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Environmental Assessment Plan

Overview:

This lesson will introduce high school biology (grades 9-12) students to the concept of

ecosystems and shared resources throughout the planet. In the previous unit, students learned

about the individual roles of organisms and their energy use. This unit follows to display how the

individual roles and energy use are shared between organisms. By learning about populations,

resources and diversity, they can gain a sense of each factor—big or small—impacting the

planet. The students will gain this understanding while strengthening their scientific practices of

asking questions, defining problems, using models, planning and carrying out investigations,

analyzing and interpreting data, designing solutions, and obtaining, evaluating and

communicating information as they use a rabbit simulation model to study population growth

and limiting factors. They will also get to piece together scientific concepts such as cause and

effect, scale, proportion and quantity, systems and system models, energy and matter, and

stability and change.

Student Background, Culture, and Context:

The student population at McNair High School consists of 96% African-Americans, 2%

Hispanic and 1% Caucasian. About 95% of the students are on a free or reduced lunch program.

The level of school-wide proficiency is 7% in Biology and 11% in English. The school climate

score is one out of five stars (Oracle Business Intelligence, 2017). There is an air of defiance

around the school, with students displaying a prominent desire to defend themselves against both

peers and teachers. Many times this leads to verbal or physical aggression. Despite having an
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Atlanta address, McNair High School feels a lot like a small town, with only 800 students

enrolled in the school.

Many of our students are 9th graders who have been pushed along through the school

system, despite failing multiple courses. At the start of the year, one hundred 9th graders were

dropped and re-added to the system due to failing in the 8th grade. Students often make

comments about the school being “bad.” Because I am new to the environment, I try to embrace

the students for as much as they have to offer. Often times, I can tell that they think they are not

smart enough to perform well in the classroom-context, but I try to encourage them to work

towards growth and their own potential. From my perspective, the what the students lack is

belief that their knowledge gaps can be filled rather than actual ability.

In my courses, we have a total of 82 students—fifteen are special education students, one

is in ESOL, three students have a 504, twenty-five students are accelerated, and three of the

students are gifted. Within each block, there are some students that are there with an intent to

learn, but often times they get washed out by the students who do not care for school and are

there because someone forced them to be. There is a noticeable difference in participation and

interest between the accelerated group and the standard blocks.

Rationale:

This lesson started from the mandated Dekalb County curriculum (Dekalb County, 2017).

One goal of the lesson is to allow them to practice scientific skills, such as using models and

collecting data, as they assemble new information into their brains. Another goal is to give the

students an introductory awareness of how organisms impact each other on a local and global
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scale. Most importantly, they can gain an understanding of how their actions, small or large, can

affect the Earth as a whole.

In the last unit, students learned about photosynthesis. The goal of this lesson is to give

them context in which to analyze a future ecological scenario were knowledge of photosynthesis

must be used.

This lesson is simple in that the simulation exercise scaffolds the students through the

process of studying the rabbit population and clues them in on specific aspects of ecology that

they should be paying attention to. The context video was chosen so that the students can feel

like they have a break from reading—as many of them have difficulty reading. In this way, they

can channel their learning energy into learning ecological material and scientific practices.

My desire is that this lesson will serve as a stepping stone for the students to start

understanding the concept of data and how to make informed conclusions

Purpose/Central Focus:

What are the factors that influence population growth and decline (Dekalb County, 2017)?

What is the relationship between living and non-living things (Dekalb County, 2017)?

Lesson Objectives:

 Apply knowledge of model systems by using a rabbit simulation model to collect data on

population growth rate.

 Construct explanations for why the population size changes using experimental data.

 Identify interplay between rabbits, wolves and plants within the model ecosystem to

pinpoint inter-populational relationships.

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 Describe the importance of biodiversity in balancing the survival of the rabbits in the

model system.

Academic Language:

 Students will need to seek information from the rabbit simulation model to determine the

outcome of different scenarios.

 Students will need to analyze the data collected from inputting the given scenarios into

the model system in order to determine important patterns.

 Students will need to infer important population ecology themes from the data collected.

Georgia Standards:

SB5a. Plan and carry out investigations and analyze data to support explanations about factors

affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems. (Clarification statement: Factors include

population size, carrying capacity, response to limiting factors, and keystone species.)

