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Ecological terms.

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  • SL Core /
  • Ecology Activities for Learning/
  • Ecological terms.

Introduction to Ecology

"Ecology is the study of the distribution and abundance of organisms, the interaction between organisms, the interaction between organisms and their environment, and structure and function of ecosystems." See more at: British Ecological Survey website. Using key concepts and important ecological terms students work to connect these ecological ideas and to make links between them to enhance their knowledge and understanding.

Lesson Description

Guiding Questions

What is Ecology?

How many terms do we know already to describes different aspects of Ecology?

Is biological jargon a help or a hindrance in the quest for knowledge? (TOK question).

Activity 1 - Introduction to Ecology

Watch the first ten minutes of this BBC documentary 'The Magical Forest'. It makes an excellent introduction to Ecology. It covers the connections in the forest between flying squirrels, trees and fungi. 
From 10 minutes to 20 minutes why do the trees need salmon and bears?

For further reading explore:

Activity 2 - Introduction to some important ecological terms

Describing ecological links scientifically requires a certain amount of technical language. Students follow these three steps to begin memorising these 14 ecological terms and their definitions.

  • Read through the cards
  • Read again and click the STAR for any words which you don't already know.
  • Study the starred cards again, removing the stars when you feel confident.

As extension: Try a different study mode using the drop down list. "Space race" or "Test" are very good

Activity 3 - SOLO Activity - Sequencing and classifying ecological terms.

Learning is much easier when the facts are linked to each other in some way. Working out the links is an important part of the learning.

Students use the Ecological terms flash cards (print double sided) of the ecological terms to do one of the following activities

  1. Describe each of the terms in your own words
  2. Put the terms in some kind of order, you can choose, perhaps smallest to largest
  3. Group the terms in some way, keep similar terms together and explain why.

Activity 3 SOLO Self Assessment

Students can use the online self assessment tool to decide how good their understanding of these ecological terms is. The process will help to identify the next steps in learning and some strategies to improve understanding and memory.

Click the image which links to the SOLO self-assessment tool, then choose the grouping pattern, and navigate the slides using the arrow keys. The different steps to understanding are clearly illustrated.

Students identify their own position on the rubric and try to improve their sequence or classification.

Teachers notes

This lesson tries to help students to understand some of the important key ecological terms with a range of activities which will help to differentiate according to student learning style or learning needs.

There are many videos which could inspire students to begin studying ecology, here is another good example.

The quizlet cards activity is a nice introduction to the terms. It would be good to link the introduction of these terms to some reading in a text book. By giving a biological passage to read first students would see the need for understanding the terms.

The SOLO activities give the student some purpose and guidance to become more familiar with the words. Some students may find it challenging to simple describe each of the terms in their own words. Post-it notes stuck around the key term may help. The sequencing and classifying activities will encourage student to analyse each term and it will test their knowledge.

There is an excellent online Hexagon tool here http://www.classtools.net/hexagon/

The self assessment activity uses an online visual, use the arrow keys to navigate and then record the words which best describe the students understanding of the terms.

Species communities and ecosystems planner

This is a back up of the link to BBC Magical Forest video and here is another of Magical Forest from Top Documentary Films.

A nice documentary set in the Sultanate of Oman, about the wonderful ecology of the wet season in the Dhofar mountains  When the Rains Come, by Nicholas Gauci.

Ecology of South Korea is described nicely in this BBC documentary The Hidden Nature of Korea

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I'm still looking for the new link to this excellent document Key Concepts in Ecology - British Ecological Society