Do Now: You are presented with an unknown specimen. What scientific methods could you use to identify the unknown object? Write your ideas in your science journal.
Mini Lesson: What is DNA Barcoding? Students will read the handout about DNA Barcoding. They will discuss major ideas and how it can be beneficial. After discussion, group read Identifying Invasives with DNA Barcoding pdf and discuss. Students will fill out a Exit Slip explaining what they elarned about DNA Barcoding and how it can be used to identify Invasive Species.
Activity: Students will use the lab protocols to attempt to extract DNA from an unidentified species. This will take two days and involve the rental of a KIT and the sending out of DNA samples for coding. This is a lab procedure day, so it will be MODEL FIRST BY INSTRUCTOR/DO BY STUDENTS AFTER situation. We will use the exact procedures in the handout, but students will WATCH the instructor first, then replicate. All procedures are in the PDF and will be modeled and then replicated.
Lab to extract DNA
Lab - Running a GEL to test for DNA
Sending results to get DNA Barcoding
Project: Students will be given the last two pages of the Have Your DNA and Eat It Too handout and will have to build a model of DNA using the instructions provided. Students will need to explain their model and the different parts and the role they play in the DNA model. They will then share their results with their table groups. The table groups will share all their projects and once and discuss their findings. These will be recorded and added as "podcasts" to the school website.
Assessment:
Classwork - Class Discussion, Lab Procedures, Exit Slip
Concept - Can students follow lab procedures to test the DNA from a specimin to determine what type of species using DNA Barcoding.
Homework - Students will work to complete a DNA strand using instructions and materials provided. They will then share their results with their group and groups will present.
Standards:
MST Learning Standards Standard 4—Science - Intermediate 3. Individual organisms and species change over time. 4. The continuity of life is sustained through reproduction and development. 5. Organisms maintain a dynamic equilibrium that sustains life. 7. Human decisions and activities have had a profound impact on the physical and living environment.
Standard 5 – Technology - Intermediate 2. Technological tools, materials, and other resources should be selected on the basis of safety, cost, availability, appropriateness, and environmental impact; technological processes change energy, information, and material resources into more useful forms. 3. Computers, as tools for design, modeling, information processing, communication, and system control, have greatly increased human productivity and knowledge. 5. Technology has been the driving force in the evolution of society from an agricultural to an industrial to an information base. 6. Technology can have positive and negative impacts on individuals, society, and the environment and humans have the capability and responsibility to constrain
NYS Core The Living Environment Grades 5-8
General Skills 1. follow safety procedures in the classroom and laboratory 2. safely and accurately use measurement tools: 3. use appropriate units for measured or calculated values 4. recognize and analyze patterns and trends 5. classify objects according to an established scheme and a student-generated scheme 6. develop and use a dichotomous key 7. sequence events 8. identify cause-and-effect relationships 9. use indicators and interpret results
Living Environment Skills 6. classify living things according to a student-generated scheme and an established scheme 9. identify structure and function relationships in organisms
Key Idea 3: Individual organisms and species change over time. 3.1b Changes in environmental conditions can affect the survival of individual organisms with a particular trait. Small differences between parents and offspring can accumulate in successive generations so that descendants are very different from their ancestors. Individual organisms with certain traits are more likely to survive and have offspring than individuals without those traits. 3.1c Human activities such as selective breeding and advances in genetic engineering may affect the variations of species.
Describe factors responsible for competition within species and the significance of that competition. 3.2a In all environments, organisms with similar needs may compete with one another for resources. 3.2b Extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient to permit its survival. Extinction of species is common. Fossils are evidence that a great variety of species existed in the past.
