EGGPlants: learning and gardening with third graders: Lesson Plan #2: Biodiversity

We led the second in a series of four classroom lessons relating to gardening last Friday. This time, we talked with the third graders about biodiversity. This was a big concept for them to learn, so it was important to define the concept clearly at the beginning of the and return to it often, connecting biodiversity to whichever topic we were discussing at the time. Here is the outline of the lesson plan:

Essential Question/s:
·      Why is biodiversity important?

Objectives:
Students will be able to:
·      define the term biodiversity
·      give examples of biodiverse communities
·      compare the examples of biodiversity we talk about in class to the biodiverse garden we will plant
·      conclude that biodiverse communities are stronger and more cooperative than communities made up of few species

Materials, Tools and Resources:
·      SmartBoard with projection from a PowerPoint or equivalent program
·      “Bug Gloves”: rubber or nitrile gloves with green decorative attachments (2 pairs)
·      String (field tape works well) and notecards (enough for the class)
·      Biodiversity game found at: http://www.seedsavers.org/pdf/kids_curriculum_fall.pdf

Today’s Prep Work:
·      Make gloves
·      Make necklaces
·      Prepare powerpoints [Biodiversity, 3 Sisters]

Activities:
Defining biodiversity
Game: biodiverse communities and pest resistance
Discussion: Cooperation within biodiverse communities--The 3 Sisters Model

Hook:
·      Ask if anyone remembers our names and why we are here. What did we do/talk about last time?

Procedure:
Defining Biodiversity (10 minutes)
·      Post the word “Biodiversity” on the SmartBoard. Explain to the students that this word is made up of two parts: “bio” and “diversity.” Circle the two parts of the word in two different colors. Then ask students what the individual parts mean. Students who answer correctly will put the definitions up on the board (“bio” meaning “life” and “diversity” meaning “many things”). Then, return to the larger word (biodiversity=many different kinds of living things).
·      Make sure to explain that “biodiverse” is a word to describe groups of living things that are diverse.
·      To segue into the next part, put biodiversity into context: We often talk about biodiverse communities of living things, i.e. a garden, forest, prairie...
Game: Biodiverse Communities and Pest Resistance (15 minutes)
·      Hand out the “bug gloves” to two students. Give the rest necklaces with notecards attached. Tell the students to flip their necklaces so that the word “corn” is showing.
·      On the words “ready, set, grow!” each student will begin silently acting out a corn plant (starting as a seed, growing up into a plant as the leader “waters” it). On the words “ready, set, buzz!” the two students designated to be pests will begin tapping all corn plants on the shoulder. When a student is “eaten” by the pest, they must die a dramatic death. When the round is over, get everyone’s attention again.
·      Tell the kids to flip over their cards so that the corn side is facing in and a different plant name is facing out (a few students will have the word corn on both sides of the necklace). Then, replay the scenario from the first round of the game. This time, the pests will still attack only corn plants but cannot attack the other plants. At the end of the round, the majority of the class will still be standing.
·      After the game: Think, Pair, Share. Tell the students to think about which scenario would be a better one for our garden. Then, have them discuss their reasoning with a partner. Finally, partners will defend their answer to the rest of the class.
Discussion: Cooperation within Biodiverse Communities: The 3 Sisters Model (15 minutes)
·      Split students into 3 groups (one for each helper; this can be modified to adjust for the amount of helpers, although smaller groups are more effective). The following will occur in each of the small groups:
·      Ask the students why cooperation is important. They should have many ideas to share, but be sure to touch on helping each other get what we need and achieving goals together.
·      Then, move on to say that cooperation occurs in plant communities too. The goal for plants is to grow, and biodiverse communities achieve this goal by helping each other get the resources they need.
·      Ask the students what plants need to live. [water, light, nutrients, support]
·      Project a drawing of the 3 sisters gardening model (corn, beans, and squash) on the SmartBoard. Still in small groups, discuss how the corn provides support for the beans, the beans take the nutrient, nitrogen, out of the air and puts it into the soil, and the squash grows low on the ground and helps the soil retain water.

Assessment:
·     Think, Pair, Share activity
·      Discussion in small groups—make sure the students grasp the concepts of biodiversity, community strength, and cooperation between plants.

Closing
·      Questions for the whole class (5 minutes)·   What was the most important thing you learned today? · Why is biodiversity important? [we learned from the game that biodiverse communities are strong and aren’t vulnerable to threats such as pests, and we learned from our small group discussion that plants growing in a biodiverse community cooperate to grow]

Here are some pictures from our activities this week: