Describe and investigate various limiting factors in the local ecosystem and their impact on native populations, including food, shelter, water, space, disease, parasitism, predation, and nesting sites.
| Name |
Description |
| Limiting Factors in Florida | Students will jigsaw two reading passages about the Sherman’s Fox Squirrel. Students will make a list of limiting factors and what impacts them. After analyzing the text in expert groups they will partner up and determine what government agency is responsible for helping the Sherman’s Fox Squirrel, and rationalize their answers using evidence from the text. |
| Limiting Factors in Local Populations | Students are given a list of Florida animals to research on the Florida State Parks website. Students identify the limiting factors of the population and the government agency responsible for helping this population. Students create a call-to-action social media post including the animal, it’s limiting factors, and the government agency. |
| Limiting Factors and Government Impact | After being presented with a definition students will brainstorm limiting factors within ecosystems. Teacher will present students with a list of government agencies that can impact ecosystems and limiting factors. Students sort brainstormed limiting factors into a provided chart of government agencies and their roles in this integrated lesson plan. |
| Predation on Trial | In this lesson plan, students will apply knowledge of roles and relationships in an ecosystem to develop a defense strategy in an imaginary trial where a panther is being prosecuted for predation of deer. They will explore the roles of various consumers in an ecosystem, their places in a food web, and the impact of limiting factors on populations (and vice-versa). Along the way, students will compare the rule of nature to the rule of law that people live by and consider the importance of the 6th Amendment in protecting the rights of citizens in the United States. |
| Gr. 7 Lesson 3-Groundwater Pollution | Students will be able to explain how aquifers can become polluted on the land surface and identify human impacts. |
| Remember the Axolotl | Explore the axolotl, a Mexican salamander struggling to survive in a harsh environment filled with non-native species and abiotic factors that threaten its very existence! What does the future hold for these unique creatures? How are the limiting factors of their ecosystem actually limiting their chance for survival? |
| Egg-Cellent Transport | This lesson addresses the topic of limiting factors looking specifically at maintaining wildlife populations. There is an engineering design challenge included in which students will have to take on the role of a wildlife conservation officer and create a container for the egg of an endangered species that will protect it in the field until he/she can get it back to the lab. |
| Water, Water Everywhere - Natural Disaster Water Filtration | Students will be tasked with an engineering challenge to design an effective and efficient portable water filtration system. The designs will take dirty water and make it clear so it can be boiled for safe drinking. This lesson aligns to both math and science content standards. |
| Medium Needed | In this MEA, groups of students will evaluate the media for growing plants hydroponically in order to help restore some native species of the Everglades. Students will learn about hydroponics as an alternative agricultural practice, the rock cycle, types of landforms in Florida, and will use different methods to analyze data and arrive to conclusions, as well as present them in a detailed description of procedures and conclusions, including justification and evidence for each decision. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Wolves of Yellowstone - Ecology & Human Impact | In this MEA, students will decide how many wolves to introduce into Yellowstone National Park's ecosystem. The number of wolves could influence many factors, from the tourism industry to local farming businesses, as well as the populations of other species in the area. Students must choose to introduce the number of wolves they feel will be most beneficial to the preservation of Yellowstone National Park as determined by the mission statement of Yellowstone and the National Park Service.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Fish Kribs | In this lesson, students create a fish tank for a fish supply company for a future sales campaign. They will use scale drawings and proportions to design the perfect fish tank.
- First, students have to complete a ranking activity of items that will be included in their scale drawing along with three types of fish.
- Next, students will conduct a pH lab activity to gain knowledge about how pH levels will affect population and the ecosystem within the tank.
- Finally, students will adjust their item selection and re-engineer their tank drawing to support their findings and additional information provided by the client. Students must determine what objects would be beneficial to the living things that the students chose in relation to available space and pH balance.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Designing an Ecofriendly City | In this STEM design project, students will design and build a 3D model of an ecofriendly community in an existing ecosystem, taking into account the organisms that live there and applying their knowledge of the ecosystem and the needs of the organisms living in it to preserve the biodiversity there. Students will build a 3D model using their understanding of scale and size, create an electronic presentation, and write a summary of their findings. |
| The Ups and Downs of Populations | Students will analyze population graphs, collect data to generate their own population graph, and experience limiting factors and their impact on carrying capacity in a small deer population. Students will be able to identify, explain, and evaluate the impact that different limiting factors have on the population of organisms including food, water, shelter, predation, human interference, changes in birth and death rate, changes in immigration and emigration, disease, and reproduction. |
| Fiddler Factors: How Limiting Factors affect Fiddler Crab Populations | Fiddler Factors is a lesson on limiting factors using fiddler crabs as the focus species. The lesson is designed for two class periods.
