Problem: The diversity of species in an environment are crucial to the life cycle of that ecosystem. Many people may not realize that a little organism like zooplankton, is crucial to the life cycle of many other plants and animals. In Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (1971), the main character says, "I speak for the trees," and reminds the reader that we all need to care about our environment. By asking grade 5 students, “How can we speak for the critters?”, we are inviting them to inquire about their impact and responsibility to the natural world around them.
Using the Alberta Wetlands unit of study as a foundation (Alberta Education, 1996), students will research and explore various species and determine their relevance and importance to the ecosystem as a whole. Students will also look at various human activities that impact our ecosystem.
Authenticity: "It's estimated that 90 percent of pre-settlement wetlands in Calgary have been lost to development. Our urban expansion could impact a further 8,000 wetlands" (City of Calgary, 2016). Wetland health is a concern that is affecting both urban and rural areas in Alberta. By examining this real-world issue, students will come to “understand that there are ethical dimensions to most issues of concern” (Carleton College, 2010). This issue is not limited to science. The solution to this problem relies on city planners, reporters, engineers, politicians, educators, and many other disciplines. By taking part in an interdisciplinary project that combines Art, English Language Arts, Science and Social Studies, students are "combining disciplines or subjects together in new ways in order to answer a question or solve a problem that cannot be satisfactorily addressed using the approaches or methods of only one discipline or subject” (Friesen et al., 2015). Experts from organizations like Ducks Unlimited and the City of Calgary will be contacted for their deep real-world knowledge.
Engagement: Students will choose the species they would like to create for their Phylomon Cards and the type of advocacy they will do for the final project. As a class, they will collectively make decisions about the final structure of the website. By providing “choice in how students like to learn and how they wish to demonstrate what they have learned … there is a demonstrated increase in student engagement and success in learning” (Parsons & Beauchamp, 2012, p. 9).
Students will learn about the wetland ecosystem in Alberta through various in-class and hands-on activities. Through hearing stories and discussing the relevance and history of our land; listening to experts to gain greater insight into all the different species in our wetlands; individual research about various organisms, human activities that impact the ecosystem, and how interactions play a part in the whole system; as well as a final project of creating a wetland advocacy website, as a whole class, to be linked to the Ralph Klein Park website, students will become equipped with a myriad of ways in which they will understand that "changes in part of an environment have effects on the whole environment" (Alberta Education, 1996).