MYP/3D Science Unit Planner

Marietta City Schools

Grade & Course: Environmental Science Topic: Unit 1 - Ecosystems Duration: 13 Weeks

Teachers: Hunter Fisher, Diana Perez,

O’Neal McRunells

Georgia Standards and Content:

Summary: Investigate flow of energy and matter by using models to compare levels of biological organization, adaptations of
organisms within different ecosystems, effects and changes of water properties on organisms, how ecosystems change and how
humans impact environments.

Georgia Standards of Excellence Environmental Science: SEV1.a, d, e, SEV2.c, d, SEV4.a, b, c

SEV1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to investigate the flow of energy and cycling of matter within an ecosystem.
a. Develop and use a model to compare and analyze the levels of biological organization including organisms, populations,
communities, ecosystems, and biosphere.

d. Evaluate claims, evidence, and reasoning of the relationship between the physical factors (e.g., insolation, proximity to coastline,
topography) and organismal adaptations within terrestrial biomes.

e. Plan and carry out an investigation of how chemical and physical properties impact aquatic biomes in Georgia. (Clarification
statement: Consider the diverse aquatic ecosystems across the state such as streams, ponds, coastline, estuaries, and lakes.)

SEV2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to construct explanations of stability and change in Earth’s ecosystems.

c. Construct an argument to predict changes in biomass, biodiversity, and complexity within ecosystems, in terms of ecological
succession.

d. Construct an argument to support a claim about the value of biodiversity in an ecosystem’s resilience including keystone,
invasive, native, endemic, indicator, and endangered species.

SEV4. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to analyze human impact on natural resources. a. Construct and revise a
claim based on evidence on the effects of human activities on natural resources. Human Activities Natural Resources Agriculture
Forestry Ranching Mining Urbanization Fishing Water use Pollution Desalination Waste water treatment Land Water Air Organisms
b. Design, evaluate, and refine solutions to reduce human impact on the environment including, but not limited to, smog, ozone
depletion, urbanization, and ocean acidification.

c. Construct an argument to evaluate how human population growth affects food demand and food supply (GMOs, monocultures,
desertification, Green Revolution).

https://www.georgiastandards.org/Georgia-Standards/Documents/Science-Environmental-Science-Georgia-Standards.pdf

MCS MYP Sciences Unit Planner. Last Revised: August, 2022

Narrative / Background Information

Prior Student Knowledge: (REFLECTION – PRIOR TO TEACHING THE UNIT)

Summary: Understand standards from Seventh Grade Life Science analyzing interdependence of organisms with each other and
their environments by explaining interactions, cycling of matter and energy, and characteristics of terrestrial biomes and aquatic
ecosystems.

Georgia Standards of Excellence Seventh Grade Life Science S7L4 a, b, c, d

S7L4. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to examine the interdependence of organisms with one another and their
environments. a. Construct an explanation for the patterns of interactions observed in different ecosystems in terms of the
relationships among and between organisms and abiotic components of the ecosystem. (Clarification statement: The interactions
include, but are not limited to, predator-prey relationships, competition, mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism.) b. Develop a
model to describe the cycling of matter and the flow of energy among biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem.
(Clarification statement: Emphasis is on tracing movement of matter and flow of energy, not the biochemical mechanisms of
photosynthesis and cellular respiration.) c. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for how resource availability, disease,
climate, and human activity affect individual organisms, populations, communities, and ecosystems. d. Ask questions to gather and
synthesize information from multiple sources to differentiate between Earth’s major terrestrial biomes (i.e., tropical rainforest,
savanna, temperate forest, desert, grassland, taiga, and tundra) and aquatic ecosystems (i.e., freshwater, estuaries, and marine).
(Clarification statement: Emphasis is on the factors that influence patterns across biomes such as the climate, availability of food
and water, and location.)

Year-Long Anchoring Phenomena: (LEARNING PROCESS)

Human activities have negatively affected ecosystems, global climate, energy resources, and population.

Unit Phenomena (LEARNING PROCESS)

Scientists in the Gulf of Mexico measured a record-breaking, New Jersey-sized dead zone this week—a sign that water quality in
U.S. waterways is worse than expected. What have human activities contributed to this?

MYP Inquiry Statement:

The interactions between organisms and their environments maintain balance between systems and humans influence those
relationships.