Key Idea 7: Human decisions and activities have had a profound impact on the physical and living environment. 7.1a A population consists of all individuals of a species that are found together at a given place and time. Populations living in one place form a community. The community and the physical factors with which it interacts compose an ecosystem. 7.1b Given adequate resources and no disease or predators, populations (including humans) increase. Lack of resources, habitat destruction, and other factors such as predation and climate limit the growth of certain populations in the ecosystem. 7.1c In all environments, organisms interact with one another in many ways. Relationships among organisms may be competitive, harmful, or beneficial. Some species have adapted to be dependent upon each other with the result that neither could survive without the other. 7.1d Some microorganisms are essential to the survival of other living things. 7.1e The environment may contain dangerous levels of substances (pollutants) that are harmful to organisms. Therefore, the good health of environments and individuals requires the monitoring of soil, air, and water, and taking steps to keep them safe.
Describe the effects of environmental changes on humans and other populations. 7.2a In ecosystems, balance is the result of interactions between community members and their environment. 7.2b The environment may be altered through the activities of organisms. Alterations are sometimes abrupt. Some species may replace others over time, resulting in longterm gradual changes (ecological succession). 7.2c Overpopulation by any species impacts the environment due to the increased use of resources. Human activities can bring about environmental degradation through resource acquisition, urban growth, land-use decisions, waste disposal, etc. 7.2d Since the Industrial Revolution, human activities have resulted in major pollution of air, water, and soil. Pollution has cumulative ecological effects such as acid rain, global warming, or ozone depletion. The survival of living things on our planet depends on the conservation and protection of Earth’s resources.
Knowledge:
Selecting important information from nonfiction text to include in science journal.
Recalling facts and using them in group discussions and writing
Defining what an invasive species is.
Comprehension:
Explains what an invasive species is in terms of an ecosystem.
Explains what a threat to an ecosystem is.
Rewrites what is learned from texts and lessons in class to support his or her learning
Predicts what type of species they will be barcoding
Summarizes their finding about various subjects covered in unit
Application:
Produces a ppt that explains their findings
Shows how to extract DNA from a specimen
Produces a model of DNA
Analysis
Compare and Contrast different invasive species
Compare and Contrast threats to Ecosystems
Infers if a species is invasive
Synthesis:
summarizes threats to ecosystems and the place that man plays in those threats
Categorizes species as invasive or non-invasive
Evaluation:
interprets the loss of diversity and what is means for humans
Lesson Six - DNA Barcoding (2 -3 class sessions)
Essential Question: How do we identify unidentified species?
Objective: Students will understand, with new technologies, those specimens that contain DNA can be identified.
Materials:
Class Poster (KWL)
Sticky Notes
Science Journals
DNA Barcoding Kit (AMNH)
Scientific Method Interactive
Do Now: You are presented with an unknown specimen. What scientific methods could you use to identify the unknown object? Write your ideas in your science journal.
Mini Lesson: What is DNA Barcoding? Students will read the handout about DNA Barcoding. They will discuss major ideas and how it can be beneficial. After discussion, group read Identifying Invasives with DNA Barcoding pdf and discuss. Students will fill out a Exit Slip explaining what they elarned about DNA Barcoding and how it can be used to identify Invasive Species.
Activity: Students will use the lab protocols to attempt to extract DNA from an unidentified species. This will take two days and involve the rental of a KIT and the sending out of DNA samples for coding. This is a lab procedure day, so it will be MODEL FIRST BY INSTRUCTOR/DO BY STUDENTS AFTER situation. We will use the exact procedures in the handout, but students will WATCH the instructor first, then replicate. All procedures are in the PDF and will be modeled and then replicated.
Project: Students will be given the last two pages of the Have Your DNA and Eat It Too handout and will have to build a model of DNA using the instructions provided. Students will need to explain their model and the different parts and the role they play in the DNA model. They will then share their results with their table groups. The table groups will share all their projects and once and discuss their findings. These will be recorded and added as "podcasts" to the school website.
Assessment:
Standards:
MST Learning Standards
Standard 4—Science - Intermediate
3. Individual organisms and species change over time.
4. The continuity of life is sustained through reproduction and development.
5. Organisms maintain a dynamic equilibrium that sustains life.
7. Human decisions and activities have had a profound impact on the physical and living environment.
Standard 5 – Technology - Intermediate
2. Technological tools, materials, and other resources should be selected on the basis of safety, cost, availability, appropriateness, and environmental impact; technological processes change energy, information, and material resources into more useful forms.
