Grades 2, 3 and 5
Students will participate in “hands-on” investigations to discover how plants and animals grow, reproduce, and survive within an ecosystem. They will learn how organisms perform different functions within a group, adapt to changing environments, and how energy transfers through food webs. Students in grades 3-5 will also be challenged to solve an environmental based problem.
Learning Standards for Common Core English Language Arts:
• Asking and Answering Questions
• Communicating Information and Ideas
• Engaging in Argument from Evidence
• Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
Learning Standards for Engineering/Technology Education:
-2-ETS1-2 Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
• 3-5-ETS1-2 Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
Cost: $12.00 per student Chaperones are complimentaryClass Limit: Minimum class size = 16 studentsLength of Program: 2 hours LS - Life Science PS - Physical Science
ESS - Earth and Space Science ETS - Engineering Technology Science
Learning Standards for Science: LS2 – Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy and Dynamics:
(Grade 2)
2-LS2-1 Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
2-LS2-2 Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.
Learning Standards for Science (Grade 3)
3-LS2-1 Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.
3-LS4-2 Use evidence (e.g., observations, patterns) to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing.
3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
3-LS4-4 Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.
Learning Standards for Science (Grade 5)
5-LS2-1 Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
5-PS3-1 Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the Sun.