MYP Global Context:

Systems, models, methods; products, processes and solutions

Sciences: Systems, models, methods

MCS MYP Sciences Unit Planner. Last Revised: August, 2022

Approaches to Learning Skills (SEPs): Disciplinary Core Ideas: Crosscutting Concepts:
- Developing and Using Models (KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS) (KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS)
- Engaging in Argument from ● Stability and Change
evidence ● Ecosystem ● Energy and Matter
- Obtaining, evaluating, and ● Biotic vs. Abiotic Factors ● Scale, Proportion, and
communicating information ● Ecological Organization Quantity
- Collect and analyze data identify ● Biomes ● Structure and Function
solutions and make informed ● Adaptations within Biomes ● Cause and Effect
decisions ● Ecological Successions
ATL ● Biodiversity MYP Key and Related Concepts:
- Research Skills ● Food Web vs. Food Chains Global Interactions and Environmental
- Thinking Skills ● Chemical and Physical
- Collaboration Skills Characteristics of Water Commented [1]: Added 16:50 on 8/15, to be reviewed
- Communication Skills by PLC on 8/16 @ 09:30. Will update after PLC
member approval
Possible Preconceptions/Misconceptions: (REFLECTION – PRIOR TO TEACHING THE UNIT)

When teaching this unit it is important to note that students come in with previous knowledge on ecology and ecosystems. Some
misconceptions that they bring include:

● Organisms higher in a food web eat everything that is lower in the food web
● The top of the food chain has the most energy because it accumulates up the chain
● Plants are dependent on humans, not vice versa;
● Carbon dioxide is a source of energy for plants
● Complexity in an organism equals superiority

Key Vocabulary: (KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS)

Ecology, habitat, niche, tolerance, parasitism, symbiosis, herbivore, carnivore, trophic levels, energy, salinity, pH, primary producer,
photosynthesis, cellular respiration, decomposer, carnivore, biomass, food chain, food web, biome, keystone species

Inquiry Questions:

● How do changes in population size relate to environmental conditions?

● How do organisms affect another's survival and the environment?
● How does the environment affect where and how an organism lives?
● Why is it important to protect biodiversity?
● How do the nonliving parts of Earth’s systems provide the basic materials to support life?

Factual: What types of aquatic biomes exist in Metro Atlanta? Georgia? SE United States? What are the levels of ecological
organization? What are the chemical and physical properties of aquatic biomes? What are the major biogeochemical cycles of
nature? How do we define the laws of thermodynamics? What is the difference between a food chain and a food web? What is the
ultimate source of energy for an ecosystem? How much energy is lost between each trophic level? What are the four trophic levels
in an ecosystem?
Conceptual: How do the laws of thermodynamics relate to an ecological pyramid? How do ecosystems restore balance? How do
the factors of an organism’s environment influence its ability to survive? How do the adaptations aid in the success or decline of an
organism or a species? What effects does human activities have on the local environment? How does changing the chemical or
physical properties of a biome affect the environment? How does a disruption in a biogeochemical cycle affect the natural balance
of an ecosystem? Is it possible that you could drink the same molecule of water that a T Rex did millions of years ago? How does
removing one organism affect the entire food web of an ecosystem? How is energy transferred between biotic and abiotic factors?
How is matter cycled between biotic and abiotic factors? What happens to a food chain/web when one trophic level is disrupted?
How is water purified during the water cycle? In what ways is carbon cycled back into the atmosphere? Why are nitrogen-fixing
bacteria so vital to the survival of an ecosystem? Distinguish between food chains and food webs. Why is the cycling of matter
necessary to maintain life in an ecosystem? What happens to the energy lost when it is transferred to each trophic level?

Debatable: Are the interactions between an organism and its environment helpful or harmful? In which biogeochemical cycle to
humans have the greatest impact on the environment?

MCS MYP Sciences Unit Planner. Last Revised: August, 2022

MYP Objectives Summative assessment

Sciences Assessment Task: Relationship between summative

assessment task(s) and statement of
Criterion A:
A. Knowing and Understanding inquiry:
- Two Summative Assessments
In order to reach the aims of - Create A Animal: Adaptations Science:
sciences, students should be able - Common Formative Assessments
to: Criterion B & C: What factors affect
Criterion B.
population growth in yeast?-Design
i. explain scientific knowledge - Adaptations to a terrestrial biome- Criterion Lab
A
ii. apply scientific knowledge and - Testing the chemical and physical properties Criterion D: Case Study: Search for the
understanding to solve problems of aquatic biomes, predicting the missing Sea Otters-An ecological
set in familiar and unfamiliar outcomes- Criterion B detective story
- Building biomass and ecological pyramids-
situations
Criterion C The Case Study focuses on how a
iii. analyze and evaluate - Biogeochemical cycles, discussing the impacts population of sea otters has decreased
information to make scientifically of excess fertilizer use- Criterion D due to changes in the environment.
supported judgments