SB5c. Construct an argument to predict the impact of environmental change on the stability of an

environment (Dekalb County, 2017).

Commentary Prompts:

1) Monitoring Student Learning:

Formal Assessment: Data collected during simulation (summative)

a. The simulation exercise prompted students to write down their predictions for different

scenarios, their observations of what happened in the simulation, and why they believe it

happened. This gave the students practice in asking scientific questions and forming

conclusions based off of data. The simulation was set to mimic a real world phenomenon

of rabbit over-population in Australia. The students were prompted with reflection

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questions after the simulation to help piece together the real-world implications of the

experimental model they used.

b. This task supports students at different learning levels by allowing them to reason through

using their own vocabulary and their own logic. They have to give their rational on the

simulation results before an answer is given to them, and they can take it as deep or as

superficial as they are capable of. It is a way to assess what level of reasoning each of the

students are at, regardless of their different needs. Students who needed more guidance

were probed and walked through the logic. We all discussed our logic as a class after each

scenario was put through the simulation, so that each student could get a chance to grasp

the key components were trying to highlight.

Informal Assessment: Ticket out the door (summative)

a. The main purpose of the ticket out the door was to make sure that the students left the

classroom knowing the main vocabulary terms covered throughout the exercise. They had

to identify populations, abiotic and biotic factors and species that were present within the

model system that we used. This was created to assess whether they were able to make the

connections between the experimental practice we did in class and understanding the

implications of the scientific terms we covered.

b. The ticket out the door allowed me to assess that all of the students were grasping the

concepts of ecological systems, and to make accommodations the following day as

necessary. It gave me an idea of what concepts to place more time on and which ones the

students were grasping. It also served as way to assess if the simulation activity was a

good modality for my classroom population. The students were asked to answer three

questions, listed on the board, about the rabbit simulation exercise:

1. What populations were present?

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2. What were the biotic and abiotic factors?

3. What species were present in the ecosystem?

2) Analyzing Student Learning

a. Learning Objectives

• Apply knowledge of model systems by using a rabbit simulation model

Both of my assessments probe students to connect data/vocabulary gathered

throughout the simulation to the real world; therefore, students were asked to

apply their knowledge of model systems (how they work, what they are used for)

to real life.

• Construct explanations using experimental data.

They were asked to draw conclusions from their data on the back of the

simulation sheet (reflection questions).

• Identify interplay between rabbits, wolves and plants within the model ecosystem

Students were probed, in the simulation sheet, to infer how the food (plants) and

wolves affected the rabbit population.

• Describe the importance of biodiversity in balancing the survival of the rabbits in the

model system.

A few of the reflection questions on the back of the simulation exercise probed

students to look at how the data displaying diversity within the rabbit population

promoted a better overall outcome.

b. Most of the students were able to grasp the concept that mutations (genetic variety) was

beneficial to the rabbit population. Some of them thought that the mutations were bad for the

population because it kept them from growing uncontrollably. Few of the students seemed to
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grasp the concept of carrying capacity and limiting factors, as they thought that rabbits would

take over the world (the result of some of the simulation scenarios) in real life.

Overall Classroom Performance

10%

30%

60%

Emerging Proficient Advanced

c. My samples for the rabbit simulation represent a struggling student on the special

education roster (Freddy), an average student in the class that seems to grasp some of the

concepts (Brandon), and a student who has displayed mastery of previous concepts

(Dynasty).

For this activity, the special education student (FreddY), who has continuously struggled

in the class, seemed to grasp the concept of carrying capacity that was missed by many of

the other students. He was also able to make coherent connections between the data and

the reflection questions.

The student who has performed average in the past (Brandon) did not seem to connect

much with the worksheet. His rational for each scenario was weak, and his reflection
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answers displayed that he did not make connections between the activity and key

population ecology questions.

The student who has performed above average for the class (Dynasty) had good reasoning

throughout the activity, but failed to make key connections to understanding the concepts

of genetic variation and carrying capacity.

