SCIENCE STANDARDS IN BIODIVERSITY COUNTS: AN OVERVIEW
The National Science Education Standards (NSES) define criteria for quality in science education. Content standards for grades 5-8 do not prescribe a curriculum, but describe "what students should know, understand, and be able to do in natural science." The Standards include both broad concepts students should understand and skills students should develop.
In keeping with the fundamental thrust of the Standards, Biodiversity Counts provides an environment in which students develop a firsthand understanding of basic scientific concepts, processes, and skills. Rich knowledge and experience is derived from relevant, engaged learning with practical application in the real world. Through research activities, focused and Socratic discussion questions, and development of a student-designed museum exhibit project, Biodiversity Counts meets many of the specific Standards in a broad range of areas.
Presented below is a brief description of the Standards and selected indicators that are addressed in Biodiversity Counts, together with a summary explanation of how each is addressed in Biodiversity Counts. The Standards are presented in order of importance to the Biodiversity Counts curriculum unit. Following this summary description, a correlation matrix provides a unit-by-unit correlation between the NSES and Biodiversity Counts at the level of specific NSES indicators.
LIFE SCIENCE
The Life Science standard refers to levels of complexity of organisms and the ecosystems in which they live. The interactions between the organisms within the microhabitat are studied and analyzed in Biodiversity Counts.
Structure and function in living systems refers to the complementary nature of structure and function at levels from the cell to the ecosystem. Biodiversity Counts engages students in higher-level system analysis of habitats and ecosystems, and encourages students to note how the structure of organisms contributes to the function they serve within the ecosystem.
Regulation and behavior refers to how organisms regulate their internal environment and interact with their external environment. Students' in-depth investigations of habitats in Biodiversity Counts provides ample opportunities for them to observe how organisms behave and interact with their environment. The program prompts students to make meaningful connections between what they observe and possible environmental causes, including both physical conditions and the actions of other organisms.
Populations and ecosystems focuses on the functions of specific species within ecosystems, including the parts they play in the transfer of energy from organism to organism through food webs. This represents a major focus of Biodiversity Counts. Students develop their understanding of population as all the individuals of a particular species that occur together at a specific time and place, and learn to analyze the functions of different populations within the ecosystem. Biodiversity Counts further prompts students to probe the abiotic factors (such as weather conditions) necessary for the success of the organism and to explore the relationship between the number of organisms in a specific population and the available resources of the ecosystem.
Diversity and adaptations of organisms focuses on the interaction between the diversity of organisms and biological adaptation to specific circumstances, including the role played by evolution and the phenomenon of extinction. Through in-depth study of a microhabitat, students in Biodiversity Counts gain a greater appreciation and understanding of the diversity of life and of how specific adaptations promote the success of organisms in particular environments. Several units also discuss the threat and reality of extinction. All of the components of Biodiversity Counts work together to build an understanding of biodiversity from a variety of perspectives.
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SCIENCE AS INQUIRY
To understand science, students must possess not only scientific knowledge, but also the skills and attitudes scientists use in inquiring about the world. Students must understand not only scientific facts—the results of scientific investigation—but the processes and principles according to which scientific investigations are conducted. Biodiversity Counts strongly supports this standard, with investigations
that provide students practice in constructing questions, observation, analysis, application, and communication of what they have learned.
Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry include identifying questions for investigations; designing and conducting investigations; using appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data; developing descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models based on evidence;
making logical relationships between explanations and evidence; working with alternative explanations and predictions; communicating procedures and explanations; and using mathematics. Each unit of Biodiversity Counts contributes to the development of these abilities. Students identify questions, make plans and determine conditions for investigations, utilize a variety of tools and techniques to assemble and interpret data, and enlist critical thinking skills to make predictions and show relationships among organisms, habitat, abiotic factors, and effects of society.
Understandings about scientific inquiry include recognitions that different types of questions suggest types of different investigations; current scientific knowledge guides investigations; mathematics is important for scientific inquiry; technology enhances accuracy of investigations; scientific explanations emphasize evidence, logical consistency, and scientific principles, models, and theories; science advances through legitimate skepticism; and scientific investigations can lead to new ideas, phenomena, methods, and technologies. Such understandings arise naturally as students complete their investigations in Biodiversity Counts. Each unit of Biodiversity Counts contributes to the development of these understandings. New ideas are developed and shared in the classroom, creating a miniature scientific community in which explanations can be offered, defended, and critiqued based on scientific standards, encountering both approval and legitimate skepticism. Additionally, reading selections, included as part of the material in Biodiversity Counts, provide students with real-life accounts of scientific inquiry and many of its key elements.
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UNIFYING CONCEPTS AND PROCESSES
The developers of the Standards recognize that despite its application in many different enterprises and disciplines, science at its heart represents a fundamentally unified way of understanding and exploring the natural world. The Unifying Concepts and Processes standard refers to the basic concepts and processes that provide science its fundamental unity. These concepts and processes are best expressed when deftly woven throughout the fabric of the entire science instructional program, across topics and grade levels. Biodiversity Counts provides many opportunities for students to develop their understanding of these fundamental elements of science.
