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Habitats and Local Environments- Curriculum Topic Study I.

Identify Adult Content Knowledge IA: Science for All Americans The big idea and major concept that make up habitats and communities is that all aspects of the environment are all interconnected and dependent on one another, including both organisms and the ecosystems they inhabit. An example of this big idea is plants need animals for reproduction support and certain nutrients, whereas animals rely on plants for food. New content and understanding is gained through food webs. There are many different variations and possibilities that a food web can go through, and there are many different characteristics that a single food web can choose to focus on. In example, a food web can focus heavily on a certain aspect, like plant life, and can explain why the food web is heavily focused on that aspect. In the plant life example, it could be because those animals depend heavily on the plants for nesting sites, food, and protection (Science for all Americans, 64-65). New insights that teachers could gain about habitats and local environments from this reading is how interconnected and interdependent all aspects of environments are on one another. There is no unimportant organisms, or one factor that does not affect every part of the ecosystem in some way. All adults, including teachers, should know that every biotic and abiotic factor in an environment are connected and dependent on one another. Also they should be aware that there are interactions between organisms and there are interactions between an organism and its environment. Rich interconnections within habitats and local environments that emerged from this

reading are interactions between different living factors in a local environment and how human beings fit into the environment (Science for all Americans, 64-65). The reading made connections of humans, animals, plants, and the habitat in which they all live. The reading helps to see what a K-12 education in aiming towards in this topic by giving many examples for teachers to see how they need to emphasize these real-life examples for their students to make connections of the conceptual information. In addition, it showed that a K-12 education is focusing on the big picture of interactions between organisms and habitats as a concept, rather than focusing on singular specific interactions (Science for all Americans, 64-65).

II.

Consider Instructional Implications IIA: Benchmarks for Science Literacy For effective instruction of the interdependence of life within habitats and local environments, teachers should make sure their students support their knowledge of species depending on one another through concepts of the types of relationships that exist between organisms, the types of physical conditions organisms live in, and the type of environments organisms live in. Common student misconceptions about adaptations of animals in the topic include that many students believe that organisms are able to alter the structure of their body to be able to use their habitat most efficiently. This can most easily be addressed through using very clear and straightforward language when teaching the concepts (Benchmarks for Science Literacy, 116-117).

The most effective way to teach this topic is to make sure that there is a coherence in the complex structure of relationships between organisms and environment. Teachers should be sure to suggest and reinforce characteristics of ecosystems such as interdependence of parts, feedback, oscillation, inputs, and outputs (Benchmarks for Science Literacy, 116-117). The big picture view of this topic is that while students can easily understand that species depend on each other and on the environment, students need to be constantly supporting those concepts of interdependence by examples of interactions of specific species in specific ecosystems. As students go from kindergarten through twelfth grade, there is an increase in sophistication in the content through more complex mechanisms of interaction, beginning with understanding that living things are everywhere, and ending with how ecosystems maintain an equilibrium over hundreds of thousands of years (Benchmarks for Science Literacy, 116-117). IIB: National Science Education Standards Students should also move from studying life science from the point of view of individual organisms to recognizing patterns in ecosystems and developing understanding about living systems on a cellular level. Along with using clear language, students will most likely give responses about community and competition between organisms as everyday examples instead of scientific information. Teachers should use students everyday understanding as a basis to build scientific understanding off of. Also, when completing investigations, the use of computers and conceptual and mathematical models should be involved (National Science Education Standards, 155-156).

Inquiry plays a central role in learning the ideas in this topic through hands-on activities such as working with light microscopes and interpreting what they see for developing an understanding of molecular biology. Linkages between student learning, teaching, and classroom contexts include understanding that students have fine motor skills by high school and are able to do detailed, technical activities with microscopes to learn microbiology. Another example according to the National Science Education Standards, includes teacher understanding that they are most likely to receive responses about personal experience when it comes to ecological competition, and for the teachers to build off that experience to a scientific context (National Science Education Standards, 155-156). III. Identify Concepts and Specific Ideas IIIA: Benchmarks for Science Literacy Learning goals that align well with the topic of habitats and local environments are the interdependence of all biotic aspects of the environment, and that all life either adds or takes away from all living things through various mechanisms. Teachers need to be able to further address this concept through the kinds of physical conditions that organisms have to be able to survive in as well as the types of environments that are made by interactions of organisms and the complexity of all of these systems interacting with different organisms at the same time. Concepts, skills, and ideas that make up learning goals include the idea of taking general scientific theories and supporting them with their own examples. Students should understand that human beings have a significant impact on the environment. Finally, they need to understand all parts that make up an ecosystem, including the general interdependence of parts,