- Day One is focused on introducing the concept of limiting factors. The lesson focuses on fiddler crabs, their needs, and the limiting factors that affect their populations. During this first class, students will brainstorm what factors could affect fiddler populations by brainstorming and working in small groups. This part of the lesson relies on a strategy called Think-Pair- Share to build a classroom list of factors that may limit fiddler populations.
- Day Two is focused on student research either online or in texts as they try and discover what fiddler crabs need to survive and what limits their populations. This class period is divided roughly in half to allow student groups time to research a set of fiddler crab questions during the first half and then share information to build a classroom wide knowledge base on the topic.
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| Slithering At Your Feet While You're Out Shopping | In this lesson, students will explore why a rather large eastern diamondback rattlesnake decided to slither its way into a St. Augustine, FL neighborhood and right near a busy shopping outlet. Students will investigate how human impact can negatively affect the resources available to a native population and what may happen as a result. Students will make a logical hypothesis, make observations, analyze data, and draw factual conclusions. |
| Florida Scrub Jays | Learn about Florida scrub jay! |
| Schoolyard Microhabitat | This lesson is a physical survey of our school's microhabitat. Students will make quantitative and qualitative observations of the flora and fauna, as well as making notes on the biotic and abiotic elements within the area they are examining. Through the collection and organization of data, students will make assumptions as to the relationships between all components comprising the microhabitat, including limiting factors. |
| “Wanted: Dead or Delicious”-The food chain of the Lion Fish | This lesson is designed to get students to understand how a food chain works using an invasive species like the Lionfish. It is timely and students here on the Gulf Coast can relate to the problem. |
| Limiting Factors: Give me my space! | Through a hands on investigation, students will collect data to determine the impact of space as a limiting factor. Students will be introduced to another method for lab reports, Patty Squares. |
| Biotic, abiotic. Alive or not? | The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to the concept of biotic & abiotic factors, the elements that define an ecosystems, and how these become limiting factors in an ecosystem. The teacher will have a variety of teaching strategies to review the students' prior knowledge of their understanding of the organizational patterns and relationships that are found in any ecosystem. In addition, the teacher will combine different teaching methods (technology/multimedia/internet, art, laboratory experiment, note writing strategy, self formative assessment) to introduce and deliver the main topic of this lesson. |
| Pizza Box Ecosystems | A long-term project in which students create a labeled ecosystem diorama out of a recycled pizza box as they complete an introductory ecology unit. |
| Exploring the World Outdoors | This lesson is designed for hands-on learning about how organisms are interdependent. Students will go exploring in their school yard identifying living and nonliving things. Students will be guided with a list of things to find, where they can take pictures or collect them to take back to the classroom for further exploration. Students will then research and organize their findings identifying organisms based on terms learned in class. They will create an iMovie, PowerPoint or poster and will then be present to the class. |
| Pythons in the Everglades MEA | In this MEA, students will investigate the introduction of a non-native, i.e. invasive, species to the Florida Everglades: the Burmese Python. Students will investigate the complex predator-prey relationship and learn why this could damage the ecosystem permanently. Students will analyze a set of data to determine which method of eradication would be best and most effective, considering factors such as cost, the amount of man-power necessary to implement it, the effect it would have on the python population, and its impact on other species. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Zoo Animal Diets MEA | In this MEA, students will examine the diets of a group of animals being kept in captivity at a local zoo. Something in the diets is causing some of the animals to become ill, while other animals remain completely healthy. Students will analyze the data to determine what is making the animals sick. Additionally, students will explore the idea of diet as a limiting factor. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Levee Construction Company MEA | Students will analyze a set of data to determine what type of construction material would be best to construct a levee out of. Students will consider not only cost, but also ecological impact and disturbances to the local community. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Town Mosquito Eradication MEA | Students will analyze a set of data to determine the best eradication technique for a town experiencing a mosquito infestation. Students will need to consider cost, impact on the environment, and effectiveness of the methods presented to them. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Investigating Factors of Impact on Populations within Ecosystems | This is one lesson within a 7th grade unit on interdependence, and could extend up to 2-3 days if extension activities are included. This lesson focuses on learning about limiting factors, understanding the basics regarding the three types of ecosystems in Florida, and how the introduction of non-native species can impact an ecosystem. Students will gain knowledge to help them learn to be proactive in conserving the resources of land, fresh water and marine ecosystems.
