.
  8. Draw a piture of air, water, cool vial, ... and what happens when they interact.

Discover

  • Window activity and fog activity to come ...

Activity 9 - Gases & liquids

Materials

  • Butyl Stearate, sealable plastic bag, ice, warm hand.
  • Maybe done as a demonstration
  • Lab notes -

Focus questions:

  1. Are there other materials that will change states like water goes from a vapor to liquid?

Learning outcomes:

  1. Describe how the butyle stearate changes state or phase when the temperature changes.

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.

Challenge

  1. A plastic bag A few ml or a small cc piece of Butyl Stearate are put into a plastic bag and sealed.
  2. Hold it in the palm of your hand and see what happens.
  3. Notice bubbles? 
  4. When all the solid is a liquid or the liquid is a gas, put an ice cube on the top of the bag.
  5. Observe. 
  6. Write your results and conclusions below.

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and discuss the results.
  2. Ask. Can you describe what happened using the vocabulary words; condense, evaporate, vapor, liquid, solid, freeze, thaw,

Discover

  • Activity 10 ... Gases & liquids - Make a water cycle

Activity 10 - Gases & liquids - Make a water cycle

Materials

  • Container that can be closed, water, and a heat source.
  • Maybe done as a demonstration
  • Lab notes -

Focus questions:

  1. Can you make a miniture model of a wate cycle.

Learning outcomes:

  1. Create a water cycle in a container.
  2. Draw and explain a wate cycle and the interependence of wtaer in the ecosystem.

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
  2. Present a challege or experiment:

Challenge

Make a water cycle

Hypothesis: A miniature water cycle can be made inside a closed container if the temperature inside is

Possible procedure:

  1. Take a container and put some water inside and seal the container .
  2. You may want to place a thermometer inside the container and another outside. 
  3. Place the container so that a heat source can heat the inside of the container. (A light, that generates heat (incandescent bulb) can be placed outside so that it shines inside will work). 
  4. Then set the apparatus aside and wait for the temperatures to change. About an hour or so may be needed.
  5. Draw a picure of the results.

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and share their results.
  2. Discuss the interdependence of water and its movement in an ecosystem.
  3. Tell. Draw a diagram to show how the results relate to ecosystems in the world. Include with the water cycle, evaporation, condensation, run off, flow through watersheds, rivers, lakes, oceans, and through plants use roots, osmosis, transpiration, animals, drink, sweat, urinate...
  4. Add water cycle to ecosystem models.

Discover

  • Activities 11 ... Four water cycle brain busters

Activity 11- Four water cycle brain busters

Materials

Focus questions:

  1. Can you use what you learned about the water cycle to answer real world questions?

Learning outcomes:

  1. Describe everyday events related to the water cycle.

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
  2. Present the brain busters.

Brain Busters!

Buster 1

  1. One day Mr. Sweetland noticed moisture on the inside of his classroom window. 
  2. Where did the moisture come from?
  3. What was the temperature inside the classroom relative to the temperature outside the classroom?
  4. The learners noticed there was no moisture on the classroom walls. 
  5. Why do you think this was so?
  6. What temperatues could you take to collect observational evidence to support your answer?

Buster 2

  1. Many times when there is fog early in the morning it will be all gone by the afternoon. 
  2. Why do you think this happens?

Buster 3

  1. George was driving through the country side one day with his family.  He noticed a field of black plastic and wondered what they were growing.  His parents looked out and said that the plants looked like strawberry plants sticking up through the small holes in the plastic.  Why would the farmer want to use black plastic?
  2. Think of one reason – OK, two reasons - A-OK, three reasons - Double-A-OK
    1. -
    2. -
    3. -

Buster 4

  1. On Mars there is not an abundance of water, but scientist think there is some carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
  2. What kind of carbon dioxide cycle would there be on Mars if the temperature changes would allow a cycle?

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and discuss their ideas.

Discover

  • Activities to come ...

Activity 12 - Carbon Dioxide & Living Organisms

Materials

  • BTB solition, small cup container, straws
  • Lab notes

Focus questions:

  1. How do we know about carbon dioxide and oxygen?

Learning outcomes:

  1. Describe the interdependence of carbon dioxid and oxygen in an ecosystem

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
  2. Present the Challenge - Do animals exhale carbon dioxide?
  3. Tell each group to get 1/4 cup of BTB solution, record the color, use the straw to bubble their breath through the solution, and record the results.

Invention

  1. Have groups share their results:
  2. What is the color at the start of the experiment? blue
  3. What is the color at the end of the bubbling? green or yellow
  4. What could have caused the BTB to change color? carbon dioxide, bad breath
  5. What is among the gases that humans exhale that could cause the BTB to change colors?
  6. What do you think would happen if the bubbled BTB solution stood over night? turn back to blue or stay the same color ...
  7. What experiment could you do to prove that the carbon dioxide left the BTB solution, if in fact it leaves the solution, and didn't change because the BTB lost its strength?  put the solution in a sealed container, put it under pressure with a pop stopper to keep the CO2 in the solution.
  8. Design an experiment and an explanation to convince someone that might say that the BTB in the solution won’t work after a few hours and that caused the color change.  Does this mean you a need a control?
  1. Possible procedure:
  2. Results: (what did you observe over night?)
  3. Conclusions: (What caused this to happen that you didn’t see?)

