Tag Archives: Mind Map

Species distribution in aquatic environments

Teacher Note: Depending on the length of class time available, this lesson may take 2-3 sessions to complete.

Learning Outcome
Students will describe factors that affect productivity and species distribution in aquatic environments.

Steps to the Lesson

  1. Discuss key vocabulary.
  2. Watch a video on how human activity and government policy has impacted a river system in British Columbia.
  3. Complete a Graphic Organizer while viewing the video.
  4. Conduct an investigation on how to save endangered rivers in British Columbia.
  5. Reflect on the process.

CONNECT

Goals:

  • Students will analyze how federal policies and human activity have affected aquatic systems in British Columbia.
  • Students will identify and analyze alternatives to issues affecting endangered rivers in British Columbia.

Task:
Students will conduct an investigation on endangered rivers in British Columbia and write proposals for alternative solutions on how to save the respective rivers.

Activate Prior Knowledge:
Students complete a mind map activity entitled ‘The Many Ways People Use Water’ found in the McGraw-Hill Ryerson textbook BC Science 8 (page 359). While completing the activity, students should focus specifically on what human activities impact river and lake systems.

Predict and Question:
In Canada, there is a plentiful supply of water and we rarely pay attention to how much water we use in our daily lives or how our actions impact local aquatic areas like rivers and lakes.

What are the students wondering about how human activity has impacted their local rivers, lakes and oceans?

PROCESS

Video Guidelines:

Before viewing the video, students need to understand the meaning of the following terms.

Key vocabulary to discuss: anadromous, confluence, extinction, fathom, mitigate, resident (Definitions)

Students watch the following video and track their thinking using the Graphic Organizer. Students should try to identify some key effects and implications of federal policy on the Sinixt Nation.

Reminder: It is important to stop throughout the story and give students (A/B partners) opportunity to talk or respond to the story.

Videos

Screen Shot 2015-05-04 at 1.46.11 PM

Video Length (4 mins)

 

Having viewed the video above, students need to share their ideas from the video Graphic Organizer (A/B partner recommended). Teachers ask student pairs to share their main ideas and generate a list of ideas and evidence on the board or overhead. Teachers lead class discussion on the significance of the ideas generated (and those not generated) and how federal policies have impacted the environment and Aboriginal people on the Columbia River system.

TRANSFORM

Now that students have learned how federal policies and human activity have impacted a regional river system (Columbia River), students will now conduct an investigation on how to save other endangered rivers in British Columbia. Working in A-B partners or groups of four, students conduct an investigation activity found in the McGraw-Hill Ryerson textbook BC Science 8 (pages 444-445). Using the chart provided on page 445 in the textbook, students will choose a local river (or river of their choice) to research and write a proposal to save an endangered river. Student groups report out their proposals to the class in the form of an oral presentation, using either poster boards, written reports, or Powerpoint presentations.

REFLECT

Upon completion of the investigation activity, students complete a Reflection Sheet to reflect on what they liked/disliked about the investigation process and how their thinking towards how Canadian Federal Government policy impacts the environment and Aboriginal people has changed.

Extend learning or next lesson

One of the key ideas from the video is the impact that Canadian federal government policies have had on an Aboriginal population in British Columbia (Sinixt nation). There are many other examples of how government policies have affected the environment and populations in Canada. Some of these include:

  • Governments adopting (or not adopting) Kyoto Protocol emission targets.
  • The Canadian federal government imposing a moratorium on seabed oil and gas exploration off the coast of British Columbia.
  • The Canadian federal government policies regarding pollution standards in the Alberta northern Oil Tar Sands.
  • The Kashechewan Reserve water crisis in Northern Ontario.

Students can complete a research report on these and other issues affecting the environment and Aboriginal populations in Canada.

Lesson 1 Evaluating the Impact of Human Induced Changes on Communities

Socials

Teacher Note: Depending on the length of class time available, this lesson may take 2-3 sessions to complete.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

  • construct, interpret and use graphs, tables, scales, legends, and various types of maps
  • locate and describe current and historical events
  • analyse ways that people’s interactions with their physical environments change over time
  • evaluate the impact of natural processes and human-induced changes on communities

Steps to the Lesson

  1. Conduct a Horseshoe Debate.
  2. Discuss key vocabulary and distribute research organizer.
  3. Look at maps of region pre/post Bennett Dam construction.
  4. Make a T-Chart comparing the before and after effects of the Bennett Dam construction.
  5. Examine articles regarding the construction of the Bennett Dam.
  6. Watch a video from Fort Ware, B.C..
  7. Complete a Graphic Organizer while viewing the video.
  8. Complete a mind map (see Demonstrate Understanding).
  9. Conduct a second Horseshoe debate.
  10. Write journal reflections on new ideas and thinking.

CONNECT

Goals:

  • The students will interpret a variety of geographic text to identify environmental change over time.
  • The students will analyze and evaluate the impact of human-induced change on a community and on its surrounding environment

Task:

Students will create a mind map demonstrating the connections between the Bennett Dam and effects on Fort Ware, the citizens of BC, alternate resources, and the environment.

Activate Prior Knowledge:

Conduct a horseshoe debate about “Do you feel humans have the right to adapt the environment to meet their basic needs”. Please see link on Horseshoe Debate to view instructions.

Key vocabulary to discuss: Boreal, clearcut, old growth, ecosystem, global warming, stewardship, indigenous, reservoir, consultation, Serengeti, natural resource, ice age, woodland caribou, profit, hydroelectric, Aboriginal (Definitions)

Predict: Teacher asks the students to predict the significant changes to the northern landscape over the last fifty years. (A/B partner talk suggested) Students use T-Chart to track their thinking.

Question: Teachers distribute maps of the Williston Lake Region to the students. Ask students what significant changes they notice in the three map samples. (Teacher note: Students could continue to work in A/B partners or combine into groups of three/four to analyze maps.) Students can record their map observations in the top section of the Graphic Organizer.

PROCESS

Distribute articles on the Bennett Dam construction:

Bennett Dam Vistors Centre Information

The Dynamo that Started it All

W.A.C. Bennett Dam

The Bennett Dam

Click to view historical Photos of the Bennett Dam construction

In groups of three/four, groups choose one article to read and discuss. Brainstorm on the board the key features of the Bennett Dam (ie. size, location, type of dam etc.). All groups need to share their key ideas.

Video: Students watch the following video and track their thinking using the Graphic Organizer.

Reminder: It is important to stop throughout the video and give students (A/B partners) opportunity to talk or respond to the video.

TRANSFORM

Students create a mind map demonstrating the connections between the Bennett Dam and effects on Fort Ware, the citizens of BC, local geography, BC Hydro, and the environment (wildlife, natural resources).

REFLECT

Conduct a horseshoe debate for a second time using the same topic “Do you feel humans have the right to adapt the environment to meet their basic needs.” Students will be able to make a more informed decision based on the new information they have learned.

Students complete a journal activity to explain their new ideas and thinking. Encourage students to discuss the new ideas they have learned and whether mind mapping supports their learning style.

Extend learning or next lesson

  • Conduct a structured debate on the issue of human induced changes to the environment.
  • Write a letter to a local newspaper on the issue of hydroelectric dams.
  • Write a letter to persuade a local politician for or against a new dam in the area.
  • View a BC Hydro web page promoting the Peace River Site C Hydro Project.
  • Read a newspaper regarding the proposed building of the Peace River Site C Hydro Project.