South Carolina ETV

South Carolina ETV
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545

Habitat for Plants! There's No Place Like Home! (Grades 8-12 )

Master Teacher

Rhonda Y. Edwards

Time Allotment

Three or four 90-minute block periods

Overview

Students will investigate the flora in their particular vicinity. Using scientific investigation and technological skills they will investigate the conditions that attribute to the plants' survival. The use of the Internet enables you to take the students on a virtual field trip if an actual field trip is not possible. The activity provides an opportunity for the students to do a comparative analysis of plants in different parts of their county, their state, and throughout other states as well. The activity will culminate with the creation of a Web page that provides information that they have collected throughout the lesson.

Subject Matter

Environmental Science and Life Science.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

compare and contrast the conditions that are necessary for the survival of aquatic and terrestrial plants
identify the common and scientific names of the plants
determine the correlation between location and plant characteristics
use a digital camera, a computer, and the Internet to create a Web site to share their findings with other students across the World Wide Web

South Carolina Standards

Visit the South Carolina Department of Education for the South Carolina Science Standards.

Science—Grades 8-12

II. Life Science

D. Interdependence of Organisms

3b. Evaluate how interrelationships and interdependencies of living things contribute to the homeostasis of ecosystems.

I. Inquiry

F. Communicate and Defend a Scientific

Argument

2. Develop a presentation to communicate the process and conclusion of a scientific investigation.

Media Components

Videos

NatureScene, Lesson 1: South Carolina from the Mountains to the Sea serves as an introduction to the NatureScene series. It takes you into the fields and forests of South Carolina by giving an overview of everything from the upstate to the coast.

NatureScene, Lesson 3: Savannah National Wildlife Refuge is set in Jasper County, located on the southern tip of South Carolina in an area known as the Low Country. Host Rudy Mancke takes viewers on a tour of the old rice fields which have been turned into one of the oldest wildlife refuges in the country.

(Note to Teachers: I chose these two because one was located in my students' community and the other was the farthest distance away. You can choose whatever areas of the state you would like your students to compare and contrast.)

Web Sites

NatureScene is the Web site for the popular South Carolina ETV series. It is an interactive site that allows the students to take a virtual tour of various habitats in their state and other states as well.

Materials

Per group:

plants indigenous to students' neighborhoods
field guides
taxonomy sheets
Activity Sheet 1

Equipment

TV set
digital camera
computer with Internet access for each group
Web page design software

Prep for Teachers

Step 1

Prior to this activity, instruct the students to bring in two plants from their neighborhood. One plant should be taken from an area where the soil remains dry. The other plant should be taken from an area that is wet the majority of the time.

Step 2

Make sure you know how to up upload pictures from a digital camera and how to use the Web page design software. You will have to show students how to use the camera and software.

Step 3

Allow yourself enough time to preview the NatureScene Web site. There is an enormous amount of information and a variety of activities that can be integrated into your lesson plan.

Step 4

Contact the Department of Natural Resources or your local Agricultural Extension office to obtain taxonomy charts and field guides. Your local library

should have field guides if you are not able to purchase any or get them from your Department of Natural Resources or Agricultural Extension Office.

Introductory Activity: Setting the Stage

Step 1

Have the students display their plants around the room. (They should label where they found the plant (wet or dry area) and what neighborhood (part of the county) the plant came from.

Step 2

Place a map of the county on the wall to integrate map reading and geography. Have the students use stickpins to mark the areas where they found their plants.

Step 3

Instruct the students to use Activity Sheet 1 to record observations of their plants. Each student is to do this individually. When completed, students are to place their sheets by their plants.

Step 4

Working in groups of two or three, have students categorize all of the plants (At this time allow them to use their own classification system to see how they choose to categorize the plants.)

Have each group choose a spokesperson to explain the way they categorized the plants.

Ask the students if the conditions (wet or dry) and the location (neighborhood in the county) played a part in their categorization. Discuss.

Introductory Activity/Assessment

The completed observation sheets can serve as one assessment. In addition, the student's ability to come up with some type of classification (categories) system will serve as another assessment. This can be done either by peer evaluation, or by you.

Learning Activities

Step 1

Hold a classroom discussion by the posing question: "Do you feel that we will see a greater variety of plants as we travel across the entire state of South Carolina? What about if we travel through different states? Discuss the fact that South Carolina is a state where the topography ranges from mountainous regions to the Low Country. Pose the question of the likelihood that plants will be different in these different regions of the Palmetto State. This will be your lead into the ITV lessons.

Step 2

Focus for Media Interaction: Instruct the students to raise their hands when they have seen two plants that grow best in the mountains. This segment is found about two minutes and 35 seconds into the tape. START when you hear Rudy Mancke say: "When you think of the mountains you think of certain plants . . ." You will see a picture of the Mountain Laurel. The other answers include the Showy Orchid and the Jack in the Pulpit. STOP the tape when the students name the flowers and discuss the environmental conditions of the mountains.

Step 3

Focus for Media Interaction: RESTART the tape and instruct the students to say "Bingo" when they hear the definition of the word habitat. The word habitat appears immediately after the discussion of of the mountain flowers. You will see a picture of fool's gold and hear Rudy say: "When you get down from the mountains onto the Piedmont, you will find that the habitats begin to change a lot . . ." REWIND the tape and instruct the students to write down the definition of the word habitat.

Step 4

INSERT the "Savannah National Wildlife Refuge" videotape. START the tape from the beginning and PLAY it up to the point where Rudy Mancke explains that plants are different on the marsh side of the road.

Focus for Media Interaction: Ask the students to raise their hands when they hear the name of the plant growing in the Salt Marsh. START the video when you see a picture of saw grass and you hear Rudy Mancke say: "As you look out the common plant is called saw grass." STOP the tape at this point and ask students to write the name down.

Say: "Now listen for what the saw grass is trapping. Say Bingo when you hear it." PLAY the tape. This reference is found at the same cue as above.

Explain to the students that because the saw grass traps energy from the sun and produces "biomass," the Salt Marsh is the nursery to the sea.

Step 5

Introduce taxonomy charts, field guides, and the field trip for tomorrow. (Either a virtual or actual trip.)

Step 6 (Day 2 Field Trip)

On the field trip, have students work in groups of three or four. Each group will later create a Web page. The tour guide or identification markers will help the students identify the plants.

Have one student in each group take pictures, another write down the picture number and name of the picture, the other member (s) of the group can also help in the process.

Culminating Activity (Days 3 and 4)

Step 1

When the students return (this may be the next day), have them use the computer to process the digital pictures and use the field guides to correctly identify and name pictures.

Step 2

Go to NatureScene Web site and select a virtual tour that you would like the students to take.

Focus on Media Interaction: Ask the students to compare what they found on their field trip with the plants on the virtual field trip.

This will also give students ideas for their own Web pages.

Assessment

To measure their comprehension of the lesson, the student teams will create their own Web pages. Assign jobs to team members-Digital person (the person who will upload and insert the pictures into the correct place in the Web design), typesetter, Web page design, research analysis.

Cross-Curricular Extensions

Geography: Discuss the different regions in South Carolina (Piedmont, Coastal Plains etc.)

Community Connections

Plan to take a field trip in your community where the students can take pictures of the various floras. A local nature trail would be an excellent choice. Check with the Department of Natural Resources or with your Agricultural Extension office for someone to be a tour guide.

Activity Sheets (PDF)

Activity Sheet 1