Discover

Share the results. Carbon dioxide let the water in the open container and didn't in the sealed container (under pressure).

Discover - 2

  1. Tell. How can we plan an experiment to find carbon dioxide gas? Bubble gas from pop through the BTB or use a alka slezer tablet and bubble the gas through BTB
  2. You can prove you found it by testing it with the ……….. BTB
    1. Hypothesis:  There is carbon dioxide in ……….. seltzer, soda, pop
      (Speak op-ish? Hint: sop e lop top zop e rop; or sop o dop a; or pop o pop) ...
      (sopeloptopzoperop; or sopodopa; or popopop)
    2. Procedure: Seal a pop bottle with a plastic tub in it. Insert the tube into a container with BTB solution, let the carbon dioxide bubble through the solution.
    3. Results:
    4. Conclusions:
  3. Conduct the experiment and share results.

Discover - 3

  1. Challenge learners with the probem:

Two students, Mary and Carl, disagreed over what caused the BTB solution to change back to blue over night.  Mary thought that the carbon dioxide left the solution and Carl thought that oxygen or air entered the solution.  They both agreed to set up an experiment to prove what happened so they could prove who was right. 

They agreed to take a soda pop, put a stopper in the top with a tube for the carbon dioxide to travel through, and insert it into BTB.  Next they took a plastic bag and closed the BTB solution inside the bag by tying the top with string.  They then took another solution and repeated the same thing, only they changed the color of the BTB.  They both recorded their predictions on a piece of paper for both the yellow solution and the blue solution.  Neither wanted to show the other what they had predicted until the next day, because they each thought that the other would copy. 

  1. What do you think each wrote on their paper?
  2. Mary: wrote - Blue for Yellow
  3. Carl: wrote - Blue for Yellow
  4. Why did you answer, the way that you did?
  5. Diagram what each would think about the flow of carbon dioxide.
  6. Carl
  7. Mary
  8. How would you convince someone that Mary or Carl was right?

Discovery 4

  1. What gas do you think water snails give off as a waste? carbon dioxide
  2. Design an investigation to discover what it might be.
    1. Hypothesis: Think about how the color of BTB you want to put the snail in, will depend on your hypothesis.
    2. Materials:
    3. BTB, vial to put snails in with a lid, snail, vial to use as control, and water from where the snails are now living.
    4. Procedure:
    5. Results:
  3. Share their plans.
  4. Ask. What will be the original color of the experimental water?
  5. What will be the original color of the control?
  6. If the original color of the experimental is __________, what will be the color of the experimental after?
  7. If the original color of the control is __________, what will be the color of the control after?
  8. Set up the eperiement and conduct it.

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and discuss the results.

Discover

  • Disucss how the findings for all these activities relate to the interdependence of organisms in an ecosystem.

Activity 13 - Water plants & carbon dioxide

Materials

  • Vials or sealable containers, light source, black construction paper to wrap vial, closet or light proof drawer, BTB.
  • Lab notes -

Focus questions:

  1. What gases do water plants use?

Learning outcomes:

  1. Describe the gas exchange of plants

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
  2. Develop experiments to see if water plants give off carbon dioxide or use carbon dioxide in the light or in the dark. Before you decide what color to put in the vials, think through the experiment carefully, to make sure you don’t get tricked. Possible procedure.
    1. Water plants in the light or dark
    2. Hypothesis:
    3. Material
    4. Procedure:
    5. Results:
    6. Conclusions:

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and groups share their projects.
  2. Ask. How does their results relate to the interdependence of organisms in an ecosystem?

Discover

  • Activities to come ...

Activity 14 - Water Plants in the Dark

Materials

Focus questions:

  1. What gases are exchange by plants in the dark

Learning outcomes:

  1. Describe that plants use oxygen in the dark and respire carbon dioide.

Exploration

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.
  2. Design an investigation to see what water plants might exchange in the dark.
  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
  2. Ask. What gases are exchange by plants in the dark?
  3. How might you investigate to find out?
  4. Write a plan:
  5. Hypothesis, Material, Procedure, Results, & Conclusions
  6. Share plans, edit ...
  7. Set up and conduct the experiment.

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and share results.
  2. Ask.

Discover

  • Activities to come ...

Activity 15 - Fish & carbon dioxide

Materials

  • Small container, plastic tube, seltzer tablet, BTB, fish, and fish water
  • Lab notes -

Focus questions:

  1. What is f

Learning outcomes:

  1. Describe

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.
  2. Design an investigation to see what gases fish might exchange.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
  2. Ask. What about fish and carbon dioxide?
  3. How would you design and investigation to show fish need oxygen or can't survive with only carbon dioxide.
  4. Use ideas suggested or make a suggestion like ...

