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Lesson Title and Description
Garden Animal Biodiversity Using butterfly nets, magnifiers, and insect boxes, students compare the degree of biodiversity in the school playing field with that of the native plant garden and record their findings. |
Alignment with California State Standards
Next Generation Science Standard: MS-LS2-1 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem. MS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations. MS-LS2-5 Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services. Framework for K-12 Science Education: Science & Engineering Practices:
Disciplinary Core Ideas:
Crosscutting Concepts:
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Lesson Title and Description
Nitrogen Cycle Students learn about mutualism and the Nitrogen cycle by playing a nitrogen cycle game and studying the relationship between fava beans (a legume) and nitrogen-fixing bacteria called Rhizobium. |
Alignment with California State Standards
Next Generation Science Standards: MS-PS1-1 Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures. MS-LS1-4 Use argument based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants respectively. MS-LS2-2 Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems. Framework for K-12 Science Education: Science & Engineering Practices:
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Lesson Title and Description
Soil Chemistry Students see the major “ingredients” of soil: clay, silt, sand, organic material, water, air, living things. They also test school garden soil for potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus content as well as pH. In the other rotation, students perform a brief experiment about the filtration properties of soil, based on the cation exchange capacity of soil, and can make a conclusion about how different soils have varying cation exchange capacities (ability to adsorb positive ions). |
Alignment with California State Standards
Next Generation Science Performance Expectations: MS-PS1-2 Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred. MS-LS1-7 Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism. DCIs Structure and Properties of Matter
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Lesson Title and Description
California Plant Communities and Healthy Ecosystems Students learn the significance of California’s biodiversity and conduct research on a specific California plant community (the most visible component of an ecosystem). After taking a guided observation walk to observe wide variations in plants within the native plant garden, groups of 5-6 students will be assigned two plants in the school native habitat garden and will research the plant community in which they are found including the climate, soils, topography, and geography. For the second session, each group will then introduce their plant and plant community research to the rest of the class in the garden. Students will record and organize information about the various plants and communities on a garden-specific chart and relate this data to the broader context of California’s native plant communities and how they are being impacted due to human driven changes in the environment and climate. |
Alignment with California State Standards
Next Generation Science Performance Expectations: MS-LS2-1 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem. MS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations. MS-LS2-5 Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services. Science & Engineering Practices:
Disciplinary Core Ideas:
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