My samples for the ticket out the door reflect students in the advanced course. One is a

student who has been overwhelmed and the content seems to wash over her head

(Mariah), another is an intermediate student (Zora), and the student who has continually

received the highest grades (Alexandra). The overall class results showed that students had

a basic understanding of key population ecology terms such as population, abiotic factors,

biotic factors and species.

The student who has struggled in the course (Mariah) seemed to grasp a very basic

understanding of what a population is and species within an ecosystem. She was able to

identify abiotic and biotic factors that were at play in the ecosystem. She only identified

the main population (bunnies), but was able to identify wolves as separate species present.

The intermediate student (Zora) went a little bit more in depth with the populations by

naming both the bunnies and the wolves (displaying an understanding of the interplay

between two populations). She was able to give good examples of biotic and abiotic

factors, and gave the same species examples as her population examples.
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The advanced student went extremely in-depth by describing the populations present—

even displaying an understanding that there is a separation between population and

species. She seemingly ran out of time and gave a brief answer as to what the biotic and

abiotic factors were, and did not give a response for the species present.

3) Feedback to Guide Further Learning

a. Feedback was given in written form, directly on the assignment, for all of the

students. The graded assignments were returned to the students two days after they

completed them.

b. For the Rabbit Simulation

Freddy:

Freddy displayed excellent reasoning skills throughout the exercise. I made an effort to

point out when he made good connections (like realizing that adaptations are a key factor

to keeping the population in check). One area he struggled in was elaborating on his

responses. In order to address this, I probed him with questions to think further into why

he made the conclusions that he did.

Brandon:

Brandon seemed to struggle with expanding what happened in the simulation to real life.

His answers were very brief, and he seemed to miss many of the major themes. For some

questions (3 and 4), he answered correctly, but I probed him to explain his though process

more. It is not evident that, though he answered correctly, he really understood what was

going on.

Dynasty:

Dynasty seemed to understand that mutations/variation helps populations grow, but she

did not understand limiting factors or carrying capacity. I made sure to give her feedback
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noting that she reasoned well in determining that mutations help create a balanced

population, and I also probed her to think more deeply on why she thought rabbits would

grow uncontrollably at carrying capacity (by using the definition of carrying capacity

instead of the word itself).

c. I used this information to determine future lessons—making sure to address the key

elements students seemed to be struggling with (their understanding of genetic

diversity driving population stabilization and how populations interact with each

other). For students like Brandon, I will make sure to pay closer attention to him as he

is working through questions to make sure he is hitting the main concepts the

questions are probing for. With Freddy, I will use this information to make sure I

continue giving him activities that break down reasoning patterns step by step, as I

think it was good for him to be able to walk through the steps slowly without getting

overwhelmed. With Dynasty, I will try to incorporate other methods of teaching, as

she has done well in other more traditional teaching settings (like lecture/note taking),

but did not do as well with the simulation exercise. I will also make sure to scaffold

the exercises better in the future so that students can follow along more easily.

For the advanced students, I will make sure to address that multiple populations can

exists within one species, and make sure they understand the difference between abiotic

and biotic factors (as some students have continued to insist that non-living things are

living).

I will make myself available to all the students to answer questions more in depth if

they did not understand my commentary.

4) Evidence of Language Understanding and Use

a. Evidence of language function skill

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 Students will need to seek information from the rabbit simulation model to determine the

outcome of different scenarios.

Students had to make predictions on the rabbit sheet about what they thought

would happen in the different scenarios, and then reason through why the actual

outcome happened. Most of the students were able to seek out the information

(and connect it to the reflection questions). All three of the students examples of

the rabbit simulation exercise shows that they collected the data from the activity-

although one student did not complete all of his rationale responses as to why it

happened.

 Students will need to analyze the data collected from inputting the given scenarios into

the model system in order to determine important patterns.

Students were able to analyze the data and determine that there were differences

between the outcome for the rabbit populations that had mutations vs. no

mutations (two out of the three sheets show evidence of this in the student’s

rationale and the reflection questions—only one student seemed only to focus on

the increase and decrease of the population without considering the factors that

were contributing to it). They were also able to conclude that there are other

environmental factors (such as the wolves/predators in Brandon, food in Dynasty

and adaptation in Freddy’s) that affect the growth rate of the population.

 Students will need to infer important population ecology themes from the data collected.