Procedure:

    1. Take some of the water from the acquarium that the fish is in now and put it in the vial. 
    2. Use the vial and the seltzer tablet to bubble carbon dioxide through the fish water. 
    3. Place the fish into the water and watch what happens. 
    4. When you think the fish has had enough place it back in the fish tank and save the water. 
    5. Take the water and put 2-3 drops of BTB into it and see what happens.

Conduct the investigation.

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and discuss the results.
  2. Ask. How do fish fit in a carbon dioxide oxygen cycle?

Discover

  • Activities to come ...

Activity 16 -

Materials

Focus questions:

  1. What is f

Learning outcomes:

  1. Describe

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
  2. T

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and groups demonstrate their projects.
  2. Ask.

Discover

  • Activities to come ...

Activity 17 - Algae, decomposers, and fertilizer

Materials

  • Algae, fertilizer pellets, water, cups, plastic wrap, and a light source.
  • Lab notes -

Focus questions:

  1. What happens when plants and decomposers share the same ecosystem and one over populates?

Learning outcomes:

  1. Describe how a balance in an ecosystem between plants (algae) and decomposers can be altered.

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.
  2. Set up an investigation to see how the amount of fertilizer can change the balance between algae and decomosers.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
  2. Share the background information:

Background

If decomposers produce carbon dioxide and plants use carbon dioxide what will be the effect be when they are both in the same environment?  

The algae will reproduce and some will die and be decomposed by decomposers.  This will cause the amount of carbon dioxide to change in the water.  The plants will use the carbon dioxide, but will there be a balance if the amount of fertilizer is changed?

3. Design an investigation to explore how fertilizer run off might change the balance of the oxygen carbon dioxide cycle between plants and decomposers in an ecosytstem.

Use suggested procedure or suggest:

  1. Stir up the algae water so that the algae is equally distributed throughout the container. 
  2. Put equal amounts of algae water into each of the five cups. 
  3. Distribute amounts of 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 fertilizer pellets among the cups. 
  4. Cover with plastic wrap, place under the light source, and stir daily for two weeks. 
  5. After the two weeks are over put an equal amount (3-4 drops) of BTB in each container and record the results.

4. Investigate...

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and share the results.
  2. Discuss how fertilzer can help an ecossytem and harm it.
  3. Investigate eutrophication

Discover

Add information to the carbon dioxide - oxygen cycle to show their interdependence with plants and decomposers in the ecosystem model ...

Activity 18 - Fertilizer & erosion

Materials

  • Rectangular container with soil, fertilizer pellets, BTB, and soil samples.
  • Lab notes

Focus questions:

  1. What does fertilizer go when it is applied to the soil?

Learning outcomes:

  1. Fertilizer will erode and move from where it is applied.

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.
  2. Create an investigation to demonstrate the erosion of fertilizer and how it can move through the ecosystem.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
  2. Ask. How can we investigate what happens to fertilizer when it is applied?
  3. Creat an investigation from suggestions.
  4. Hypothesis: If fertilizer is put into or onto soil, it will not stay in one place, but will move by water erosion.
  5. Material:
  6. Possible procedure
    1. Take the rectangular container with soil and distribute the fertilizer across the narrow end of the container. Different groups can distribute it differently: for example: evenly across the entire end, All in the center of the end with none on either side ...
    2. Tilt the container so that it is slanting with the fertilizer on the raised end.
    3. Map where you have placed the fertilizer and the amounts. 
    4. Water the container every day or so for a week or two. 
    5. At the end of the time take a soil sample and test it to see if the fertilizer has moved. 
    6. Prepare several vials with three fourths water and 5 drops of BTB.
    7. Extract a soil sample with a straw and put it in a vial with the BTB solution.
    8. Label it's location, shake, and set aside while it settles.
    9. Take as many soil samples as you need, until you can see if there is a pattern to the flow of the fertilizer. 
    10. Make a map of the container and color the map according to the way the soil tested.
    11. Record the results and write a conclusion.
  7. Conduct the experiment

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and share the results.
  2. Ask. What happens if the fertilizer runs off into stream, ponds, & lakes?
  3. Use the fertilizer and algae water to suggest possabilities.
  4. Invent the term pollution.

Discover

  • Activities to come ...

Activity 19 - Crickets and gases

Materials

Focus questions:

  1. How could an experiment be done to show what gases crickets exhale?

Learning outcomes:

  1. Describe crickets use oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide.

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.
  2. Review an experiment to determine if crickets use oxygen and give off carbon dioxide and predict the outcome.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
  2. How could an experiment be done to show what gases crickets exhale?
  3. Listen to all resoonses and don't critique.
  4. Give the groups the following and ask them to predict the outcome and explain the logic they used to determine it.

Background

A person tried the following experiment. 

  1. They took a cricket and placed it in a vial over night. 
  2. The vial was made with a hole in the lid and had an eye dropper with some BTB in the dropper. 
  3. The vial was sealed so there was no exchange of gases. 
  4. The next morning when she returned she squeezed the eye dropper and the BTB flowed into the vial with the cricket. 
  1. After a few minutes regroup as a class.