B. Inquiring and designing

In order to reach the aims of

sciences, students should be able
to:

i. explain a problem or question

to be tested by a scientific
investigation

ii. formulate a testable

hypothesis and explain it using
scientific reasoning
iii. explain how to manipulate the
variables, and explain how data
will be collected
iv. design scientific investigations

Unit Objectives:
1. Describe the flow of energy and the cycling of matter within an ecosystem
2. Predict the success of an adaptation by evaluating its surrounding biome
3. Determine the impact humans have on the environment using evidence-based claims
4. Identify the impact ecological succession has on the biodiversity of an ecosystem

MCS MYP Sciences Unit Planner. Last Revised: August, 2022

Learning Activities
and Experiences Inquiry & Obtain: Evaluate: Communicate:
(LEARNING PROCESS) (LEARNING PROCESS) (LEARNING PROCESS)

Week 1: Scientific Method Lab: Pretest over Unit 1 and

Scientific Method Unit 2 - in schoology to Discuss results as a class and
and Graphing Come Fly with Me Lab assess students’ prior incorporate the academic vocab
Inquiry Fortune Fish Lab knowledge
Making slime Lab
Paper Towel Lab Quiz in schoology over the
Candy Lab scientific method. Data Nugget: Interpret graph of
scientific research - CER activity
Academic Language
support: Graphic
organizer, academic word
wall

Week 2:
Biotic/Abiotic and ● Scientists use models Quiz in schoology over Students will look at the
Levels of to study the world new academic vocabulary phenomenon and write a
Organization around them paragraph about how models help
● Create an ecosystem Grade interactive us study the world around us.
model (ecocolumns) notebook/stations
● Ecological activity.
Organization Stations

Support: Graphic organizer

(upside down triangle) with
written and illustrated
definitions of academic vocab.
Amoeba Sisters Biological
Organization

Week 3 and 4:
Biomes and Biomes/Adaptations
Adaptations
Stations activity to collect
information about biome
features and adaptations of
plants and animals

Week 5:
Chemical and Notes and vocabulary What’s in A River? ProjectWild
Physical practice water pollution activity
Properties of
water New York Times Article coal ash
ponds breached after hurricane

MCS MYP Sciences Unit Planner. Last Revised: August, 2022

 Week 6: Review Guide and/or
Formative / practice assessment to
Remediation evaluate strengths and
weaknesses for unit

Week 7: - Ecology summative assessment:

Summative Analyze data to determine
Assessment: strengths and weakness
Ecology Part 1

Week 8: POGIL Succession Activity

Ecological Bozeman Science Video -
Succession Ecological Succession

Ecological Succession
Foldable

Week 9:
Biodiversity Christmas Tree Farm Keystone Crest - Keystone Species
Disaster Biodiversity description and explanation of
Modeling activity role in ecosystem

Interactions (symbiosis) Invasive species WANTED poster -

suggest solutions to remove
Importance of Biodiversity invasive species from an
ecosystem

Week 10
Biogeochemical How did the BP Oil spill disrupt
Cycles the cycling of carbon in the Gulf
of Mexico?

Students predict how human

activity can impact the global
carbon cycle.

Week 11 Create food chain

Food Chains and Invasive Lionfish emphasizing energy at Use a CER Chart to discuss the
Food Webs Phenomena each trophic levels importance of eating a diet rich in
fruits/vegetables

MCS MYP Sciences Unit Planner. Last Revised: August, 2022

 Week 12:
Remediation Culminating Ecology Interactive Schoology
and Review Project
Review to include key
terms, links to Edpuzzle
videos, concept maps and
sample constructive
responses.

Week 13:
Remediation Unit 1 Assessment Unit 1 Assessment Analyze data to determine
and Review strengths and weaknesses in
Assess students and student understanding and
review data using AMP to teaching strategies.
provide individual and
class data.

Resources (hyperlink to model lessons and/or resources):

Discovery Education Science Techbook

Reflection: Considering the planning, process and impact of the inquiry

Prior to teaching the unit During teaching After teaching the unit

When teaching this unit it is important to note that

students come in with previous knowledge on
ecology and ecosystems. Some misconceptions
that they bring include:

● Organisms higher in a food web eat

everything that is lower in the food web
● The top of the food chain has the most
energy because it accumulates up the
chain
● Plants are dependent on humans, not vice
versa
● Carbon dioxide is a source of energy for
plants
● Complexity in an organism equals
superiority

MCS MYP Sciences Unit Planner. Last Revised: August, 2022