TOPIC:​ Diversity of Aquatic Ecosystems 

 
Date: N
​ ovember 19 (Th)  Day: ​5  Period: 3
​   Subject: S
​ cience 8 
 
Lesson Outcomes | Objectives:  Assessment: 
I can…   ● Mind maps (biodiversity) 
● investigate life forms found in freshwater  ● Small and large group discussions 
and saltwater ecosystems (E3a)  ● Exit slips 
● define biodiversity and give examples of 
it related to aquatic ecosystems 

Personalization/Differentiation:  
● Process: group work, cues/hints for the mindmap 
● Product: students can submit the exit slip on paper or digitally, conversation 
 
Time  Teaching Points 

2 min  How did the quiz go? → A little debrief/chance for students to share 
(10:51-10:53)   
2 min  Anticipatory Set / The Hook:​ Living Things in Aquatic Systems 
(10:53-10:55)  ● Topic 1: Where is the water on Earth? 
● Topic 2: How does that water shape the Earth? 
● NOW: What living things are in the water? 

3 min  Lesson Segment 1:​ Ecosystems 

(10:56-10:59)  ● Pre-Assessment: What do you know about ecosystems? 
  ○ Gr. 7 → niches, interactions and interdependencies (relationships 
 
 
where two things NEED each other to survive), monitoring, food 
  webs/chains (emphasize the DIFFERENCE), species distribution 
  ● Ecosystem = any place on Earth where living things interact with other living 
  things and with non-living things 
  ○ What is part of an ecosystem? - Write them up on the board - then 
  erase the non-living (e.g. rocks) - “Is this still an ecosystem?” 
  ○ Ex. desert, forest, prairie, savanna, tundra, coral reef, marine, etc. 
   
10 min  CHEW (Do):​ Make a Mind-Map (Brainstorm) 
(11:00-11:10)  ● Students will make a mind-map on chart paper → 1 per group of ~4 students 
● Main Topic: Aquatic Ecosystems 
○ Hints/cues: biodiversity, food webs, interactions, examples 
6 min  Lesson Segment 2: ​Diversity within an Ecosystem 
(11:12-11:18)  ● Diversity within an ecosystem = the variety of ​DIFFERENT k​ inds of species 
  living in an ecosystem 
  ○ What d ​ ifferent ​species live in Airdrie? 
  ■ Humans, ducks, owls, northern flickers, minks, prairie crocus, 
  bumble bees, trees (different spp.), grass (different spp.) 
  ● Most Diverse Ecosystems? 
  ○ 1st. Tropical Rain Forests (South America, Asia, Africa) 
  ■ Nobody knows exactly how many species because we haven’t 
  discovered them all yet, but estimates say 3 to 50 million 
  ○ 2nd. Coral Reefs 
  ■ 7,000 species → *If time, I can share some photos from Belize  
   
5 min  CHEW (Do):​ Brainstorm as many reasons as possible why biodiversity is important 
(11:20-11:25)  ● Conversational brainstorm in small student groups (~4 students/group) 
● 2 Categories:  
○ Why is it good for the environment? 
■ Shows a healthy ecosystem, means there is lots of resources 
available, better able to respond to environmental stress, if one 
species goes extinct, it is less likely to cause a chain reaction 
○ Why is it good for humans? 
■ Human entertainment, clean air and water, climate regulation, 
gas exchange, formation of soil, pollination, plant growth 
control, medicines, production of food, fiber for textiles and 
shelter, fuel and energy, the suppression of pests and diseases 

2 min  Lesson Segment 3: W ​ atch the video ​The Blue Planet Collection​ (0:00-13:40) 
(11:26-11:28)  ● For shorter class with 8-4 tomorrow (Friday), watch s​ horter video 
   
14 min  CHEW (Do): ​While watching the video, keep track of all of the D ​ IFFERENT species ​of 
(11:28-11:42)  plants and animals (whether they are mentioned, or you just see them in the video). 
● This will be the exit slip (post-it note) → option to do it digitally 
● Let students know that if they do not know the exact name of the species, 
they can make one up/describe it ​(e.g. blue and white striped fish) 

3 min  CLOSURE: S ​ hort discussion about the sheer number of species in aquatic systems  
(11:43-11:46)  ● How many did you get on your post-it note? → That’s biodiversity! 
 