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and have them share their results.
  2. Ask. If crickets exhaled carbon dioxide, the BTB would? change colors - green yellow
  3. If crickets exhaled oxygen, the BTB would? stay blue

Discover

  • Fish pond & hospital puzzles

Activity 20 - Fish pond & hospital puzzles

Materials

Focus questions:

  1. Can you recognize problems related to interdepence of organism?

Learning outcomes:

  1. Identify interdependence of plants and animals with carbon dioxide and oxygen to

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.
  2. Assess learners application problems.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
  2. Give learners the following challenges to explore.

Fish pond

  1. One spring after a winter of much snow and ice, Mr. Tipton discovered that the fish and plants in his fish pond were all dead and gone.  Mr. Tipton wondered what happened and discussed it with several friends.  The next winter after every snow storm Mr. Tipton could be seen out on his fish pond shoveling snow off the ice.  When spring came around Mr. Tipton found that there was still fish and plants alive in his pond.  Why do you think Mr. Tipton decided to remove the snow from the pond? 
  2. Explain and discuss answers.

Hospital

  1. Years ago doctors ordered all plants in the hospital rooms of patients removed at night.  The doctors believed that the plants poisoned the air at night time.  In the morning the plants were returned.  What do you know about plants that might have caused the belief? 
  2. Explain and discuss answers.

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and discuss their ideas.

Discover

  • Tell learners. To show the interdependence of plants and animals with the flow of oxygen and carbon (abiotic environmental factors) through the community (biotic).

Activity 21 - Mold Growth 

Materials

Focus questions:

  1. Will bread decompose?

Learning outcomes:

  1. Describe what happens to bread as it ages.
  2. Describe variables that affect the rate of decomposition.

Exploration

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.
  2. Set up an investigation, with bread, for an example to demonstrate how environmental factors affect decomposition.
  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
  2. Ask. Will bread decompose? or what happens to bread as it ages.
  3. Background
    • In an experiment, a person sets up several examples to be tested, so they are exactly the same, except for one variable, which is changed (manipulated variable) and one example which is not changed (the control).  
    • For example if you wanted to find if water affects the growth of mold, then the control would not have any water. For example: take several pieces of bread the same size, from the same loaf, and put each into a plastic bag. One with no water, one with 3 drops of water, one with 6 drops of water, one with 9 drops of water, one with 12 drops of water, one with 15 drops of water, and so forth. Place all the bags in the same location to control the light and temperature.
  4. What variables effect mold growth?
  5. Select one of the variables listed above and design an experiment to see if that variable effects the growth of mold.  In the design identify the variable and describe how it will be changed or manipulated. Identify other variables that will not be changed (they will be controlled). 
  6. When the results of the experiment are known it would be nice if the piece of bread without water (the control) didn't have any mold and the ones with water did. Then it would be evidence that water was necessary for mold to grow. It might also be possible to conclude something about the amount of water that is most beneficial for mold to grow or an optimum amount of water for mold growth.
  7. The control is the reference object to compare results of the experiment.
  8. Set up and conduct experiment
  9. Collect results:
Date Drawing Description
Started    
     
     
     
     
     

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and share the results.
  2. Invent how decomoposers interact with all organisms in the community and their interdependece for providing environmental factors or resources to the community.
  3. Might also get into a discussion of how microbiomes are related to the biotic commnity of decomposers which seem to have evolved to provide beneficial aspects for our health, probiotics being one.

Discover

  • Add arrows to the ecosystem models that show the interactions and interdependecy of decompopsers in the comunity and outside the community as biotic and abiotic.

Activity 22 - Ecosystem review challenge

Materials

Focus questions:

  1. How much have you learned about ecosystems?

Learning outcomes:

  1. Complete the ecosystem review, feel good about their accomplishments, and set goals to participate in helping to sustain a healthy world.

Suggested procedures overview:

  1. Put students in groups, focus their attention, and assess their initial understanding of the focus questions.
  2. Have them complete the review.
  3. Disucss their responses and share their goals and disuccss suggestions on how to achieve them.

Exploration

  1. Organize learners into groups and pairs.
  2. Tell. Let's see how much have you learned about ecosystems.
  3. Compete the review and then we can dicuss it.
    1. What gas do animals need to change food into energy? (2)
    2. What gas do animals exhale as a waste gas from using food to produce energy? (2)
    3. What gas do plants use for photosynthesis? (2)
    4. What gas do plants give off when they make food? (2)
    5. What are four types of pollutants? (4)
    6. List four environmental factors. (8)
    7. List four plants. (8)
    8. List four herbivours (plant consumers). (8)
    9. List four carnivours (animal consumers). (8)
    10. List four decomposer.(8)
    11. Write a definition of a pollutant. (5)
    12. Draw and explain a water cycle. (10)
    13. Draw and explain a food cycle. (10)
    14. 6CO2 + 6H2O ------chlorophyl & energy ----->  C6H12O6 + 6O2   Explain what this formula means. (5)
    15. Mr. Whatsamajig has just returned a sample of water from a planet outside our solar system.  When he opened the container, to his amazement, he found a small bright object.  He carefully set it aside in a container and left it for the evening.  When he returned the next morning he found that it had grown to twice its previous size.  He reasoned, since it grew, that it was a living organism.  In order to see what type of gases it used he decided to set up a BTB experiment.  If you were him tell me how you would set up the experiment.  Tell me your procedure and what you would hope to prove with your experiment. (20)

BONUS  Write something that you learned outside of class related to what we studied.

Invention

  1. Regroup as a class and disucss their rfexponses onthe review.
  2. Share goals.
  3. DIscuss strategies to achieve them.

Discover

Application for the rest of their lives...

 

 

Lab Notes for activities

Lab notes 1 - Building An Ecosystem

Suggestions

There are many types of habitats or ecosystems. Terrarium, aquarium, and a terrarium aquarium system are human made systems that could be studied in conjunction with these activities. If you decide to create a system, then plan what organisms to include, what to use to build the system, where to locate it, and most importantly how to adjust the environmental conditions in the system.

Habitats

It is a good idea to talk to an expert while planning.  You wouldn’t want to include organisms from a high moisture environment with organisms from a low moisture environment or over look something that might cause problems.

Make a log describing the the planning. Things to think about: in what to put the system (fish bowl, acquarium, two liter pop bottles, plastic container....), what organisms to include, how the organisms interact with each other, what to included to keep them alive and healthy, how to reduce or eliminate unwanted organisms, what else to include.

Lab notes 2 - Organism Descriptions

Materials

  • Aquarium terrarium system with plants and animals.

Research different organisms to incude in an aquarium terrarium system and how to create a sustainable ecosystem.

Describe the organisms to be included and what should be doen to set up a sustainable ecosystem and track what happens.

Background vocabulary

  • The community is all the living organisms within an ecosystem. 
  • The environmental factors are all of the nonliving objects within the ecosystem.
  • The community and the environmental factors’ interaction within the ecosystem. 
  • A healthy ecosystem is balanced by a variety of different cycles that move energy and materials among organism to sustain life.

This unit provides activities to begin to learn about these relationships. 

Record information about the aquarium-terrarium system

Organism Drawing Description What it needs to survive  Other information 
   

 

  • Energy / Food / Nutrients 
  • Water
  • Shelter
  • Temperature
  • Air
  • Other
 
     
  • Energy / Food / Nutrients 
  • Water
  • Shelter
  • Temperature
  • Air
  • Other
 
     
  • Energy / Food / Nutrients 
  • Water
  • Shelter
  • Temperature
  • Air
  • Other
 
     
  • Energy / Food / Nutrients 
  • Water
  • Shelter
  • Temperature
  • Air
  • Other
 
     
  • Energy / Food / Nutrients 
  • Water
  • Shelter
  • Temperature
  • Air
  • Other
 

 

Lab notes 3 - Population Census Chart 

The community is all of the living organisms. 

Take a census of the organisms in an environmental system and record the information on the chart.

Check it daily, record any change, and record what you believed caused the change. 

  Date / Count  Date / Count Date / Count Date / Count Date / Count Date / Count
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for change

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 
Organism  

 

 

     
If change, then reason for changes

 

 

 

Lab notes 4 - Ecosystem model

  • The community is all the living organisms within an ecosystem. 
  • The environmental factors are all of the nonliving objects within the ecosystem.
  • The community and the environmental factors’ interaction within the ecosystem. 
  • A healthy ecosystem is balanced by a variety of different cycles that move energy and materials among organism to sustain life. 

Use the diagram below to begin to make a model for your system.

Put the names of the organisms, list enviornmental factors, and decomposers within your system.

ecosystem model


 

 

Lab notes 5 - Pond Ecosystem

Background

  • The community is all the living organisms within an ecosystem. 
  • The environmental factors are all of the nonliving objects within the ecosystem.
  • The community and the environmental factors’ interaction within the ecosystem. 
  • A healthy ecosystem is balanced by a variety of different cycles that move energy and materials among organism to sustain life.  

Challenge

Use the following descriptions, and any additional information from other resources desired, to make a model of a pond ecosystem.

  • Plants: 
    • Duckweed, pickerel weed, water lilies, elodea.
  • Animals: 
    • Mosquito: sucks nectar from flowers or other plants
    • Water beetle: eats plants
    • Snapping turtle: eats animals that it can catch
    • Frog: eats insects or small animals it can catch
    • Minnow: eats very small animals or plants
    • Bluegill: eats small fish
    • Bass: eats fish
    • Great Blue Heron: minnow, bass, bluegill, frog
    • Crayfish: minnow

ecosystem model

 

Lab notes 6 - Desert Ecosystem

Background

  • The community is all of the living organisms in a certain area.  
  • The environmental factors are all of the nonliving objects that interact with the organisms.  
  • The community and the environmental factors’ interactions make an ecosystem.  

Challenge

Use the following descriptions, and any additional information from other resources desired, to fill make a model of a desert ecosystem.  

  • Plants: 
    • Saguaro, sage brush, yucca 
  • Animals: 
    • Botta's pocket gopher
    • Kangaroo rat
    • Roadrunner
    • Rattlesnake
    • Beetle
    • Spider

Model diagram


 

 

 

Lab notes 7 - Water Sources

Challenge

What are the sources of water in an environmental system?