They were able to infer that there was difference in the kind of rabbits the wolves

chose to eat (Freddy, Scenario 4 Rationale), that predators affect the growth rate

(Brandon, RQ 1), that food is a limiting factor (Dynasty, Scenario 3 Rationale).

b. Vocabulary
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Students were probed for vocabulary knowledge using the Ticket Out the Door. I used this

method because it is quick and does not give students time to look terms up on their

phone/notes.

Based on the ticket out the door responses, the students have a good understanding of

what populations are (number one on all three of them), what the difference is between a

species and population (Alexandra, number 1). And two out of three of the examples show

understanding of the differences between abiotic and biotic factors—with the exception of

one student who said the sun was a biotic factor. Based on the other items on her list

(rabbits, wolves, bushes), I think her misunderstanding is with what is living and non-

living, not what biotic and abiotic mean.

c. Syntax/discourse to develop content understanding

The rabbit simulation assessment helped the students develop their content understanding

by giving them a real-world scenario to practice ecological skills. This was the first day

we started covering ecology content. Based on the reflection questions, the students

displayed a fairly good grasp on the applications of the content covered. The ticket out the

door showed that they were able to build connection between new vocabulary rather

quickly.

5) Using Assessments to Inform Instruction

a. The next steps for instruction would be to emphasize the concepts of limiting

factors and carrying capacity, as most of the students did not seem to understand that

rabbits cannot physically take over the world. The following concepts to cover are

food webs and gaining a greater understanding of inter-dependence between

populations. The same concepts will continue to be emphasized, as they will need to

continue identifying biotic and abiotic factors, and they will get a more
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comprehensive understanding of how resources impact the food was a whole. The

concept of genetic variation also needs to be addressed, as many students did not

grasp the link between genetic variation and population survival/stability.

The rabbit simulation exercise seemed to work well with many of the students

with IEPs in the classroom—as demonstrated by Freddy’s paper. I think it was

scaffolded in such a way that helped them gain confidence reasoning through the

concepts. A follow up for him would be to work closely and make sure he is

elaborating more. For the intermediate students, the exercise seemed effective as

long as they paid attention. Almost all of the students were engaged during the actual

activity, but many of them lost focus when it came time to sit down and write out

their reflections. For Brandon, a follow up step would be to find a scenario he can

connect to better and to make sure he addresses the key components of the questions

asked. The advanced students really enjoyed the exercise, and they have

demonstrated that they like reasoning activities in the past. For Dynasty in specific,

her understanding of variation and carrying capacity need to be addressed.

b. The next steps include concepts of scaffolding and engaging students better. This

goes along with the material that we have covered in class about using the 5E Model

(Enhancing Education, 2017). Throughout my research, I have learned that students

remember material more easily if they can emotionally connect to the scenarios

surrounding them (Ormrod, 2015).

Scaffolding is a strategy that helps students stay engaged instead of getting

overwhelmed and losing focus. Hmelo-Silver states that scaffolding helps by

“reducing the cognitive load and allowing students to learn in complex domains”

(Hmelo-Silver et al., 2017). Breaking assignments down into the thinking patterns
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and steps scientists use to understand big concepts helps students to feel a proud of

their work and excited to continue working on it.

References:

Dekalb County. (n.d.). Dekalb County School Distric Rigorous Curriculum Design Unit
Planning Organizer. Retrieved October 1, 2017, from
http://www.dekalbschoolsga.org/curriculum/dcsd-curriculum/science/biology/
Enhancing Education: The 5 E's. (2017). Enhancinged.wgbh.org. Retrieved 21 August 2017,
from http://enhancinged.wgbh.org/research/eeeee.html
Hmelo-Silver, C., Duncan, R., & Chinn, C. (2007). Scaffolding and Achievement in Problem-
Based and Inquiry Learning: A Response to Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark
(2006). Educational Psychologist, 42(2), 99-107.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00461520701263368
Oracle Business Intelligence Sign In. (2017). Gaawards.gosa.ga.gov. Retrieved 23 October
2017, from https://gaawards.gosa.ga.gov/analytics/saw.dll?dashboard
Ormrod, J. (2015). Human Learning + Pearson Etext Access Card (7th ed.). Pearson College
Div.