Science - Biology

• Abiotic and Biotic Factors
  This lesson helps students understand abiotic and biotic factors. Once the concept has been grasped, they can trace the interactions of these factors within a system.
• Habitat Alteration Module: Habitat Succession
  This activity is part of the TGLL Habitat Alteration Module. This is a long-term project, ideally spanning from 2-3 months. This project will involve observing habitat succession at sites that either vary naturally, or at sites that are experimentally manipulated by students (human alterations).
• Introduction to Habitat Alteration
  Students will be introduced to the concepts of habitat and habitat change through lecturing and guided inquiry. Students will engage in an open discussion of habitat change, view time-lapse footage of change, and identify /evaluate images of natural and human caused habitat alteration. Attention will be focused on identifying indicators and causes of habitat alteration.
• Jordan River field trip: Overview (part 1 of 4)
  This field trip is designed to physically immerse students in the concept of habitat alteration by visiting a location along the Jordan river that possesses highly altered, relatively pristine, and restored habitats. Students will rotate between three stations focusing on biotic and abiotic habitat alterations within which they will identify native and exotic species, measure water quality, and gain historical perspectives on land use practices along uses the Jordan river. This trip is designed to take 3.5 hours and can accommodate between 30 and 60 students.This trip was originally designed for8th grade but can e properly scaled for 6-10th grade.
• Jordan River field trip: Plant ID (part 2 of 4)
  Scientists use many tools to evaluate a habitat to determine if it is different from other habitats and to determine if it is disturbed. One way to classify and determine the health of a habitat is to identify the organisms that live there and compare those to other habitats. To do this biologists use identification keys. In this exercise students will use identification keys to identify plants in two different habitats and determine if the habitats are more different or more similar and if one habitat is degraded or altered.
• Pond Water Ecology and Habitat Change
  Students will understand how abiotic (physical) factors alter the biotic elements of an ecosystem through an examination of microbial life in water. Students will observe water from three aquatic habitats that differ in their physical characteristics. Students will also experimentally alter the physical factors of an aquatic habitat. By observing and experimentally changing different aquatic habitats, students will understand that the abiotic components of an environment shape the type of life living there.
• TGLL Red Butte field trip: How far can plants move?
  

  By measuring how fast seeds fall, students will calculate how far a single a generation of plants can disperse by wind. Then they can apply these findings to speculate on plant species’ movement and survival as a result of biome shifts predicted with climate change.

  Objectives

  1. Students will recognize fruits and seeds on plants and place them into dispersal syndrome categories based on their morphology.
  2. Students will measure the rate of descent of wind-dispersed seeds and use this to calculate dispersal distances.
  3. Students will apply the concept of wind seed dispersal to global climate change induced biome shifts.
• Why do trees grow there?
  Students will learn, through inquiry and experimentation, why certain plants grow in specific locations in the mountains. In a field trip to a low elevation canyon, students will measure several abiotic and biotic factors on north and south-facing slopes to help understand why there is different vegetation. By examining physical and biological factors in a landscape and later examining the data, students will understand some of the major factors that determine where vegetation grows in mountain ecosystems. This lesson requires two 45 minute class period, a half-day field trip.