3. Computers, as tools for design, modeling, information processing, communication, and system control, have greatly increased human productivity and knowledge.
5. Technology has been the driving force in the evolution of society from an agricultural to an industrial to an information base.
6. Technology can have positive and negative impacts on individuals, society, and the environment and humans have the capability and responsibility to constrain
NYS Core The Living Environment
Grades 5-8
General Skills
1. follow safety procedures in the classroom and laboratory
2. safely and accurately use measurement tools:
3. use appropriate units for measured or calculated values
4. recognize and analyze patterns and trends
5. classify objects according to an established scheme and a student-generated scheme
6. develop and use a dichotomous key
7. sequence events
8. identify cause-and-effect relationships
9. use indicators and interpret results
Living Environment Skills
6. classify living things according to a student-generated scheme and an established scheme
9. identify structure and function relationships in organisms
Key Idea 3:
Individual organisms and species change over time.
3.1b Changes in environmental conditions can affect the survival of individual organisms with a particular trait. Small differences between parents and offspring can accumulate in successive generations so that descendants are very different from their ancestors. Individual organisms with certain traits are more likely to survive and have offspring than individuals without those traits.
3.1c Human activities such as selective breeding and advances in genetic engineering may affect the variations of species.
Describe factors responsible for competition within species and the significance of that competition.
3.2a In all environments, organisms with similar needs may compete with one another for resources.
3.2b Extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient to permit its survival. Extinction of species is common. Fossils are evidence that a great variety of species existed in the past.
Key Idea 7:
Human decisions and activities have had a profound impact on the physical and living environment.
7.1a A population consists of all individuals of a species that are found together at a given place and time. Populations living in one place form a community. The community and the physical factors with which it interacts compose an ecosystem.
7.1b Given adequate resources and no disease or predators, populations (including humans) increase. Lack of resources, habitat destruction, and other factors such as predation and climate limit the growth of certain populations in the ecosystem.
7.1c In all environments, organisms interact with one another in many ways. Relationships among organisms may be competitive, harmful, or beneficial. Some species have adapted to be dependent upon each other with the result that neither could survive without the other.
7.1d Some microorganisms are essential to the survival of other living things.
7.1e The environment may contain dangerous levels of substances (pollutants) that are harmful to organisms. Therefore, the good health of environments and individuals requires the monitoring of soil, air, and water, and taking steps to keep them safe.
Describe the effects of environmental changes on humans and other populations.
7.2a In ecosystems, balance is the result of interactions between community members and their environment.
7.2b The environment may be altered through the activities of organisms. Alterations are sometimes abrupt. Some species may replace others over time, resulting in longterm gradual changes (ecological succession).
7.2c Overpopulation by any species impacts the environment due to the increased use of resources. Human activities can bring about environmental degradation through resource acquisition, urban growth, land-use decisions, waste disposal, etc.
7.2d Since the Industrial Revolution, human activities have resulted in major pollution of air, water, and soil. Pollution has cumulative ecological effects such as acid rain, global warming, or ozone depletion. The survival of living things on our planet depends on the conservation and protection of Earth’s resources.
Knowledge:
- Selecting important information from nonfiction text to include in science journal.
- Recalling facts and using them in group discussions and writing
- Defining what an invasive species is.
Comprehension:- Explains what an invasive species is in terms of an ecosystem.
- Explains what a threat to an ecosystem is.
- Rewrites what is learned from texts and lessons in class to support his or her learning
- Predicts what type of species they will be barcoding
- Summarizes their finding about various subjects covered in unit
Application:- Produces a ppt that explains their findings
- Shows how to extract DNA from a specimen
- Produces a model of DNA
AnalysisSynthesis:
Evaluation: