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| Overview |
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Grade Level:
Activities 1 and 2: Grades 6-8
Activities 3 and 4: Grades 7-9
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| Background Information:
Biomes are major groupings of plants and animals distributed regionally
around the world. The occurrence of the plants and animals is closely
related to the climate of the area, in particular temperature and
rainfall. One of the most familiar examples of a biome is a tropical
desert, which is hot and dry and has an associated biota including
cacti, snakes, and lizards. In this activity, students will learn
about the Temperate Grasslands biome of North America. Commonly
called Prairie, it is an endangered ecosystem because the rich soils
have been converted to farming in most areas. The activities presented
here are designed to give students an overview of the climate and
organisms of the North American Prairie.
Curriculum Connections
For related activities about the role of fire in ecosystems, see
the AFG video on 'Fires and Fire
Suppression'
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| Content Standards |
| Related National Standards:
This lesson addresses the following National Content Standards
found at: http://books.nap.edu/html/nses
Content Standard C: As a result of their activities in grades
5-8, all students should develop understanding of:
- Populations and Ecosystems
- The number of organisms an
ecosystem can support depends on the resources available
and abiotic factors, such as quantity of light and water,
range of temperatures, and soil composition.
- Diversity and Adaptations of Organisms
- Biological evolution accounts
for the diversity of species developed through gradual
processes over many generations. Species acquire many
of their unique characteristics through biological adaptation,
which involves the selection of naturally occurring
variations in populations. Biological adaptations include
changes in structures, behaviors, or physiology that
enhance survival and reproductive success in a particular
environment.
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Content Standard C: As a result of their activities in grades
9-12, all students should develop understanding of:
- Biological Evolution
- The great diversity of organisms
is the result of more than 3.5 billion years of evolution
that has filled every available niche with life forms.
- The Interdependence of Organisms
- Organisms both cooperate and
compete in ecosystems. The interrelationships and interdependencies
of these organisms may generate ecosystems that are
stable for hundreds or thousands of years.
- Human beings live within the
world's ecosystems. Increasingly,
humans modify ecosystems as a result of population growth,
technology, and consumption. Human destruction of habitats
through direct harvesting, pollution, atmospheric changes,
and other factors is threatening current global stability,
and if not addressed, ecosystems will be irreversibly
affected.
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| Extension Web Sites
from PBS: |
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Scientific
American - Wild Places
This site contains an activity that shows how the growth of trees
inhibits prairie growth.
Lewis
and Clark
This activity enables students to research some of the animals Lewis
and Clark saw on their way across the Great Plains.
Newtons
Apple - Bison Roundup
This is an opportunity to teach statistical sampling using prairie
organisms.
The
Living Edens - Canyonlands: Tonight our guest is..
The Living Edens - Canyonlands: Survival Rummy
These two activities are designed to teach about adaptations
of prairie organisms.
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| Activity 1: Who Am I? |
| Time Allotted:
15 minutes
Materials:
Photocopies of familiar Prairie/ Great Plains Organisms (eg: buffalo,
prairie dogs, grasses, etc.) with safety pins or string attached
so that students can hang them around their neck. For line drawings
of organims from different biomes, go to http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/
OR
Photocopies of organisms from a variety of different biomes with
safety pins or strings as described above. Try gluing the photographs
of organisms that are from the same biome on construction paper
of the same color (for instance, put prairie dogs and bison on yellow,
spotted owls and Douglas firs on blue, etc.)
| Objectives: |
- Students will use their prior knowledge of plants and
animals to determine what a mystery organism is.
- Students will be able to define biome.
- Students will become familiar with plant and animals that
live in temperate grassland habitats.
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| Teaching Instructions: |
- Give each student a photocopy of an organism. These should
be affixed to their back using safety pins or hung over
their neck, facing backwards so that the students cannot
see their own organism.
- This activity will be like a game of 20 questions. Students
should walk around the room, showing their card to other
students and ask yes or no questions to try to determine
what organism they have. Questions might include "am I a
plant?", "am I furry?", "am I bigger than a car?", etc.
Their objective is to guess their organism within a certain
period of time, maybe 3 or 5 minutes.
- If you chose to use organisms from different biomes, have
students whose cards are printed on the same color gather
into groups. Have the groups try to determine what they
have in common. Use this as a starting point for talking
about the concept of biome.
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Watch the AFG Video Segment:
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Theodore
Roosevelt National Park - Prairie
On
a wild prairie plain where the buffalo roam and horses and prairie
dogs play, coneflowers bloom and black magpies croon and rattlers
stay out of the way. |
| Discussion Questions for Video Segment: |
- What makes a prairie?
- Why are certain animals found in prairies but not in other
areas?
- Where are prairies and grasslands located?
- What is a biome?
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Related Websites
For more background on Temperate Grasslands and North American
Prairies, see this biogeography
web site.
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| Activity 2: Prairie Dogs Help
Maintain Prairies |
| Time Allotted:
15 minutes
Materials:
Copies of the 'Prairie Dog Den' handout,
one per student
| Objectives: |
- Students will illustrate how prairie dogs contribute to
nutrient and resource cycling on the prairie.
- Students will learn about an example of the interconnectedness
of the ecosystem.
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| Teaching Strategies |
- Hand out the 'Prairie Dog Den' handout. Have students
read the top part of the handout so that they know what
to look for during the video.
- Before watching the video, be sure that students understand
the term 'aeration' and it's implications for oxygen cycling.
- Watch the AFG Video Segment
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Badlands
National Park - Prairie
Buffalo
roam and prairie dogs play on the sunny South Dakota
prairie in Badlands National Park. |
- Have students fill out the diagram on their prairie dog
handouts.
- Discuss their results.
- Have students answer the short essay question at the end
of the handout.
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| Assessment: |
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A solution key for this activity is available in the PDF
version of this lesson.
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| Activity 3: Distribution
of Biomes |
| Time Allotted:
30 minutes
Materials:
Color overhead copy of Biome Maps OR other
projection capability
| Objectives: |
- Students will describe worldwide distribution patterns
of Temperate Grasslands.
- Students will compare distribution of major biomes in
the United States to understand climate controls on an ecosystem.
- Students will connect abiotic factors to the type of life
in a biome.
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| Teaching Instructions: |
- Show students the map in figure 1.
- Discuss the following (You may want to print these on
the chalkboard or make an overhead as they will be revisited
later in this lesson):
- Describe the distribution of temperate grasslands.
- Why are temperate grasslands located where they are?
- Why don't they extend all along the latitudes where
they are found?
- Why don't they extend further to the north or south?
- Watch the AFG Video Segment:
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Iowa's
Prairies: From Farmland Back to Prairie
An
Iowa naturalist has taken land that once was farmed
for corn and replanted it with native grasses to return
it to its original ecological state. |
- Discuss the following question: What did you learn from
the video that might answer the questions discussed earlier?
- Show figures 2 and 3, the worldwide distribution of temperate
broadleaf deciduous forests and worldwide distribution of
deserts. Have students describe the distribution of these
areas. Be sure they focus on latitude, relationship to oceans,
and relationship to temperate grasslands as shown in figure
1.
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| Activity
4: Abiotic Factors in the Biome |
| Time
Allotted:
30 minutes
Materials:
Student Handouts
Overheads from Activity 3
| Objectives: |
- Students will determine worldwide distribution patterns
of temperate grasslands.
- Students will plot data to determine yearly patterns
in climate in a temperate grassland.
- Students will compare climate data from different
regions to better understand the impact of abiotic
factors on an ecosystem.
- Students will connect abiotic factors to the type
of life in a biome.
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| Teaching Instructions: |
- Divide class into groups of three after completing
Activity 3 above.
- Distribute student handouts and graph templates
(attached).
- Have each student plot one of the three graphs to
save time. Students will graph the average monthly
temperature and precipitation for a North American
Prairie, a temperate desert, and a temperate deciduous
forest. Temperature should be plotted as a line and
precipitation as a bar graph on the same sheet (using
a double-y axis as shown in the answer key). They
will then compare the prairie climate to that of the
tropical desert and to that of a temperate deciduous
forest.
- After students have completed the graphs and the
questions, revisit the maps and questions from Activity
3.
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Extension Idea
From the maps in Activity 3, try to predict what biome you
live in (see the biomes
website for more biome maps if you don't live in one of
the regions shown. Then have students plot data from your
area (try typing "average monthly precipitation" and your
state name on a web browser to find local data) and then compare
it to the three biomes shown. Does it appear to be similar
to one, or does it appear to be a different biome?
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