As a prelude to later sequential learning, predator and prey graphical representations will be created and analyzed (this will also address common misconceptions) and lay a foundation to introduce density independent and density dependent factors, which are explored further at higher grade levels. |
| Learning Interdependence Through Florida's Ecosystems | Students are assigned one of Florida's ecosystems and are guided through a series of lessons that cover SC.7.L.17.1, SC.7.L.17.2, SC.7.L.17.3, culminating in a project. |
| How Competitive Are You? | During this 3 day lesson, students will review a Powerpoint presentation, watch a short video, have discussions in groups, and enjoy competing as predators for their prey in an engaging activity. Students will gain a better understanding of adaptations, and what an animal needs to do to survive. |
| The Human Population Growth Rate | Just how quickly is the world's human population growing? In the US and other developed countries, the current growth rate is slow compared to some developing countries where it is speeding up. There are factors that slowed down this growth rate and there are similar factors that actually speed it up. Discussing and explaining the factors that determine the fluctuation in growth rate.
The US population growth between 1950 - 2000 is 7.5 times slower than that of India. In 1950 the US had a population of 80 million which increased every ten years with 1 million. Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| Tomato Propagation/Cloning | In this lesson, students will learn how to take a clipping from a mother tomato plant and make an exact duplicate copy for mass-reproduction that will produce a harvest quickly. This will engage students as they discover this can be done without seeds, and they can grow a plant about 2 feet in height! |
| Ecology Lesson Part 4 of 4 - Jeopardy Review | This review game is designed to be part 4 of a 4 part series covering Interdependence. The first two lessons are Powerpoints that go over the information in the game. The third lesson is a biomes lab activity. This can be used as a stand alone activity, however - just make sure that you preview the questions and have covered this material with your students before presenting it to the class. |
| Survival Journal Part Three: Surviving the Epidemic: Planting Tomatoes | This is a detailed lesson based on the germination of seeds, science vocabulary of plants, diseases, and insect infestations with tomato plants. Tomatoes grow nutrients that the human body needs to survive. It is a companion lesson to: Survival Journal Parts 1 and 2 available on CPALMS. |
| Survival Journal Part Two: Outdoor Gardening | In this lesson, students will design two outdoor gardens, 1) a raised garden bed and 2) a ground level garden (traditional). Students will, with help of the teacher, till the ground with removal of ground cover, build border for garden, add soil, attach poles with string to create a life size graph all so they can grow tomatoes and plot the data easily in their survival journals.This is Part 2 of a 4-Part Project on Survival. |
| Global Warming - "Arctic Meltdown" | This activity gets the students involved in a controversial issue the world is facing. It gets them engaged in reading a higher level article several times over. Students will annotate the text and cite factual evidence directly from the text. In two days, they will have group discussions, watch a short video and read an article all while learning about global warming. |
| Ecology Lesson Part 1 of 4 | This lesson is intended as the first part of a 4 part series. Part 1 is a powerpoint discussing terminology in Ecology including abiotic/biotic factors; symbiotic relationships [descriptions and examples of all 3]; producer/consumers; predator/prey; food chain;food web. Part 2 is a powerpoint that covers the biomes of the world and incorporates the terminology from part 1. Part 3 is a biomes lab activity, and Part 4 is a jeopardy review activity. |
| Ecology Lesson Part 2 of 4 - Biomes Review | This lesson is intended as part 2 of a 4 part lesson series. It is a PowerPoint that covers Biomes of the World, including their characteristics and different producers and consumers. It can be used as a stand alone lesson as well. |
| Ecology Lesson Part 3 of 4 Animal Cracker - Biomes Lab Activity | This is a fun lab activity to be used as part 3 of a 4 part series on Interdependence. It can also be used as a stand alone activity. Animal crackers are used - they can be eaten at the end of the activity- so double check with your students about any food allergies (ie gluten). |
| Survival Journal Part One: Surviving the Epidemic | In this lesson, each student will explain and document in a science journal how they will over come a natural disaster/plague for 15 days. They will continue with part two of this lesson "Outdoor Gardening." |
| Turkey Trouble | Limiting factors are things that can limit the size of a population such as food, water, shelter, disease, nesting sites, predation, and parasitism. In this activity students will play a game to simulate changes in a turkey population and will learn about limiting factors. |
