Human Use of Resources—This Land is Your Land

Summary: The classroom-based This Land is Your Land lesson plan from TeachEngineering.org is designed for 4th grade students, with scaling suggestions for 3rd and 5th graders. Because the instructor uses maps of the local area, the activity is place-based, relevant and supports potential field experiences.

“In this activity, students will review and evaluate the ways land is covered and used in their local community. They will also consider the environmental effects of the different types of land use. Students will act as community planning engineers to determine where to place a new structure that will have the least affect on the environment.”

Concepts to teach: Maps, land use, calculating percentage

Goals: Land is used for a variety of human activities, and these uses can be communicated through maps.

Standards:
S3.3S.1, S4.2L.1, S4.3S1, S5.2L.1, S5.3S.1, S5.4D.3
M3.2.3, M4.2.2, M4.3.3, M4.3.7, M5.2.1

Specific Objectives:

1. Understand and identify the different ways that land is covered and used.
2. Predict land usage amounts in their community.
3. Describe the involvement of engineers in community planning.

Activity Links and Resources:

• This Land is Your Land
  • From TeachEngineering.org, a digital library collection of searchable, standards-based K-12 curricula
  • This lesson plan includes worksheets, standards, and suggestions for assessments. The instructor needs to find land use maps of the local area.
• To find maps of your local area, contact your local:
  • City Planning Department
    • See examples of land use maps from Portland and Bend
  • School District (keyword search: facility plan)
  • Historical Society
• Use both current and historical maps to show how human use of resources have changed over time.
• After mapping, discuss the effects of various types of land use might have on the nearby streams and other waterways. This concept will be further in the Human Impact section.

Assessment:

• Suggestions for pre-activity, activity embedded and post-activity assessments are included in the lesson plan.

Coastal Ecology—Tidal Flat Exploration

Summary: “A structured experience for students to investigate the life of the tidal flats of the estuary and explore the relationship between sediments, elevation, and the life beneath surface.”

Concepts to teach: Marine and Coastal Ecosystems, Habitats, Estuaries, English, Math

Goals: Students will be able to identify who lives in a watershed and explain how the watershed surrounding their school or hometown is connected to others.

Standards:
3.3S.2, 4.2L.1, 5.2L.1, 5.3S.1

Specific Objectives:

1. Students will understand that the tide flats are covered twice a day by salty estuary water.
2. Students will understand that the tide flats are made of sediment which may be sand, mud, or gravel.
3. Students will understand that the type of sediment and the elevation determine what lives where.
4. Students will understand that most animals burrow below the mud to stay wet, protected, and to feed on the tidewater.
5. Students will understand that different animals have different types of adaptations for life in the mud.

Activity Links and Resources:

• The TIDES “Tideflats” lessons were developed by the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve for middle school audiences.
  • Summary of Tidal Flats, with suggestions for scaling down to Elementary audiences
  • Tidal Flat Power Point
• Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport offers Estuary Investigation field classes for all ages. Students use “slurpers” to discover what organisms live beneath the mud of the tidal flats.
  • Pre-visit materials

Assessment:

• Student-authored field guides in the TIDES “Tidal Flats” lesson plan.
• Students create a personal meaning map for tidal flats, where they draw and label what they expect to find in the mud. After the field visit, students add to their personal meaning maps new information that they learned from the trip. The post-trip contributions can be drawn on the same page as the pre-trip map in a different color pen, or the students may make an entirely new map from scratch. Discuss the scientific process of making predictions and then collecting data to test those predictions. Evaluate pre- and post-trip contributions for detail and accuracy.

Coastal Ecology—Tidal Flat Exploration

Summary: This field lesson provides a structured experience for students to investigate the life of the tidal flats of the estuary and explore the relationship between sediments, elevation, and the life beneath surface.

Concepts to teach: Marine and coastal ecosystems, habitats, estuaries, benthic organisms

Goals: Students will collect and use evidence to explain the relationship between abiotic factors and the distribution of organisms in an estuary.

Standards:
H.2L.2, H.3S.1, H.3S.2

Specific Objectives: Students will understand that:

1. The tide flats are covered twice a day by salty estuary water.
2. The tide flats are made of sediment which may be sand, mud, or gravel.
3. The type of sediment and the elevation determine what lives where.
4. Most animals burrow below the mud to stay wet, protected, and to feed on the tidewater.
5. Different animals have different types of adaptations for life in the mud.