Systems, order, and organization refers to an understanding of the universe as a composite of many parts, of nature as adhering to basic laws that are the same everywhere, and of the power of prediction based on knowledge. Biodiversity Counts provides opportunities for students to develop these understandings as they break down an ecosystem into successively smaller units, observe commonalities and differences, analyze data, and make predictions regarding the ecosystem. Information gathered from first-hand experience,
research articles, and electronic references reinforces students' sense of the fundamental unity among observations from many different sources.
Evidence, models, and explanation refers to the need to observe and collect data, then to use the information as a basis for developing scientific explanations. Biodiversity Counts involves extensive practice with key observation and data collection skills. Hands-on individual and group activities throughout the program require students to make both qualitative and quantitative observations. Construction of models for the classroom exhibition provides an opportunity for students to interpret the information they have acquired and to share it with the wider community.
Change, constancy, and measurement refers to the tension between continual change in the natural world and the existence of constant properties. Measurement, the means of quantifying the changes in systems, relies on an appropriate understanding of both change and constancy, as well as of the particular purpose of the measurement. Within Biodiversity Counts, students engage with the concept that underlying the diversity of living organisms, there is a constancy of basic needs that must be met in order to sustain life. As part of their observations and data collection, students use a variety of measurement systems and tools, such as the quadrat study for counting and cataloging plants and a variety of collection and counting techniques for profiling the highly mobile arthropod population.
Evolution and equilibrium focuses on the interrelationship between evolution—the concept that form and function in nature result from changes in the past—and the tendency toward equilibrium, in which forces offset each other to maintain existing conditions. Although evolution and equilibrium is not a major focus in Biodiversity Counts, biological evolution is noted as an explanatory factor in accounting for the diversity among organisms.
Form and function refers to the relationship between the form or shape of an object, organism, or system and the way in which it operates. In the context of biology, this includes how the form of an organism relates to items such as habitat, feeding habits, enemies, and locomotion. As part of Biodiversity Counts, such adaptations are noted and compared, and students make predictions regarding location, population, and success of organisms within the quadrats and microhabitats.
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SCIENCE IN PERSONAL AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES
The Standards recognize that science does not exist in isolation as an abstract pursuit. Rather, it has implications in many human arenas, from personal health to environmental challenges, natural hazards, the assessment of risks and benefits, the role of technology, and ethics. On a broad level, Biodiversity Counts addresses this standard by challenging students to develop their awareness of the effects of ecological crises, the role of humans and machines in society, and the power and synergistic effects of technology.
Populations, resources, and environments refers to the negative impact of overpopulation on the environment and to the various causes of environmental degradation from region to region and country to country. As part of Biodiversity Counts, students are asked to speculate regarding the chances for survival of the organisms in their plot if the site were to be damaged or destroyed. Students also consider related questions such as the impact on larger habitats. These issues may become a focus for a classroom exhibit.
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HISTORY AND NATURE OF SCIENCE
Basic to the Standards is the recognition that even though science has the natural world as its object, it is a fundamentally human endeavor, with its own socially constructed standards and history. Furthermore, despite the popular image of the isolated scientist, science is basically a communal endeavor, in which individuals and groups from many diverse circumstances build on each other's contributions. According to the Standards, "Experiences in which students actually engage in scientific investigations provide the background for developing an understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry." Biodiversity Counts provides just such experiences for students.
Science as a human endeavor refers to the diverse interests, talents, qualities, and motivations of the women and men who engage in science, both individually and collaboratively; the extensive communication among them; and the reliance of science on a variety of basic human qualities such as reasoning, insight, energy, and creativity, together with scientific habits of mind such as intellectual honesty, tolerance of ambiguity, skepticism, and openness to new ideas. In Biodiversity Counts, students are exposed to reading selections that present a diverse group of scientists as real people and address a variety of topics from multiple perspectives. Students gain perspective on science as a human endeavor by acting as scientific investigators themselves. Appropriate scientific habits of mind are nurtured throughout the program. Collaboration among team members is essential for the optimum learning experience, and group efforts are facilitated throughout, building an understanding of the social and communicative nature of science.
Nature of science refers to students' understanding that scientists use a variety of tools to formulate and test their observations of nature, that disagreement among scientists is normal, and that evaluation by self, peer review, and supervisors is expected and sought. Starting at day 1 of Biodiversity Counts, students experience these aspects of science firsthand as they begin to formulate and test explanations. Throughout the program, students are challenged with frequent self and peer evaluations, and are periodically stimulated to reexamine their explanations in light of new evidence. Final evaluations by the students themselves and from peers, teachers, and visitors to the exhibit provide additional perspectives on students' work, direct students toward further development of their knowledge and skills, and reinforce the message that science is an ongoing process.
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