: Meadow Thicket Forest :
: back to Schoolcamp curriculum :
Students visit three ecosystems in Glen Helen that represent three successional stages: meadow, thicket, and forest. Students learn about succession and explore diverse habitats. An exciting part of this lesson is a visit to Baldwin Pond.
Objectives for the Meadow, Thicket, Forest Lesson
- Explain the concept of succession, observe three successional stages, and record characterizing data.
- Define the terms ecosystem and niche, and explain that each organism has a niche within an ecosystem.
- Understand that there is competition between species and among individuals of a species for resources (air, water, space, light/food).
- Collect and analyze data on wildlife population fluctuations.
Science Standards Covered by the Meadow, Thicket, Forest Lesson
Grade Four
Earth and Space Sciences
B.10 Describe evidence of changes on Earth’s surface in terms of slow processes and rapid processes.
Life Sciences
A.1 Compare the life cycles of different plants including germination, maturity, reproduction and death.
B.2 Relate plant structures to their specific functions.
B.3 Classify common plants according to their characteristics.
A.5 Describe how organisms interact with one another in various ways.
Scientific Inquiry
B.2 Analyze a series of events and/or simple daily or seasonal cycles, describe the patterns and infer the next likely occurrence.
Scientific Ways of Knowing
C.2 Record the results and data from an investigation and make a reasonable explanation.
Grade Five
Life Sciences
C.4 Summarize that organisms can survive only in ecosystems in which their needs can be met. The world has different ecosystems and distinct ecosystems support the lives of different types of organisms.
C.5 Support how an organism’s patterns of behavior are related to the nature of that organism’s ecosystem, including the kinds and numbers of other organisms present, the availability of food and resources, and the changing physical characteristics of the ecosystem.
Scientific Inquiry
B.3 Use evidence and observations to explain and communicate the results of investigations.
Math Standards Covered by the Meadow, Thicket, Forest Lesson:
Grade Four
Patterns, Functions, and Algebra
A.1 Use models and words to describe, extend and make generalizations of patterns and relationships occurring in computation, numerical patterns, geometry, graphs and other applications.
A.2 Represent and analyze patterns and functions using words, tables and graphs.
G.4 Use rules and variables to describe patterns and other relationships.
Data Analysis and Probability
B.2 Represent and interpret data using tables, bar graphs, line plots and line graphs.
B.5 Propose and explain interpretations and predictions based on data displayed in tables, charts and graphs.
Grade Five
Data Analysis and Probability
A.1 Read, construct and interpret frequency tables, circle graphs and line graphs.
E.4 Determine appropriate data to be collected to answer questions posed by students or teacher, collect and display data, and clearly communicate findings.
C.10 Compare what should happen with what did happen in a simple experiment.
Grade Six
Patterns, Functions, and Algebra
A.5 Solve simple linear equations and inequalities using physical models, paper and pencil, tables and graphs.
Data Analysis and Probability
A.1 Read, construct and interpret line graphs, circle graphs and histograms.
A.2 Select, create and use graphical representations that are appropriate for the type of data collected.