Activity Links and Resources:

• The TIDES “Tidal Flats” lessons were developed by the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve for middle school audiences, but the lessons are regularly used for high school students as well.
  • Tidal Flats Power Point
• Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport offers Estuary Investigation field classes for all ages. Students use “slurpers” to discover what organisms live beneath the mud of the tidal flats.
  • Pre-visit materials

Assessment:

• Examine student field journals and data for completeness. Students may present their findings in a PowerPoint presentation or report.

Introduction—Tidepool Inquiry

Summary: These field activities introduce students of all ages to the intertidal habitats of rocky shores while safely exploring tidepools. Using guided inquiry and structured group investigation, students will observe species living in this diverse habitat to make hypothesis about adaptations and interactions that are occurring in the community.

Concepts to teach: Rocky shores, interactions and change, adaptations and survival, tidal cycles, community interactions, ecosystem balance.

Goals: Students will better understand the inhabitants of Oregon’s Rocky shores, by way of observation and guided exploration.

Standards:
4.1L.1, 4.2L.1, 4.3S.1, 4.3S.2, 5.1L.1, 5.2L1, 5.3S.1, 5.3S.2

Specific Objectives: By the end of this activity, students will be able to:

1. Explore tidepools in a way that is safe for themselves and the habitat.
2. Identify the dominant organisms in the tidepool ecosystem.
3. Explain specific adaptations of species living in the rocky intertidal by making scientific hypothesis based on field observations.

Activity Links and Resources:

• Intertidal Investigations—This OCEP Summary includes guided inquiry questions for a visit to the rocky shore. The activity was adapted from University of Oregon’s Environmental Leadership Program, Marine Team 2008
• Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area in Newport is but one example of a coastal location for tidepool exploration.
  • Plan a field trip to Yaquina Head
  • SeaCrets of Tide Pools—This lesson plan from Yaquina Head focuses on animal adaptations and zonation of intertidal organisms. The lesson outlines both self-guided and ranger-led field trip experiences for students, and can be applied to other tidepool areas in Oregon.
  • Tidepool Brochure—this full color brochure from Oregon State Parks is a handy resource to have during tidepool explorations.

Assessment:

• Students create a personal meaning map for tidepools, where they draw and label what they know about tidepools prior to the field visit. After the field visit, students add to their personal meaning maps new information that they learned from the trip. The post-trip contributions can be drawn on the same page as the pre-trip map in a different color pen, or the students may make an entirely new map from scratch. Evaluate pre- and post-trip contributions for detail and accuracy.
• Create a food web using the animals discovered during the field experience.
• Pre- and post-assessment ideas suggested in the Yaquina Head “SeaCrets of Tide Pools” lesson

Introduction—Tidepool Inquiry

Summary: These field activities introduce students of all ages to the intertidal habitats of rocky shores while safely exploring tidepools. Using guided inquiry and structured group investigation, students will observe species living in this diverse habitat to make hypothesis about adaptations and interactions that are occurring in the community.

Concepts to teach: Rocky shores, interactions and change, adaptations and survival, tidal cycles, community interactions, ecosystem balance.

Goals: Students will better understand the inhabitants of Oregon’s Rocky shores, by way of observation and guided exploration.

Standards:
H.2L.2, H.3S.1, H.3S.2

Specific Objectives: By the end of this activity, students will be able to:

1. Explore tidepools in a way that is safe for themselves and the habitat.
2. Identify the dominant organisms in the tidepool ecosystem.
3. Explain specific adaptations of species living in the rocky intertidal by making scientific hypothesis based on field observations.

Activity Links and Resources:

• Intertidal Investigations—This OCEP Summary includes guided inquiry questions for a visit to the rocky shore. The activity was adapted from University of Oregon’s Environmental Leadership Program, Marine Team 2008
• Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area in Newport is but one example of a coastal location for tidepool exploration.
  • Plan a field trip to Yaquina Head
  • Tidepool Brochure—this full color brochure from Oregon State Parks is a handy resource to have during tidepool explorations.

Assessment:

• Students create a personal meaning map for tidepools, where they draw and label what they know about tidepools prior to the field visit. After the field visit, students add to their personal meaning maps new information that they learned from the trip. The post-trip contributions can be drawn on the same page as the pre-trip map in a different color pen, or the students may make an entirely new map from scratch. Evaluate pre- and post-trip contributions for detail and accuracy.
• Create a food web using the animals discovered during the field experience.
• Choose one intertidal organism and give a written or oral presentation about the unique structural and behavioral adaptations that allow it to thrive in intertidal environments.