 

Pick one of the sources that you listed above and design an experiment to prove that it is a source of water in your system.

Hypothesis: Water comes from 

Materials: Vials or any other sealable container - butter tub, very small plastc bag, and object of questionable water source.

Possible procedure:

  1. Take two containers, seal an empty one to be the control.
  2. In the other, place the object that you think water is coming from and seal it. 
  3. Set them aside and wait overnight. 
  4. Record the amount of water from the object and rank the different objects that all others chose.

Results:

  Amount of Water
Object or organism  none trace little medium more most
             
             
             
             
             
             

 

Conclusions:

 

 

 

 

How important is water for the organism in a community?

 

How can you explain the interdependance of water for the surival of organisms and the sustainability of an ecosystem?

 

 

 

Lab notes 8 - Is there water in the air?

Challenge

Is There Water In The Air? 

Possible procedure:

Take a vial of ice cold water and observe it, for a few minutes, at room temperature.  

What do you observe?

 

Where do you think the water on the vial came from?

 

Think of an experiment to prove your hypothesis.

Hypothesis: Moisture on the side of the vial came from

 

Materials: Vials, lids, ice water, and a room at room temperature.

Possible rocedure:

  1. Take a vial and pour ice water into the vial. 
  2. Put the lid on and set it aside to observe. 
  3. Set up another other vial as a control.

Results:

 

Conclusions:

 

 

 

Draw a diagram, model that shows

  • the vial with ice water,
  • the air around the vial
  • the moisture in the air
  • what happens when air and the moisture bumps into the vial

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brain buster. Add a second vial with hot water and draw a model for what happens.

 

 

 

Lab notes 9 - Gases & liquids

Materials

  • Butyl Stearate, sealable plastic bag, ice, warm hand.
  • Maybe done as a demonstration

Challenge

  1. A plastic bag A few ml or a small cc piece of Butyl Stearate are put into a plastic bag and sealed.
  2. Hold it in the palm of your hand and see what happens.
  3. Notice bubbles? 
  4. When all the solid is a liquid or the liquid is a gas, put an ice cube on the top of the bag.
  5. Observe. 
  6. Write your results and conclusions below.

Results

Describe what happened using the vocabulary words; condense, evaporate, vapor, liquid, solid, freeze, thaw,

 

 

 

 

Conclusions

 

 

Lab notes 10 - Gases & liquids - Make a water cycle

Materials

  • Container that can be closed, water, and a heat source.
  • Maybe done as a demonstration

Challenge

Make a water cycle

Hypothesis: A miniature water cycle can be made inside a closed container if the temperature inside is

 

Possible procedure:

  1. Take a container and put some water inside and seal the container .
  2. You may want to place a thermometer inside the container and another outside. 
  3. Place the container so that a heat source can heat the inside of the container. (A light, that generates heat (incandescent bulb) can be placed outside so that it shines inside will work). 
  4. Then set the apparatus aside and wait for the temperatures to change. About an hour or so may be needed.
  5. Draw a picure of the results.

Results:

 

 

 

Conclusions: Draw a diagram to show how the results relate to ecosystems in the world, Include with the water cycle, evaporation, condensation, run off, flow through watersheds, rivers, lakes, oceans, and through plants use roots, osmosis, transpiration, animals, drink, sweat, urinate... to show the interdependence of water and its movement in an ecosystem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add water cycle to ecosystem models.

 

Lab notes 11 - Four water cycle brain busters

Brain Busters!

One day Mr. Sweetland noticed moisture on the inside of his classroom window. 

Where did the moisture come from?

 

 

What was the temperature inside the classroom relative to the temperature outside the classroom?

 

The learners noticed there was no moisture on the classroom walls. 

Why do you think this was so?

 

 

 

What temperatues could you take to collect observational evidence to support your answer?

 

Many times when there is fog early in the morning it will be all gone by the afternoon. 

Why do you think this happens?

 

 

George was driving through the country side one day with his family.  He noticed a field of black plastic and wondered what they were growing.  His parents looked out and said that the plants looked like strawberry plants sticking up through the small holes in the plastic.  Why would the farmer want to use black plastic?

Think of one reason – OK, two reasons - A-OK, three reasons - Double-A-OK

1.

2.

3.

 

On Mars there is not an abundance of water, but scientist think there is some carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

What kind of carbon dioxide cycle would there be on Mars if the temperature changes would allow a cycle?

 

 

Lab notes 12 - Carbon Dioxide & Living Organisms

Materials

BTB solition, small cup container, straws

Challenge

Do animals exhale carbon dioxide?

Possible procedure

  1. Get 1/4 cup of BTB solution
  2. Record the color
  3. Bubble your breath through the solution
  4. Record the results.

What is the color at the start of the experiment?

 

What is the color at the end of the bubbling?

 

What could have caused the BTB to change color?

 

What is among the gases that humans exhale that could causes the BTB to change colors?

 

What do you think would happen if the bubbled BTB solution stood over night?

 

What experiment could you do to prove that the carbon dioxide left the BTB solution, if in fact it leaves the solution? 

 

Make sure that your experiment will convince someone that might say that the BTB in the solution won’t work after a few hours and that caused the color change.  Does this mean you a need a control?

Possible procedure:

 

 

Results: (what did you observe over night?)

 

Conclusions: (What caused this to happen that you didn’t see?)

 

Plan an experiment to find some carbon dioxide gas.  You can prove you found it by testing it with the ………..

Hypothesis:  There is carbon dioxide in ………..
(Speak op-ish? Hint: sop e lop top zop e rop; or sop o dop a; or pop o pop) ...
(sopeloptopzoperop; or sopodopa; or popopop)

Procedure:

 

 

 

Results:

 

Conclusions:

Two students, Mary and Carl, disagreed over what caused the BTB solution to change back to blue over night.  Mary thought that the carbon dioxide left the solution and Carl thought that oxygen or air entered the solution.  They both agreed to set up an experiment to prove what happened so they could prove who was right. 

They agreed to take a soda pop, put a stopper in the top with a tube for the carbon dioxide to travel through, and insert it into BTB.  Next they took a plastic bag and closed the BTB solution inside the bag by tying the top with string.  They then took another solution and repeated the same thing, only they changed the color of the BTB.  They both recorded their predictions on a piece of paper for both the yellow solution and the blue solution.  Neither wanted to show the other what they had predicted until the next day, because they each thought that the other would copy. 

What do you think each wrote on their paper?

Mary:

for Blue for

Yellow

 

Carl:

for Blue

for Yellow

 

Why did answers, the way that you did?

 

 

Diagram what each would think about the flow of carbon dioxide.

Carl

 

 

 

Mary

 

 

 

How would you convince someone that Mary or Carl was right?

 

 

 

What gas do you think snails give off as a waste?

Hypothesis:

 

Materials:

BTB, vial to put snails in with a lid, snail, vial to use as control, and water from where the snails are now living.

Think about what color of BTB you want to put the snail in, which will depend on your hypothesis.

Procedure:

 

 

Results:

Start

Original color of the experimental:

Original color of the control:

 

After

Color of the experimental:

Color of the control:

 

Conclusions:

 

 

 

Lab notes 13 - Water plants & carbon dioxide

Water plants?

Develop experiments to see if water plants give off carbon dioxide or use carbon dioxide in the light or in the dark. Before you decide what color to put in the vials, think through the experiment carefully, to make sure you don’t get tricked.

Water Plants in the Light

Hypothesis:

 

Material

 

Procedure:

 

 

 

Results:

 

 

 

 

Conclusions:

 

 

Lab notes 14 - Water Plants in the Dark

Create an experiment to see if you get the same or different results with plants in the dark.

 

Hypothesis:

 

Material

 

Procedure:

 

 

 

Results:

 

 

 

 

Conclusions:

 

 

Lab notes 15 - Fish & carbon dioxide

What about fish and carbon dioxide?

Hypothesis:

 

Material

Small container, plastic tube, seltzer tablet, BTB, fish, and fish water

Procedure:

  1. Take some of the water from the acquarium that the fish is in now and put it in the vial. 
  2. Use the vial and the seltzer tablet to bubble carbon dioxide through the fish water. 
  3. Place the fish into the water and watch what happens. 
  4. When you think the fish has had enough place it back in the fish tank and save the water. 
  5. Take the water and put 2-3 drops of BTB into it and see what happens.

Results:

 

 

 

 

Conclusions:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lab notes 16 - Decomposers fas exchange

Materials: Five cups, fish food pellets, water, and BTB

Possible procedure

  1. Take the five cups and put equal amounts of aquarium water in each (50 ml)
  2. Distribute 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 fish pellets in the 5 cups. 
  3. Cover the cups with the plastic wrap and place them aside for about a week. 
  4. When the week is over open the cups and put 3-4 drops of BTB in each. 
  5. Record the results.

 

Results:

 

 

Conclusions:

 

 

Lab notes 17 - Algae, decomposers, and fertilizer

Background

If decomposers produce carbon dioxide and plants use carbon dioxide what will be the effect when they are both in the same environment?  

The algae will reproduce and some will die and be decomposed by decomposers.  This will cause the amount of carbon dioxide to change in the water.  The plants will use the carbon dioxide, but will there be a balance if the amount of fertilizer is changed?

Hypothesis:

 

Material:

Algae, fertilizer pellets, water, cups, plastic wrap, and a light source.

 

Procedure:

  1. Stir up the algae water so that the algae is equally distributed throughout the container. 
  2. Put equal amounts of algae water into each of the five cups. 
  3. Distribute amounts of 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 fertilizer pellets among the cups. 
  4. Cover with plastic wrap, place under the light source, and stir daily for two weeks. 
  5. After the two weeks are over put an equal amount (3-4 drops) of BTB in each container and record the results.

 

 

Lab notes 18 - Fertilizer & erosion

Hypothesis: If fertilizer is put into or onto soil, it will not stay in one place, but will move by water erosion.

Material:

Rectangular container with soil, fertilizer pellets, BTB, and soil samples.

Possible procedure

  1. Take the rectangular container with soil and distribute the fertilizer across the narrow end of the container. Different groups can distribute it differently: for example: evenly across the entire end, All in the center of the end with none on either side ...
  2. Tilt the container so that it is slanting with the fertilizer on the raised end.
  3. Map where you have placed the fertilizer and the amounts. 
  4. Water the container every day or so for a week or two. 
  5. At the end of the time take a soil sample and test it to see if the fertilizer has moved. 
  6. Prepare several vials with three fourths water and 5 drops of BTB.
  7. Extract a soil sample with a straw and put it in a vial with the BTB solution.
  8. Label it's location, shake, and set aside while it settles.
  9. Take as many soil samples as you need, until you can see if there is a pattern to the flow of the fertilizer. 
  10. Make a map of the container and color the map according to the way the soil tested.
  11. Record the results and write a conclusion.

Results:

 

 

 

 

Conclusions

 

 

 

 

 

What happens if the fertilizer runs off into stream, ponds, & lakes?
(hint: algae & fertilizer...)

 

 

Lab notes 19 - Crickets and gases

Background

A person tried the following experiment. 

  1. They took a cricket and placed it in a vial over night. 
  2. The vial was made with a hole in the lid and had an eye dropper with some BTB in the dropper. 
  3. The vial was sealed so there was no exchange of gases. 
  4. The next morning when she returned she squeezed the eye dropper and the BTB flowed into the vial with the cricket. 

What would you expect the results to be? 

 

Explain your answer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lab notes 20 - Fish pond & hospital puzzles

Fish pond

One spring after a winter of much snow and ice, Mr. Tipton discovered that the fish and plants in his fish pond were all dead and gone.  Mr. Tipton wondered what happened and discussed it with several friends.  The next winter after every snow storm Mr. Tipton could be seen out on his fish pond shoveling snow off the ice.  When spring came around Mr. Tipton found that there was still fish and plants alive in his pond.  Why do you think Mr. Tipton decided to remove the snow from the pond? 

Explain your answer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hospital

Years ago doctors ordered all plants in the hospital rooms of patients removed at night.  The doctors believed that the plants poisoned the air at night time.  In the morning the plants were returned.  What do you know about plants that might have caused the belief? 

Explain your answer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add the oxygen carbon dioxide cycle to your ecosystem models. Draw the cycle with arrows to show the interdependence of plants and animals with the flow of oxygen and carbon (abiotic environmental factors) through the community (biotic).

 

Lab notes 21 - Mold Growth 

Background

In an experiment, a person sets up several examples to be tested, so they are exactly the same, except for one variable, which is changed (manipulated variable) and one example which is not changed (the control).  

For example if you wanted to find if water affects the growth of mold, then the control would not have any water. For example: take several pieces of bread the same size, from the same loaf, and put each into a plastic bag. One with no water, one with 3 drops of water, one with 6 drops of water, one with 9 drops of water, one with 12 drops of water, one with 15 drops of water, and so forth. Place all the bags in the same location to control the light and temperature.

 

What variables effect mold growth?

 

 

 

Select one of the variables listed above and design an experiment to see if that variable affects the growth of mold.  In the design identify the variable and describe how it will be changed or manipulated. Identify other variables that will not be changed (they will be controlled).  

 

When the results of the experiment are known it would be nice if the piece of bread without water (the control) didn't have any mold and the ones with water did. Then it would be evidence that water was necessary for mold to grow. It might also be possible to conclude something about the amount of water that is most beneficial for mold to grow or an optimum amount of water for mold growth.

The control is the reference object to compare results of the experiment.

Question:

Equipment:

Procedure:

 

 

 

Results:

Date Drawing Description
Started    
     
     
     
     
     

 

Conclusions:

 

 

 

What did you learn about variables that affect the rate of decomposition?

 

 

Lab notes 22 - Ecosystem review challenge

 

  1. What gas do animals need to change food into energy? (2)

  2. What gas do animals exhale as a waste gas from using food to produce energy? (2)

  3. What gas do plants use for photosynthesis? (2)

  4. What gas do plants give off when they make food? (2)

  5. What are four types of pollutants? (4)

  6. List four environmental factors. (8)

  7. List four plants. (8)

  8. List four herbivours (plant consumers). (8)

  9. List four carnivours (animal consumers). (8)

  10. List four decomposer.(8)

  11. Write a definition of a pollutant. (5)

  12. Draw and explain a water cycle. (10)

  13. Draw and explain a food cycle. (10)

  14. 6CO2 + 6H2O ------chlorophyl & energy ----->  C6H12O6 + 6O2   Explain what this formula means. (5)

  15. Mr. Whatsamajig has just returned a sample of water from a planet outside our solar system.  When he opened the container, to his amazement, he found a small bright object.  He carefully set it aside in a container and left it for the evening.  When he returned the next morning he found that it had grown to twice its previous size.  He reasoned, since it grew, that it was a living organism.  In order to see what type of gases it used he decided to set up a BTB experiment.  If you were him tell me how you would set up the experiment.  Tell me your procedure and what you would hope to prove with your experiment. (20)

BONUS  Write something that you learned outside of class related to what we studied.

 

Material Sheets

B

 

 

 

 

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