Topic: Ecological factors

Target group

8th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

General requirements

I. Knowledge of biological diversity and basic biological phenomena and processes. Pupil:

2. explains biological phenomena and processes occurring in selected organisms and in the environment.

Specific requirements

VII. Ecology. Pupil:

1. indicates living and non‑living elements of the ecosystem; shows that they are related to various dependencies.

General aim of education

The student will learn how ecological factors influence the shaping of the characteristics of the population

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• distinguish between biotic and abiotic environmental factors;

• characterize abiotic and biotic environmental factors and their impact on organisms.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion;

  • brainstorming.

• exposing

  • exposition.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Students get acquainted with the content of the abstract. They prepare to work on the lesson in such a way to be able to summarize the material read in their own words and solve the tasks themselves.

Introduction

• The teacher gives the topic, the goals of the lesson in a language understandable for the student, and the criteria of success.

Realization

• The lecturer explains what ecological factors are and divides them into abiotic factors and biotic factors. He discusses selected ecological factors..

• Presenting an interactive illustration, the teacher explains that the huge diversity of phenotypic traits in humans is the result of environmental factors influencing human populations inhabiting areas of a different climate. Many of the characteristics of some populations, such as skin color, height and body type, the shape of the nose or eyes, result from the fact that only those individuals that were best suited to local conditions survived in an area with specific environmental conditions. For example, a person with light skin, no additional protective equipment (clothing, creams with a UV filter), in the conditions of insolation in the equatorial zone, would soon suffer sunburn or skin cancer..

• Working in small groups, students carry out the Task 1. Then the representative of the group indicated by the teacher reports the results of the work. Other groups complete the statement as needed.

• The teacher initiates brainstorming, the aim of which is to find as many examples of the relationship between the living environment and the characteristics of building closely related species of animals or their different populations within one species.

Summary

• The teacher asks students to carry out the recommended interactive exercise themselves.

• At the end of the lesson the teacher asks: If there was going to be a test on the material we have covered today, what questions do you think would you have to answer? If the students do not manage to name all the most important questions, the teacher may complement their suggestions.

Homework

• Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

• Write a short note about the topics covered in the lesson.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Ecological factors

Each species evolves in a specific environmental conditions, which are shaped by many external factors referred to as ecological factors. These factors are constantly changing, as a result of what some individuals die, and those better adapted to the current conditions survive and reproduce.

Ecological factors can be divided into biotic, i.e. those, which sources are co‑occurring organisms in a certain area, and abiotic, resulting from the interaction of inanimate elements of the environment. Biotic factors include availability of food, presence of predators, occurrence of pollinating organisms, creation of a microclimate characteristic for a specific plant community, e.g. forest. The most important abiotic factors include the availability of oxygen, water, light and temperature.

Ecological factors and the intensity with which they affect organisms depend largely on latitude, altitude, depth, in case of water reservoirs, distance from the sea and type of ecosystem.

• Organisms are influenced by biotic factors, which originate from other organisms, and abiotic factors – by the impact of an inanimate natural environment.