Using Snails to help students navigate the Experimental Design Template (HS-LS2-6)

Our classroom has a ten gallon aquarium (complete with snails, elodea, and lots of microscopic organisms) that has served as a useful system for introducing my Living Environment students to the Experimental Design Template. I introduced a question to them about how it might have been possible for the snails to survive the summer in the tank with no outside food sources. They immediately thought the snails ate the elodea... so it was the perfect opportunity to test their hypothesis. This template is available on our resources page. HS-LS2-6 Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.

Why do plants grow toward the sun?

Middle School Life Science Lesson:
Energy Transfer and Transformation in Photosynthesis

MS:LS 1-6: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.

Ultimately, we want students to have a deep understanding of how photosynthesis provides the connection between energy and matter in an ecosystem. Looking at this "Matter & Energy" graphic organizer, it's not going to be easy for students to truly explain this process (though I bet they all think they could!). 

From the set of Crosscutting Concepts Graphic Organizers in 11x17

Breaking the concept apart, however, allows student to focus on the individual components before putting it all together. I built this lesson so that students discover exactly what's going on inside the leaf when it absorbs sunlight. 

(A funny side-story that will serve as caution to you... I find a lot of great digital resources that we use in class. But sometimes this leads me down a path where I forget to do some traditional activities where students really can learn a lot by observing in class. In this case, I was looking for a way for students to see chloroplasts... and spent a half hour looking for the perfect pictures before I had the "Aha!" that we should just find them ourselves in spinach leaves by doing a microscope station! DON'T make the mistake of ignoring those tried and true experiences when you're writing 3D lessons!)

Link to full lesson slideshow with teacher notes

After completion of this lesson (it takes 2-3 class periods), students can begin to fill in the graphic organizer. They will have the inputs on the left and the beginning part of the process. To follow this lesson, students will next learn about glucose and how it's made, and about how carbon dioxide travels into the leaf to become a huge part of the "matter" involved in the process.

One phenomenon... two ways

Choosing a good phenomenon to have students explain is a critical step in designing 3D lessons. Fortunately, the best phenomena can be used to address multiple Performance Expectations; it just depends on how you want to use them. Great phenomena can anchor lessons for multiple grade levels and subject areas.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2267504/The-sealed-bottle-garden-thriving-40-years-fresh-air-water.html

I was inspired to think about a lesson that would use this phenomenon when Saranac Middle School's Rebecca Shuman posted on Instagram about her students making these really cool biosphere ecosystems. (Secretly I just wanted to fill my classroom with cool stuff like this.) What I didn't realize at the time was that Becky had developed an awesome lesson sequence (called "There is no Planet B") with the biospheres as the culminating experience. Becky's biosphere lesson incorporates MS:LS2-1 and 2-3 and serves to compare the model biospheres to the closed system of the Earth as a whole.

In my classroom, we used our miniature biospheres as a model for the larger human-designed ecosystems such as Biosphere 2 and the eventual (?) biospheres used to colonize Mars or other distant places. (MS:LS2-5) We plan to observe the biospheres throughout the course of the school year to monitor changes and to model the matter and energy flow in the system.

Link to the Ecosystems in Space lesson

How can we help you navigate the NYSSLS transition?

Do you or your colleagues wish there was someone to help with the NYSSLS transition? We've been working with local schools in the North Country, and would love to help others across New York State. We would love to hear from you!

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