Exit slip:​ Submit exit slip listing the plants and animals observed in the video 

  Next Class:​ Adaptations in Aquatic Ecosystems 

 
Displays/Materials: G
​ oogle slides, whiteboard + markers, chart paper, post-it notes 
  

Reflection:  
In your self- reflection of your lesson, please consider the following questions:
1. What went well in your lesson? What were the strengths of the lesson?
2. What are the areas that need to be refined? What might you do differently next time?
3. What are your next steps to further develop/ refine this lesson? How will you continue to grow
in your practice? What actions will you take?

8-2 Lesson Reflection:

For the most part, I thought this lesson went quite well. My classroom management wasn’t 
amazing, but it was definitely better than it was on Tuesday. 
 
Things that I feel went well: 
● Students seemed to enjoy and were engaged in the mind map (brainstorm) activity - they 
also worked quite well as a group 
○ Was able to gather some evidence → pretty strong understanding of a bunch of the 
species that live underwater, but not exactly sure of all of their interactions; food 
web vs. food chain; thought that plants are found in deep water ecosystems 
○ Some complex students who normally do not normally participate (let alone in 
groups with their peers) were right in there, getting into the mind 
● I have been struggling in the past being completely stuck in my lesson plan and not flexing 
it at all (even with student observations of engagement) 
○ Today, I let students work longer on the mindmap because they were engaged and 
interested in the process  
■ I stopped it when students seemed done with the activity 
○ When a good opportunity came up to talk about how humans can benefit from 
biodiversity, I did it (out of order) 
● The explanation of ecosystems seemed to go quite well, and students were engaged 
enough that students responded with a thumb check almost immediately when I asked 
 
Things that I feel I could improve on/what I would do differently next time: 
● Still quite front heavy in my teaching - should see if I can get students engaged and writing 
down answers, etc. more often - explicit direction to what they can fill in their notes 
package with and when 
○ Formative assessment - collecting things like exit slips - I might try to do this 
tomorrow with 8-4 (exit slip → what is part of the ecosystem of Airdrie (i.e. living 
and nonliving components? What is the biodiversity like in Airdrie (ii.e. name 
different species)? 
● Classroom management → at some points, it still got a tad bit rowdy → One suggestion 
that my partner teacher had was that I could use the written out instructions that I made to 
redirect students, silently give them the stink eye, point to the poster and show them the 
rule they are breaking with the fingers of my other hand - I might try this tomorrow 
○ With a student in particular, being more direct about redirection 
● Being more explicit with what I am modelling and ​that​ I am modelling brainstorm 
 technique/mind map making when I do it at the beginning 
● Demonstration with the increased health of an ecosystem with increased diversity 
 
8-4 Lesson Reflection:
Time management did not go as well for this class, because of the short period (and I was unable 
to compress everything down with the mind map as well). 
 
Things that I feel went well: 
● The howler monkeys - students loved that part with the dinosaur roars of a little monkey 
● Modified how I talked about biodiversity 
○ An example of 800 elephants, vs. 2 elephants, 3 giraffes, 12 monkeys, 4 zebras, and 
a lost moose —> which is more biodiverse? 
■ This seemed to help a lot of them grasp the topic, as I saw that “aha!” 
moment when I explained it in this way 
● Was more explicit about what I was doing when I was making a mind map, and the fact that 
I was modelling something they would have to do in a moment 
● Pointed out the ecosystems definition as the answer to the fill-in-the-blank, and this 
allowed a couple students to catch on and write it out 
 
Things that I feel I could improve on/what I would do/what would I do differently next time: 
● Did not have a chance to talk about the importance of biodiversity for the ecosystem, so 
this will be tied into the next class 
● Ensuring that all (or at least more) students are following along in their booklets and with 
the lesson 
● Allowing more time for a mind-map activities (students at this age level seem to need it)