feedback, oscillations, inputs, and outputs, and how all these parts come together to make up the overall well-being of an ecosystem as a whole (Benchmarks for Science Literacy, 116-117). These goals help in determining what teachers can eliminate or put less emphasis on by showing that instead of focusing on making students memorize wide expanses of unrelated information, teachers can focus on underlying topics of how organisms depend on each other, how energy transfer happens, and how physical conditions forced upon organisms can cause a change in the organism. In Benchmarks, organism interdependence and the human impact on environments are idea emphasized, whereas in NSES there is a greater emphasis on energy flow within a system. Benchmarks does cover the idea of energy flow in an environment, but does not focus on it as a singular important topic like NSES (Benchmarks for Science Literacy, 116117). IIIB: National Science Education Standards Facts, concepts, principles or theories embedded in the National Science Education Standards are energy transfer, interdependence, metabolism, oxidizing agents, chemical energy, reactions and substrates, food webs, primary sources, and primary life sources. The organizers used in the standards help to organize ideas in a topic by showing the specific concepts to focus on, and then elaborating on those. The organizers make it easy to connect a benchmark to important material (National Science Education Standards, 129, 157-158). IIIC: Concept Maps

See below for Student, Expert, and Misconceptions concept maps on the topic of habitats and local environments. IV. Examine Research on Student Learning IVA: Benchmarks for Science Literacy The specific misconceptions that a student might have about concepts of habitat is that organisms are able to control changes in anatomical structure to be able to ideally fit into a particular habitat. Also, there could be the possibility of a misconception about organisms responding to a changed environment by moving to a more favorable environment. A thought as to how these misconceptions begin by Benchmarks for Science Literacy is that the languages used by teachers or textbooks to explain adaptation to try to make biology more available to students may reinforce the misconceptions. Teachers with their own students may think about further researching misconceptions about how energy is transformed within ecosystems. This would give valuable insight into whether the students have misconceptions on how energy is transferred between living and non-living things as well as between interactions between organisms (Benchmarks for Science Literacy, 342). Benchmarks for Science Literacys research on misconceptions about habitats gives insight onto how teachers need to be very careful that the language they use in explanations does not encourage common misconceptions in their students. This research done can be used to clarify benchmark ideas by making sure that when looking at benchmarks of organism adaptations to address the common misconceptions within that benchmark as to not be confused with the correct

conceptual ideas trying to get across to your students (Benchmarks for Science Literacy, 342). IVB: Making Sense of Secondary Science: Research into Childrens Ideas Specific misconceptions that students might have about the environment include that changing the population size of a species might not affect an ecosystem because some organisms are not important, that ecosystems do not function as a whole because they are a collection of organisms, and that ecosystems do not change over time. These misconceptions are thought to come from students using their everyday understanding of relationships between people and applying those ideas to scientific principles about the environment. The idea that ecosystems do not function as a whole seems to be the misconception that is least resistant to change among students. These misconceptions are most likely to develop amongst students within the grades of 5-7, and then continue on throughout high school (Making Sense of Secondary Science: Research into Childrens Ideas, 63). This topic gives teachers insight onto how altering scientific ideas to make them easier to understand can possibly create misconceptions within students. Questions that could be used to help see what students know about a topic include asking a student to decide if or how the mass of the Earth changes as organisms eliminate waste and die. This question can be used to discover student ideas of cycling matter throughout ecosystems. Suggestions for helping students to avoid or overcome these misconceptions are for teachers to focus on the relationships between organisms and by asking students to predict what might happen if an organism was removed from

the ecosystem or if the conditions of the environment changed (Making Sense of Secondary Science: Research into Childrens Ideas, 63). V. Examine Coherency and Articulation VA: Atlas of Science Learning: A map helps to trace a concept or skill from its simple beginning to a culminating, interconnected, sophisticated idea by allowing the user to choose a starting point that they are interested in and follow the different topics and concepts connected to the starting point and being able to see exactly how they are connected in one model. Connections that can be identified among concepts or skills in the topic of habitats and local environments include connections between energy and energy transfer. For example, the concept of energy in general and its movement throughout an ecosystem, and how organisms are able to store energy or use it. An example of this idea is how plants store energy as a form of glucose from sunlight and use it in chemical reactions. Also, there is a connection of how energy is needed to complete different types of work, like chemical or thermal. Finally, there is a broader connection of how this energy benefits organisms, and what they will use it for, such as heat or shelter. These connections can be used it identify different content areas within and outside of science by taking a big idea applied to this topic of habitats and local communities, like the transfer of energy in an ecosystem, and make connections to other science fields such as energy transferal in chemistry, anatomical processes, physics, etc (Atlas of Science Literacy, Volume 2). Prerequisite ideas learning this topic at the high school grade level should include a general knowledge of energy, and the ideas that it cannot be created or destroyed,

but changed. Also, students should know what the scientific idea of work is, and that energy is always needed to complete any type of work. Another important concept that students need to be familiar with is that there are producers in an ecosystem that can be classified as primary, secondary, tertiary, etc., and how these producers receive energy and how they are able to use it (Atlas of Science Literacy, Volume 2). The conceptual strands in a map help think about the way to organize the concepts and skills in a topic by seeing exactly why topic and concepts are relation to one another and how they are. The map also includes concepts that are related to multiple ideas and tell whether they are related through the same or different ideas. This can allow teachers to see what concepts need to be presented together, and whether students need to have already have an understanding of one idea before being able to teach a certain concept (Atlas of Science Literacy, Volume 2). The map and its narrative section improve the overall understanding of a topic by presenting concepts through a series of interconnected ideas that go into a much greater depth that simply focusing on one discipline. Also the map links ideas together in a direct hierarchical model to show which idea comes from what, or in a double sided arrow to show that ideas are equally related to one another. The narrative helps to more strongly link ideas in the map, and allows for a supplemental support if there is any confusion or misunderstanding from the map alone (Atlas of Science Literacy, Volume 2). The skill benchmarks relate to the knowledge benchmarks by showing what students should be able to so if they have concrete understanding of their knowledge benchmarks. The skill benchmarks are a good way for teachers to look at assessing

their knowledge benchmarks. Also, the skill benchmarks involve another layer of understanding to the knowledge benchmarks by often requiring students to go further than simply explain or describe a concept, asking them to come to conclusions of a topic using reasoning from their own knowledge they should have on a topic (Atlas of Science Literacy, Volume 2). VI. Clarify State Standards and District Curriculum VIA: State Standards For the marine science classroom in which this curriculum topic study is based on, no state standards exist. However, please refer to the curriculum guide section below for reference to standards required. VIB: District Curriculum Guide The suggestion in section II about making sure to connect interdependence of organisms and their interactions within the ecosystem goes along with the learning outcome of describing specific organisms with different kinds of interrelationship within a marine ecosystem. The learning outcomes also emphasize building on previous learning which is another suggestion in section II. Finally, a suggestion in section IV about watching out for adaption misconceptions goes along with the learning outcome of giving examples of organisms that are highly specialized due to occupying highly specific niches (Cambridge International A & AS Level Marine Science 2013). The addition of cognitive performance verbs affect the learning of habitats and communities by giving the students a clear understanding of exactly what skills need to be mastered for each learning outcome. For example, the cognitive performance

verbs tell the students whether they need to be able to explain versus describe versus give examples or use the knowledge to solve problems. The verbs are appropriate for the nature of the content and difficulty of the ideas for habitats and communities because it is not a math-based science, more of a conceptual science which is why the verbs are mostly explain or describe concepts (Cambridge International A & AS Level Marine Science 2013). Research findings can inform that placement of state or district standards because it helps to determine the complexity of what is expected of the students, or what students need to be able to do to succeed in the class. This affects what grade as well as what prerequisites students need to have done before taking the class. These learning outcomes are appropriately placed. The readings improve the interpretation and understanding of concepts and skills associated with ecology, communities, and habitats in the standards for the topic because the readings explicitly tell the teacher what their students need to know for each topic. What the students need to know make up the standards, and the readings help the curriculum guide by telling teachers the best way to present the information to students for them to understand and retain the information, as well as what misconceptions the teachers need to watch out for, and ways to avoid perpetrating misconceptions (Cambridge International A & AS Level Marine Science 2013). The concepts and skills essential to developing a coherent understanding of the topic included in the curriculum guide are meaning of main terms like ecosystem, habitat, population, community species. The curriculum guide also includes relationships between organisms within ecosystems, predator-prey relationships, and

the connection between environment, biodiversity, and ecological niches. There are no gaps within the curriculum guide to be filled. Study results help to see why certain lessons in the curriculum program need to be taught and not skipped over by showing teachers a prediction of how their students will do if they are not given certain lesson. This allows teachers to see lessons that greatly impact their students understanding and must be taught. The study results also inform the teacher of the right sequence of instruction for the curriculum by being able to tell the teachers which material is building off of past information, or what material the students need to already know before learning an additional piece of information. Finally, study results additionally let teachers see what topics need to be revisited in or at different grade levels with new contexts and increasing sophistication by showing teacher what topics students are predicted to do poorly on although they have already covered the material. This is a warning sign for teachers to revisit this topic for their students understanding (Cambridge International A & AS Level Marine Science 2013).

CTS- Narrative The curriculum topic study on habitats and local environments will guide the development of a lesson for a marine science class by showing the teacher what concepts they need to focus on, what misconceptions to look out for, how best to solidify concepts for students, and what the students should already be comfortable with before beginning this lesson. In the Identifying Concepts and Specific Ideas section of the curriculum topic study, it shows that for habitats and local environments, teachers need to focus on the underlying concepts of how all biotic and abiotic factors connect with each other, how energy is transferred throughout

environments, and how organisms have adaptations to be able to survive in their environments (Benchmarks for Science Literacy, 116-117). When looking out for misconceptions, section four of the curriculum topic study Examine Research on Student Learning helps teachers with that for this topic, telling them that students have the most trouble with understanding that organisms cannot purposely control adaptations to ideally fit into an environment. The research on student learning also tells teachers how to best avoid these misconceptions by not using language so easy for students to understand that it skews the meaning of the lesson. The curriculum topic study also gives teachers ways for students to best understand and retain these concepts. One suggestion is for students to use hands-on activities and try to discover cellular biology for themselves using microscopes (Benchmarks for Science Literacy, 342). Section five of the CTS Examine Coherency and Articulation, allows teachers to see what ideas they may need to revisit before teaching this lesson to make sure that students have a strong understanding, with ideas of energy and work, for example (Atlas of Science Literacy, Vol. 2). All of this information from the CTS helps teachers to make decisions on how to focus on teaching, what misconceptions to look out for, and where in the unit this lesson should be taught when teaching this topic. By going through the process of completing a curriculum topic study, teachers receive a much greater insight into the topic that they are teaching. Firstly, teachers get access to research on how children most commonly learn this topic and what their common misconceptions are, which allows them to plan their lessons with activities and examples that emphasize understanding and avoid misconceptions. Also, by completing a CTS on a topic, teachers are able to preview the state standards and curriculum guides for the topic which, if the teacher is not doing that already, allows them to see exactly what and how they need to be assessing their

students, and what they are held accountable for. Finally, by looking at concept maps of a specific topic, teachers can see exactly how certain concepts and ideas relate to one another, and whether this relationship is one way, or if they relate to each other the same. This gives teachers insight into what they need to be teaching concept-wise along with the main idea of their lesson for the progression and planning to make sense for students and make it natural for students. Preconceived notions and ideas that are common to teachers can end up changing once they have completed a curriculum topic study. For this topic of habitats and local environments, the idea that there are gaps within the curriculum guide that may need to be filled by the teacher is very surprising. The CTS shows teachers what most adults and students need to know about the topic and sometimes teachers need to go beyond the curriculum to be able to give the students that information. In addition, the ideas about misconceptions brought up in the CTS about how one of the most common ways for students to get misconceptions is through the easier language in the textbook was surprising. Teachers should preview all materials that they give their students to learn off of before assigning work to their students, and need to be aware that sometimes resources can create misconceptions rather than teach students the right information. Information that a teacher may still need after using the curriculum topic study for habitats and local environments include knowing which parts of this topic are most commonly difficult for students to understand, and which parts are easier for most students. Also, it would be good to also get information on what are the best ways to assess whether students understand these concepts within the topic or not, whether it be through a multiple choice test, a practical, or other means. Lastly, the CTS does not include a concept review section for teachers where teachers can read over all of the concepts that they themselves need to familiarize with before they teach this topic to a classroom of students.

Expert Concept Map

Student Concept Map

Misconceptions Concept Map

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